Heartland Express Does It Again, Raising Pay to a Whole New

Heartland Express Does It Again, Raising Pay to a Whole New Level


CORALVILLE, IA. - Heartland Express, Inc. of Iowa the perennial leader for driver pay in the truckload industry announced today that they are doing it again! Heartland has announced that they are raising pay an additional 4 cents. This raise will take their over-the-road company drivers to an unprecedented $.50 per mile in all the areas they run and owner operators to $.95 per mile BEFORE any additional pay for fuel stabilization! Heartland's GREEN MILE$ program (an additional bonus for drivers who run in the NE area of the country known as the GREEN ZONE) will continue to pay a 4 cents premium per mile for a top pay of $.54 per mile!
Russell Gerdin, President and CEO of Heartland stated, "it is my goal, above all else, to raise the driver pay rate to a level equal to the effort the job requires. Drivers simply need to earn more. If I do nothing else for the industry, I will do whatever it takes to move driver pay higher. I think offering fifty cents per mile is a step in this direction."

Included in this pay raise Heartland stated that they will be offering compensation for those drivers who hold a hazardous materials endorsement (HAZMAT) on their commercial driver's licenses. Virtually all of the current drivers in the Heartland fleet hold this endorsement and for this will receive a penny per mile increase in pay. Drivers who join Heartland Express without holding the HAZMAT endorsement will receive this penny per mile increase, once they acquire the endorsement if they choose to do so.

John Cosaert, Executive Vice President and CFO commented, "with the new laws governing HAZMAT endorsements, Heartland is taking a leadership position in compensating those drivers who hold it. While HAZMAT loads are a very very small portion of the freight we haul, we do believe the drivers who can manage these loads deserve to be recognized with additional pay."

According to a recent industry survey the average driver pay for three years experience (according to those companies who completed the survey) is just under $.35 per mile. With this pay raise, drivers with the same experience at Heartland will earn 35% more per mile than that average.

Heartland Express is an irregular route truckload carrier based in Coralville, Iowa serving customers with primary shipping lane east of the Rocky Mountains and the southwest United States. They offer long-haul, regional, and dedicated opportunities.

 

lol...you guys crack me up! You need to do a bit of research, or ask a driver about the company!

 

Driver Pay and Benefits
With expectations come rewards. We expect to hire the experienced drivers who can flat-out perform, so we recognize that our compensation must be superior. And it is.

Pay
Heartland offers industry leading pay rates and we believe in paying for that experience – meaning if you have more experience you will make more from your first day with Heartland. Check out these pay rates:

System Drivers (OTR)
(with safety bonus & hazmat)
12/31/05 4/1/06 7/1/06 9/30/06
1 year experience $.44 $.45 $.46 $.47
2 years experience $.445 $.455 $.465 $.475
3 years experience $.45 $.46 $.47 $.48
4 years experience $.455 $.465 $.475 $.485
5 years experience $.46 $.47 $.48 $.49
6 years experience $.465 $.475 $.485 $.495
7 years experience $.47 $.48 $.49 $.50


Regional Driver
(with safety bonus & hazmat)
12/31/05
1 year experience $.42
2 years experience $.425
3 years experience $.43
4 years experience $.435
5 years experience $.44
6 years experience $.445
7 years experience $.45




Benefits
Balance is important in life. You must protect yourself from risks and build prosperity for the future. We offer a superior health, dental, disability, and life plan. We also offer a matching 401k retirement savings program, paid vacation, and more. It's more than great pay and benefits... it's a commitment to your future.

Heartland Express takes great pride in its modern, state of the art fleet of tractors and trailers. Satellite monitoring allows our operation and our customers critical information exchange capabilities while shipments are in route.

Introducing the International 9400i tractor. This model offers significantly more interior room, has aluminum alloy front wheels, engine brake, 300 gallon fuel capacity, and front fender mirror. Heartland will be replacing their entire tractor fleet with the International model. This is projected to be completed by the end of 2006.

Heartland’s trailers are Wabash Duraplate Superwide Vans, offering more cargo capacity for our customers.

This is one example of Heartland's commitment to keeping our equipment new, avoiding breakdowns and service interruptions to our customers, and virtually eliminating downtime for our “driving force.”



“The Driver is Key”

Russell Gerdin , Founder, President, and CEO of Heartland Express states, “I believe in our drivers and believe drivers have the hardest job in the industry. I have spent a lifetime defending and lobbying for the driver. I will continue to do so. I will stand before this industry and take a leadership role declaring that we as an industry have to do more for our drivers.”

At Heartland, truer words have never been spoken.

This section of the site is for those people who have dedicated themselves to Heartland Express – our drivers and owner operators. If you are a current driver with Heartland we hope you find some things here that interest you. If you are interested in joining Heartland, please feel free to look through these pages to get the real picture of life as a Heartland driver or operator.

To our Drivers – our hat is off to you, we thank you for everything you do!


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