Heartland Express announces a 3 CENT PER MILE PAY INCREASE for ALL drivers and Owner Operators!

By: Heartland Express

CORALVILLE IA. ?November 20TH 2003? Heartland Express Inc. of Iowa (www.heartlandexpresscom) ranked as one of the ?200 Best Small Companies? by Forbes magazine and a ?Hot Growth Company? by BusinessWeek magazine announced today that they are implementing a 3 cent per mile pay raise for all mileage-based drivers in their fleet! This includes all company drivers Owner Operators solos and teams. This will move their top solo company driver pay from $.40 to $.43 company teams from $.40 to $.43 and Owner Operator solo and team pay from $.85 to $.88 (before their additional fuel stabilization program).

In a statement from Heartland the raise will go into effect in the first quarter of 2004. It will be implemented as a penny increase on 1/3/04 a penny increase on 1/31/04 and a penny increase 2/28/04. The raise is expected to widen their lead in the truckload industry for driver pay per mile.

The pay raise is being implemented as one way Heartland will manage the income for their drivers as the new Hours of Service mandate from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration goes into effect January 4th 2004. Additionally Heartland is working with their shippers to increase efficiencies and reduce the down time their drivers may incur. Heartland has also been actively educating and retraining their driving force and their operational departments in an effort to be prepared well in advance of the January date.

?This is an industry wide challenge and Heartland is in a position to meet this challenge in a number of ways. The driver cannot bear the brunt of this from a financial and a production standpoint. Heartland drivers will move forward instead of backwards so that as a company we can face this change. Heartland always has and always will take care of our drivers.? stated Russell Gerdin founder president and CEO of Heartland Express.

John Cosaert Executive Vice-President and CFO commented ?Our strong financial standing puts Heartland in a position to face this industry development head on. We understand that the driver is the key to our company and offering this pay increase is a testament to that fact.?

Heartland Express is an irregular route truckload carrier based in Coralville Iowa serving customers with primary shipping lane east of the Rocky Mountains. They offer long-haul regional and dedicated opportunities. Any professional driver interested in getting more information about Heartland Express can call them at 1-800-441-4953 or access the company website at www.heartlandexpress.com.

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