Heartland Express, Inc. - Coralville, Ia.?

Heartland on the whole is full of lyers. Believe nothing they have to say.......I have first hand experiance on this.

 

Okay, lt me state I have not worked for them, and carry them no grudges. However, I have read about them on other sites and will post the gist of what they have, coming from people that I trust enough to repeat.

Heartland does advertise good pay, especially running on the eastern half of the country. They specialize in a somewhat niche market, looking for 300 mile hauls vice the 800 mile or longer ones that many of the other comanies seek. This means that you do more loads in a week, which isn't bad in and of itself. The key to getting the required pay is in minimizing the dock time, and getting enough short loads to make up your weekly mileage.

However, they are not a driver oriented company. they will not pay detention until after 8 hours of dock time, and they expect the driver to be available during the pickup times. Then, once loaded they also expect you to have the hours available to get the load there, despite the fact that you were up during the day getting it loaded.

Their dispatcher and load planning system is set up so that they get no input from the drivers. They like to micromanage their drivers and their time, and you are viewed there as a replacable minor cog in the system. Their only open door policy is for the mens room, and they would prefer that the drivers not make use of it. It has been described as the closest you can come to having a factory job and still be in a truck.

You can get 50 cpm or more running fro them, but you will pay a very high price for that money. It is not easily earned. As a place to work, I rate them only slightly above the worst in the industry, and there is no way that I would ever recommend them to someone.

Now, there are people that like that kind of system and flourish under it. If it's something that you would like, then I wish you well. But for most people, it is not someplace I would recommend. There are many, many more better jobs out there. they kind of stay below the radar screen as a bad place, but I would rank them there.

And if they really were that great, they wouldn't have to offer that high of a pay.

 

Once upon a time, they were a good company. But I hear nothing good anymore, I researched em too during my job hunt.

Another thing I hear is they like HEAVY loads, and that while the mileage pay is high, you get very few other perks such as layover, detention pay etc.

Any time you sign up for a company, you take your chances. It may or may not be a good fit for you. I probably would take my chances somewhere else if I were you.

 

FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

BEFORE HIRING AT HEARTLAND EXPRESS​

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

1. Heartland pays higher than most other companies. When they say up to 50 cpm, they do mean it.
2. You will get a good paycheck, usually around $700.00 deposited, every week (dry van, company driver)

NOW, THE BAD NEWS​

1. They do not provide routing.
2. After a few months of driving, they will start to ask you to commit to the load over the phone without an opportunity to look at a map. If you ask them to send the info on the computer, they get angry.
3. If you respond to a dispatch by saying you cannot make the delivery on time, and do this a number of times, they will start to threaten your employment, and will eventually terminate you for “freight refusal.” Naturally, if you agree to the load and deliver it late, they will fire you for that too. A high percentage of the loads they dispatch were loads another carrier failed to cover, for whatever reason, thus this is how they can charge a higher rate, but the delivery time remains the same. So you will be dispatched on a load, for example, at 3:00 PM that should have been picked up at 10:00 AM, and they just expect you to drive it straight through. This is the normal dispatch. Driving straight through every day, is no life, no fun, not humane, but this is how they expect you to earn the $200 per week extra that the other companies are not paying.
4. You should know that Heartland claims it has a 60% turnover rate.
5. Heartland has a bad reputation, so they have to pay drivers $500 for every recruit they bring in, and have “driver recruitment goals“ begging drivers to bring in “at least one.” There are some greedy drivers that do this, even though they are not happy with the company themselves.
6. Fleet managers are low trained and inexperienced in the trucking industry. They do not know what the drivers are going through and they will NOT speak to you or recognize you as a person.
7. Try to find a ‘happy Heartland driver.’ Try to find one driver who has been with them a month or more who is happy with anything at Heartland. I doubt you will find one, or he is a liar.
8. They want you to fuel at their own facilities 80% of the time, but they only have about five terminals you will use in the country. Naturally, the loads they get for you do not take this into account, so you will have to stop and call the fuel department and explain why, and get a PO# for every outside fuel stop. If you pass a terminal, you are required to stop and fuel, but the FM’s trying to meet a $$ goal will send you a message demanding you pass it by to save time.
9. They have no concept of 14 hour day. They will run you 12 hours to delivery, then give you a known “long delay live load, or a long delay live unload from a yard and expect you to drive illegal after load or unload to get off the property and sleep on the street or exit ramp, or wherever you can, and that’s just one more day without a shower, and a good meal.
10. You will go without a shower for two to three days at a time, all the time, because they don‘t route you with any slack. Bring some hand towels and those “handy wipes” things because poor hygiene is also affecting your health.

ADVICE​

If you decide, even after reading this, to drive for Heartland:​

1. Get a laptop and routing software, such as MS Streets & Trips. A must have because you will have to route yourself.
2. Keep a backup plan for the day you have to bail out, or find yourself terminated unexpectedly.
3. Prepare yourself to be talked to like a dog, and make yourself like it as long as you can.
4. Use personality and try to cajole them into giving you better loads, but this isn’t going to work in the long term.
I challenge you to show this to 10 Heartland drivers and ask them if anything above is not true. Then decide for yourself. As a former HL driver, I want to warn other drivers what they may be in for if they hire with this company. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!


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Hmmmm, good info.

I remember I talked to a manager in a yd 3 or so years ago for info. Only had to ask 1 question. I will only drive a Condo, do solos get Condo's? He said, "No, solos get the Flat-tops, Teams only get the Condo's."

I turned around and left.

 

My school really talked up heartland. I am glad to see your post onn what they are really about. No heartland for me.

 

I don't remember Heartland taking students. Seems like you had to have OTR exp. to get on with them.