HeartLand Express Unaccountability

Good question, @haz-matguru. We have actually increased maximum mileage pay to $0.555 CPM (up from $0.52 CPM). For an experienced driver, they will be eligible for that figure in several of our divisions on day 1.

Less-experienced drivers aren't quite going to get there, but that isn't different from any career, right? More time with your company oftentimes means more pay whether you drive trucks or have another career.

 

Mileage pay is only a small part of the equation when a knowledgeable driver is looking at a carrier.

 

To be fair I was on guaranteed weekly pay when I worked the Texas Regional Fleet out of the Dallas area in 2013.

 

Good morning, @Expedite69. You bring up an interesting point. I'd like to set aside supply and demand for a moment. What if we are simply taking this responsive and open approach to simply be better examples of how trucking companies can treat drivers? What if there's no hidden agenda? Wouldn't that just be the right thing to do?

 

Absolutely. Great point. You seem to be knowledgeable about the industry... what questions would you recommend a job-seeking driver be asking of the companies they're considering?

 

Thanks, @Expedite69. That's constructive feedback. We won't comment on what other companies advertise or are doing, Commenting only in regard to Heartland Express, our model is that the drivers are key to our operations. While we wouldn't have much of a business without our customers, we wouldn't be able to serve those customers without the key—the drivers. That's not intended to be a revolutionary line of thinking, but more of a guide to doing business.

One other note, we don't participate in lease-purchase programs. Being a debt-free company, we've developed a model in which we're typically trading in our company trucks after 3 years (as an example, we will have moved on from our 2015s by the end of this year).

 

What happened to Heart of a trucker's did he quit

 

Fantastic post! I don't exactly know what the statistics are, but some of us are educated and trucking is a step down. The problem with some of us is our former careers don't exist anymore, or we don't want to take another position only to be downsized again.

 

I'm driving for Heartland currently and I honestly got to say I don't think this thread is a fair representation. At least currently how things stand here. Granted I have only been driving for a year with just about 3 months here at Heartland. I do feel like I can give some meaningful input though.

I don't post unless I see a thread that is very relevant to me and the last one was about how much Schneider sucks and why I quit. Almost the entire time I was at Schneider I was dissatisfied and hated it there and the resentment only grew the longer I stayed there. Those feelings have only solidified now that I have another company to compare to.

I can safely say I'm satisfied with Heartland. Even when I was talking to the recruiter I was already skeptical because of my experience with Schneider but nothing he told me was flat out false. I'll just give a few anecdotes. I was making 35 cpm at Schneider and what immediately drew me over to Heartland was the recruiter told me I could start at 45 cpm if I did 2 week regional or all 48 4 week (No hazmat Endorsement). He said I would be getting at least 2500 miles a week which has held true for all my weeks except a couple. In fact most weeks I am over 3,000 or very close depending on how you want to count it.

First thing that stuck out to me when I showed up for orientation they had me down for 44 cpm and orientation guy said that was because I only had 9 months experience. I told him the recruiter said I would be making 45 cpm. He sent an email and 5 minutes later the issue was corrected. Second thing: when I received my truck the inside was completely detailed and cleaned. Third thing: they let me bobtail home (50 miles) so I could put all my gear in the truck easier. When they dispatched me to pick up a load from the yard they actually paid me for the 50 miles driven back to the terminal.

That may be insignificant to some people but those small gestures already made me appreciate the company. At schneider my first truck was absolutely filthy and I had to spend a few hours cleaning it before I even felt comfortable sitting in it. Their terminal was also only 30 miles from my house but they would not let me take it home just to load stuff. Citing "those miles are out of route" and "we've had problems with units being towed in neighborhoods". I didn't even have to justify myself at heartland. I just asked and they said okay.

I would always hear people say companies like Heartland have a higher base pay because you don't get as many miles. Well that is categorically false in my case. It's possible that it's because I'm doing all 48 on a 4 week rotation so I don't have the constraints that regional or home every weekend people have. A lot of the times though I end up running in one region anyway so I'm not sure. The simple fact is I'm getting paid 10 cpm more, running more miles and in a truck that is equipped with an APU and inverter which I had neither of at Schneider. So you could see why it would be hard for me to unhappy here because the grass is actually greener. I'm sure it also has something to do with Schneider being a trainer company and heartland not.

There are a couple of things I can give schneider some points for over Heartland though. The mobile app they have that can show you your load assignments and empty trailers is super convenient. I really missed having that the first few weeks I was here. Also the 24/7 support apparatus that schneider had is definitely superior to Heartland's. I run nights and I could easily go a week without directly interacting with my DM and still get good miles. Schneider's support shift could pull and give loads just as easily as my DM but it seems I have to go through my DM at Heartland which isn't an issue as long as they are there. You can certainly tell when they take a vacation or having a sick day which were the worst weeks I've had here. It just seems like you become an afterthought until your DM is back. I imagine that varies by terminal though.

The night support seems impotent for the most part which sucks for me because that's when I run. Some examples...when I switched units the first run I was doing (at night) I couldn't get gas so I called and got re-authorized and authorized at another fuel stop. Still didn't work so finally he's just like "What do you want me to do? Just wait till morning" Wtf lol. I barely had enough to get where I needed to and it turned out someone had put my truck # in wrong. Another time I showed up at a customer for a live load after hours. The BoL number I had did not match but I was on the books to be loaded and I had the destination right. I called. They said they couldn't help me and I'd have to wait till morning. I just think that's silly. It's like the night people are basically placeholders, they seem to be there just to answer questions and emergencies. Same thing for weekends but to a lesser extent. Usually I'm planned up for the entire weekend by the time my DM goes home but if not...ugh it can be hit or miss.

Seriously though. Those are the only things that I can say inherently bother me about heartland but they become less of a problem as I get more familiar with how they run things here.

Oh and all that whining some of you guys are doing doing about the idling...wtf? That's pretty par for the course at a mega, no? The APU for the internationals keeps me very comfortable and the truck autostarts when the power runs low and if the temp is hot/cold enough the truck will idle nonstop. It's not tied to any stupid bonus like at other megas.

And the inspection lanes...3 hours really? I've never sat more than 30 minutes waiting in the inspection lane( I do run nights though) so it's always early in the morning if I first come into a terminal.

Like I said though I've only been doing this a year so maybe someone with more experience can chime in and tell me what I'm missing. I mean I know there are companies that would be a better deal, especially smaller ones but that is how any system in life works. Usually the smaller it is, the more focused it can be leading to higher quality. It's diminishing returns. The bigger a company the more the quality is going to drop. It's a precarious balance but you are never going to have massive quanity and massive quality.

So I'm curious to hear some examples of other trucking companies of comparable size that do all 48 that are the same or just better. I'm not denying they exist I'm just curious. I imagine some of the LTLs.

Keep in mind they don't have an of that stupid #### that people hate here: Cameras, lane assist, on guard, automatic trans, etc...

I could see why people would be skeptical of the Heartland express account. It's not like he's going to say anything subjectively negative about Heartland but at least he's honest about what he is. When I was thinking about switching it was frustrating because I couldn't find much info about Heartland on here and most of the posts were relatively old. Still though...I lurk here almost everyday and never post but what I read in this thread was the complete opposite of my experience that I just had to give another side.