Mid States Express Inc.

Mid-States stole from its employees for over 2 years by taking insurance premiums and not paying the health providers.

Now they have done it again! Supposedly, to resolve that problem, Mid-States told its employees they were getting out of the insurance business and offered the employees a new plan through a private provider.

Only a few minutes a go, I found out, Mid-States canceled the new insurance 12/31/08 and no bills will be paid after that date. These thieves were taking our premiums after they canceled the insurance and did not tells us.

I can not excuse this, other than to say it is stealing by deceit. If any of you use to drive for mid states, call your local FBI agency and complain and demand a criminal investigation be started on these crooks.

 

Oh boy, I don't know how long it has been since the last post but there has been all kinds of stuff lately. My hubby worked for Mid-States here in the Kansas - Missouri area for the past 5 years. When Mid-States closed their doors on Thursday, Dale was on a run taking a trailer up to St. Louis. Nothing was said to him about the doors closing on ALL terminals when he left that morning. He found out when he got to St. Louis at 4:30 pm. On top of all that, down here, when you first start work here, they hold back two weeks, so basically, they are behind on paying him two weeks and that's at LEAST 1600 dollars he may not see. But that's not the best part. Last Friday, someone from payroll called the drivers up here who didn't have direct deposit and told them not to cash their checks cause they would bounce. So, in effect, they are still stealing from the drivers. There is talk of a lawsuit being filed in Missouri on behalf of all 800 employees over the way this went down and trying to recoup wages that are owed.

 

I wish all of you who have any connection with Mid-States Express the very best of luck. I can hope that you are able to get every penny plus that those nasty scheming people owe all of you. For everything they have ever done, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Again, the best of luck.

 

actually brad hartman is the owner.....i live 10 mins from him. yes,that means i know where he lives or lived. rumors are that the hartmans and the lying piece of #### termninal manager chris johnson can't be found.....

 

Terry Hartman the father is still working at stirring the pot... Brad's probably involved right along in all of it.
The story that they are telling everyone is that all of a sudden the bank that they had borrowed from shut their line of credit down or some such crap.
Hopefully no one will believe that they care one iota about their employees. That should have been evident in all the law suits concerning their treatment of women and that was years ago.
Before this is all over, there probably will be a lot more that comes out.
I don't even work for them, but have watched the Hartmans "performances" for years and nothing that I'm hearing surprises me. As I've previously posted, I hope that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for everything they've done to the hard working people who were their employees.

 

You did what you thought was right. You don't need to feel bad about that.
The owners of Mid States knew what they were doing to their employees and yes, they do deserve to be punished for their actions.
Best of luck to you.

 

I can tell you from experience working for Mid-States Express for 13 years and I quit a 1-1/2 year ago because I could see the writting on the wall!! As far as unions go Terry Hartmann would have never and I mean NEVER allowed a union in his company!!! Why do you think he split off from Aurora Fast Freight!! He also told this to me personally!! As far as what employees have been told,well yes it is quite possible that the bank told them NO more funding!! As every employee knows Mid-States Express sucked at paying there debts weather it was insurance,paying for fuel,parts,etc... Or has anyone received there socail security statement yet??? Has it been funded??? This has happened once before and the Hartmanns claimed the Bank they were useing failed to fund socail security!!! I have talked to a source that claims he was told by an employee in there corperate office that prior to there closeing they had people in the corperate office supposedly helping to re-arrange the debt situation!! Or could it have been goverment officails checking there records???? Hmmmm makes you wonder!!! I do know the Hartmanns have property in upper Wisconsin around the Minocqua area if they are missing that would be my guess as to where they are hideing out!! Hmm kind like Capone (LOL). As far as Chris Johnson goes that peice of work should get what he has comeing to him and them some!!! I know for a fact that he threatened to punch a female employee in the face not to mention countless other acts that should have been addressed but let slip by!! I can also tell you this I talked to a former manager before he left Mid-States Express which he used to work out of the crop office and he told that Terry Hartmann told him personally that he was in this business to make as much money as fast as he could and get out!! Just like everything else you dont know what to beleive but I do beleive this after 13 years with this company I would have done anything to help keep this company running and build a future for myself and the employees around me!!!!!!!! What I have learned is the Hartmanns to me are nothing but crimenails and lyers and I can only hope that one or all of them pay oneway or another. Good Luck to every former employee of Mid-States Express and God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I understand the frustration of a lot of people right now because of MSXN closing. But the Hartmann's had to be doing something right because when they closed their doors there were 550 + people working there.

Please before anyone starts jumping all over me for my comments let me say ... I have worked at MSXN for 9 years in my time at MSXN I knew they were not taking care of our insurance ( I have paid out of my pocket for bills they should have paid)... That was something I have to deal with myself.

