Halvor Lines, Superior, WI: No longer worth it

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by snowbegone, Jun 26, 2009.

  1. Farrell 67

    Farrell 67 Light Load Member

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    Jan 22, 2010
    Wilkes Barre Pa.
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    Think again.Marten is a dirtbag bottom feeder these days.They have plenty of miles for railhead freight, but if you're not train engineer it's gonna suck for you.Look foward to a decent start, than the 1,500 -1,700 mile weeks begin and dont go away.

    They are also screwing drivers by forcing per deim on them.Years ago,Blue Bird was the stuff.Not anymore..

    They are just a Swift with reefers.Dont waste your time at Marten.
     
    Western flyer and fighting sioux Thank this.
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  3. veteran_rookie

    veteran_rookie Bobtail Member

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    Jan 24, 2010
    Forest Lake, MN
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    Glad to see all these people telling the truth about this outfit.

    Let me also add that Halvor has always been too cheap to build additional terminals. This means all maintenance has to be done in Superior. With 400 trucks and a shop that isn't even open 24/7, I don't need to get into details about how long the wait times can be. If you live close to Duluth, at least you can go home. Otherwise you're screwed.

    Their shop foremans seriously have their heads and hind ends wired the wrong way. I broke down once out west in July to the point where my truck was overheating due to a faulty thermostat. It would idle but trying to climb hills it got too hot, cut horsepower and eventually wouldn't move without getting hot. Their shop kept tring to push me to get the truck back to Duluth, IN 90+ degree heat in Utah when I have the 3 sisters and the rest of I-80 in Wyoming to climb? I finally told him I would find the nearest open DOT scale and be sure it got fixed the right way. Then they were more than willing to find me a shop.

    Also, do not work for these guys if you live near Minneapolis/St. Paul. They were constantly trying to bother me into doing local delivery busy work on my hometime. And I live over a half hour from their dropyard. I would say almost 80% of their backhauls come to the Twin Cities. They let their favorite drivers drop their Monday deliveries in a dropyard next to the refinery in Rosemount while the rest of them have to sit on their 800-900 mile friday loads till Monday. I did this for them once after after that they started bothering me every weekend or every time I was home.

    Halvor Lines needs to stop being cheap and build more terminals. The world does not revolve around Duluth. They seem to have a love affair with warehouse space since they lose accounts so often.
     
  4. diesel_weasel

    diesel_weasel Medium Load Member

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    Oct 6, 2008
    Rochester, MN
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    OMG! You actually got to do a long run west of the Mississippi River in a HL truck? Were you part of the "West Coast click" the original poster mentioned?
     
  5. diesel_weasel

    diesel_weasel Medium Load Member

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    Oct 6, 2008
    Rochester, MN
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    In fairness I understand from a business aspect why Halvor and other medium sized outfits (200-1000 trucks) do things the way they do with Quallcom, Fuel Solutions, etc.

    Problem is when you only think about business and your bottom line , you leave the most important part of your business, the driver, standing out in the cold. And in fairness, Halvor used to let us bypass these cruddy fuel stops if they couldn't work with the log book or for other reasons, at least when I was still there. Not sure if they still allow it, the last few times I tried it they allowed me new fuel stops but sent me through the ringer as to why.

    I see Halvor is puling reefers again, at least they're doing something truly smart and money-wise. Rumor has it they bailed out their smaller sister company, Sue Vinje Trucking. I am also seeing Halvor Trucks pulling Kreilkamp trailers and vice versa. Not sure what is going on there.

    Millis (Black River Falls), another used to be good company, is now converting to electronic logs. It wouldn't surprise me if Halvor followed suit soon, since the option was available to be turned on on the new Quallcoms over 2 years ago.

    Instead of bending over and taking it these small to Medium sized outfits ought to band together in a huge class action lawsuit, And really give the insurance companies and government agencies the finger. There's enough of these mid-sized companies with Con Agra and General Mills accounts that could literally shut down the country for a few days or weeks if they wanted to.
     
  6. Lonesome

    Lonesome Mr. Sarcasm

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    Dec 15, 2007
    Northern Indiana
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    I see the "terminal" in South Bend has a big "DRIVERS WANTED" banner out front.
     
  7. Shep Shiloh

    Shep Shiloh Medium Load Member

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    Feb 12, 2008
    IN
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    You also gotta love the KW dealer next door sitting a few ex-Werner trucks at the west end of their lot that it looks like they are sitting on Halvor's property.
     
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  8. gear_grinder

    gear_grinder Bobtail Member

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    May 21, 2010
    cannon falls, mn
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    I remember a certain ex US president who held up his left hand and proclaimed "the right hand now knows what the left is doing." typical day at the office or in the truck at Halvor Lines.

