Any Info about Heartland Express??

All our freight is dispatched out in regions. So you will get planned by the planner in the region you are in. Northeast region is out of Carlisle is about the worst one mileage wise that I know of. All loads are very short. They put most of them back to back. And you can get some running done. But if you get empty in an area where they have a large account, they will put you on the load out of that account to make sure it is covered. This can suck bad. Since you may have to wait for it. They take all the first trucks available to cover the ones they need for the contract. Then later trucks empty in the area will haul the less important contracts. Thus you may be sitting and waiting for your pickup, while a guy empty 3 hours after you will have a drop and hook up the street.
That gets old fast. I can understand why they do it. But I do not agree with the practice.

I am in Ohio regional. They seem to have some of the best freight. And nowhere near enough trucks to haul it. Every week we are short. And many of our loads are good miles, and not allot of extra time. The problem is that 80% of them will go East. Then you will be on Northeast region boards for a day or so before you can get back.
In my region I can get home almost every weekend though. In other regions this may not always be the case. And system drivers can have an even harder time getting home every other week.

System and Northeast regional drivers make the best mileage rates. By at least .04 over other drivers. And a Northeast regional driver driving east of I-83 will make .08 cpm more than me, if I am not in that area. But if they only get 1700 miles, and I get 2200+, I still do better.

I am surprised that they will take you without recent OTR. Normally they want at least 1 year in the past 3 years. Unless they are having you do the refresher program. I am not sure how that works though. They do not have regular training, since we only accept experienced drivers.
Many of our new drivers have been from Werner lately. I would say as many as 30% of them.

 

the recruiter said it would be fine since I run logs everyday. I fill for drivers on vacation that are linehaul which sometimes (rarely though) requires staying out all week (in hotels). But usually over half the year I will drive line haul at least doing 430+ miles a day. Thanks alot for the info but Im a little nervous about starting here because of that. Im taking a pay cut to change companies so I need a definite sure thing, any maybes and im out. I dont need to quit my job just to get to the unpaid orientation and have them give me the boot or send me on a refresher for a month or so. I was choosing heartland for the money but not being able to have a fridge I feel like i will eat up my money on food or get fat off chef boyardee.
I dont think I mentioned my location: western NC. I would run out of Kingsport TN but I would be living about 1.5 hours away from the terminal thats why i was concerned about driving home and eating up hometime. I was also looking at Smith Transport and Boyd Bros. I just dont see why these OTR companies pay so low and have such high insurance when they want to own your life while you live in their truck. Its crazy

anyway the whole OTR vs local thing companies do aggravate me to death. all truck drivers do the same thing: wait until they have a load then take off and get as much as they can get done until you run out of time.

 

I would say that the typical local class A delivery driver can probably drive as well or better than any OTR driver. At least when it comes to dealing with traffic and backing. 2 areas that tend to cause issues.
The only reason I can see for company's not wanting to take local experience is that the local driver does not have to deal with the same amount of route planning, and varying conditions as a full OTR driver.
I have been OTR this time for 5 years. I have at least 6 years local experience as well. But they do not count that at all when setting my pay.
Which is probably the real reason they will not accept local experience. They do not want to pay what you are worth.

 

In no way does local prepare you for OTR.

I recently had a co-driver who proudly proclaimed he had 30 years experience. He couldn't read a map, follow a route or finish a shift. All he could do was shift good and he was super proud of that. It turned out his experience was mostly in local consruction. I would call him more of an equipment operator than a truck driver.

I've had it with teams. Which is why I am talking to Heartland now. I would be working the Jacksonville region.

 

Im talking about making deliveries up to 130 miles away on day shift and on night shift driving 430 - 540 miles between terminals. If a truck driver drives miami to west palm to orlando to ft meyers then back to miami, this is a guy that can follow directions regardless of his title. Im not talking about a yard jockey or going down the street a few times a day. I can understand that there are some local drivers that might work the dock and make some deliveries in town but come on. Reading a map is middle school level. And theres even GPS if you dont pay attention well.

They could have applicants take an aptitude test but like chromedome said. Its a pay issue. Why pay you more when they can pay you less. Plus Heartland is pretty good pay for OTR to start with.

 

I am very interested in Heartland's Atlanta Regional. My main reasons are hometime and driving close to home instead of OTR as well as nice equipment and elogs to help maintain a good CSA score. I will have my required 1 year OTR in December and look to make the move after the Christmas season. Any regional advice/insight would be greatly appreciated - especially if you are in the Atlanta regional. Thanks

 

Chromedome are you still with heartland? I was wondering about the vacation and the holiday schedule if you could let me know. Im about to suck it up and come over. having issues with my dispatcher that wont get resolved.

 

Sorry I have not been on here allot.
I have had no issues with hometime. Had 1 week that they had to bend over backwards to get me here. But got home.

 

Heartland gives 1 week paid vacation after 1 year, 2 weeks after 3 years.
As far as holidays, I believe if you let your dispatcher know in advance they do their best to get you home.

 

hubby with another company as i type but unhappy no miles and have to fight for hometime, just wondering how happy everone is I know not everyone will be postive stay safe