Heartland Express reviews

Hey all as the title says I've been here at heartland around 90 days and just thought I'd give my 2 cents. When I started I went with a refresher. My refresher was an awesome guy, very nice and easy to get along with. When I got into my truck I went Midwest regional. Trucks are newer as they sell them after 300,000 miles, and trailers after 3 years. I've had horrible luck with trucks tho. Slept in an ice cold truck twice and have been towed 3 times. currently on my 5th truck. They are very basic single bunk mid roofs. They do have small inverters in them (450 watt I think). My biggest complaint is simply I don't get enough miles. most runs are around 250-450 miles and have loose windows on them (its 8:00 now, pick up at 15:00 go 350 miles and deliver between 20:00-23:59 tomorrow). I really wish they did long hauls...Couple weeks have been good (2500 miles ish) but that's the max. a lot of 1400-1800 weeks. I'll see how it is going forward past the 90 day mark but for now I'm not a happy camper. really wish I could just make around 1,000 bucks a week and come home to my family on the weekends....and drive a long nose pete with a stack of paper logs ahahaha

I would not recommend you go with them. They sound like a good company until you start driving. The trucks are slow and only go 63 so if you are use to going 65 or faster this will drive you crazy. You can bearly get any miles a week because they take a 500 mile run and make the driver swap it with another driver so that they only get about 250 of that load. Which can be confusing as hell to keep up with how many miles you can make that week if you cant even keep straight how many miles of the 500 your drove or the other driver drove and you have swaped every load that you had loaded all week. A load that you could run by your self in 1 day will take you 2 to complete because you have to relay your one load with someone else. They pay good but they are paying you to run in circles. And Gordon trucks are at the Heartland terminals so idk if they are working together or not. 

Idk how well home time really is but my first experience already sucked. I asked to be home Friday because I had an appt that morning and they are not going to be able to get me home until Sunday. Mind you im on the regional account and im supposed to be home weekley any way. How convenient now I had to reschedule and see if they can get me home on time now Thursday.

They only perk is the APU and inverter but it is on a weak international. I believe they do have automatics if yoh want one but i have a stick. The dispatchers are friendly and they do make sure you are alright if you get sick or they can't get up with you. But if you want lots of miles this ain't it. You just have to weight your own options but for me this company has more flaws the benefits.

When I showed up for orientation, it only took an hour to realize that I had been lied to from my recruiter Nate Rieken, and what a mistake I had made by trusting what I had heard.

So I left. Smartest move I ever made.

I tried numerous times requesting reimbursement for my travel expenses, but was routinely ignored, so I wrote a letter to CEO Michael Gerdin. As expected, complete lack of response and accountability.

At first I tried to be diplomatic about issues, thinking there was a misunderstanding, but now I realize that it was a misrepresentation about expectations, AND LIED TO. And no accountability to anyone's actions.

I have given HeartLand Express over a month to be accountable, now I turn to forums and reviews with the hope that others don't fall into the same trap as I.

Only been in trucking for 2 years, tired of being #### on, and have moved on to another profession.

Truckers need to be treated with respect and dignity, not constantly #### on, and maybe there wouldn't be the turnover rate there is.

heartland Express don't care about drivers they recruit,they charge u to get advance on comdata when comdata don't charge. They have no prepass,they don't pay tolls,. All their loads are the most 350 miles and if u go home every weekend your screwed. They are terrible.

Don't let anyone tell you that Heartland Express is a good company. Ever since the father of the company, Russ Gerden died, it has became more and more driver un-friendly. The company wants to short haul the crap outta you and then try to make up the miles at the end of the week by having you sacrifice your time at home. What's the point of making 48-50 cents a mile, if you're not making any miles? The paychecks still come out to the equivalent of a newbie driver. 

They pride themselves on having new equipment yet the trucks they get are the cheapest ones on the market. Not to mention that the trucks won't run for heat or AC until it is a certain temperature but you pretty much gotta freeze to death or roast like a Thanksgiving turkey until the truck will run. (This ain't safe, there have already been incidents where drivers have gotten hypothermia or heat stroke and DIED from these inhumane conditions.)

Another problem with them is that the planners insist on shutting the drivers down when they have hours left to run and making them run at night. This is absolutely a safety issue when drivers are exhausted because they can't sleep during the day due to the heat, noises, or just waking up a few hours before.

I am not the only one who sees the problems with this company; quite a few of their drivers out there complain about the same things. The company is 300 drivers short and those numbers are just gonna go up because the hot weather is here and drivers ain't gonna want to roast in their trucks...and I'm one of them! I have over 5 years OTR experience and driving for this company is just a miserable existence.

