Heartland needs to be in the BAD company list

LMAO I am sorry to say but heartland sounds like a bigger gray transportation outfit must be something in the water up there

 

The low mileage claims sound bogus. However the get up at 0400, deliver at 0600 then have to take another 10 to run all night are certainly true..very true. Some drivers don't want to run like that and that's perfectly understandable. Their home time, or lack of, doesn't work for everyone either. They see the ".48 cpm" recruiting tool and are pretty much sold on that. Reading here it doesn't sound like to many read the fine print.

 

Now, that's funny. You claim you're only getting 500 miles in two days yet, you don't have time to go into detail. How long have you been with Heartland?

Personally, I don't think Heartland is a bad company, overall. It all depends on what you're looking for. They have the highest CSA rating in the industry, plenty of freight, well maintained trucks, nice terminals and the dispatchers, fleet managers, safety dept, etc all treat you like a human. I'm not a recruiter....just a driver. Yes, you do get short runs as a regional driver, but at the end of the week, it will average out to around 2200 miles. They are focused on getting you home for the weekends although, only for a 34 hr restart (48 hrs if you're an OTR aka system driver). Every time you pull into a terminal, they inspect your rig, have you drive through the on-site truck wash and you can even fuel up there. One terminal I've been to even has a scale. They have cleaning people coming in to clean the terminals every day, so the truckers lounge, showers and bathrooms are always reasonably clean. They have satellite TV, free WiFi and machines that actually makes a dam good cup of coffee. One lets you use your own cup. You've got free laundry facilities at most terminals and the main terminal even has a fitness room. They constantly monitor the Weather Channel and shuts drivers down if they're heading toward a bad storm. Heartland is constantly cycling out old trucks and replacing them with new ones and they have a rider program. Pets aren't allowed. You can't have a power inverter in your truck, but you CAN get a special cord from Radio Shack for your laptop that doesn't require an inverter (they've had a few trucks burn up from electrical fires, all with inverters). Most trucks are International ProStars, but they're getting Cascadias in too. They are also phasing out the Max Force engines due to them being a POS. A lot of the runs are drop and hook.

What are the cons to Heartland, might you ask? Well, the first thing you'll notice is the recruiters aren't completely honest and upfront with you, but that's a given with any company. You have to be ok with only getting 34 hours at home if you're a regional driver and be prepared for those times when it's less than that. They guarantee you'll be home on Christmas, but not the length of time (I was home for all of 24hrs). You may go for long periods of time without being able to park at a truck stop for food, showers and supplies, as they like to keep you off the toll roads, except around Chicago. They think they're saving money by having you take the US highways and back roads. Good news is they usually schedule appointments loosely enough to allow for the extra time it takes you, as well as any unexpected issues like break downs and such. Heartland uses PeopleNet rather than Qualcomm, which is nice but not as stable. Drivers are always having issues with it going down. Their way of thinking is antiquated in some ways, as I've found. They're the conservative type who wants you to keep your hair cut above your collar and will refuse to dispatch you until you get a hair cut if they think it's too long. A lot of times, they'll run you down on your hours to the point that you have to take your break at a customer where there's no bathroom or food. Once in a while wouldn't be a big deal, but it can get excessive depending on where you're at. You have to call and point out to your fleet manager that you haven't been to a truck stop in a while, because they don't always realize it. Also, not as many of the runs are drop and hook as they like to boast. Most of the customers aren't too slow, but a few are and Heartland doesn't give detention pay. You also don't get layover pay or holiday pay. At times, they may have you do short runs with no extra pay, but if you have a good fleet manager as I do, he'll slip the extra miles into your next load assignment, as long as they're not all in the same town.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to check back soon.

 

some people are slow to figure out that trucking is not for them. it was great for me until the economy crashed in '08. now there just isn't any money to be made trucking. and when worked for heartland express for a week. i got close to 2,000 miles as a local driver. the only reason i quit. is because my fleet manager didn't give a crap about every weekend off. and forced me to run a load with 1 hour left out of the 70 hour rule. so when i went home after that. i thought long and hard about the acts he was committing and how he managed things. and decided that heartland wasn't for me. called them sunday morning and told them. went monday and got my stuff. and that was that. and by the way. heartland express is debt free because the founder worked hard to make that company debt free. and he cared about the drivers. and that was what made heartland great. so now that the founder has passed away. it is his son that is running the company in the ground. the roomers i heard a couple years ago. the son was trying to sell heartland before his father the founder died. so that leads me to believe that heartland is a complete mess. and that was from talking to the heartland drivers that have been working there for 15+ years. I imagine that most of them have left by now because of the company is being run in the ground.

 

I have been been Heartland for many many years and I can tell you that Heartland is as strong as ever brother. Like you said it isn't for everybody, and trucking isn't for everybody, but Heartland is kicking some serious butt right now and is zeroed in on drivers in a good way like I have never seen before. How do you get that they are a mess? They are still debt-free, growing, best driver retention and turnover in company history and better than any of the larger carriers, still as profitable, newest trucks on the road, newest trailers on the road, the absolute best CSA safety score for truckload companies, being awarded new freight lanes and customers, winning more customer awards than any other company hands down, and is flat out listening to drivers and making changes. and by the way, the son has never tried to sell Heartland, that is the silliest rumor I have ever heard. Why would he sell a company that is doing better than any other company in the industry? He wouldn't.

 

If you're referring to the guy who's belly aching about not having time to explain why he doesn't like Heartland, I see what you mean. I've only been with Heartland for a few months and am still going through that period of adjustment and getting to know how they do things. And realizing that if I haven't showered for a few days, I need to talk to my fleet manager about getting to a truck stop or terminal. See, with my previous company, I didn't have to take all these little pig paths and was at the truck stops quite a bit. I was home for 5 days at a time. No regrets about switching to Heartland, though. It's going more smoothly now. I asked my fleet manager for more miles and he kept me out this past weekend with longer runs, which I prefer over short runs. I'm thinking about running system for a while, even if it means I don't get home as often. You don't think about home so much when you're out for a while. My point is it's a matter of finding the right company too. Did you talk to the driver liaison about your fleet manager? We've got a good one that gets things dealt with now.

 

I think it's Heartland's way of getting more brownie points with the DOT so they just keep waving us through the chicken coops. To be honest, I don't always log my PTI for the full 15 minutes and every time I call logs, they say everything looks fine.