Heartland Express--A very dangerous co. to drive for. Worst than the mafia.

by Betsy
(New York)

If you value your integrity, your good work history, and you wish to move on to better pastures in the future, I'd think twice about it.....Or better......A dozen times before you even think about it.

1) They have a culture of pure mechanization---whereby they treat their drivers as pieces equipment. They want to extract from their drivers every drop of sweat and blood they can, without ever thinking about the lives of their drivers. It does not matter if your spouse is ill, or an emergency has taken place, or if the driver, himself, is ill....All they care about is the bottom line. Fleet managers have a board, and if they fall under a certain percentage, out the door they go. And it didn't matter that Heartless would preapprove my husband's time off-----they always figured out a way to take him to another geographical area----far from home, so as not to give him his time off. Mind you, he would only come home once every four weeks. Even when he was out for longer than three months, they would still give him a hard time if he asked for time off---which they regarded as personal favor. Or.....Let me put it this way. He was always told yes, ahead of time. But when it came time for him to come home, he'd be told that the needs of the company preceded the needs of the driver. As a spouse, I found myself having to call the company to plead and beg them to allow my husband to come home. As a disabled spouse, I needed him to be home at least once per month, on a Friday, in order to see my doctor. That didn't matter, either. Knowing that my husband would be driving, they would tell me on that late afternoon that they would not speak with the spouse of a driver, by which time it would be too late for my husband to come home. This happened every time my husband was due to come home. In a few words, they are a snake with several heads: One head is the safety Dept. always at the orders of the Operations Dept. Once they want to get rid of the driver, the Operations dept. will get in touch with the safety Dept. who will get in touch with HR, which are one and the same to see how they can find the slightest reason possible, to do so..... Trust me, once they find something.....They will make it impossible for you to be hired anywhere else. It is happening to us, as I'm typing. I could understand their actions, had my husband been drinking, or doing drugs, or if he had had an accident. None of these things apply to my husband. Yet.....They will go to extraordinary lengths, willing to spend dozens of hours if necessary to ruin a driver's financial and/or honorable life. These people are vicious, immoral in their work practices,and very dangerous. What makes them so dangerous is the fact that they have the ability to ruin the lives of law-abiding citizens who have the misfortune of working for them. Once you are perceived by them as persona non grata, they will make sure you won't be hired anywhere else.

These people are worst than the mafia. They don't play games, and they always make an offer that the driver can't refuse. But.....Whatever the offer is, it will ruin the driver's life. For many years to come....Your good record with no incidents, no accidents, no violations no citations---All out the window---Just like that---In a day or two. More than 25 years of perfect driving? Never, ever been involved with the law in any negative manner? None of those excellent records will mean anything to any prospective employer. HeartLess, as they are called by their drivers, will make the driver's life one pure, unadulterated living hell. Don't fall for the high rate miles they pay, either. They make their drivers drive through back roads for even hundred of miles in one given week, just so that they don't have to pay for tolls. They treat their drivers like garbage in such subtle manner, making their drivers feel as if they are really beneath them. Not ever wanting to meet the driver in person, or even talk to him if he happens to be around. Did you ever feel like you wanted to meet your fleet manager, or his boss? FAT CHANCE!! GOD forbid..... A driver is not one of their own..... Although I bet you all---My husband has more education than they do. (My husband, Has a Masters Degree in International Relations and National Security Studies.)Will not give the university's name for fear of what they will do with that information. My husband is well spoken, he presents well. He drove for 2.5 years under very stressful circumstances, trying to build a good three year record, in order to start driving for a company that would pay him $85,000.00. I personally saw the horrible conditions under which my husband worked for, and submitted to the whims of this company. How many drivers does it take to file a law suit against this company, for what they do to their drivers? Anyone? I'm so willing to take them on!!!! I will do all the leg work necessary. Why? Because with such a perfect driving record as that of my husband's, he should be able to find work in this industry. Yet, I don't know what they have told prospective employers, to make this an impossibility. All companies he has applied to, have failed to respond to him. How can they classify "A logbook violation" as a "Falsification"? I will do whatever is necessary to rectify this error. My reputation (and that of my husband's) is the only one thing we have left here.....I will not allow them to take that away. And.....IS IT NOT against the law for a company or an individual to prevent a person from ruining one's professional reputation and from earning a livelihood? Any lawyers out there?

Again!!!! I will do all the leg work. How many drivers out there, do we have, for a law-suit?
As for their terminals, I can tell you they are at the bottom of the barrel. Filthy, extremely old, and one feels as if upon taking a
shower, one has to disinfect the entire place. How fitting that the driver's quarters have been left Unattended and devoid of any service? am most positive no manager has ever gone down or up---whatever the case may be, to see if things are clean, or in working order, or falling apart? Or perhaps they need to be changed or improved? Again.....GOD forbid one of those "managers" sets foot in a place sooooooo much beneath them. The snakes at HeartLess Express have to answer for what they do to their drivers. This must stop. I/we will use everything that the law provides and is within its boundaries, to address this issue. They (the snakes) have venom in their fangs, but I/we have persistence and a fiery will to do what is right. How many good drivers, driving for HeartLess Express are in the same predicament? To anyone even thinking of driving for this company, I say.....Stay as far away as possible from them. You will thank me in due time. These people don't play games. They can, and will destroy your lives once you no longer serve their needs. The have no conscience. They are devoid of any moral values. I say this, because I know of no other organization that will so viciously, so adamantly, so persistently, and so forcefully at will, and with all of its ability destroy the life and good reputation of a driver who did nothing more than to press a button crawling at a painfully slow speed, just to make better time in order to deliver their load on time. They are a thankless bunch of thugs, all devoid of any ethical behavior and humanity. They are worst than the mafia. With the mafia, you at least know that if you play your cards right, you have a chance. With these thugs you don't. Being under their direction is as if one has stepped into a den of snakes. You won't know where you have stepped, until it is too late. By that time they have ruined your reputation, your good work history, and you find yourself in the most precarious situation you could possibly find yourself in. All thanks to Heartland's desire to destroy not just the life of the driver, but also the lives of those who are close to the driver. Please stay away from them. I wish I had known all of the above mentioned facts, before my husband started working for them. We would have saved ourselves lots of grief. Trust me. They are a malevolent and powerful force.