Company Overview
Number of trucks:
Number of terminals:
Specialty: consumer goods, retail, food, paper/plastics, manufacturing, automotive
Labor status:
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Truck Drivers Review HeartLand Express
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Black folk, I am warning you please be extra cautious before applying and accepting a driving position with Heartland Express! I am black and before accepting employment with this company (Jan. 2025 – I only worked there 4 months) I had ABSOLUTELY NO criminal, arrest, nor incarceration history/record WHATSOEVER and also a PERFECTLY UMBLEMISHED driving record! INITIALLY UPON HIRE EVERYONE APPERARED VERY CORDIAL AND GREETED / WELCOMED ME SO WARMLY. THEN THEIR LIES STARTED!
I soon discovered that their lies commenced upon hire whereas they promised me a weekly minimum pay of $1000 + as long as I worked 5 days weekly. This was stated, confirmed and affirmed in recruitment by recruiter, then thereafter in orientation. I was paid appropriately the first 2 weeks. The 3rd week the BS started. I had to call the terminal manager-mgr (TM) in order to receive my correct pay. Then my driver manager (DM) verbally changed what I had been told in orientation. He stated I was required to work more than 5 days to receive weekly pay protection. On several occasions I attempted to explain to this DOLT that a workday is NOT 24 HOURS (even in trucking), but A SINGLE SHIFT / generally 8 HOURS ( because this is what many truck companies pay you daily for breakdown….$15 hourly for 8 hours).
I then requested for him to provide me the disqualifying weekly criteria in black + white (written) so it could be objectively read and accessed… and HE NEVER DID BECAUSE OF THEIR (HEARTLAND’s) BS! That’s when I realized and it obviously appeared to me that they where disguising PAY DISCRIMINATION utilizing a DISCRIMINATORY PAY PROTECTION PROGRAM!!
The TM retired and a another TM took over who was a young white lady that appeared INEXPERIENCED, INCOMPETENT, and later discovered WAS VERY MALEVOLENT! When she first contacted me via phone and I heard her SQUEAKY, WINING VOICE…I simply said to myself OH MY GOD!! The list of things she did and her lies are too many to list… but here is one example. One day during the end of April / beginning of May I arrived at the Atlanta terminal on a Friday that I was due to be/get home which was approximately 8 hours away. I was tired and fell asleep after bringing a load to the Atlanta yard. When I woke up I had some missed calls from them (DM + TM), then saw where I was forced dispatched (ANOTHER LIE CLAIMING THEY ARE NOT A FORCED DISPATCH COMPANY) on a load while I was sleep!! I ended up getting home 2 days late, and when I was not paid for it layover etc. this B….. gonna tell me YOU HAD A CHOICE while she forced dispatched the load during my sleep. I was hired to drive in the Southeast Region ONLY, I specifically DID NOT APPLY NOR DESIRE NORTHEAST DRIVING!.
During the week of May 4th they sent me Northeast (without asking me nor receiving my consent) to deliver to Maryland. Then I was forced to pickup in Maryland and make a 5 am delivery to Pennsylvania (PA) the 7th of May. Going into PA mountainous terrain (which is why I don’t like PA) that early in the morning, THE FOG WAS EXTRA THICK!! …so I had to take my time. Upon arriving at 5:30 the first thing that precedes out of the white mgrs.-receiver’s mouth is “You was suppose to be here at 5” what a way to start my day!
Upon my DM’s office arrival at 7 am he called me (which had never happened before.) asking “What is the reason for the delay?” I said to myself “I KNOW HE AIN’T TALING ABOUT NO 3O MINS!!” especially considering weather conditions and the delivery time; but I told him about the fog. . Thereafter, he and the TM then started calling me EVERYDAY (perceptively harassing) me during my last 6 workdays that occurred with them. My DM told me earlier HE DON’T LIKE TO CALL DRIVERS, and I responded mutually stating when I’m working / driving LIKEWISE I PREFER TO BE LEFT ALONE! The DM + TM also did a lot of crazy stuff before, and during my home load May 8th, but I won’t get into all that… it’ll just further show and clarify how demented these people at heartland express is.
