If you are a Heartland driver-PLEASE READ!

I'm not a Heartland driver anymore, but I was there for 9 months or so. I got an offer to be home more, so I took it. In hindsight, I wish I had stayed with Heartland for the 5 months I worked for the small company.

I worked out of the Kingsport, TN regional. In the 9 months I was home 3 out of 4 weekends a month (only worked two weekends in one month and that was July of last year and it was my choice), averaged a little over 2100 miles a week, and was much more rested and comfortable than with the small company. I was home every weekend with them, but they didn't pay empty miles, only paid gross, and we ran like total outlaws. Very stressful. I had my problems with Heartland and some of their policies, but overall it worked pretty well for me (even though some on here swore I would go broke working for them, but oh well).

In early February my family and I moved back to southern IL where I'm from. I'm now working in a factory, but if I felt like truck driving again I would look at Heartland. Out of the three large companies I worked for Heartland treated me the best.

By the way Chris, I went to orientation in Atlanta. I lived in Knoxville at the time and the only bus going through Kingsport was leaving at 6 AM on Sunday, or I could go to ATL at like 2 PM. Said they didn't care where I went so I chose ATL. Out of the terminals I have been to, ATL was my least favorite.

Chrome Dome I'm glad to see you're still doing well at Heartland. I know they have added some policies that they didn't have when I worked there so I can't answer anything about them.

 

It would be good if they got rid of some of their policies and made things a little more driver-friendly. I didn't agree with all of them, but you learn to play by their rules and things work out.

I have to say I never heard a word about idle from my dispatcher. I didn't idle between 40 and 75 or so (unless the sun was beating down and I was trying to catch a nap). For about two weeks that winter my truck never shut off unless I was on a scale or getting fuel. They ran me those two weeks up around Carlisle so it was cold, cold. Never heard a word. Also in the summer I was in Florida so I idled to stay cool and didn't hear anything. Now I always shut the truck off when I wasn't in it (unless it was under 20 degrees) so they didn't bother me much.

I was in ATL terminal one time. It was like 55 degrees with a nice little breeze, no rain, etc. It was a perfect night for sleeping and several guys were idling their trucks. Security came around and knocked on doors (unless they were an o/o). I can see their point in that. There was no reason to be idling unless you had to have a C-Pap machine plugged in.

I just got a letter from them yesterday wanting me to come back to work for them. I'm perfectly happy being home every night and spending my non-working hours in a truck. If I were to start driving again, Heartland would be my number one choice.

 

I didn't have a problem going through orientation in ATL. What my recruiter told me I'd get paid is what I got. My recruiter was a guy who is a mod on another forum that I met. He didn't give me any unreal BS about running 3500 miles a week and being home every weekend or anything like that. I feel he was very honest. The first 3 weeks or so at Heartland were my worse (Christmas and New Year being in those weeks), but after that we got on a pretty regular schedule of being home and averaging 2000 miles.

Thought I'd share two good stories I had while there: First was Christmas. My oldest son was 1 1/2 at the time and my wife was pregnant with the youngest. I told my dispatcher to go ahead and run me through Christmas, I would get home the weekend after and maybe make a few more miles. Turns out about 95% of their drivers are home on Thanksgiving and Christmas both (even if they get home that morning sometime). They gave me a load from Windsor, VA to Kansas City, MO with more than enough time to go home spend a couple days and then head up. It was 150 miles OOR or so, but they didn't care. I didn't get paid for those miles, but I was home Christmas morning, spent a couple days, took off early Sunday and spent that night and part of the next morning at my parents in So IL (where I live now) and then delivered in KC Tuesday morning. I was really appreciative of that.

Second story: I've heard guys on here say "don't give this company any notice when you quit" and I don't agree with that unless it's an extreme circumstance. I've always given at lease a few days notice if I could. When I got hired by the little company in Knoxville, I told my dispatcher on Monday that Friday would be my last day. I honestly didn't know if they would sit me all week or not (I actually thought they would). My dispatcher ran me 2750 paid miles that week and I was in Kingsport earlier than I told him I had to be. I thought that was good of them.

Last story and I'm done (don't get me wrong, not all of my stories about Heartland are great, but most of the time we got along real well). I was going to IL to my parents to a big coon hunt we were having here. Told them two weeks or more in advance that I had to be in IL on Wednesday by 330, and I would leave around 8 or 9 Sunday morning for another load. I figured my miles wouldn't be good at all for that week since I was taking so much off. I got to IL around 430 TUESDAY NIGHT, with 1850 miles for the week. Then they backed it with a 2100 mile week starting Sunday afternoon around 5 when I left and I was home in TN by Friday night or early Saturday, I don't remember which.

I'm not saying everyone has a positive experience with Heartland, but it worked good for me. I think Kingsport had the best dispatchers I have worked for, but can't speak for the other terminals. I'm not going to lay the blame for others bad times there at the drivers feet either. I'm sure some of the drivers who didn't make it were just complainers or whiners, but I think the majority of them just didn't fit right with the company or their dispatcher. For me, it was a good fit, and it sounds like it is for Chrome Dome as well. I knew several people who worked at HL for 10-15 years, with a couple drivers being there longer. While I was there one driver got his three million mile safe driving award. They had to be doing something right by him.

Also, HL's turnover is around 60%. That's pretty dang good for an industry that has an average turnover of 125%, with some big companies getting close to 200% turnover every year. The small company I worked for in TN had a higher turnover than they do and they only had 10 trucks!

Good luck to you Chris in ATL and let us know honestly how it goes. If you have a good experience some may try to attack you, but if you have a bad experience I won't attack you at all. It doesn't work for some drivers, but I hope it does for you.