Heartland express

That was quite a scathing report.

Now will come the cheerleaders to tell you they get 3000 mi/wk, and home every weekend.

Also they will tell you it's all your fault, even though they don't even work there.

 

Should've researched. Hell, just sit at a truck stop on a hot day, the trucks with the windows down are the bottom feeders.

 

They are a horrible company and have been for quite awhile. There is a reason they are debt free, they pay no detention, hhg mileage, short loads, garbage trucks, no orientation pay, 2 weeks max. vacation, etc....

 

Almost got on with these guys a few months ago, but let it go.
It seems with most of these OTR outfits, the whole "lifestyle, not a job" philosophy is all too true.

Either knuckle up and take it, or do like I'm doing and fish for a local/regional thing where you either;
A)Pass by your house every week or so.

B)Home every night or day for the most part.

I honestly haven't driven as long as some of the lifers in here, but it didn't take me long to know that certain aspects of the job weren't for me.

 

If you ever come across a carrier that has those idle policies. LEAVE ASAP.

 

If you have 5 years experience, find a company that isn't in everyone of them advertising books!

 

I am at Heartland, have been for quite some time, and view it as a good company. I'm not going to argue over whether good company or bad company, people are looking for different things, and you can't take away from Heartland that they have a lot of long time drivers, and they are honest about their program. I am one of those long-timers.

For those of you who found a company where you drive a pete equipped with APU, get home every single night, drive 3500 miles a week, paid 50 cents a mile, and have the smartest and nicest dispatcher on the planet who is also related to you, congrats! the rest of us are in trucking and have to live in the real world.

But a few fact checks here...

Here is the idle policy. Don't idle between 52 and 72 degrees. You can idle over 72 degrees. You can idle under 52 degrees. If you do idle your engine over 40% of the run time (time the engine is running between both idle and driving), then that is considered excessive and you will lose 2 mph. There are areas of the country where it is stinking hot and you should be idling, they are making changes to the program so that you dont get penalized in that situation. That should only be an issue in the southwest anyway, you shouldn't have to idle more than 40% of the time period unless maybe you are in AZ or TX. Company trying to come up with a sensible idle policy to conserve fuel? those evil $%#$%'s! Give me a break!

Companies that advertise are bad companies? on what planet is that true? Maybe I should stop eating at McDonalds because they advertise all the time. Maybe I should stop drinking Coke too, they advertise all the dang time. The reality is that Heartland has such a strong customer base that they have more freight than they can haul. I see it every day. They are growing every week, and yes there are drivers that quit or don't make it, but there are way way more long timers.

for Westmark, staying out now for 3 weeks, sorry that happened to you buddy. Can't say it doesn't happen in the system every once in awhile. But on the overall Heartland is pretty good at home time. Good luck to you, let us know how things work out.