Any Info about Heartland Express??

Hubby is scheduled to go next wed. he will be running the dedicated

 

I'll be running regional out of Jacksonville and live in Lakeland. I've completed orientation and I'm just waiting on some final paperwork. Some stuff posted is true and some is not. There are no power inverters of any kind allowed (including the ones that plug in a cigarette lighter). If you have a cpap or any type of equipment for inside a cab, it must be able to plug into a 12volt lighter.

The orientation is 3 days (not paid) and includes all the usual training plus people net training. If you happen to use a cpap machine, you need to have all your t's crossed and i's dotted. If your cpap machine has a data card in it, you must go to your doctor and have a printout of all the activity on it. If you wait to get to a terminal to get the data, no local doctors will help you print it out if you're not a patient. Their doctors that do the physical cannot read the card. If your machine doesn't have a card or some way to show compliance, you're screwed. THERE ARE NO BMI QUALIFICATIONS!!!

Benefits start the following month 2 months after employment, so figure 90 days. Insurance premiums are cheap (in my opinion). $50 a week for driver with dental and $90 a week for family whether you have 1 or 20 to add. That includes dental as well. $750 deductible per year, then 80/20. 401k is 100% matching. No FSA. The facilities in Jacksonville are excellent!!! They have a very large driver break room with a nice tv and vending machines that take credit cards and even an ice cream machine. Showers are private and bathrooms are new and very clean. They have washers and dryers there which are free.

Ricky does orientation in Jacksonville and has gone above and beyond to help drivers. Hotel is free during orientation and is pretty darn nice. Strong possibility of having to share a room during orientation. For those who don't want to share a room, you can get your own for $23 a night out of your own pocket. Breakfast is the banquet in the hotel and is decent. For lunch they pay 100% and the tip is on you. Lunch is great for those of us who like good ole country cooking. Dinner is on you 100%.

Past employment verification can be pretty stressful because you must verify ALL employment for 10 years and there are no exceptions. In my case they went back 15 for pay reasons. If they can't verify something, it's on you to verify it and provide proof. If you cannot, it can cause big problems. Some of the former O/O's were having verification issues because they were paid on 1099's and so forth.

Classroom environment is fairly laid back. If you get a call and you need to take it, you can and are not treated like a child. No pony tails (for guys) or ratty clothes are tolerated . Today all drivers were issued International Pro Stars. Some had 100k and some 300k miles. All were serviced, inspected, ready to roll and clean. Obviously it's too early to say about the pay, but having haz-mat endorsement automatically gets you 1 cpm more. Trip is paid when you send in your empty call, not when they get the paperwork. However they like it transflowed within 24 hours if possible. Everything looks really good at this point. I believed I covered everything, any questions, pm me.

 

All of the newer trucks have power inverters installed by dealers. All the freightliners and the prostars less than 2 years old should all have them by now. I had them in my last couple trucks, but if you get one it is luck of the draw. I know that a new guy ended up getting my freightliner in Jacksonville when I turned it in.
But no, you cannot bring your own, only the dealer installed ones are allowed. So if you have a CPAP you may want to try and request one of those. I would let them know day one, so they can try and set something up with tractor control.

Oh, and ALLOT of freight out of Lakeland area. That is where I was every other day.

 

Chromedome... how are you doing...

if you are ever in the market.for a new.job the company I am now with hires in florida

 

I am running for a furniture company in Florida at the moment. Been here since Feb.
I can say it is wearing me out though. Working 6 full days a week. Pay and benefits are good. I run DC to store, and downstack and tailgate at each stop. Normally 2-3 stops a day, sometimes up to 5.
Running in a daycab, home every day. Hurt my back almost 2 weeks ago and been on light duty, I hope to be back in my truck on Tuesday.
I have been looking at some LTL company's in the area. I have to drive an hour each way every day to get to work, and I am just plain getting old for unloading furniture and appliances at stops. It has been getting me in better shape though.

 

I do have something i think you would like.. pm me if interested

 

Just wanted to give everyone an update. I was 100% correct in my assumption that they will run you hard here. I got off the Florida run and switched to "system" OTR. I was getting plenty of miles and overall no complaints about getting home. Only reason I switched is that the .46cpm (.47 cpm once I get my hazmat back)sounded better and .52 cpm in the green zone sounded good. Also the 90% drop and hook sounded better too as opposed to 50% on Florida.

