Profile For Wolfshepherd

That sounds like an awfully trivial thing to be immediately terminated for. Is there any more to the story?

That's what I thought, that there had to be, but not according to my fleet manager. And the thing is, my fleet manager tagged me as a "runner," meaning I always picked up and delivered on time, kept the hammer down, and more times than not always showed up as much as a day early. In fact, I joked that if I was on time, I considered myself late.

Apparently, using screws to secure the mat voided the truck's warranty. I was shocked, flabbergasted, and thought, WTF!!

I was an OTR driver for Heartland Express, and I was just fired for securing the driver floor mat down with screws. Velcro wouldn't stick to the rubberized floor covering or the rubber mat, and it would slide up and get caught under the pedals. To me it was a safety issue, and I didn't think anything of it, but bottom line is it violated Heartland's no alteration or modification policy, and I was immediately terminated for it. I liked and respected Heartland, and still believe it is a great company to drive for if you're into short and medium hauls and care about home time. However, I liked driving long haul with the carrier I was with before, and don't really care about home time. I've been out for up to five months at a time, and like it. With my hazmat endorsement, I was making 46 cents a mile at Heartland, whether it was 15 or 1500 miles. I liked that far and above the sliding scale other carriers have, such as Knight and Marten.

I'm now discovering that since I was terminated, I can't qualify for other carriers with whom I contacted. I am still relatively new, with just over a year's experience OTR; I like it and want to continue. Am I totally f*d?

Great info, guys, as I just learned I'll be going to CRST's school week after next, and really looking forward to it. This would be perfect for me. I'm not married, have no children, and love to drive. I grew up in CT and I lived in Los Angeles for many years, and drove coast to coast on my own 8 times, plus up and down each coast numerous times. The insight on the physical and tests from other posts was a great heads up and very helpful, especially about the sidewalk and bike path. I'm really excited and looking forward to it.

Thanks to all posts for your insight and feedback

Jim