Heartland Express is doing good

Safety and insurance can be a factor, but it may not be the insurance companies. Companies like Heartland that require at least a year of experience and do not hire students do it because 1. they are highly service oriented to their customers and experience plays a key role and 2. once you have been in the industry for at least a year you have learned a lot about the requirements of being an over the road driver and probably know if it is a good fit for you or not. Many new drivers change companies often because the expectations of being over the road did not match up with what it is really like. Heartland does not like turnover and tries to build longevity with their drivers, with drivers knowing exactly what they are getting into coming in the door.

This is nothing against newbie drivers, everyone has to start somewhere.

 

Hey Truthin you should include when and if you got home for the weekend in those posts. I know that you probibly go home every couple of weeks. But most will not assume that. Since OTR drivers at many company's are required to be out 4+ weeks at a time.
You get better miles than I do most of the time. But I am not system, and I am home every weekend, so that is expected.

 

hahahaha.......some of these forums are funny!
Having said that, I can't imagine that whatever goes on in Indiana (or wherever) is the same that goes on in Georgia (or wherever)!
I'm glad HEARTLAND EXPRESS is working for you......somebody has to be happy over there....I see tons of your trucks in FLORIDA AND GEORGIA and everywhere else! Good Luck to you!...........

and if you ARE a recruiter, call me, I want those miles.....hehehe........

 

I do not believe that rail will ever make much of a dent in trucking. In order to do so they would have to make tens of thousands of new miles of rail. And that just will not happen in this day and age.
Rail is at about 80% capacity right now. If they get to 100%, and even maybe get 10% new capacity, it would still only effect maybe 5% of trucking capacity.
And the amount of freight that needs to be moved is expected to increase every year with the population.
The shorter hauls and relay will keep rising in trucking though.

They will finish widening the panama canal by the year 2014. That will allow the largest of the ships to have an easy path to the East coast. This will change allot of things because 70% of the population of the US lives East of the Mississippi river. So the vast majority of the freight that comes off ships on the west coast now, will start to come to Gulf and Eastern Ports. Not to California.
So the import freight that now runs West to East will dry up fast. And most of the California ports will close.
Allot of freight that now goes rail west to east will stay on ship to Savannah and other lower ports. Then get on rail in those locations.
Or will be on shuttle runs from the South to North.

Long runs will change to more and more line haul shuttle runs. With teams where they can get them.

One of the reasons I came to Heartland when I did was due to the way they had the terminals gridded. And the fact that they were and are a short to med haul carrier. They will not have to change much with the times. It is all they have ever done. The lanes will change. The contracts will change. But the basic setup of the company will not need to.

 

No...Love the information your posting. I've got my application in & working with Scott now. I currently pull for Roehl. Roehl is a BS company. A mistake I made thinking I could do the 7/7 fleet. I so need a change into better equipment, professionalism, respect, and the pay to go with safe on-time experience.

I just want to go to work without hassle. Hassle me if I show myself incompetent. I'm a professional. I know how to manage my time from the start of a dispatch, getting on time p/u & deliveries while still looking ahead conserving valuable time in keeping me productive everyday I'm out. I'm safe and guard my license from traffic violations. I understand and personally value a safe truck and trailer, fuel economy & idle time. I'm clean cut, dress conservatively, and practice daily high personal hygiene.

I'm hoping HL is a fit. I'm being optimistic. I for one appreciate your posts.

 

All I hear is everyone bashing everyone. We're supposed to be truckers at heart and trying to help. I understand that recruiters can say whatever on here. I currently go out for 6-8 weeks and have 5 days of home time in between. Is it ideal? Of course not but I'm just trying to survive and pay my bills. I'm not getting rich but don't expect to either. I'm just looking for a nice balance between home time and making a decent living. Would this be Heartland? The company I'm currently working for doesn't pay that well and I've had down time due to four broken trailers in a 7-week time-frame. My APU has now been out of commission for two weeks and they told me I should get it fixed on my home time. I realize that every company isn't the greatest and you're not going to get rich but all I want to do is my job, do it well and be compensated accordingly. Oh, BTW, I would sure like my APU to be fixed so that I don't have to sweat all night.