2008 Shaffer-Heartland CHRONICLES
#261
06-23-2008, 07:14 AM
[quote="headborg"][quote="mbadriver"]
Originally Posted by headborg
Heartland Week#1 2008
No Heartland does not pay "layover" or "detention"-- they stated they have a program titled---"Heartland Cares"--- guess Monday I'll call my Fleet Manager and have him explain the program and see if Heartland in fact- Cares. Orientation they did state-- that night and weekend dispatch is just a "fire-watch" phone answering crew-- with no power to dispatch- redirect- plan/unplan. So just leave them alone. This is basically what I've discovered..is fact...then again it would be stupid to have assumed that any company would tell me to take the load back to say...Ft. Smith and drop it. Ok, it's 12:22 am Monday and the doors are open and I'm against the Sam's dock. Another driver I graduated with( we all exchanged phone #) is having a bang up weekend-- he left out of Orientation late Friday-- dropped in Romeoville, Il-- picked up in Ottawa-- and is somewhere between Iowa City and Wichita, Ks-- headed for Wichita for Monday(sometime). He's running system-- so he'll have 1,250 for the weekend. Positives about the beat up truck: after 7 years n a Century/Columba-- I now have LIGHT I always had complaints about the amount of light in those Freightliners---I think a person could do damage to their eyes--living in one. But this truck--has Light( super dome)! And it has-- 12v power outlets coming out the yeng-yang. I finally found I have a Jake Brake-- had to clean all the 6INCHES OF FILTH OF THE INSTRUMENT PANEL to read what the switch was--- didn't want to flip something going down the road by mistake. Tried to hook up my CB a little while ago-- but the coax is broken just beyond the PL259 jack( where you connect your radio)-- oh yeah-- If coming to work here-- bring external speaker for radio. Also, bring Towels---- with only Terminal fueling-- and no towels provided in many of the smaller "terminals"--- you'll soon find you're out of Pilot reward points( so there goes free Showers) Oh, and these International 9400's maneuver and turn better than the Columba/Century And I'm not missing the opti- idle at all. The AC blows very cold in here-- I had to get up twice last night--and shut the whole truck down-- to keep from freezing--- hope they're happy about the fuel savings. Hmm, Heartland Cares - makes one wonder exactly what they care about. We are all hoping they care about you sitting there to cover their mistake. Show me the Care, show me the love, show me the $? All fueling is done at Company Terminals? Are the facilities (showers) maintained (I hate to set the bar too high) as well as a Pilot? Two other companies gave me someone elses pig-pen. Both times I thought it wasn't a real warm and fuzzy "Welcome Aboard." With Roehl I got a freshly detailed truck that even had a mail in card asking if it was detailed to my satisfaction. Too bad I had to slip seat it, because in a couple weeks it was all slopped up. Well Headborg, let's be optimistic about the rest of the week and trust that Heartland indeed shows some Care about your first run.
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#262
06-23-2008, 01:28 PM
Hey again headborg,
just curious.....Heartland doesn't re-imburse you for showers? :shock: If I am under dispatch they will pay for my shower.....
#263
06-23-2008, 10:56 PM
Originally Posted by mt1trucker
Hey again headborg,
just curious.....Heartland doesn't re-imburse you for showers? :shock: If I am under dispatch they will pay for my shower.....
#264
06-23-2008, 11:09 PM
Originally Posted by mbadriver
Well Headborg, let's be optimistic about the rest of the week and trust that Heartland indeed shows some Care about your first run.
Interesting program this-- Heartland Cares-- covers all sorts of situations from Breakdown to Detention, Layover, Short weekend miles, Shag work & the resulting no dispatch resulting from assisting in such. But with some interesting-- catches-- disqualification clauses. Overall, the amounts of these different "accessorial pays" are pretty much industry standards--- except for the disqualification clauses.... Clauses...Clauses...Clauses..
Originally Posted by mbadriver
All fueling is done at Company Terminals? Are the facilities (showers) maintained (I hate to set the bar too high) as well as a Pilot?
I've only visited 2 terminals so far-- so currently, I can't accurately judge-- and I haven't showered in either-- my towels are still at home. today, I got a PO for fuel from Pilot- Kearney, Mo- so it looks as if-- you can call call the fuel department and as Long as you can "justify" that their's no Terminal or Fuel Network stop on your route-- you can get a PO for fuel where they tell you. They are running a very tight ship! and it's actually very refreshing-- makes me believe THEY will survive this fuel price MADNESS.