I have gotten courtesy calls every 30 days to ask how everything is going, which so far has been well. In Atlanta my a/c compressor went out, so they told me to come by the next day. They offered to put me in a motel room for the night, but I declined because it wasn't worth dragging my stuff out for a few hours in a motel.

Right now the toll situation seems to be a bit of an issue for me. As a relatively experienced NYC driver, I don't like the routing for tolls. For example, I was coming out of Jacksonville headed to Brockton, Ma. and although they don't tell you which roads to run, they do tell you what fuel stops to use and what tolls are authorized. Running up I-95 is not bad at all however they want you to go through Delaware on 301(no problem) and take i295 to i195 and then get on the Jersey TP at exit 7. If you look at the map you can see they run parallel. Ok, no problem. Then at some point you're supposed to go across the Tappanzee bridge instead of the GW. Uhhh, wtf??? That bridge is further north on 87 and I do not even see a way to get to it from the Turnpike, although I'm sure there is. Palisades parkway is for cars only. It looked like it was way out of the way and I can only speculate that it's somehow cheaper. It would work good coming from PA, though.

Although the Fleet Manager that came to Orientation in Jacksonville claimed to be a former driver of 20 years, most all of these FM's here sound like they have never driven a truck and are even a little arrogant at times. I am very, very particular about on time delivery and if I'm late, 99% of the time it's because someone else dropped the ball or mechanical breakdown. Even so, I despise being late because I hate being told "oh, you were supposed to be here 4 hours ago, we'll get to you first chance we get".

One of the Florida FM's told me he had 15 years OTR experience and had been an FM for 10 years. He said he used to say to himself when he'd see the trucks OTR "####, .52 cpm sounds good. I'm not for sure, but I do not believe Heartland was advertising .52cpm on their trailer doors 10 years ago, could be wrong though. In their defense, I believe they're quite intimidated by experienced drivers telling them they don't know crap about trucking. They probably should be because most don't have a clue.

Overall I'm still onboard and optimistic. I'm really looking forward to my benefits kicking in. The payroll has been very accurate with trips and any questions answered immediately by payroll. Anyone who has said higher cpm=less miles, I would have to throw a BS flag on that. I am sitting at a truck-stop as I write this slap out of hours till midnight. I don't foresee it stopping, but time will tell.

$150 a week max advances for personal use and whenever you need to scale (so far about 75% of my loads) you call up N Liberty and get a comchek for either $10 or $20. They give you an express code and it is your responsibility to line up fuel stops with cashing the check (if you don't want to get charged a check cashing fee). $150 is loaded automatically every Friday night at midnight CST. Comdata card advance can be withdrawn at a atm (for the atm's fee they prompt you with when you try) or at a truckstop.

Hope this helps, good luck to everyone. Any questions, just ask. I'll give another update in a couple of months.

 

You can get tolls changed many times, if you feel better going the other way. But I would normally go around the GW, depending on time of day it can be faster. It is just a judgment call, the cost of the toll is the same, and most of the time they will list both as an option.
Watch up that way. They will at times send you to some odd out of route truckstop for fuel. If it does not make since, call and have it changed. If you know a better route, call and take it.
Granted, that works better with a good FM, it does not work well with one of the idiots. That believe that the routing is infallible, and that the fuel stops are always best. The good ones know that this is not true.
I always used my own money for scales and things I needed. Then just turned in a copy with my bills and got it on the next check. To much trouble dealing with the comchek thing. I never bothered. Just make sure you get everything in asap.

 

Im thinking about coming aboard. May attend orientation next week in Atlanta. I live in Alabama. How is the home time and can u idle bc they dont have apu's correct. Are the terminals in good shape. And lastly, how is the equipment...There's Alot of negative comments on Heartland...And don't believe alll i hear...but curious...Thanks in advance for any info.

 

I'm in the minority here as I had no issues with Heartland Express. I worked their Texas Salary Fleet. It was 800 a week, weekends off. I had my weekends off and I got paid $800.00 a week. Very rarely left Texas. This was fine with me because I had other income, a city retirement. I only left because of a death in my family and I had to return West for a few months. I then decided to stay. The newer ProStars have inverters as do the Cascadias. They only idle when it is real hot or real cold.