hEARTLAND EXPRESS OR MARTEN

FL is a good area for Heartland.
They have allot of loads in and out. But much of that is covered by the FL regional fleet.
I would look into going system out of that terminal. We also have a Phoenix AZ terminal. So could do either one.
Plus if you communicate all that to dispatch they may plan you back and forth.
On system you would be out 2-3 weeks a month most of the time.
But the pay rate is higher. And with where you live you should not get put to pasture in the Northeast region much.
We have FL freight contracts from Miami to the Panhandle, and everywhere between. So getting in and out of FL is no issue at all.
Our highest money making driver last year was FL regional. And he was home almost every weekend and some week nights.
This is not the rule though. I see FL drivers in Chicago, Columbus, Carlisle etc.
Go system though and take the extra .04 cpm. Then if you want home more you can change later.

 

Thanks ChromeDome. I did look at their refresher program on their website and was wondering about that, that may be the route I have to take. I would not care about riding w/someone for a week or two if it meant having a better paying job. I think the refresher said something about as long as you have a certain amount of experience in the past 7 years.

 

Crete does not pay hub miles. Practical maybe, but it was always 5 to 10 percent off

 

You will get shorted some miles on every run. It is just the way the program is set up.
Where I think it really hurts at heartland is that we do not do many longer runs.
Most are less than 500 miles, and 95% are less than 750 miles.
The company has served this niche for many years, it is all they have ever done. This is because on contracts the shorter runs all pay more per mile.

I kind of missed a few things on how pay is done. But it is on there website. I was thinking from a regional perspective.
System drivers start at .04 cpm more than regional drivers. Also if you are in the northeast you will get an additional .04 cpm when east of I 83.
So a driver with one year experience can start out around .42 cpm. Plus .01 cpm on all miles if you have hazmat, and .01 cpm at the end of the year for a safety bonus.
So that is .44 cpm. Then if you are in the green mile zone of the NE, you get another .04 cpm. So now you are at .48 cpm in that region.

This is where drivers are making allot more than they are at other company's. Now they just need to keep the miles up around 2500 a week and we will all be fine lol.