Any Info about Heartland Express??

Ralph4159...

Thank you for your post... I also have another thread .. reaching out to heartland drivers.. where I am asking for any heartland drivers who are happy and want to state the positives about the company so they can give encouragement to those of us from Gordon. Sadly I am not having much success.

Even their own Facebook page does not contain truly comforting testimonials. ..

 

The post on Heartlands FB right after the merger about differences between Gordons pay and heartlands, when it comes to practical mileage pay and short load pay was by me btw. I feel comfortable saying that, because I know heartland knows who I am on here, and reads these posts.
But on that. I am always 100% honest in what I say on here. Positive and negative. When they approached me a few years ago about my posts here and on FB I told them straight out, that I would not change the way I post. I only state what happens to me and my experiences. All honestly, good and bad.
I do not run system for Heartland, would not run full OTR for anyone anymore. Especially now that I have moved to FL and have my wife away from family.

 

I want to be positive, believe me. The money is better than my previous company too. I have only been here a couple of months so might have just got hooked up with a bad dispatcher. My problem is that when they start to become snarky and demeaning over the phone I know how to immediately give it back and cut them down. Unfortunately, that puts me on a black list.

 

Chromedome... I truly appreciate your posts and respect your honesty. I consider you a valuable resource while considering my future. I am taken back a bit that they actually approached you about your posts. I am sure they have identified me as well since everyone at my terminal knows my identity.. I'M BATMAN.. sorry .. couldn't resist....

My kneejerk reaction was to explode.. but now I will wait and see.. if things change not to my liking then I hope we can part with mutual respect. I have left several trucking companies over the years and they would all hire me back should I desire.

Ralph.. I feel your pain... lol.. but your experiences are not unique to heartland.. most companies out there have problems with dispatch issues in both directions.. in many cases the people you deal with on the other end of the phonestill Iinstinctively want to ask.. "would you like fries with that" .. give them a chance to learn and help them become better at their job as you become better at yours...

 

Yea, I spend time trying to train dispatchers allot lol. My primary ones have always been pretty good. A few were great, like Larry at Columbus. My primary dispatcher now is Matt in IA. He is not a former driver and it is easy to see it. But he has been around a while and seems to have a pretty good grasp on things. Not the most social person, but getting better over time.
It is hard to get dispatchers to understand that an extra minute on the phone to be human can help allot. Take or give a joke. Be nice and respectful, and treat the driver as a person not a truck number.
If they do this, even if they are giving you the short end of the stick, you don't feel so bad. And it does help if they explain why something is happening. If there really is nothing better, then take what you can get and run the miles. If I see that you are at least trying I feel more confident in my dispatch.
He is learning. And I have seen improvement. And his boss, the guy that runs my fleet was a driver. And He really tries hard for his drivers.

On the thing in the terminal.
I was surprised when they approached me. I did not try to hide who I was on here at all. Heck, had a pic of myself for a long time, have given my truck number etc.
I was just surprised they said anything.
But the approach was good. They thanked me for posting here and in other places and asked me to please keep doing it. Nobody believes a recruiter. So they want actual drivers telling it like it is. Which is good, I told the regional ops director that if he wanted to try and persuade me to be a shill then he would be looking for another driver. I refuse to lie or mislead anyone. I was on here before Heartland, and if I go, I will be here after.
But forums like this have a tendency to draw in mostly the people with negative things to say. They loose their job, or quit and have an attitude, so it is nice when you see people that are just talking about their experience in an honest manner, and you can tell it is not sugar or acid coated.

I am not a driver recruiter, and I refuse to be. I am one of their guys that they give out numbers for to new drivers with the company. So if they have questions about people net, or anything else they can call to ask. I don't get a ton of calls. And some of the drivers have needed allot more help than anyone could possibly give them without being in the truck with them. But I do what I can. Heartland is not a training company. So they have a couple dozen of us to help out the new guys when they need it.

 

Keep up the posts.. I hope someday we may cross paths... maybe I might get down to florida and we could go out and you could buy me a beer..

And you could come to Tennessee and you could buy me a beer....

You know.. chromedome I am noticing a pattern here... does heartland know you have a drinking problem

 

When I worked for Crete, I loved reading these forums and getting tips and info from other Crete drivers. I think I know now why there isn't that much posting activity regarding Heartland: simply not enough time. I now work more, yes more than 14 hours every day. Also, there are so many relays that just as you've planned every detail on one trip, they pull you off it and put you on a 3-stop that requires additional planning.

The other difference from Crete is that much of the pickups and deliveries are at very odd times - either during rush hour or in the middle of the night. During orientation, the instructor said that 70% of the freight would be drop & hook. That is one thing that was totally false. At least 80% of my loads are live.

Also, Heartland doesn't reimburse for anything. I had been through several blizzards and had to use a lot of washer fluid (I had also not been through a terminal for 2 weeks). I bought some washer fluid and submitted the receipt with the transflo. They later contacted me and told me they don't reimburse for that. What is weirder still is that a few weeks later when I was at a terminal, I asked the mechanic if I could fill one of my empty containers with washer fluid. He said "no" they don't allow that, and he could only directly hose fill my reservoir.

Another thing is that when they were first issuing us trucks, I asked about straps (I have my own but was just asking). The instructor said that Heartland never uses straps or load locks so I would never need them. Sure enough I have had several loads that required straps - even loads where they wouldn't let you leave the gate without a strap. Recently I was in the middle of a trip and once again they made me relay (even though I had the hours). I had a $20 strap sealed inside. The other driver said he didn't have a strap to give me. When I asked for reimbursement, once again Heartland said "no". Also no for anti-gel.

As far as the "Heartland Cares" money, I have only seen it once in 3 months. I was given $15 for a load which took 2 hours to live load and then take 25 miles to a terminal (no mileage pay at all). I have had multiple detentions at shippers/receivers for up to 15 hours and even had to hunt for an empty at multiple locations (over a hundred miles apart) and taking over 24 hours - yet never got the Cares money once.

i can't really say Heartland is worse than Crete. I'm grossing more per week. The East Coast "Green Miles" when I get 51 CPM are nice. But overall, the hours are insane and I'm probably making the equivalent of $8 an hour where at Crete maybe $9. One of the frustrating things is that for some reason the Heartland customer base seems to include tons of horrible horrible grocery warehouses and other chaotic vendors who seem to relish taking 4-7 hour to load/unload. Only one time in 3 months have I been able to actually use my 11 driving hours.

*Am now delivering at a customer in the heart of DC. My appointment was 0300 so I got here at 0215. It's now just before 10am and they are *just* starting to unload. Unbelievable!

 

Pretty accurate, and sounds like my experiences too.

The 48 cents per mile made up for it, and I averaged $1k/week, so I looked at the bigger picture rather than a short run with no money.

The Green Miles pay isn't enough to make me want to go into the northeast but as System driver your under forced dispatch so whatever.

Talk to the other drivers in the fuel bay at a terminal. Biggest issue is probably home time, or lack of it. Promises for home time, then the lies, just 1 more week, wears you out.

 

Wow... you guys really know how to cheer a fellow up.....lol

I am trying to keep a positive outlook on things but i am also preparing plan B,C and D.

I have a lot to lose by leaving so i plan on giving it a chance. As long as i am making money i can deal with certain issues but not for long. There are just far too many choices out there to stay somewhere that i am not happy.

I dont really believe they want to replace a lot of drivers right away so they may take it slow with us at gordon.

But, i could be wrong.

Thanks guys....keep up the posts

 

One question for you guys... at gti I stay out 4 weeks and go home for 4 to 5 days. I run the u.s. fleet.
Is this something that can be done under heartlands system?