Everyone makes choices each day when they wake up and for 550+ people the choice they made was going to work at Mid-States Express daily. THAT WAS THEIR CHOICE....

MSXN is not the only company out there that a truck driver can work ... so my question is ...

KNOWING WHAT YOU KNEW WHY DID YOU COME TO WORK DAILY ?


For those who worked until the door closed .... What did you think was going to happen ?

We work in a country that is falling apart as I type this message, there are company out all over the place closing there doors. There are 3.2 million people w/out jobs right now ... Who's fault is that ? The Hartmann's !!! NO I THINK NOT

But my point is the banks are pulling funding from everyone not just MSXN I am sure the Hartmann's are upset about losing their company who else is going to fund their vacation homes, new cars and their children education. They are going to have to start over as well.

For the ones who want to beat up on Chris Johnson and other managers just remember they worked w/ the same tools that was given to the drivers and that was not much. Give them a break and remember someday you may work for them again because there was a reason they were Managers.

As for me I enjoyed my time at MSXN, I wished it could have lasted longer but it didn't ... so now I will lick my wounds and move on.

I hope nothing but the best for MSXN employees and for Brad, Steve, Terry, Bruce and Tim.

Good Luck to everyone !!!

 

You make a few good points about Mid-States and the people that worked there and kept going back day after day even when seeing the writing on the wall.

I have worked for Mid-States a combined 5yrs. I left and went back. I have to say I enjoyed my time with them. I am saddened and angry at the closing of the company.

I honestly think some poor management has alot to do with the closing of the company. They seemed to have a very hard time paying their debts. I know this to be true.

Over all I think we all seen the writing on the wall a while back. We chose to think the best of things and hope things would change. I don't think anyone wanted to admit they were going to close. Sure we talked about between ourselves and even stated when we thought it would happen.
When the Columbus Terminal moved its location I knew deep down it was the end. They surprised me by staying open till the 26th of March.
Yes, it is wrong that paychecks bounced and we are not getting our pay from the company. We all worked hard and even though most had doubts we were loyal employees and we do deserve our pay.
Their not paying the insurance for years was also wrong, along with many other things. But .....the fact is we all stayed, we all worked, and we all had faith.

When we were told they were closing the doors it was a very very sad moment for many. I am sorry all of us lost our jobs. Many of us cried even though deep down we expected it. But no one at the Columbus terminal walked out. We all finished our shifts, and some of us (including myself) went back the next day to help. Yes, with no pay. Why...because our customers deserved answers to their calls, they deserved their freight delivered, they deserved more than just us shutting the doors and forgetting them. I wasnt going to let my terminal manager handle it all by himself, nor my office manager.
I met Terry and Brad Hartmann years ago when the terminal was on Feddern. I have to say they were pretty decent men. Both of them have a pretty good sense of humor and Brad joked with us like he was one of us. There was no looking down their nose at us because they owned the company.
As for the ones bashing Chris Johnson...lol Well I can understand why some of you are doing that. I worked with him! He was my terminal manager in Columbus for awhile. He was very difficult to work with I admit. He is also very biased when it comes to women. His opinion of them does seem to be LOW. I will also admit he and I had our fair share of arguements. Some real knock down dragged out ones too. Most companies I will admit would have let him go for his remarks to women. But in fairness I will say he was a good terminal manager. He knew his business.
Then there was Mike G...he was a good terminal manager as well and my favorite one to have worked for at Mid-States.
But, as the person stated if everyone was so unhappy why did they keep coming back!!!! Its not like the things Mid-States was going through just started happening. The insurance issue has been around for years as well as some other issues. Looks to me as if people were SO UNHAPPY they would have looked else where along time ago.
Mid-States closed...its sad, its hard on us but it happened. It could have been any other company in another field that this happened to. But it happened to us. We are all upset and we can shout blame and call others names and blame whoever we feel like blaming. But when its all said and done the facts are still the same. WE CLOSED, ITS OVER, NO MORE, SOOOOOOO, we have to pick ourselves up by the boot straps and hold our chins high and move on with our lives.

No amount of cussing, name calling or hatred is going to change these facts.

It would be nice to get our money. But we also can't bank on that. So my advice is go out and find a job. Yes the econmy is bad...but there are still jobs out there to be had.

There is an old saying I have heard all my life and I belive it to be true.

"WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND"

When someone does another wrong, it always comes back to haunt them.

Now I sit and wonder how, why, and how again. It all seems so unreal. But it happened. Can't change it, so we have to live with it.

I will miss working at Mid-States and I will really miss the people I talked with everyday both employees and customers.

I wish each and everyone of you the best of luck and hope you find happiness.

I also wish the Hartmanns luck. They have along road ahead of them as well.

Take care and God Bless