a good panther week

[ebsprintin]

I have over 4800 miles the last two weeks. By far my best run since signing on with panther. By the looks of the pro bill numbers, others must be moving pretty well too.

What a week. Loaded miles, my long awaited company newsletter was published, noticeable progress on boards, and now a barrage of progress reports on pending projects.

eb

 

[easyrider2697]

congrats on running so well, its amazing how some weeks can turn out huh?

 

[LDB]

My best was Nov. of 2006. I loaded 11/21 in Chatanooga and delivered 11/27 in Portland and Albany, OR. I loaded 11/27 in Eugene and swapped with a team 11/28 in SLC. On 11/29 I loaded in Orem and delivered 12/2 in San Antonio. I had over 6500 paid in 2 weeks with only about 200 deadhead. I'd like to break my record but don't hold my breath that I ever will.

 

[tblount]

I have over 4800 miles the last two weeks. By far my best run since signing on with panther. By the looks of the pro bill numbers, others must be moving pretty well too..

eb

I wish I could say that. I only had 2 loads the last 13 days. At this rate I'll have only 4 loads a month. I had 3 offers the last 5 days and they were all canceled, usually because a solo driver couldn't make the delivery within 11 hrs.

I had an offer today with low fuel surcharge and asked for
$200 bonus to help cover the extra $400 it would take to make the 1,000 mile trip. They said they would get back to me and then charged me with a refusal.

...so here I sit for who knows how long in El Paso Tx.

 

[Turtle]

Well, with the voluntary flat-rate FSC program, if you aren't on it, don't expect much sympathy, or bonuses, if you don't like a load with a low FSC. You have to, on your own, see to it that when you take a load with a high FSC that it can also help cover loads with a low FSC. The flat-rate program evens out the FSC across all loads, and you have to do the same thing yourself if you aren't on the program. A load with a .60 FSC also lets me take one with a .20 FSC - it all evens out.

The alternative is to take strictly the loads with high FSC and turn down the ones with a low FSC, but you can end up being passed over for otherwise good paying loads, and/or with things like 2 loads in the last 13 days.


In any case, it depends on how you asked for it, but if you asked for a bonus and they said they'd get back to you, and instead of getting back to you they simply assumed that you would refuse it and went ahead and marked you down for a refusal without you actually refusing it, I'd be all over over Driver Relations with that one to get the refusal removed.

If you made the acceptance in any way, shape or form conditional of the bonus, like, "Yeah, I'll run it, if you can get me $200 bonus for fuel," or, "Give me $200 and I'll run it," then unless they decide to give you the bonus money, that's a refusal.


If I were sitting in El Paso, especially 4th of July Week, and were offered a 1000 mile trip, the question I'd be asking is not "Can I get fuel bonus money," but "What's it worth to me to get out of El Paso without having to deadhead the whole way on my own dime?"

 

[davekc]

If I were sitting in El Paso, especially 4th of July Week, and were offered a 1000 mile trip, the question I'd be asking is not "Can I get fuel bonus money," but "What's it worth to me to get out of El Paso without having to deadhead the whole way on my own dime?"
__________________
And that is the difference between someone running a business and a steering wheel holder. Too many focus on the deadhead, or the FSC and never look out more than a few hours from where they are at. Then they ***** because they have been sitting there a week.

 

[LDB]

That's the key to the issue. What are the circumstances. If it's only an hour after delivery on a Tue. morning of a week at the end of the month with no holiday I'll think differently than when it's beginning of the month and 4th of July holiday. The exact same load offer can be terrible one time and very good another. You have to look at the big picture as well as the specific offer.

 

[tblount]

I guess I don't understand why they expect us to pay for fuel to haul their customer's freight. I've paid over $1,000 for fuel this month. My spreadsheet says I'm not making $ 1.20 per mile as my contract says. ...I'm making about $1 per mile.
.
In my opinion that is like hiring you to unload my truck for $12 an hour then when you finish I pay you $10 an hour and tell you I had to charge you rental for my hand truck.

They did remove the refusal for not taking the load.