    Worked here twice, once in the late 1990's and the latest stint from 2001 to last July. This company has truly gone downhill fast, but the last two years were the worst. True some of it can be blamed on the economy. But a continued lack of communication between drivers and dispatchers and dispatchers among themsleves is the big problem here. Combine that with a complete disregard for a drivers comfort, well being, and safety and this is what official puts these guys into the scumbag barrel along with so many others.

    I agree nearly 100% with what is posted here already, we all have our own versions and horror stories though. With all the brown nosers walking around the terminal up there I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt betrayed, stepped on and neglected. Also surprised I'm not the first one to post here.

    They are quick to yank your safety bonus (money they basically hold over your head, allowing them to pay you cheap, substandard base pay). They will yank it for any ticket, warning, or any minor accident or incident.

    They will transfer your seniority if you've stayed at your current job more than a year, but you could have 20+ years of experience and end up starting out at .31/.32/.33 per mile. what a crock.

    Speaking of safety, they are quick to rag on drivers over every minor infraction, but are slow in fixing their raggety old trucks. If you break down on the road, they will do everything in their power to get you to drive unsafe equipment back to their terminal, where it will take forever and a day to get worked on and fixed. And then its like palying the lottery if they even get it fixed correctly.

    One guy I know had an alternator fried on him, so HL in their almighty wisdom told him to clip some wires on his rigmaster so it would run constantly.

    I had a truck with Super Single tires, and they were so out of balance and worn badly that they would shake things off the shelves in the bunk going down the road. 10+ write ups at the shop and tires that were 60,000 miles prematurely shot finally got the problem fixed.

    Favoritsm for their favorite drivers and the shaft for the rest of us. Why is their a strict "no drivers in the dispatch office policy", yet I've seen at least three guys walk back there and pick up their own (and probably someone else's) load paperwork? All they would offer me my last year their was short runs to WI, IA and IL my last year there, on top of trying to force their non-favorite drivers to go to Canada all the time.

    Idiotic fueling and routing requirements. 65 MPH Trucks too slow to begin with that turn themsleves down to 62 MPH whenever they feel like it, due to no fault of the driver.

    Stevens-like and Swift-like idle policies with no way to compensate for hot or cold weather.

    Their Van dispatch was horrendous, Flatbed was not much better. Usually I was stuck with vans and reefers because their flatbed accounts were always falling apart. Could it be that their lack of communication was passed on to customers as well? In 2008 when they bought out Timberline is when the fit really started to hit the shan.

    A lot of people that work here have their heads in the clouds and still think that this is a good company. Even some of the drivers that have been here 15 to 20 plus years refuse to see that the outfit is going to hell. They say ignorance is bliss. Well if you like Ignorance and arrogance, Halvor Lines is the job for you!!!

    I could go on and on about why to stay away from this outfit. 8 years ago I would have said "Come on in, the water's fine!" today I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, or recommend them to my worst enemy.
     
  9. gear_grinder

    gear_grinder Bobtail Member

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    May 21, 2010
    cannon falls, mn
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    Oh yeah one more thing, taking your truck home and living near the twin cities turns you into one of their local go-to guys. Don't answer your phone on the weekend, they will try to guilt trip you into delivering local freight for cheap, on top of cutting in to your short hometime.
     
  10. diesel_weasel

    diesel_weasel Medium Load Member

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    Oct 6, 2008
    Rochester, MN
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    I just checked their website, and they still have "HOME WEEKLY" posted under benefits. This needs to be taken down. Even back in 2007, there were at least several times where I was forced to stay out 8 or 9 days against my will. Not that I can't handle it, I am currently out usually 2-3 weeks at a time with my current company. But Halvor Lines should not make promises they can't keep.

    Also, when I was hired, I was told by both management and dispatch "We do not sit our trucks or layover on the east coast" Yeah I don't need to get into details about how that one goes. Once again, making promises they can't deliver on.

    Unorganized dispatch and lack of freight period was ther reason I finally left. Last year it didn't matter if you were one of the suck-ups or not, even they were sitting around for days waiting for freight. Things really got bad after they bought out Timberline.

    With that said how is it possible for me to tell 4 different dispatchers for a month straight that I need to be home a certain weekend for a family reunion, and they still manage to almost screw it up? According to the recruiting video striaght off of their website: "that's what its really about...family"

    Soooooooo..... Vinje Family...why not start living up to your unkept promises. that's what its really about: KEEPING YOUR WORD

    If the owners, dispatchers and managers care at all, they could still turn this outfit around. I doubt it will ever happen but it would be nice to see it.
     
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  11. Lonesome

    Lonesome Mr. Sarcasm

    10,158
    19,834
    Dec 15, 2007
    Northern Indiana
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    I talked to a Halvor driver Thursday at a customer. He told me the South Bend terminal was closing. He also said that there were a lot of trucks sitting in Superior, and a lot less cars in the parking lot. And that he was looking for a different company.
     
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