Heyl Truck Lines, Inc. - Akron, Ia.?

The pay is straight pay with NO per diem.

 

I have worked for Heyl now for a little over a month. I'm still learning a little bit about how the company works, but I'll do my best to describe what I've experienced so far.

I went to orientation in Zephyrhills, FL with one other driver. So far it's been a nice company to work for. The drivers all seem happy. Zephyrhills is their busiest and biggest terminal.

The pay: good, starting at 35 cpm, the bonuses (fuel, safety, longevity, sign-on...) are easily attainable and can add a pretty big chunk to your paycheck. My worst week so far was 2700 miles, the best was about 3500 miles.

The equipment: Very nice. You don't see many Heyl trucks or trailers with damage of any kind. The maintenance could not be better. If there is a minor problem, they send you to a terminal and the problem is fixed right away. I haven't had any major breakdowns yet, so I dont know about that. While you are on your home time, they take your truck into the shop and inspect it, and fix any problems you have reported or found. The fleet consists of mostly of Volvos and Freightshaker Cascadia's. They also have International Prostar's, FL Columbia's, and Century's. All are manual trannys governed at 65 and they all have APU's. The recruiter may tell you they all have inverters, and that is not true. They have started equipping the trucks with electronic logs, and safety tells me that should be completed in the next 6 months or so.

The home time: 7-10 days out, 2 at home, but it is trucking, so you might not get home exactly when you want, but so far I've been home early each time. If you want to make more money, stay out longer.

Dispatch: Courteous, and they don't baby sit you. They are reasonable and they actually have brains that work. Everyone in safety, dispatch, etc that I have met so far has been a truck driver in the past.

My main complaints and concerns:
-Dispatch is not available 24/7. They are out of the office for 7 hours on sat and sun, and work 7-6 on weekdays.
-The directions they give just plain suck. Call the shipper or receiver or you will end up on some unlined back road or residential neighborhood.
-Too much time for the loads. On my last 2 runs (1800 miles and 1600 miles) I had enough time to do a 34-hour reset before my delivery.
-Lumpers, lumpers, lumpers. You will be able to write comchecks in your sleep.
-They do not pay for a hotel during orientation. This didn't really bother me, I just found it kindof odd. They don't pay you for orientation either.
-the "sign on bonus of $1500" is not fully paid until you have been there 1 year. Don't rely on a $500 boost to your first paycheck.