Halvor Lines, Superior, WI: No longer worth it

This company doesn't have APUs! I mean this is 2023...yet they claim to care about drivers.

Yes, you can idle the truck but you will end up paying for it by losing the fuel bonus which in turn reduces your CPM.

Not only that, but the aftertreatment will begin to have issues, your check engine light will come on, you will be in the shop more than you want. Sitting in the shop= no miles= no pay.

Because of all the idling the MPG they get on the trucks is horrible..something like 5.6 mpg on the older models. I think the newer ones get close to 7 mpg but that is still low compared to what it should be. And as noted above they are destroying their own equipment in the process.

At least in jail they have a toilet, running water, and some type of central air. At this company you don't get any of that. Good luck!

 

Pushing out the unpaid work/prison theme to a yearly timeframe:

70 hrs driving/8 days that is 192 hours. There are 45.62 periods of that in a year.

As shown above driving for Halvor, the reviewer said 36 hours a week. A week has 168 hours so 36/168 79% of their time is unpaid and for most of that time they are in a 4 X 8 foot airless space with no running water, and no APU. Sure they can open a window and let in hot/cold air and bugs such as mosquitoes and mice.

Anyway..

During a year 36 X 45.6 is 1641 hours spent driving. Industry average of 50 mph it works out to 82000 miles or about 41k/year before taxes.

Here's the most telling part: 79% X 365 is 288- 288 days you will be doing nothing but being prisoner in the truck, in a 4 foot by 8 foot space at the disposal and beck and call of people in the company.

That's like sitting from Jan 1st to approx Oct 17th UNPAID, in a small space, at the mercy of the company- Halvor Lines.

True, nobody works all year round, so let's say the driver takes 6 weeks off. First off that 6 weeks just reduced the drivers pay by about 5.5k. Secondly, yearly miles went down to 75k. Time spent driving decreased, and expenses were incurred, a no win situation for the driver.

 

Fuzzy math makes your argument weak. First you come up with an annual of 41k (about 800 per week) then you claim taking 6 weeks off cost 5.5k in lost wages (about 920 per week) there’s too many made up numbers to take your criticism seriously.

 

Speaking of Wisconsin solely, i didn't take Halvor Lines, Roehl or Millis to be the type of company an experienced driver would want to stay with. None of the above have APU's and that was another consideration as i sat in Georgia for a day and a half with no detention pay, how bad that heat was going to suck for a northern boy with no air. The lack of heat was bad enough and certainly not a homey environment to relax in after running your clock out trying to eat, watch tv and hydrate in your parka or in a pool of perspiration.

None of these starter companies care or they wouldn't be purchasing the crappiest trim packages with camper level foam sleeping pads so their drivers can be safe and professional by being well rested.

 

The numbers were taken from a review of Halvor Lines. I typed into Google 'halvor lines reviews' and it was the third one that came up.

The person mentioned a $900/ week average salary and average miles driven 1792.

I took those numbers and made them yearly- may be off by a bit. The more time a driver takes off, the less their earnings will be.

Spending from Jan 1st to Ocr 17th UNPAID in a 8 by 4 foot space is really eye opening.

Halvor continues to be one of the lowest paying carriers out there. Most if not all reviews complain about low pay. You must pay for miles at Halvor- isn't that illegal?

 

If it is illegal then you would need proof as in a paper trail. If anything, it's unfair to the other drivers that are supposed to be a brotherhood, but I think that ship sailed 2 generations ago.

 

Easy to solve.

Get one of these cameras like police wear, only smaller wear it while doing what needs to be done.

Surprised someone hasn't done it already.

Then post the video here, on YouTube, give it to lawyers, law enforcement etc...

 

Basically it sounds like another pos Wisconsin company. After my experience with Schneider, Millis, and Veriha(which is run by ex-Schneider goons)it’ll be a cold day in Hades before I voluntarily go to another company based in that state. They all seem to have the same modus operandi—- low pay, micromanagement to the point of insanity, usually a training company and maintenance is usually done by an inept 3rd party company. Oh and mostly cheap spring ride trailers so good luck on not getting freight claims.

 

You can say ' all Wisconsin companies are bad companies'...

Halvor (top of the list)

Paper Transport (runner up)

Millis
Veriha
Roehl
America's Service Line
Probably 1 or 2 I've forgotten.

Marten I don't know too much about. Can't comment there. But,

One thing stands out with WI companies is they limit your pay. They have it in their heads because they are 'office workers' or 'fleet managers' that they should be making more money than drivers.

So, if the office worker (let's say employee in safety dept) makes 45000/year, no driver should make more than them. Or, if they are fleet managers/driver managers and they make lets say 50k/year, just because they sit at a desk inside, no driver should make more than them.

That's the Wisconsin mentality.

They even limit a drivers miles. Example, up to Wednesday of any week, they try to keep drivers at about 1000 miles. Then work them hard the rest of the week and the driver ends up with 1800 to 1900 miles. $950 less taxes, take home $650.

$650 for being in a truck all week away from family.

Halvor will run you all weekend like a dog to make that 7am Monday appt in Philadelphia (coming from MN/WI) then give you a 1000 mile backhaul with 4 days to complete it. That's a weeks work for 2000 miles.

Now imagine taking time off how your pay gets reduced.

That's what they try to do. All WI companies do that.

Then on top of that getting talked down to and as someone said micromanagement. Where to stop, where to fuel, where to take your 10, how to drive, how many gallons to put in...etc...

 

You have intimate knowlege of above stated companies? You've worked at quite a few places.....