My recent experience with Heartland Express, a.k.a. "Dodging the Bullet"

What's a GPS or a fleet manager or a ....oh never mind.

 

I work for heartland now and Id say what was posted is a pretty fair assessment. It works for me as long as Im grossing north of 1k a week though and I hit 1k at around 2200 miles so its not that hard here. I have noticed though that the drivers here are either really happy or really not. Not a lot of middle of the road people here. As for myself, well Ill stick around unless something better comes along. Ive got my eye on a different project but that's probably a year down the road. Til then this is good enough for me.

 

Everyone is different in their needs and desires. I think the OP was doing a service by making his post. Don't mean that everyone has to agree with it. But he put forth his point of view, which appears to me to be a valid one. I had always thought Heartland was OK to work for, just from talking to drivers at one time and another. But I did work with a guy that had come over to LTL from Heartland, and he kind of gave me the lowdown on them. OTOH, it was just his experience and opinion. . .

 

Heartland overall is a typical company it's size. As far as gps and routing a professional is supposed to be able to do that. How do you think we did years it ago without only a map and pay phone (no cell phones or gps) we didn't need dispatchers oops driver managers to babysit us. We didn't have a studio apartment for a sleeper either it's a lifestyle more than a carreer.

 

Most of the drivers these days would be lost if they had to drive in the days with no phone or without someone to babysit them. I used to get planned out for the week and then ran my truck. I would do a check in call one time a day from the T/S and that was it.

It is my understanding that Heartland pays a higher per mile rate then it's competition and thats it. So take about .15 cents a mile and put it in a account so when you have layover,detention,breakdown, shop time etc.. you can pay yourself .

 

I've heard really good things about heartland. I'm on the fence with this situation to be honest with you. I understand your frustration about some of the small things like the sign-on bonus and orientation pay. I mean the other companies do it so we come to expect it. Gps isn't a big deal because the gps I've used on the QC isn't as good as my gps. The cell phone thing is absurd and I can probably promise you that if I was with them I'd still use my bluetooth device while driving. How do they know if your using it or not? Even if you were driving by another driver they can see in your truck to see if your using the blue tooth device. Sorry you had a bad experience, Hope the next company works out better for you.

 

I work for Schneider and we also have a no cell phone policy. But the rule is an absolute joke. Everyone breaks it and nobody gets fired for it. Now if you wreck while talking on it then maybe but they would probably fire you anyway. The cell phone thing is probably for insurance and it also gives them one more excuse to fire bad drivers. Oh everyone breaks the rule but me by the way.

 

hahaha...the pre planning your route is not a big deal. the gps just makes it so much easier. the cell phone thing is a joke, no driver would follow that rule. but I don't think the other stuff is that big a deal. u can look at a map and tell if you need a toll rd. even gps's nowadays will tell you if your route takes you on one. just sayin.

 

Say again?