My recent experience with Heartland Express, a.k.a. "Dodging the Bullet"

Recently got a case of "green grass syndrome" thinking that anywhere would be better than the company I was with. I'm sure most of us, if not all, have been there. Did some research here and interviewed a driver with a company I had heard good things about. (Heartland) Called the recruiter who of course told me they were a fantastic company to drive for and definitely a step up from my previous employer. In retrospect there were some warning signs I noticed but didn't heed. They would have told me a lot about the culture at Heartland. The first thing was that Heartland does not pay any sign-on bonuses of any kind. Since I and my partner was coming in as a ready-made, experienced team, that seemed odd. The second thing was that Heartland does not offer orientation pay, another highly unusual practice. The third thing was that they do not provide Pre-Pass despite their claim of having the absolute best CSA scores of all trucking companies. During orientation I found out it is offered, but only if the driver wants to pay over $20 monthly for it.
This is the point at which I should have recognized a pattern and run the other way, but my partner and I were so jazzed about our new start at a new company that we failed to heed the warning signs that this was a very cheap company. Sadly, during two days of orientation it only got worse. I want to be fair here and give credit where it is due. They did put us up at a very nice Best Western motel with a good breakfast, and the place they took us for lunch was very good. But as time went on a picture of this company's culture was emerging. Here are some other policies we were told about by the guy conducting the orientation:
No Detention Pay until you have been delayed 8 hours at the shipper. And then it's not even automatic. You have to call the fleet manager and request to access a special fund, that according to the orientation guy, you may or may not get. He advised cultivating a good relationship with the fleet manager. (in other words, don't rock the boat...if your fleet manager likes you, you just might get paid....or not.)
No automatic Layover Pay either.
Heartland does not offer GPS Navigation with it's fleet software. If the driver wants GPS, he/she must buy their own. That leaves the route planning to the driver. At first I thought that was great. My previous company did send us some goofy routing sometimes. But I realized that all responsibility for getting to the shipper on time was with the driver, not the company. When the company sends you an a pre-planned route and doesn't allow enough time to get to the consigneee on time, you can place the blame for the service failure where it belongs and you can prove it. With Heartland, any and all service failures are the driver's fault. After all, he picked the route.
The company is so cheap that if a driver has to buy a replacement light bulb at a service center. the company insists that the old part be retained by the driver and returned to the company at the next terminal stop. Really ?
The orientation conductor told us that the company will not even purchase Post-It Notes for the office staff; that it's an unnecessary expense, and that they are required to re-use printed paper by turning the sheets over and writing on the back sides. (Kudos to them if this is done out of concern for the environment, but it isn't. It's all about not spending any money.)
The coffee in the driver break-room was a coin operated vending machine, not a pot for fresh brewed coffee for the drivers they care so much about, after all, that might cost $50 bucks ! I didn't get a look at the washers and dryers, but at that point I wouldn't have been at all surprised to find that they are coin operated, too.
The fleet management software used is needlessly complicated and antiquated. It reminded me of the old green-screen DOS system we all had before the invention of Windows 95, 98, XP, etc. It required scrolling through multiple screens to display information that is found all on one page in other more sophisticated systems. Why ? One can only presume that this system was the cheapest one available; they sure didn't pick it because it was the best available.
Heartland's policy is no cell-phone use at all, when driving, not even hands free such as the Blue Parrot headsets. Yeah, just what I wanted....to be on the road away from family for more than 30 days, and be told I can't make or take a call from anyone without pulling over and wasting valuable driving time.
Make a mistake while driving and accidentally wind up on a toll-road not previously authorized ? Guess who pays ?
Yep, the driver. Apparently there is a zero-tolerance policy at Heartland for driver error.
We were told that after business hours, only nine people are on staff at the company. We were told to resolve any issues with the delivery before 5 PM, because after that it will be very difficult to reach anyone. There are no night-time fleet-managers ! Maybe not so much of a big deal to solo drivers who like to be off the road by then anyway, but to a team operation to be told that there is no night time fleet manager is absurd. Problems don't adhere to a 9 to 5 schedule, and can happen at any time of day or night. Just another in a long list of policies designed to benefit the company's bottom line, at the expense of it's drivers.
Now, I'm not anti-capitalist. I know that this and all other companies must make a profit to survive. Without a healthy vibrant company, there would be no jobs. I don't begrudge them that. But I see this as an extreme example of sticking it to the drivers at every opportunity. Surely there is a balance that can be struck where management and drivers can both benefit.
I could easily go on. This is only what I learned after two days of orientation. I'm sure I would have discovered many more examples of Heartland's way of doing things if we had actually gone to work for them.
People, use your own judgement of course. None of these things may be important to you as long as you get good miles. But if you are looking for a company that actually values it's drivers and looks out for their best interests, you may want to keep looking. Based on my experience, it's my opinion that this is anything but "a driver's company".

 

lol, well go for it, brother. I'm sure they'd welcome you with open arms.

 

anj8488,

While I agree that any one of these complaints alone is a relatively small thing, taken together they add up to a pattern of antipathy and hostility towards drivers. Training companies who take students right out of trucking school offer more and require less. I don't expect what's important to me to necessarily be important to others. The information was offered for anyone who might be contemplating joining them. They are free to do with it (if anything) what they want. If this pattern doesn't bother you, then call 'em up. I'm sure they'd like some compliant driver applicants.