After returning back to work from that Home load, they gave me a delivery to Ohio. Once they got me to Ohio their harassment continued…calling me each time with an increasingly confrontational, argumentative and aggressive TONE! After making the Ohio delivery they forced dispatched me on another load that was impossible to deliver at the scheduled time (there were a lot of impossible loads given / NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DELIVER), then put a service failure on me despite me initially refusing the load due to not enough time! The psychotic ass TM also claimed I committed an unauthorized fuel stop on this forced dispatch load when it was provided during the itinerary for the load!
After delivering this load I made it to the Columbus ohio terminal! I noticed that the white TM and white shop manager (SM- per his facebook photos it’s fairly easy to see what he is) both seemed particularly hostile towards me for no obvious or apparent reason! (I attribute to me being black) I received my driver settlement this same day and noticed my TM shorted my pay again (I had already informed her in writing that I was aware that they were looking for reasons/ excuses to short my pay / pay discrimination). When I contacted my TM about my pay she directed me to the Columbus Ohio (CO ) TM office and gave/ faxed me a written reprimand / warning after speaking with me on the speaker phone in front of the CO- TM…all this just because I inquired about my pay.
After she hung up and was alone, I read the warning I noticed this crazy b…. put in it “get permission from her moving forward before exceeding a 10 –hour break” …. This is analogous to an employer GIVING THEIR employee A BED TIME! That’s when I deduced that my TM was obviously appeared to be suffering some type of mental illness! Then she “out of nowhere” and for no “obvious or apparent reason” tried to force me into a truck that I’d never driven before and was unfamiliar with the controls. They provided a few options/trucks for me to inspect and THEY ALL WERE DIRTY, and SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH all of them (missing windshield curtains 1 month a way from the summer/ sun rays can keep the temp. inside cab in excess 100º without the windshield curtains!
The sleeper had real big windows, and the Velcro to hold the curtains were no existent, missing (sun penetrating the sleeper while attempting to rest), the seats were torn and had holes and would not operate appropriately air lift etc.. just to name a few I inspected. One of the trucks they were trying to force me in had to be jump started twice. Another truck had a refrig. already installed, but appeared inoperable full of leftover remnants that appeared to have been there at least a year . I showed the a…… SM the trucks, including the contaminated/ unsanitary refrigerator, and he stood there observing it in front of me stating “The truck is clean…” That’s when I realized he too was a psychopath.
I stated to someone I was leaving and proceeding to my house approx.. 8 hours away to clean my the truck and return it to my home terminal in chester va (approx.. 90 miles from my house) where it was issued to me and in the exact same condition (without my possessions nor any damage). I had all 3 keys that they issued to me in January (2 ignition, and 1 airlock) key in the ignition when I left. According to my arrest report this sociopath Columbus ohio SM contacted columbus ohio police and stated I stole their truck (they issued to me in Chester Va, allowed me to drive an hour and half to my house to place all my valuables, I lived in for 4 months, and still possessed all 3 keys. I HAD IN NO WAY RETURNED NOR RELINQUISHED MY RIGHT TO THE VEHICLE. Obviously, the Columbus police told the SM “there was nothing they could do” due to me working for them / delivered a load that same day and I still had the keys ( no forced entry.) Of course the truck has GPS, so the SM or TM contacted headquarters in Iowa. So he / they COULD GET THEIR APPEARANTLY SICK RACIST HANDS ON MY POSSESSIONS!
After I drove nearly 2 hours, then they changed the story. The vice president of safety (VP) contacted the West Virginia (WV) state police 5 STATE JURISDICTIONS AWAY (which is also illegal) , LIED AND STATED THAT I USED A SPARE KEY AND STOLE THE TRUCK. (I LATER DISCOVERED HE IS NO LONGER THE VP / I SUSPECT HE WAS FIRED! I was ultimately arrested (despite the 3 keys being visible in the ignition, and a tablet bearing clear registration to me etc) and falsely incarcerated for a stolen vehicle! DRIVERS BEWARE THIS WAS A SET UP + COVER UP! The WV police and the company was working in concert. HEARTLAND WAS ALLOWED TO COME GET THE TRUCK WITH ALL MY POSSESSIONS WITH NO COURT ORDER TO COVER UP THE FACT THAT I’D BEEN LIVING AS SOON AS I WAS EJECTED FROM THE TRUCK BY THE POLICE! I TAKES 24 HOURS BEFORE A VEHICLE IS OFFICIALLY STOLEN, THE TRUCK NEVER ENTERED THE STOLEN DATABASE!
