H'land . . . System (OTR) Miles, Benefits, Problems

What is the real differance between system and regional?
The way it looks to me the regions are large, and they try to get there system drivers home every few weeks I thought.
So really not much differance I can see.
Then I just have to hope they have several local drivers at Columbus, so that I will not have too many city runs.
I would not mind it if it was take this trailer down and get it unloaded, then run it over here and get your load on.
That too me is a pain, but easy to log, and if you need an empty you do what you have to do.
If it is a day of run here and run there local I will be telling someone to kiss my rear very quickly. Or they better hook me up well for the next day.
Short to Med haul to me is 250-1000 miles lol. Not around town. They have salary drivers for that.
I may not even get a prostar anyway. So I may not have to worry about the truck not running in those temps. Though as I said, I normally do not idle in those temps anyway.

 

btw.. they do keep up quite well the trucks..and the word is all will be in prostar by dec. tires are great and if you have an issue..just open your mouth. you may be sent to the dealership..but your equipment will be fixed..the trailers are pretty much like all others..some good some junk. if you get through the inspections they will be fixed. lights brakes wheel seals tire pressures. and tread depth all checked during inspections. only issues they have been having are batteries. but i think that has been resolved. just communicate,,communicate. and dont ever be late. they will repower a load to get it there ontime..just have to give them notice.. i made a comment on another post that they are not babysitters. nobody likes a whiner.. jsut do your job and talk to your fm like a human and they will do you the same.

 

not much dif that i can see. i am in nashville now..talked to a florida regional justa while ago. regional are supposed to be home weekly,,system 2weeks. ive seen dallas regionals in ny. so the regional stuff is just that..stuff.

 

Looking at there operating areas. If I was to put the Ohio region and the Northeast region all together and have it go a little south, it would cover the region I have been on the last year.
It is all area I know well, so that will help. Though I am use to driving in snow, and I saw somewhere they do not like there loads in it. Not a biggy. They need me to stop they know that the delivery time may change.
I always plan as far out as I can. Unless something big happens to hold me up I will arrive around the time I planned to when I took the load.
Main thing that can change that is the shipper taking too long, or my last reciever taking too long. In eather of those cases I know in advance, and I am use to passing that info on as soon as I know, then revise my eta.
Some dispatchers get irriate when you tell them exactly what is going on at all times, but a good one knows how to use that info.
Oh, I have not seen anywhere what speed the trucks are set at.
I have been guessing 65. Which would be fine. Prefer 70, but most states I would run in have a 65 speedlimit anyway. I just like to have that little extra on the pedal in case I need it.

I just figure the more info I can get pulled to the forums, the less questions others will ask later. Not allot was here.
I thank you very much for your time.

 

as far as the weather you know your in charge. they will issue shutdownd during ice or snowstorms until they pass over.you will not be allowed to drive at all during a shutdown. all delivery and pikup times are thrown out during that..the speed on the 9400's are 63-64.depending on what truck you get..65on a prostar unless you idle over 25%.then it drops to 62. over 40 % it drops to 60.. most are getting 62. you should stay in your region mostly.alot of our freight there. maybe relay to another terminal some and run a little out of there then back home..most city loads will be followed by a good run out. city loads pay nothing. 0$ they were 15 bucks..now in city is 0.

 

I like that they have internationals though. Always been a fan.
My last two trucks were Internationals, 9400i Eagle, and a 9900i Eagle. The 9900 was better looking, but had a smaller sleeper. Basically the same exact truck with a pretty hood and chrome. Both those trucks could run. The 9400 I think topped out around 95, going by RPMs, I never tried to get it that high lol.
The prostar I have never been in. They look nice, just never had the chance to check them out.

I was very impressed with the equipment side on safestat. It said what you did, that the trucks are in very good condition. Looks like allot of the OOS violations are actually for trailer tires worn or blown. And I knew that the trucks had to be governed due to the number of speeding tickets that the drivers get. It happens allot with governed trucks, the drivers get use to having there petal down, so speed when they get in 55 and lower zones.
With the shorter runs I can deal with those speeds though. Epically in OH, they have a bone to pick with drivers and you do not want to be caught over 65.

 

My biggest concern about Heartland.
I can see why many drivers cannot deal with short loads.
Though, I do not know if it has changed recently or if it is an old thing. They say straight out that they are a short to med haul company. This is why there starting pay rate use to be so much better, and I hope when the economy turns around it will go back up to where it was.
Not holding my breath though.

That was not my concern lol
Actually my thing is the turnover rate.
In the truckload industry the turnover rate has gone down allot over the past year. Heartlands has gone down some, but not as much as most. Plus since Heartland will only higher drivers with a year or more experiance, they are not getting newbys or wannabe drivers that realize after a few months that driving is not for them. That alone should lower there turnover by at least 50%.

They have about 2600 drivers at the company, after lowering there driver pool by 300 or so by not rehireing to fill all trucks.

Before this they would try to get 75+ drivers a week in Orentation.
Now that they have lowered numbers, and are trying to just maintain they are taking in 50 a week (or trying too).

50 drivers a week for a month is 200, 200x 12 months is 2400 a year.
That is showing me they still have turnover that is higher than most in the industry right now.

I am still going to them, and hope that eveything works out well and I like it there. I rather do that than walk in planning to leave. I do not like changing companys, and would not have if I did not have too.

 

I have a dog that use to go with me in the truck. Till last winter, when she decided she did not like it anymore and refused to go to work with me lol.
I went to my Explorer that morning as usual, she just sat on the porch. I called her several times and she would not come.
So I went back into the house, where she promptly ran up stairs and got in bed with my wife.
She has not gone since.

I hope they are ok.
It is sounding like they are short drivers in that region more than the others.
Allot of there drivers from down south seem to be pulling freight up into that region. So maybe I will get decent miles.
I am hoping I will not have an issue with a vacation I had planned though. Airline tickets, condo ect. All paid for already. The recruiter said things like this happen allot and will not be an issue, but I will believe that when the time comes.
I will let my dispatcher know my first day in a truck that I do not care when/ if I get home for the next month. I just need that week.
It was planned several months ago, and would have been no problem at my old company. But since I needed to find a new company it may be an issue.
I will post on here after orientation how things went.