I am not a fleet owner, but certainly am in your corner. I find it hard to believe that the new rules will only effect 80 trucks.(according to another post). according to panthers web page they have 1600 trucks. can someone please tell me how those few trucks can have such an impact on panthers operation that they had to change the rules. we were just offered a 100 emt 100 loaded after our fixed cost and fuel not counting wear and tear we would end with 35.00 a piece for6 hours of work. it amazes me that not everyone is not up in arms for this. it is not impossible to have a string of crummy load offers to get down to the 67. so you take the crap that you don't make money on multiply that by x amount of trucks in your fleet throw in a few breakdowns and where are you at. you don't have to be a fleet owner to have this same effect on you just at a smaller scale. perhaps all the ones that like this are really closet cherry pickers and just won't admit it. 80,100,200 so called cherry pickers would have no effect to panther or anyone else. its win win with panther lose money on that load or you will be punished. lets not forget the time thats gonna be involved correcting all the wrong refusals. we got a refusal for not taking a reefer load. guess what we don't have a reefer. took our first out away and dropped to 6th on the board. two phone calls 15 minutes later its corrected. in the mean time i wonder what happened to the trucks that disappeared off the board when Im supposed to have the first out. oh some just think thats business as usual. i better get off of here before i offend to many panther partners.
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I am not a fleet owner, but certainly am in your corner. I find it hard to believe that the new rules will only effect 80 trucks.(according to another post). according to panthers web page they have 1600 trucks. can someone please tell me how those few trucks can have such an impact on panthers operation that they had to change the rules. we were just offered a 100 emt 100 loaded after our fixed cost and fuel not counting wear and tear we would end with 35.00 a piece for6 hours of work. it amazes me that not everyone is not up in arms for this. it is not impossible to have a string of crummy load offers to get down to the 67. so you take the crap that you don't make money on multiply that by x amount of trucks in your fleet throw in a few breakdowns and where are you at. you don't have to be a fleet owner to have this same effect on you just at a smaller scale. perhaps all the ones that like this are really closet cherry pickers and just won't admit it. 80,100,200 so called cherry pickers would have no effect to panther or anyone else. its win win with panther lose money on that load or you will be punished. lets not forget the time thats gonna be involved correcting all the wrong refusals. we got a refusal for not taking a reefer load. guess what we don't have a reefer. took our first out away and dropped to 6th on the board. two phone calls 15 minutes later its corrected. in the mean time i wonder what happened to the trucks that disappeared off the board when Im supposed to have the first out. oh some just think thats business as usual. i better get off of here before i offend to many panther partners.
Wow yerself, Drama Queen. You come out of the woodwork to come after me personally, calling my posts idiotic and crazy, and then a lame shot that my own words show a constant lack insight? What's wrong with you? Idiotic is as idiot does.
For one, I said I was speaking about vans, not straights. Specifically said that I couldn't speak to straights. First line of the post. Did you not catch that? Was that too far over your head? And two, I said it was an oversimplification. If you need me to explain that term, please let me know.
I specifically did not want to get into straight truck fleet owners because I lack the knowledge to intelligently discuss it, and specifically over simplified it all because I was commenting on things from the driver's point of view versus that of the van fleet owner. I'm sorry if you were unable to comprehend all that. Most fleet vans are rather spartan compared to a straight truck, even I know that. Don't you? And believe it or don't, most fleet van owners don't spend a lot of time trying to find backhauls for their drivers.
I'm a van owner, but not a fleet owner, however I do know several of them. Far too many of them have a far different attitude than do owners of fleet straights and tractors. If anything, the van driver and the fleet van owner are more alike than different, but that's another oversimplification that you're not likely to understand, even with all of your insight. I may not have the straight truck insights that you have, but you can take your $1700 a month truck payment and I'll raise you a $300 a month payment on a used van. So there.
You want to comment about what I say, fine, but if you want to comment about me, then it becomes personal. Do you really want to go there? Unless your comments can be vastly more civil and intelligent than this one, please continue to refrain. Thank you very much, have a nice day.
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In one sense, yeah, it is, as you can get by on less than that. You can also spend a great deal more. Mainly it depends on how healthy you want to eat. It also can depend on whether or not your van has a kitchen in it, if you get my drift. Cheese and crackers can go only just so far towards a healthy diet. Same with the Dollar Menu at McDonald's. Or three squares a day at the buffet (which will cost you more than $20 a day, actually). Even three meals at Subway plus something to drink will run you close to $20 a day.
