heartland express 12-6-09

i work for heartland now. i will try and give you "just the facts"
1. heartland doesn't pay any holidays (except christmas) if you are sitting on thanksgiving with no load- you get no pay. (i was out thanksgiving but did get a run)
2. if your truck runs out of fuel on the highway you will pay to have a service team run out to you (no reimbursement).
3. if you are late for 1 load you are fired (no second chances)
4. you will stay out for 2 weeks or more when freight picks up. not a problem for me ( my indian name is "he who has no life) but may be a problem for someone with a life and family
5. there is a set amount of time you can run truck- if you go over that amount of time. . .you guessed it "your fired" (btw: doesn't seem to matter much that you are in the north in the cold. they don't want you running that truck to much. . .although i think there might be a provision to run it between 40 and 20. And forget about screaming "it's too hot out there" during the summer once over alloted time your in danger of loosing job).
6. they haul Sears and Kmart. i personally have run mult-stop loads for them 150-300 miles and that was it for the day (or at least until late at night). they wouldn't let me have another load because it takes time for Kmart to unload the truck by hand and by the time they're done you are out of your 14hrs (i'm using Kmart as an example but it goes for anyone).

7. i have a pretty good dispatcher- but generally the company really treat you badly. i had one night dispatcher try and curse me out- he calmed down a lot when i told him i thought it might be best if i started taping our conversation.
8. you are told to follow fueling route but if fueling when and where they told you makes you late it is your fault and once again: late = fired.
9. ignore all advertising about Heartland- if you are regional you will run up to Chicago, Delaware, Pennsylvania- my dispatcher did tell me i would not go above delaware though.
10. goes with 9 in that they do not want you running toll roads unless they say it is ok. example: no toll roads in Ohio, nothing going from indiania to ohio. i-70, and some others off limits in pennsylvania- if you drive them you pay. this is going to be a bigger problem for drivers that are otr as opposed to regional.
11. if you are going to drive for heartland GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY YOU GET A GOOD DISPATCHER

the good things are:
1. the trailers are easy to adjust (haven't had a problem pulling tandems yet)
2. free wifi at most terminals
3. you will have to always take the truck and trailer through maintance shop to have them checked out.
4. the pay is good -when your moving.

Also talk to some Heartland drivers and ask about some of these things (at least five drivers, i'd say. should give you a good feel for the company)
Good Luck 12-6-09