The complaints about Heartland have been consistent through the years. It's not like one guy said "They Suck" and another guy said "Thry don't pay me!" Reading through threads here, other forums and hearing from current drivers, it's the same story, almost like it's written for them. Heartland is a financially stable company with new trucks and trailers and lots of customers. And they also now own Gordon Trucking. The problem is, they don't listen to their drivers. They listen to their shareholders. Until that changes, the problems with being employed at Heartland Express will continue and the complaints will still be consistent. It's a good, strong company for the shareholders and Mike Gerdin. For Joe Trucker, it's a never ending struggle to make ends meet there. 55 cents per mile doesn't mean anything unless you can run.

Iam a Heartless driver, been with them for 7months, absolutely hate this company! I sit at truck stops for 20h at least once or twice a week, get paid .39 cents mile, have to work through weekend to make up for miles(cant get 2000 miles!?). Last check 400$ , this week 650$, next week ill have 400$. ####tiest trucks in industry, in my 5th truck now, did i mention i've been with them for 7monts. I put a towe hook on gas pedal to idle my truck 24/7 HAHAHA. Oh and dispatchers always have an attitude....

I can confirm all except the part about drivers dying from extreme temps. But, I had a heavy comforter that kept me warm below freezing and screens and a powerful fan for the summer. Anytime those things weren't enough, I idled the truck. I'm not sure what it was like when the old man was alive, but I averaged 2200 miles a week even with all the relays. However, they liked to run me so tight on hours that often times, I had to shutdown at a customer, then have that customer knock on my truck multiple times, waking me up to back in and such DURING my break. Once done, I never could go back to sleep. Then I had to leave out a few hours later, driving on 4 hours of broken up sleep, if I was lucky. Couldn't catch up on rest at home because I always got sent home with a load and had to leave in the middle of the night to deliver on time. If I called the driver liaison with a problem, she yelled at me. I had a hard time getting into a truck stop long enough to shower. Always had dispatch up my a#s. The one Christmas I was with them, I got sent home for exactly 24 hours, then had to drive Christmas night. I constantly got harassed to get a hair cut even when I kept it within their guidelines. The only good thing about them was the high pay and well maintained equipment. But when you get so tired that you start making dumb mistakes and have no personal life, it's time to hand them the keys back and move on. Money isn't everything. Being treated like a machine isn't worth it. I dealt with it for 15 months before finally moving on. They can go take a flying leap.

Q: Anyone knows how is the training program for Heartland express and Schneider?

A: heartland your either 2 or 4 weeks, 2 being a refresher and your trainer can let you go whenever he feels your ready. I only did 1 week. 4 weeks he has to keep you the whole time. with either you make 20 some cpm. Your trainer wont force you to team, but if he feels your ready and you agree you may run on each others clocks a bit. this isn't swift so not every other guy with 6 months under his belt can train. most have 5 plus years with heartland and more time in with other companies. since the gti merger Gordon trainers are now heartland trainers so you may not have to wait so long for a trainer, but it used to be we only had abot 20 or so trainers. usually guys waited a month or so for a trainer.

I will say my refresher was awesome. couldn't have asked for a nicer, friendlier fella. we still call each other every few days and catch up.

Q: Can anyone tell me what the rider policy is for someone who is doing the refresher course?

A: The refresher they do is not like at most company's. They require more experiance and some not too far in the past. It is just going out with another driver for a week or two. No riders with you during this time, and I cannot remember, but I am pretty sure they do not allow riders for the first few months, but do not hold me to that. I never had a rider, so never asked. I can tell you that the trucks for non teams are all single bunk trucks. So your rider will be sharing your bunk. While with other driver doing refresher you will be in a double bunk, but that will be the last one you will see unless your a team driver.

I'm a current driver, depends on what you are looking for in a company. The heartland side of the company stays east of the Rockies. A "system" driver runs anything in that area, regional drivers area depends on the region they choose. I run Midwest regional. I get home most weekends but, loads determine when and for how long. If you take time off (more than 3 days) you have to turn in your truck at a terminal, and possibly get a different truck when you return. From what I'm told after 10 years or 1 million miles you get to keep your truck. Like all companies there are things you won't like, think about what you do and don't like and talk to some drivers before you hire on. The red trucks are trainer trucks, so I would advise talking to guys in the white trucks for more realistic info. BTW Heartland bought Gordon and is currently transitioning to all Heartland with a dry van and a refer division.