Coralville, IA-based truckload carrier Heartland Express is planning to increase driver pay a second time this year, starting October 2, with the introduction of what the company calls its “Green Mile$” program. The goal is to raise both company driver and owner-operator pay based on miles driven within certain east coast states.
Under the new program, company drivers and owner operators will make an additional seven cents per mile for all the household goods (HHG) miles driven in what Heartland calls the “Green Zone”: an area north of the southern border of Maryland and east of Interstate 81 running through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Heartland drivers that currently make 43 cents per mile (including safety bonus) would earn 50 cents per mile driven within the “Green Zone,” while owner-operators would end up earning 95 cents per mile driven in the those same states, the company said.
“We made a significant financial commitment with our three-cent pay raise back in January, and now we are making another one with … this program,” said Heartland’s chairman & CEO Russell Gerdin. “Today we set the [driver pay] bar even higher and I'm committed to setting the bar long into the future.”
