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

For your info CD, you aren't really starting out 19 cents cheaper than you would have a year ago. They claimed 50 cpm. This includes 1 cent for HazMat, and your 1 cent safety bonus (they told me I was making 42, but on my paycheck I only got 41). Also, you only top out at this pay after you have 7 years recent OTR experience. I started at what they called 42 with 3 years. That means you would have started at what they called 41 (without HazMat) a year ago, but you would have only actually made 40 on your check (with the 1 cent paid after your year anniversary for safety, which I'm told is easy to get, I quit before I was eligible).

Couple other quick clarifications: For the inspection line you go through it when you come into the terminal. BUT, if you plan to leave when the inspection line is open (even if when you came in it was closed) you have to go through. Guys will park in the inspection line to sleep so you they can get out first thing in the morning. It's not unusual to sit in line at Carlisle or Atlanta for 5-6 hours waiting to go through inspection. Oh, and they want you to log that as part of your 10 hour break in case you were wondering. The best for quick(er) insp lines are the Columbus, Kingsport, and Olive Branch. Iowa City can be a pain, never been in Dallas during open hours (remember I ran Kingsport regional), O Fallon MO is a pain sometimes, never in been in Ft. Smith ever, never in Phonenix, never in Jacksonville when open.

When they say regional, they mean they are going to try to get you home 3 out of 4 weekends a month. The 4th weekend (in my experience) means you'll be sitting in a terminal somewhere, not working. I didn't mind running out of my region, as long as it wasn't NYC or the Northeast, and I got home. I did get home 3 out of 4 weekends though. Sometimes it wasn't for very long, but I was home (and some weekends were 3 or 4 days). I ran as far north as Buffalo, as far south as Tampa, as far west as Dallas, Northwest as I-35 in Iowa. I also ran way up in Michigan a couple times.

Watch your detention time, too. They count detention from midnight to midnight. So, theoretically, if you get to a terminal and drop a load at 0100, They have 47 hours to get you moving before they have to pay you detention. Even though you spend 23 hours one day, it doesn't count. If were that extreme, I'd say they would go ahead and pay you, but they don't have to according to their policy.

I like having terminals across the country, but you have to watch them. The showers in most of them are nasty. Bring a towel and shower shoes of course. They do have laundry facilities, but it is one washer and one dryer at each terminal so if it's on the weekend, you might have to wait to do your laundry. Most have a general room with a TV and couches to lounge on. Most of the furniture is broke down and wore out. I think about all of them have free Wifi, too.

If you need a service try to avoid Carlisle. I was the first one through the inspection one Monday, needed an A service (non oil change). There were 5 trucks ahead of me from Saturday that they had held the drivers over for service. I didn't leave there until Tuesday afternoon because they can't give you a load until your truck is out of the shop. By that time, all the Monday evening and Tuesday morning stuff was planned and I was out of luck.

Overall, they are an o.k. company once you learn all their tricks. Biggest thing I've found is to try to get out west a little bit to stay rolling. Even though they have a terminal in Texas, if you get there or any states around there, they don't have enough drivers sometimes. On the east coast they are swamped with drivers (from Jacksonville, Atlanta, Chester, Kingsport, and Carlisle) to keep you as busy.

I quit about a month ago to work for a small company here in Knoxville. I would go back to them if I were needing a job bad. I gave them plenty of notice so I could leave on good terms and be eligible for rehire.

Good luck to you. Let me know if there is anything else I can help clear up.

P.S. Coondawgs, what kind of dogs do you hunt? I'm a Plott man, but my dad and brother hunt Black and Tans. We've had about them all though. PM me sometime.

 

They have me starting at 38.5 cpm (no hazmat yet) and that is without the bonus it is the base. So has not changed too much.
Still playing with the idea of System. Do not know if it would actually get me more miles though. But it starts out 5 cpm higher.
I figured I would try the OH regional for 6 months, then if I thought it would help pay go for system. I really do not care if I am home every week. 2 weekends a month would be good for me, but I rather run the weekends out than sit.
You want me for a weekend fine, get me a load from Carlisle to Dallas and a DH back. I would be happy.
Not much for work up here. In PA allot of company's hire, but just over the PA line they will not. Even if I was in Erie it would be allot better. But my wife is not moving, and the house needs work before I can sell it for a good price. So I am here.

 

Chrome and others,

Click on pics in my profile and you will see a couple pics of an intl prostar gauge panel. I do know that they run reefers in texas for a customer who wanted heartland too. The prostars I have seen are midroofs not the skyrise. Good luck CD.

KH

 

Looks like a truck lol.
Would be nicer if they had the Eagle package though. I have never been in an International without it.
Always white face gages, full set of them.
I am not all that concerned though. It will have plenty of storage for what I need. If it has a sleeper bigger than a 52", which I am pretty sure it will.
I am not all that picky. A truck is a truck is a truck.
I like chrome. I like hoods. Neither are important though. They do not make me money.
The no inverter thing is a drag though. And those steel wheels on the drives will add an extra 300 lbs I would rather not have.