#265
06-24-2008, 02:00 PM
Fuel is pretty solid. As long as you call them during their open hours, they'll work with you. Just don't call them while you are on the phone and driving down the road. :shock:
MBADRIVER, Insurance is through United Healthworks. It's an 80/20 plan and includes Dental and a prescription card. It runs about $75 a week for a family plan or about $28 a week for a single plan. You cannot get Dental by itself, but you can the medical without the dental, dropping the costs to about $67 and $25 respectively, give or take a few cents. The United Healthworks plan is new, only 3 weeks old. We had Wellmark Blue Cross before hand, but the renewal of the plans we had went through the roof. So we contracted through United Healthworks instead, for no change in the employee rates. So it should stay at its current rate for at least a couple of years, I think. As far as the trucks, they're work trucks. They're not set up to cater to an Arabian Prince, but they're functional and the shops work really hard to make sure they're not junking out. If you got one with 450K on it, Russ, I doubt seriously you'll be in it very long at all. That's about when they trade them out. We should start seeing the Pro Stars rolling into the fleet in the next couple of months and from what I've heard, they'll be a lot nicer. Anyway, hope things are settling in for you, Russ. Give it a couple weeks and if you're running into some snags that don't seem to be smoothing out, give Jim or Tracy a call (they'll be calling you probably first of next week to see how things are going anyway).
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#266
06-24-2008, 09:18 PM
Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer
Fuel is pretty solid. As long as you call them during their open hours, they'll work with you. Just don't call them while you are on the phone and driving down the road. :shock:
MBADRIVER, Insurance is through United Healthworks. It's an 80/20 plan and includes Dental and a prescription card. It runs about $75 a week for a family plan or about $28 a week for a single plan. You cannot get Dental by itself, but you can the medical without the dental, dropping the costs to about $67 and $25 respectively, give or take a few cents. The United Healthworks plan is new, only 3 weeks old. We had Wellmark Blue Cross before hand, but the renewal of the plans we had went through the roof. So we contracted through United Healthworks instead, for no change in the employee rates. So it should stay at its current rate for at least a couple of years, I think. As far as the trucks, they're work trucks. They're not set up to cater to an Arabian Prince, but they're functional and the shops work really hard to make sure they're not junking out. If you got one with 450K on it, Russ, I doubt seriously you'll be in it very long at all. That's about when they trade them out. We should start seeing the Pro Stars rolling into the fleet in the next couple of months and from what I've heard, they'll be a lot nicer. Anyway, hope things are settling in for you, Russ. Give it a couple weeks and if you're running into some snags that don't seem to be smoothing out, give Jim or Tracy a call (they'll be calling you probably first of next week to see how things are going anyway). Just don't call them while driving? Man, I have bluetooth wireless/hands free/ voice dial. But, that's some strange RULES you guys have--- but, then again-- your qualcomm is set up to send/receive messages while the truck's rolling... so kinda contradictory. And Heartland doesn't even have a macro for directions-- instead they are all printed in a book. So, I don't really even see the point of being able to read the qual-com while driving. And now I can admit it--- I liked having the "excuse" why I didn't send a message back--- because I'm rolling-- can't reply until I find a place to stop-- gave me time to think about what/how to phrase my reply/choose my words carefully. I signed up for both the Medical & Dental-- it's really about average out of pocket anyway- and you can't really tell what kind of deal it is-- until you read the policy anyway-- pre-exiting clauses, etc. On the downside-- there's no "open enrollment"? on the upside- unlike Crete/Shaffer-- there's no "waiting period"--where you have to pay in for 6 months before you can "file a claim/collect" 90 day wait-- and you start paying at the same time coverage begins, right?.
#268
06-24-2008, 10:26 PM
Did my drop & hook at Wal-Mart, Tomah, WI today-- my 2nd D&H in row, now waiting for Ashley Furniture to finish loading the 4th trailer I will have dragged for Heartland...
Observations so far---- now I remember how nice it is to pull dry van-- D&H all time. Thus far, all of these Heartland plate trailers-- have been in excellent condition-- guess the mandatory Inspection Lane at all the terminals is working.... Setting in Arcadia, Wi- at Ashley Furn. waiting for load. Dragging it down to drop outside Chicago--- as Ohio is out of my region and I want to stay in a position to get home Friday night late--- just to test out the Regional nature of my new status. Should have 1694 paid miles by late morning tomorrow. Leaving forced dispatch 2.5 days to deliver the low ball figure of 2100 miles + home by late friday. 162 miles a day should be a cake- walk! Heck, I might even exceed that threshold.
#269
06-25-2008, 12:39 AM
Originally Posted by headborg
Originally Posted by mt1trucker
Hey again headborg,
just curious.....Heartland doesn't re-imburse you for showers? :shock: If I am under dispatch they will pay for my shower.....
#270
06-25-2008, 05:24 PM
That's who I was going to say as well, Swift pays for showers. For all the bad rap swift gets, I have no complaints and they have always re-imbursed for showers, tolls, scales, load locks, anything I needed. Keep us posted on your Heartland adventures, my wife and I enjoy the reading.
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