Here is what I can't understand... the national fuel average is $4.60 ...they sent me a message over qualcomm when I started saying that fuel mileage for my truck was calculated at 8 miles per gallon. That comes to .58 cents per mile... not 39 or 40. I know it cost .60 per mile to operate my truck. I'm willing to pay deadhead. If they would just pay the rate they are supposed to I wouldn't be in a position to have to haggle over the rates on some of the offers.


I guess I don't really care if owners want to pay the fuel to haul Panther's freight. I know that it, just a matter of time before they have to park the truck. I guess I'll still be sitting here in El Paso wishing I had rented an apartment.

If I were sitting in El Paso, especially 4th of July Week, and were offered a 1000 mile trip, the question I'd be asking is not "Can I get fuel bonus money," but "What's it worth to me to get out of El Paso without having to deadhead the whole way on my own dime?"
__________________
And that is the difference between someone running a business and a steering wheel holder. Too many focus on the deadhead, or the FSC and never look out more than a few hours from where they are at. Then they ***** because they have been sitting there a week.

 

[LDB]

You should have been told and for that matter done enough research before getting into this to know that fuel costs are part of the costs of doing business and that the fsc is to help cover the cost of fuel not to pay all of the cost of fuel. At $4.64 national avg fuel price the fsc should be 43cpm to bring fuel to $1.20 per gallon. Customers need to be required to pay a reasonable fsc but not necessarily the entire fuel bill.

 

[tblount]

Well, like they say, the devil is in the details. Probably the reason so many truckers go out of business. They keep taking cheap loads and eventually the truck depreciation and maintenance catches up with them.

The way I look at it, if I haul freight for only enough profit to buy food and pay for the fuel, I'm just a homeless person, living in a truck with enough dignity to go through life without begging for food.

You should have been told and for that matter done enough research before getting into this to know that fuel costs are part of the costs of doing business and that the fsc is to help cover the cost of fuel not to pay all of the cost of fuel. At $4.64 national avg fuel price the fsc should be 43cpm to bring fuel to $1.20 per gallon. Customers need to be required to pay a reasonable fsc but not necessarily the entire fuel bill.

 

[davekc]

You should have been told and for that matter done enough research before getting into this to know that fuel costs are part of the costs of doing business and that the fsc is to help cover the cost of fuel not to pay all of the cost of fuel. At $4.64 national avg fuel price the fsc should be 43cpm to bring fuel to $1.20 per gallon. Customers need to be required to pay a reasonable fsc but not necessarily the entire fuel bill.

I agreed with this thought when fuel was $2.50 to 2.75 per gallon. My opinion now, has changed.
Why? Because a prescribed amount of fuel is required for every pickup. With rare exception, we are usually not sitting at the shipper. If the rate doesn't climb proportionally, then that difference has to be picked up through the FSC.
If fuel went to eight dollars a gallon, where would the cost come from on those deadhead miles? If one is on the .50 DH plan, that is pretty much wiped out with just the fuel cost. It doesn't touch any equipment costs which then have to come from the base rate. As far as FSC's, I look at all the miles, not just the loaded.

 

[Turtle]

Yeah, I'm with Dave on this one. It used to be that FSC helped defray the cost of fuel, but not anymore. It's too large of an operating expense on deadhead to not factor it in to all miles. Two years ago, even a year ago, it wasn't that big a deal. Now it is.

I'm in a Sprinter, so the numbers are different (mostly worse) for a truck, but when fuel was $2.00 a gallon my fuel cost was about $.10 a mile. I recently had a load offer of 179 deadhead for 450 loaded, with a $.13 FSC. 629 total miles. I eat the first 100 deadhead miles, then get $.25 a mile for the remaining 79, for $19.75, then 450 times the .13 is $58.50, for a total of 78.25 for fuel for all miles driven. That's two years ago and today, same thing. But it's today's fuel costs that make FSC much more than a method to help pay for fuel.

