Heartland express...anyone got the 411

Good luck! Keep us updated. Never know when I might need to evaluate a job change....

 

Been with Heartless four plus years. Since the economy cratered last fall they have been tightening the screws week by week on their drivers to cut costs. Heartless is very cash rich but they are flat out stealing from us now in alot of ways. No more shuttle pay for moving trailers for our lousy customers too cheap to hire their own yard jockeys. No pay for intracity miles anymore. I drove 35 miles across Louisville recently. Pay: ZERO for fighting all that traffic. And something very dirty is going on with our deadhead miles on a go-home load. My last three: 80 miles paid 49, 85 miles paid 24, 45 miles paid for 10!
In addition the Heartless does'nt care pay has been cut about 20% recently. In case you think thats no biggie, I and two other hapless heatlanders sat in a petro in Portage WI on a very recent weekend, that's Friday 1800 until 0900 Monday I got 80.00 and so did one of the others. But the third driver, a regional out of Columbus was refused any pay at all. Go figure. A month before that I was stranded all weekend as well near Chicago and they refused to pay me at all again ZERO!
Last week I sat most of two days(better not disclose location-but it does'nt really matter) and got paid 40.00.
And now, to add to our stress and agrivation, they have spent millions on a fuel purchase system that orders us to fuel at ceartain spots along our trips. Fifty gallons here forty gallons there can't fuel in this state, must fuel in that one. Even if the lousy Pilot is crammed with rigs and you have to wait while some ####### moron driver from Eastern Sumbacca washes his truck and goes in for a shower. The people running Heartless neither know, nor want to know, and especially don't give a rat's rearend about drivers or what goes on out here.
I would say the best a new driver can hope for here is to get one of the better driver managers. Kingsport are the best I have run across, But DM's at Heartless have very little authority and are mainly whipping boys. I actually believe they are treated with less respect than drivers, if that can be believed. DM turnover used to be higher than the driver's, but now that we're in recession, they're all scared and don't want to leave, but they're still firing them LOL when they try to stand up for a driver or something stupid like that.
Newbies to Heartless, your pay scale has been cut and you will never be told what it was a year ago unless you ask an older driver. If the economy ever turns around, Heartless will loose a thousand drivers in a month. I think NOBODY is happy here. We're just grimly hanging on because things are so lousy out there.
One of the big wheels from N. Liberty told me at a driver's day while I was in O'Fallon MO. recently that all the driver-controlling features in our new pro-stars were put in to save costs and keep from having to cut our pay! And he says this with a straight face!
Finally, if you're coming to Heartless, hometime sucks pure and simple.
Drivers are still quitting here in large numbers, and now its mainly over hometime. Alot of the regionals are not getting home every weekend as they were promised and of the many I talk to all the time, some are being held out hostage for 3-4 weeks! These guys have small kids ,distraught wives threatning to leave them , crying on the phone etc. The main reason is not that Heartless can't get them home. The reason is that as a cost cutting measure deadheads for freight or Home time are now VERBOTEN. I have talked to drivers recently who were 80 miles from home at a cons and told not to move. Take your 10 at the cons, and we will try to get a load home for you tomorrow. Held hostage by an arrogant truck company while your family suffers and your miles suck. I could go on, and on,and on,but you have been warned. Get your Kick-Me T-shirt on and come on over if you must.

 

My problem is that I am in an odd area. Right near the PA line to the south, but the only good route to get here from most areas is I-86. I am about 38 miles from I-90.
I need to get something to keep me working till the economy turns, and I did not bother to keep my hazmat, let it lapse in 96.
So that cuts out many decent companys that come to my area. I am taking the test for hazmat this week, and doing the fingerprinting, so I will have it in the future. I don't want to limit my choices again. Plus if needed I can go back to my last company next summer if things are better.

What driver control things did they add to the truck anyway? ICON systems to make the truck turn on and off or what? I have not seen any info on that.
I also have not seen info on what there allowable idle percentage is, or how they run there orentation and training.
Not really much training needed for a company that requires experiance from drivers. I was guessing at most it was a week long ride allong to see how they operate.
I am sorry to see how things are going with them now. I hope that it will not go down hill more. I can deal with being out a few weeks at a time if the loads are there, but sitting sucks.

 

Idle isn't looked at in percentage really. If it's between 38-77 degrees, they don't want you to idle the truck at all. On the new ProStar's if you idle a certain percentage between these temps it'll cut your speed down, eventually getting to 60 mph. Anything under 38 or over 77, they won't say anything about. I idled every night when it was out of this temperature range and they never said a word. If it's under 20 degrees you HAVE to idle your truck non stop.

Orientation is no big deal. It's a 3 day deal. Last day will be 1/2 day. Then they'll ask if you need a load home to get stuff or right on the road.

They hadn't rolled out the fuel solutions crap when I was there. That must be a pain. They had to do that because the ProStar's are 1300 lbs heavier than the 9400's (which are pretty heavy trucks). They were making drivers run around with 1/4 tank of fuel to haul those heavy scrap paper loads with them.

Good luck. I'm happy here at this little bitty company. If you're looking for a job right now, I'd suggest looking at a small 10-15 truck fleet to see what they've got. Like I said, I did good with Heartland, but I think a smaller company is the place to work.

 

I was at a smaller company running flat. They don't have work at the moment and only have 10 trucks on the road. I have been laid off since June and do not want to sit any longer.
I can deal with those temps. They are about what I used on my own. I have blankets for when it is cooler, and a fan for when it is a little warmer.
I figured I would bring a weeks worth of clothing, bedding and my neccessary things and go. Radio, XM radio, map ect. Don't need a huge amount of stuff for a week or so, and if needed can always do some laundry.
Looks like a rather large Sears DC is right next to the terminal at Columbus.
I have not driven ProStars. I have driven 9400i's a good bit, and 9900i's that just have a different hood. They are fairly light trucks though, not as light as freightshaker but not like a T2000 or something.
Fueling 50 gal at a time would suck though. No need for that, even with the weight.
Running a half tank to 3/4 a tank and should not be off by much.

 

Good Luck.

 

Must have been around when I was there from '96-'98 as an o/o. I did good enough to buy a brand new 379 in '97.
At the time they were 60% owner ops and we were doing well.
I've noticed over the last few years that I began seeing fewer and fewer o/o, then finally none.
That tells ya something too.

 

Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do....I wish you the very best.

You could still do much worse, even with H's shortcomings.

 

Day one done.
Did my thing in a cup, allot of paperwork. Log book stuff. Driving test.
Tomorrow is work well test in the morning, then I guess more company info stuff.
3 of us here for it.
One is having issues with getting all his 10 year employment history going, but may be OK.
My roommate smokes like a chimney. All night. He woke up 3 times during the night to light up, so the room never aired out.
I smell like an ashtray. Got maybe 3 hours of sleep.
Hopefully will be better tonight.

 

That sucks. Could you ask to be put in another room?