I'm still on the Con-Way contract, but I'll be switching over to the Panther contract this week, probably. The main reason is, Panther seems to be picking and choosing which parts of the Con-Way contract to honor. (of course, that might be due to them trying to get the kinks worked out of the system, what with a bazillion new things that hit them all at once.)
For example, all miles from the last delivery to the next pickup is considered deadhead miles under the Con-Way contract, yet Panther ignores all miles from the last delivery to the point of next dispatch when it comes time to calculating the amount paid.
But, Panther sure picked up on the flat-rate fuel surcharge. hehe I wonder where the excess is going? Certainly not in paying the actual deadhead miles, that's for sure.
On the other hand, they are paying Con-Way drivers some Panther accessorials that we didn't get at Con-Way, like detention on freight transfers (swaps), which came as a nice surprise. With Con-Way, I once sat at the yard for 9 hours waiting on a 2nd leg driver sleeping at the TA in Florence with his QC and phone turned off, to wake up and show up in Springdale, all on my nickel. Mr. Soup was not sympathetic. Panther paid it without me even asking for it. Double-surprise.
Panther detention rates and hand load/unload rates are a joke (I wonder if they are actually charging the customers the accepted industry-standard rates for those things, anyway, and are merely not passing them along to us), but in reality they aren't a consideration all that often. The lack of New England and New York pay is a concern, particularly since practically all loads into Manhattan will need to be hand unloaded. Hand unloads in Manhattan with Con-Way resulted in anywhere from $150-$400 extra, plus the extra NY pay, and even more if it was HAZMAT, but will yield nothing extra with Panther. I sometimes had 2 or 3 loads a month into Manhattan (cause the cry-baby drivers would turn those down) with Con-Way, but will have to give them serious consideration whether or not to even take them with Panther.
It does bother me a little that, since Panther is soooo conputerized, that any and all accessorials that
should be automatic must be hand entered into the PRO BOL. Silly.
What does PRO stand for, anyway? The whole trucking universe is under a load, yet Panther is on a pro. And software pirates are actually computer software evaluation specialists.
Also, is it me, or are a few of the the Comdata charges more with Panther than they were with Con-Way? Like, a Comcheck - 50 cents with Con-Way, $1.50 with Panther. Huh?
At least I now know where the buck really stops.
Ever been to Bucksnort? They got a great restaurant there.
But all things being taken into consideration, getting the actual fuel surcharge, instead of the dramatically reduced flat rate, more than makes up for the 3 cents per mile and rare accessorials differences. I ran into a former Con-Way driver last night and we compared notes since the hostile takeover. He's on the Panther contract, and the differences in overall pay confirmed it for me.