I got a next of kin to call and she spoke with the SM and he told her that all my possessions was locked up and secure, my wallet was in his desk, and that she or someone would need my permission before they would release my valuables to them. Once I told her the following day to call and ask the SM how did they receive that truck back WITH NO COURT ORDER, ALL OF A SUDDEN FROM THE SM TO HER…”IT’s OUT OF MY HANDS YOU NEED TO TALK TO THE VP (which the VP never returned her 3 voicemail messages nor my brother 2-3 voicemail messages left to him.)
My possessions included but was not limited to all my necessary life-sustaining possessions for survival, safety and security (food, water, clothes, refrigerator, money (hidden not in my wallet), wallet with money also, 2 new pair of prescription glasses, 2 registered handguns, several other brand new items, brand new clothes with tags attached amongst other) I had both my registered handguns 15 years and had only shot each one twice in the 15 years so they were practically new! HEARTLAND KNEW MY CONCEAL CARRY LICENSE WAS IN MY WALLET, but OBVIOUSLY NOT AWARE THAT BOTH OHIO AND WV were reciprocal with my issuing state UNTIL I INFORMED THEM. I had several items over 10 years and 1 item 30 years. After 2 months and during my incarceration I mailed the SM a letter to provide me an update on my valuables to the jail, and informed him I’d be out soon and I would retrieve my possessions personally to assure everything was there. Then two days later I mailed him an itemized inventory that I filed with the WV court detailing every single item in the truck down to a cup!!
Next unbeknownst to me they mailed a letter to my house (foreknowing that I was falsely incarcerated due to their lies) about my possessions. The letter was backdated (ANOTHER LIE) to the same date I sent the first letter from jail to the SM. My sister contacted them and explicitly informed them to NOT THROW AWAY MY POSSESSIONS BECAUSE THEY WAS NOT EVEN SUPPOSE TO HAVE THEM WITHOUT A COURT ORDER. Once the charge was dismissed and I was released from jail after 16 weeks I wrote them to come get my valuables. They wrote back “they disposed of everything except my wallet” WITHOUT CLARIFYING THE METHOD OF DIPOSAL, and also stated that FALSELY I DAMAGED THEIR TRUCK (LYING AGAIN)!
I had a brand new electric heater still in the box, unopened drinks + food, my new Blue parrot headset etc. Do you believe this was really trashed or they used consumed it themselves? (ANOTHER LIE) My kingpin lock and brand new heavy duty expensive pad lock both had the keys in them to be easily used. You really believed they trashed this? If anything they stole / kept these items and consumed them for themselves. THEY LIED AND CLAIMED I STOLE FROM THEM TO ULTIMATELY STEAL ALL MY POSSESSIONS! 1 informed them they know or should know it is unlawful to confiscate property without due – process of law, unlawful to dispose of firearms, ammunition, and currency, and unlawful to dispose of medically necessary items such as both pair of my prescription glasses. I informed them that they are aware that they acquired my property THROUGH LIES AND DECEIT, and took an extended / extra effort prohibiting me from reaching my home to secure my valuables just as they had allowed me to reach my home and place my assets/valuables/ possession therein the tractor/cab.
I soon discovered that the black population in Iowa (where their headquarters is located) is so infinitesimal that it is rumored to have NO BLACKS THERE! Within 2 weeks prior to posting this review, a driver of over 30 years clarified some things to me about HEARTLAND + BLACK DRIVERS (I wish I’d talked with him before applying!) I then realized that Heartland is run exclusively by Caucasians/whites in upper – level management with obviously the same symptoms as the SM and my DM + TM. They obliviously received some sick, sadistic pleasure in trying to demean and belittle me by taking all my possessions! Do they normally do that to the white drivers?…. A much older guy said ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is bar far the worst, most untrustworthy LYING COMPANY I’VE HAD THE DISPLEASURE + MISFORTUNE OF JOINING. Within two days of posting this review I realized they’ve been FALSELY reporting for the past 7 + months that I had an accident (hit a fixed object in Columbus Ohio) on the last day I worked for them (LYING AGAIN). DRIVERS YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!