Averitt or Heartland Express

I have started working for heartland this past week. So far my experience has been great. The trucks are in great shape International prostars. Trailers look like new. I have been busy picking up loads and delivering quite often.Heartland has gone to paperless logs. I was worried about that but my experience with it has been good. Just like when you start with any company you have to get used to the way they do things. I believe i have made a great choice in working for them. Starting pay is great and they have benifits. Hometime is good alsne thing about trucking is that if you are looking for a perfect company that everything always goes your way then you will always be disappointed. You just got to find the company that will give you miles,get you home,and respect you. I found that so far with heartland. I will post reports in future.

 

I worked for Heartland from Oct. to Dec. last year. Over all the company has good potential, but it wasn't for me. I was out of the Columbus terminal and the pay was good, but it means nothing when you don't get the miles. Maybe only once did I get over 2200. I never refuse a load, or try not to. Many times I've delivered at a terminal and had to sit all day when having several hours left to drive, then told to pick up a load and drive all night to deliver in the AM. Now I know this is part of trucking, but I DO, and CANNOT sleep during the day, and when a company hires you AFTER you make this clear then they should know better. Aside from lack of miles this is what ended my employment there. The inspection bays are horrible. You have to wait in line every time you enter a terminal during business hours. I waited five hours one day only to have them close when I was two trucks from the door, and forced to wait another four hours the next day causing me to pick up a load late. And ChromeDome is right, they don't pay much out for extras. I did have a good FM and all the trucks are nice. It wasn't all bad, mind you, but as I stated, it just wasn't for me. I could have dealt with the rest for now, but I couldn't deal with the inspection bays at all. I know these trucks have to be maintained and inspected, but at the Driver's expense? I felt like a child, like we couldn't do our jobs and inspect our own trucks... But that's just my opinion.

 

Got a question for you. Does heartland have apu's on their trucks? What is their policy on idleing to stay warm or cool in the summer?

 

Averitt is a BETTER company to work for. I would stay away from Heartland.

Heartland doesn't have any APU's nor can you idle the rig from the temps of 52 - 72. So your either cold or sweating. Can't have any inverters or cooking equipments. You can hide them but don't let them find either one of them.

 

If it is between 52 and 72 you probibly do not need to be idling.
I can see running the AC some at the top end of that if you are sleeping in the summer. But otherwise you are just wasting fuel idling at those temps.
I do not like the company making the trucks babyset me on idle like they do, but I also do not agree with anyone idling a truck at those temps.

 

Interesting on the temperatures. Most Heartland trucks are white so they don't have as much a heat issue as others but sometimes in a darker colored truck 72 degrees outside could be closer to 85 or 90 degrees inside.
Also, I know that Heartland is one of those that uses the shortest miles for pay. You could drive as much as 10-15% free miles. Based on 10,000 miles per month that's a lot of free miles. ie. 120,000 miles per year, 10% free or NOT paid = 12,000 miles per year or a loss of income at about $4,300 annually at $.36 per mile.

 

Point taken ChromeDome... Question then, so when you at a truck stop/shipper/consignee and its 71 and the sun is blazing on your rig. Do you leave your windows open or do you get down to your undies and put on the fan?

I personally would rather have the option to idle then to leave a window open while I'm trying to get a good nights rest. Here's my point. I was in Sarasota to make my delivery.. It was cool for the night so I didn't need the rig too idle. I popped open the side windows and went to drool on my pillow. That was around 2100. Then around 0100 it must of rained a bit because the temp went warm and muggy... It felt like my parents didn't pay the electric bill. That one night wasn't a pleasant one.

As a driver your making everyone money and your suppose to help save money as well. But to not feel comfortable while being in the companies rig is pretty much being babysat.

Here they tell you when you can pick-up and when you can deliver. Your very Micro Manage.. I'm surprised they haven't put cameras in the rig yet. You do A LOT of short runs and Favors here [free miles or stop]! Either if its 15 miles to shipper/consignee.. So add them up and figure it out how many FREE miles your giving to the company... So its a win win for Heartland...

 

There is probably a connection between heartland asking drivers to run the trucks through inspection lanes and comments on how nice their equipment is. I've spent too many hours (days) broke down wishing mechanics would have inspected my equipment. I'm keeping an open mind on preventative maintenance, need to keep the csa points off my record.

 

Heartland pays by Rand McNally miles... Same thing as HHG. In a lot of cases they will not allow you to run toll roads unless it can be avoided, especially in Ohio and Indiana. Now as we all know, getting AROUND some of these toll roads can be a pain, and cause us to drive for free. Sometimes up to 50 or more miles in some cases. I've calculated it, have personally been shorted up 250+ miles a week. That's around a hundred bucks. And Heartland isn't the only one doing it, either. Oh, by the way... If you plan on quitting or getting yourself fired, (Guilty of the latter myself! LOL) DO NOT leave anything in your truck!!! I cannot stress this enough! I went home, and when I came to clean out my truck I had some things missing. This is the Columbus terminal now. A digital camera, two dvds, my power cord for my CB radio. They took my road atlas, tried to stash my tools in the shop and steal those, along with my windshield mounts for my phone and GPS. Another guy had over $75 dollars in change stolen. Petty. And there's nothing you can do about it. And I fully agree with ChromeDome guys. Between those temps there is no need to idle your truck. It's a waist of company resources, which has an uncanny way of affecting your paycheck. Guys park next to me when it's 60 out, it's late, nice and quiet and you're catching up on some boob tube, and here he comes. AAALLLLLL night long. WTF? I used to be a fleece (Yes, I spelled that right) owner operator, so I know how idling can affect your bottom line.