New Pay Package

There were quite a few trucks with 500,000+ in Pacific and Clackamas. They were for the PNW primarily.

 

Some people just can't accept that this can be true. A certain someone wants to just keep pounding on the narrative - 'can't get miles, can't get miles, can't get miles, zero miles'. It simply isn't true. 2500 may be less than some people want to run, but at 50 or 60 cents per mile, we can all do the math on what that means. Then add the accessorial and other pay on top of the mileage pay.

 

You don't have to say a "certain someone". Be honest. I'm a big boy. Im speaking from my own personal experience. I was there. That's what I've got. And I laid that out to you. Remember? I've got no reason to lie about what happened while I was there and what had happened after November 11, 2013. As a matter of fact, I've not discouraged one person from going to GTI. I only speak from my own experience of what had happened while I was there. And HOAT, I couldn't get miles. And you could check my records there and see that I was not getting the miles even though I fought tooth and nail for them. Unless something changed, I don't see how much different it could be since I left.

 

That's fair enough to say that in your personal experience you couldn't get miles, why - I have no idea. But to be honest you have repeated over and over that 'They will not run you' and 'you will get zero miles there'. Let's be honest, Heartland and GTI are not the easiest companies to get hired on with, and tend to go more with experienced drivers who have been around awhile. If the majority of these guys were not getting any miles, I don't think you would have such so many people sticking around Heartland and GTI that have been there for over 5 or 10 or 20 years. I'm not challenging you, but it's ok to call a positive a a positive. This pay increase is ground breaking and it will be a big deal.

 

And also, everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop and what some people thought might happen after the acquisition. Those bad things haven't happened. We are now a year after the acquisition. GTI trucks are still spec'ed about the same, except a little better, Heartland is adopting some of the APU's, and now the pay increase. Let these guys have their due credit and let someone feel good about things if they want to! Every piece of good news doesn't have to have a dark underside to it. Have a good day!

 

Okay, I'm peeking AGAIN. C'mon, Joseph, you've called 'Gordland' a scumbag outfit right and left on the forums. Every chance. Okay, yeah, I peeked. Truth's an absolute defense, or supposed to be, though. (Not trying to insult ANYONE here... ) Now, about those man pants. Maybe you got a raw deal, sure. At a time of year when freight slows down. Non-union outfit.

No obligation to run you.

The irony of our being on opposite sides of the 'who is Gordon' debate then and now is... I admit it, a little on the delicious. My whole premise (Culture thread) was that it would have been harder to leave Gordon if Gordon paid better. It didn't. I left. You strongly disagreed. When it didn't. You left, too.

The reefer fleet's going to benefit most by detention after one hour.

Ahem-m-mm.

 

I will accept your non-challenge and give you a run down on my own thoughts. First, GTI was and for the most part still is a good company. They don't skimp on driver amenity in the trucks or terminals. I don't have the hard on for GTI that some do. I wish it would have worked because there were things I really liked about them, and I appreciated the opportunity I was given to be there.

Second, the reasons why there were no miles wasn't because of the more "experienced" guys. There were always other drivers telling me that they would never run like I do. Because it wasn't expected of them. I was told by more than one in dispatch that I was one of the better drivers because I would turn nothing down and run as much as I could and asked for more.

Third, one of the reasons some stay is because they were coddled. And there's a lot of truth there. And I think you know that. I remember being in Millersburg after a snowstorm and several saying they weren't going anywhere because "they might have to chain", others that didn't know any better because they've never been anywhere else and couldn't make it somewhere they had to do the job the way we do it, without somebody telling us how. That's not a knock on them, but that's the culture at bigger companies.

Finally, the pay increase is not "groundbreaking". It is better for drivers, but not "groundbreaking". Remember, Swift started the trend a few weeks ago by raising driver pay. Heartland simply followed suit. And it's not easy telling shareholders that this is what's going to happen. I get that. I'm not saying the pay raise is a bad thing. Not at all. Hell I wish they would raise my pay over here. But this is the thing, I'm already making what you raised the pay to. I already make more than that. And I also get $25 a stop for additional stops and already get detention pay. Plus, the miles are there. You are taking my words as I'm calling you out and saying the companies suck and yadda yadda yadda. I'm simply saying "Caveat Emptor". Let the buyer, or in this case, the prospective GTI/Heartland driver, aware.

 

I've called Heartland a scumbag outfit. Not Gordon. And I stick by that statement. And I've been out here long enough to know about the "slow season" and totally accept and expect it. It's what they did to me personally that left a bad taste in my mouth. Vic, you and I have had some extreme disagreements here. But I think you know my work ethic is strong and speaks for itself. I believe in hard work, and I live by hard work. What they did to me is nothing short of appalling. And it really saddened me seeing how I not only wanted to work for GTI, but carried the water for them here. And they knew that I did that.

 

I'll give you that, hands down. Don't know if the thank you will pick up but it's there. The game Gerdin is playing is for drivers from its competitors and smaller truck outfits like Lessors (I don't think) are the targets. Gerdin's targeting Swift, Con-way and other megas burdened with debt, counting on a competitive advantage as interest rates will inevitably and eventually climb from where they are now.

It is ground breaking; it is potentially shattering.

I hope it is.

 

Great post, Joseph. Lot of good info.

couple things.. usually some of the one-line posts do come off sounding like you are saying 'they suck'.

the groundbreaking part isn't in the timing, as you mentioned a few others have come out with an increase. It is in the magnitude. Swift doesn't pay anywhere near as much as what Heartland/GTI drivers make, even after their increase. There are aspects of the new Heartland and GTI pay increase that are really trying to compensate drivers better for the inefficiences that are no fault of their own. I don't know of any carriers that are anywhere near the size of Heartland who are paying over $0.60 CPM for experience and raising the detention bar to pay after one hour, and paying for all these other things to the extent they are. I will say, we have farther to go to make the rewards better for the difficult job.