Heartland express

Richard, there's all sorts of local companies out there hiring. You did your time OTR and can pretty much get hired at most of them local companies. I am currently OTR(my fourth time in 20 years) and I plan on being out of it in the coming months. OTR sucks! The amount of money you makes versus all the BS you have to put up with plus never being home nor having a life isn't worth it! Good luck my man......

 

should've researched? Naw son. I don't care how much you research. Your never going to find out what you really need to know about any company until your actually working there. You can ask drivers. But what works for them might not work for you. You can go online. But then your getting the information they want you to have. You can call the company and ask them. But exactly how honest will they be? So just how do we research a company? The short answer is you can't.

 

AMEN aint it the truth. Yet we will try to do all we can not to get shafted too deeply by the lies these companies put out and the way they portray themselves... We are always going to be minions within their eyes... And we are a dime a dozen... Why care about us or do things that we project that make sense? We are the idiots and they are the "SUPER" Companies.

 

I'm not saying this doesn't happen at some companies, but I have been at Heartland a long time and have not ever been lied to. They are very transparent about what the expectations are and the what you see is what you get.

 

Check out wright Transportation out of Mobile,Al. They have plenty of Freight in and out of your area, and when I lived in Fort Walton Beach they never had a problem getting me home. Pat Wright is a great guy. They are a lot bigger then when I worked there they only had 15 trucks, now they have about 150, They have the Mobile/Pensacola freight market sewed up.

 

Its reall friggin simple bite the bullet and put APU's on your trucks. They cost about 7000.00 dollars, maybe less with the amount of trucls they have, lets do the math idling 200 days per year X 10 hrs. =2000 hours idling at 1 gph @ 4.00/gal. =8000.00, they pay for them selves in a year, I will never understand the business concepts of some of these companies, I have a Bachelor's in Finance and it took me 2 seconds to realize the savings.

 

I see their lease hasn't changed since the North American HVP days. I leased a truck there back in the 90's actually paid it off, traded for a new one, but wasn't so lucky on the second one, they got it back within 6 months.

 

They will not put APU's on the trucks for several reasons.
1. Too many states do not have the weight exemption. We haul some loads that would put us over gross by contract.
2. They are a maintenance nightmare over time.
3. Not covered under Internationals bumper to bumper warranty. They will put nothing on the truck that is not covered. Trucks are sold after 3 years or 350k.

I have been with Heartland for 2.5 years. If I am hot I idle my truck. If I am cold I idle my truck.
My idle has never hit 30%. My truck has never slowed down.
I look at it as a non issue. Unless I am swapping trucks and the one I get into is going slow. Then I get it reset.

I was regional for about 2 years. I was home at least every other weekend. Most of the time I was home more.
Switched to dedicated, now I have been home all but 1 weekend since last June.

For those of you that would like to consider Heartland one of the bottom feeders. I would disagree. Most of those company's look at drivers as a number.
They take trainee's and not just experienced drivers.
They lease trucks to drivers. Heartland does not do this ,and I am willing to bet never will.
Yes, heartland has crappy health insurance. I will give you that one. I am on my wife's policy for this reason. Cannot afford to get sick on the crap they have.

Someone said "trash trucks". I do not see that at all. A couple of the trucks I have had were at the top of the mileage list for the company, and were sold when I dropped them off.
But mechanically they were in great shape. The only trashed part I ever see in a Heartland truck is inside the truck. And that is the driver, not the company or it's maintenance.

The only things breaking down on these trucks is the crappy emissions systems on them. The company cannot do anything about that. It is government regulation.

It was a steep learning curve learning how to run my loads at Heartland. I was always of the mind set to run balls out to get there as fast as possible. And this is needed sometimes.
Other times you need to time your current load based on the next one, or two. You need to get those plans a day or two out. So that you can plan when to start and stop days to maximize your time.
If you cannot do this you need to get your dispatcher on the ball and get them planning.
Most of our loads have a window for pickup, and many have one for delivery also. Use these to set up your days.
This gives you the usable time you need to get the miles you want. And to get where you need to be.

 

Never had a problem with my APU,Thermoking supplies the warranty,not the truck manufacturer.The weight issue is a federal law,just a reason for your company to use so they can make it seem reasonable not to put an apu on their trucks.IMHO.Pretty much tells me they could care less about their drivers comfort while away from home.