 

I've never seen of their trucks with reefers, but I never ran Texas too much. Do you have any pics of a Heartland truck/reefer combo? I'd just like to see one.

You won't get a ProStar for a while. You'll be in a 9400 for a while. They are plain jane to the max in my opinion. I thought Henderson ordered their trucks cheap. Not even close. There is plenty of room in the 9400's as you are aware of. Never drove a ProStar so I don't know. I'm in a 9400 Eagle right now with a different setup with cabinets/shelves and it is a lot more useable space than Heartland trucks were. Same configuration (what IH calls midroof, but it's 7 foot tall about in the sleeper) but the way the cabinets are in there makes a lot of difference.

I knew quite a few people who worked regional for a while then went to system for the pay raise. A lot of guys went because they were only getting home 2 weekends a month anyway, might as well make more money. I didn't have the problem about getting home, so I stayed regional. Good thing about being regional is this: they are forced dispatch, but you can refuse a load if it goes out of your region (supposedly). Or you can tell them you are tired or don't have the hours or don't feel safe and the load will be off you.

Are you sure the 38 1/2 is without the bonus? Reason I asked is I assumed the 42 I was quoted before orientation was base, but it wasn't. They spring that one on ya while you're there. I do know the hotel they use in Columbus is nice. I traded my truck in at Chester and had to catch a van to Columbus to get another 9400. Stayed one night in the hotel. Also did this once to Atlanta.

Watch it if they tell you to go to Chester to trade your truck in. It is a mad house. They do not have enough room for the trucks they have in there, let alone the dropped trailers and new trucks. Add that to the fact that you may have to sit for a few days to get a truck. Talked to one guy who had to wait 4 days for a new ProStar. They are way behind getting plates and numbers and permits on the trucks. Since you're new they will have you running to different terminals to get another used 9400. That involves waiting around til they make the decision to send a group (that might take a day or more) then getting in with 3 other drivers to whatever terminal they chose, then hoping the terminal has the trucks cleaned out when you get there. When we go to Columbus we had to wait until the next afternoon for our trucks to get cleaned out and then it was the next morning before we got loads. Once they get all them traded in it will be a lot better around there.

Good luck to you, let us know how everything turns out.

 

Yes.
The base rate on 2 years is 38.5
will be 39.5 with safety bonus, and 40.5 with hazmat.
System is starting 45.5 with the bonus and hazmat included.
I had actually planned to take the Hazmat test this week and get the fingerprinting done. So that I would have my hazmat in a month or so.
But never got around to doing all the studying. I looked it over a little, then took some pretests and was around the 80% range that you need to pass, but I don't want to go in there that close.
So I will study up on it the next few weeks.
I am not sure how the hazmat will work with my improved license (for Canada ect). I just got that recently and there is an extra charge for it.
Mostly because it has the chip in it and such.
They may charge me more to send a new one.
I will be headed to the Microtel in Columbus in another 2 hours or so.
My wife, Mother inlay, and Niece are going for the ride.
Basically to keep my wife company for the ride home.
I did not want to pay the 25 bucks for the single room, so I will possibly with another driver.

I really do not care what truck I am in. Storage may be an issue if they are stripped down though.
The 9400s I am use to have allot of space. Looking into the sleeper they have overhead cabinets on both sides. Shelfs at foot of bunk, place for refrigerator on floor to right, closet in that space to the left. Then upper cabinets like small closets on both sides over those.
I never got close to filling all of that in a 9400i.
As it is with all my stuff packed I am carrying allot with me.
2 duffel's, 1 bag of linens. Plus backpack with shower items and laptop. So it would suck if I have one of those brain dead days we all have where we cannot back into a hole no matter how large it is lol.
Not really concerned about work well test. They have always been easy, though I put on about 25 lbs the last 4 months sitting at home

Someone said in one thread that they plan to be all prostars by December.
That does not give them allot of time to finish the swap. I know they have a busy 2 months coming, then the slow season.
I would pack the drivers into the new ones now. Then when the January slowdown comes lose some to attrition like last year.
Start the hiring process again in March or so. That would mean having some unseated trucks sitting for the slow months but would allow for more miles for the trucks on the road.

I am also interested to see how many local drivers they have at these terminals.
If you look at it from a 1 best way concept (a sociology thing) they should have a decent number of them at each terminal.
Use the regional drivers to haul from hub to hub doing a mix of drop and hook at terminals and some delivery and PU. Using the local drivers for PU and delivery within 100 miles of the terminals.
System drivers would go from the farther terminals and PUs in that concept.
This is how the future of trucking is looking. The days of real OTR long haul are numbered, accept for hotshot and some produce runs.
I am really interested in how they work it here.