You can skips meals, but skipping meals is the surest road to obesity, regardless of how well you eat, as skipping meals slows your metabolism to a crawl. That's my failing. I tend to eat one, maybe two meals a day, and have for many years. Eating on the cheap usually (but not always) means filling up on empty carbs, of which the excess gets converted to fat and stored. Too many carbs, skipping meals, sedentary lifestyle, grabbing a hot dog or whatever here and there and eating on the run, there ya go, that's the stereotypical trucker.
Clarifications:
It is not so much about picking and choosing as it is simply declining the loads that cannot be profitably run. We will haul most any load that pays well. We generally will not move the truck to haul money-losing freight. There are exceptions but they are few.
We have become acquainted with some people at "the office" over the years, that is true. But that makes zero difference in the kind or number of loads we haul. I know lot's of people who are in good standing and have good reputations at the office. All of them will scoff at the idea that they receive better loads because of it.
That may be the way it is at your carrier. It is not the way it is at ours. Loads are fairly dispatched regardless of driver experience level.
As for the crystal ball, do you not have a fleet owner? Is that owner not helpful in coaching you on the good freight areas and developing a good acceptance strategy? You and I run for different carriers. Since the compensation is different, acceptance strategies will naturally differ as well.
But regardless of the carrier in question, it is not true that someone new in the business has to be less effective at finding good freight areas than someone with years of experience. Newbies can tap into the experience of others and make good decisions by doing so. Talk to your fleet owner about smart acceptance and location techniques. Talk to the experienced expediters with your carrier about the same.
When Diane and I first entered the business, we made more money in our first 30 days than many experienced straight-truck teams did in the same time peroid. Experience in load acceptance matters to a degree, but it does not have to be YOUR experience. Use the experience of others who are happy to help and provide free coaching. If only YOUR experience mattered, Diane and I would not have had the high-dollar month we did our first month out. We did well because we used not our experience (we had none) but the experience of others.
I hope new readers grasp that point. When you are brand new in the business, you do not need to know a lot about your carrier's dispatch system and good freight areas to play the system like a pro; that is IF you develop first, or early on, good working relationships with people who know the system. By talking frequently to people who know, and after hauling a few loads, you can quickly learn the system. After hauling more loads, you can refine your load acceptance strategy and relocation decisions to match your style and priorities.
It is not so much about picking and choosing as it is simply declining the loads that cannot be profitably run. We will haul most any load that pays well. We generally will not move the truck to haul money-losing freight. There are exceptions but they are few.
We have become acquainted with some people at "the office" over the years, that is true. But that makes zero difference in the kind or number of loads we haul. I know lot's of people who are in good standing and have good reputations at the office. All of them will scoff at the idea that they receive better loads because of it.
That may be the way it is at your carrier. It is not the way it is at ours. Loads are fairly dispatched regardless of driver experience level.
As for the crystal ball, do you not have a fleet owner? Is that owner not helpful in coaching you on the good freight areas and developing a good acceptance strategy? You and I run for different carriers. Since the compensation is different, acceptance strategies will naturally differ as well.
But regardless of the carrier in question, it is not true that someone new in the business has to be less effective at finding good freight areas than someone with years of experience. Newbies can tap into the experience of others and make good decisions by doing so. Talk to your fleet owner about smart acceptance and location techniques. Talk to the experienced expediters with your carrier about the same.
When Diane and I first entered the business, we made more money in our first 30 days than many experienced straight-truck teams did in the same time peroid. Experience in load acceptance matters to a degree, but it does not have to be YOUR experience. Use the experience of others who are happy to help and provide free coaching. If only YOUR experience mattered, Diane and I would not have had the high-dollar month we did our first month out. We did well because we used not our experience (we had none) but the experience of others.
I hope new readers grasp that point. When you are brand new in the business, you do not need to know a lot about your carrier's dispatch system and good freight areas to play the system like a pro; that is IF you develop first, or early on, good working relationships with people who know the system. By talking frequently to people who know, and after hauling a few loads, you can quickly learn the system. After hauling more loads, you can refine your load acceptance strategy and relocation decisions to match your style and priorities.
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