OK, two years ago when fuel costs was $.10 a mile, it would cost me $62.90 in fuel to run that, and with the FSC and deadhead pay I'd actually get $78.25, so it's all good. Today, at $4.50 a gallon and a fuel cost of about .23 per mile, my fuel cost for the 629 miles is $144.67. That's a $66.42 hit that I take if I run that load (because my $.77 per loaded mile hasn't changed)

.77 + .13 is .90 per mile for 450 loaded miles. Two years ago that wasn't bad, but today, I don't make a lot, but I don't really lose anything, and it gets me to a better area. However, factor in 100 unpaid deadhead plus the 79 paid at $19.75 and $424.75 total pay on 629 miles is 67 1/2 cents per mile, and that's a luzer. If your van CPM is $.50, then you net 17 1/2 cents per mile, or $110 for about 12 hours of work. The same load at a $.30 FSC adds $76.40 to your bottom line, making the load pay out at $186.50 for the same run (79.6 cents per mile for all miles, still not great, but hardly a luzer). If you're solely looking to move to a better area (something that dispatch is quite often counting on), then the $110 may look good, but otherwise you're mainly running freight as a public service at those numbers. The carrier makes plenty of money on it, tho.

When fuel was $2 and $2.50 a gallon, you could expect to eat up to 30% deadhead (at least in a van) and still make money. Not anymore. It needs to be closer to 20%. (that's not 20% or 30% per load, but rather for all miles driven over the course of a year as a percentage of loaded, paid miles). The flat-rate FSC program makes 30% deadhead doable for the most part, tho. It allows you to take loads that would otherwise be too much deadhead or too low a FSC and keeps the deadhead costs relatively under control, again, provided you keep it to less than 30%.

The load I'm on right now was 27 miles deadhead for 1059 loaded, with a $.70 FSC, which makes those 30% deadheads every now and then, as well as those crappy FSC's once in a while, a little easier to accept.

A lot of rambling and a lot of numbers, I know, but hopefully someone will find some of it of use.

 

[moose]

KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS 1 :

Fuel millage :
many O/O are looking at the costs of fuel to move the load .
thats have the potential of not running a good paying load.
no buddy cares what is the fuel millage running a very heavy load , cross wind up the hills in W.Y ,
when asked : what is your truck F.M (fuel millage ) , many will say : its depend ,,,
well , folks , its not !
F.M is how match fuel you buy , per how many millage the truck have moved.
period .

unfortunately we cannot drive East all the time...
in except of Nebraska , as N.E is the only place in witch , no matter what way the truck is rolling its always facing the wind

Accounting Made Easy :
I wright down the hob on every fuel ticket , and every Delivery receipt .
i than wright on the Delivery receipt the DH , and LD mile. as they appear on the QC.
now i can monitor the paycheck ,
the DH %
and fuel costs.
mosts important its give me a way to factor in the different between the payed mil. and the mil. it takes to run the load .

KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS 2 :
LDFM
Loaded fuel millage.
factoring in the DH % into the costs of fuel to run the TRUCK (not the load!).
Expediting is a per load operation , that say , a smart business man, that drive a truck and know his numbers, can afford to run loads at a lower costs , by averaging-up the costs of operation
one can average-up a bad load , by a good one.
one can average-up a bad week by a good one.

if your truck is getting a poor FM , you will can afford to run less MT millage .
if your truck is getting an exceptional good FM , its allow you to drive farther to find freight .
and you can increase the DH%.

Moose.

 

[Turtle]

 

[tblount]

KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS 1 :

Fuel millage :

F.M is how match fuel you buy , per how many millage the truck have moved.
period .

That is exactly right. I don't think Panther recognizes that. They act to me like I only have to pay for fuel while loaded.

Accounting Made Easy :
I wright down the hob on every fuel ticket , and every Delivery receipt .
i than wright on the Delivery receipt the DH , and LD mile. as they appear on the QC.
now i can monitor the paycheck ,
the DH %
and fuel costs.
mosts important its give me a way to factor in the different between the payed mil. and the mil. it takes to run the load .

You can do it easier using the free Google spreadsheet online and share your numbers with anyone you want. If you want to check mine out at pantherdrivers dot com let me know how your numbers compare.


It cost me 79 cents per loaded mile to move freight. I have to pay for over $ 1,000 worth of fuel per month. That is a full weeks paycheck.