Home Time Didn't Work - DH 2200 miles UT to NC

[tonymcc]

Hi,

I wanted to get some other's experiences with Home Time ... Panther, Fed Ex, Landstar. I've not used it much, but this week I was pretty disgusted with 2200 miles of dead head. That sure takes the numbers down!

More of the story ...

I was home the week approaching Easter and also needed to be home the following weekend. I didn't want to take two weeks off, though, so I was considering being available for local minis or a pro to a very good area with a high probability of getting back home. I was called about a Gov't/Elite pro from VA to UT picking up Easter Monday. I said I had to be back home by Sat. and Salt Lake area wasn't that great to get out of. He said no guarantee, but he'd get the word out, do all he could, and freight had been very good lately. Against my better judgment, I was talked into it. We arrived Tues. PM, got a pre-dispatched offer Tues. for a pro Wed. to CA. Why are we being offered CA? Turns out we could have done that, but at the time, we certainly thought there was a better chance of getting out of Salt Lake than Barstow. We delivered Wed. AM and stayed 2nd out all day. 2nd out in UT and we don't have 2 or 3 days to sit this time. This is not going well, but there's still time. So, we learned that no trucks were in or expected in Denver. We drove all night to be 1st out all day Thurs. I took a nap and then got online to see that NLM had us on hold for over an hour. Wonder what we missed being unavailable all that time? I got that removed and then got an offer to ND. ND??? Seems business as usual! Are they not reading the notes??? Did the word not get out? The night before, Wed. night, our team leader seemed very concerned, but said he wouldn't be in the next day until 2:00 PM. I thought I'd send him an email from Denver that AM for him to quickly read when he came in, and then he'd help and at least touch base with us. After all, he's the one who sort of talked us into this. We heard nothing all day. So, we left that night and headed east. The team leader did give us about 13 cents a mile bonus to help out after another email expressing our frustration. We appreciated that, but would rather have had the bonus go to the first dispatcher to find us a load. We learned we'd be 1st team out in St. Louis. So, we stayed there all day Friday ... thinking every mile we drive is a loss and there's a better than average chance we'll get something here if we wait. No calls all day. So, we dead headed about 2200 miles from UT to NC on a pro we shouldn't have taken. I don't know exactly how Home Time is supposed to work. I could have refused the load, but I also agreed and thought there was a good chance of getting home. I wonder how many loads east we could have gotten to the shipper in time, but other trucks were closer, so we weren't considered. I know that would be preferential treatment, but I thought Home Time was preferential treatment. I know I've been bumped from 1st out before because someone else was promised it when they delivered. So, if you're still reading this <g> ... what's your experience? Would this have happened with Landstar, for example? Sure, no guarantees, and I risked it ... my fault, but I wonder if more could have been done on the dispatch side. Any thoughts? Turns out after fuel, this pro paid about 61 cents a mile. Impressed yet?

Thanks,

Tony
Panther Elite

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Tony,


How long have you been at Panther...do you drive a D unit or an E unit? The traffic lanes out of Salt Lake city tend to moove north and south.....or to California. I would take a move to Barstow any day of the week over anything else if I were in SLC. Most of the loads I have been seeing out of SLC lately are going to Nowhere, MT. Hometime board places you forst on the list for anything that is headed in your direction.....but they do not automatically assume that you would not want a load offer anywhere else...the difference is you can turn it down and not have a refusal. I am curious as to what you drive.


-Charlotte

 

[x06col]

I'd just say i hope your need to be home, was, in fact a real need to be home, if you are that upset about the events. In this business you should maybe take some mini's, or stay home. Being that far from where you need to be is not a good thing. Mostly I feel "need" to be home, translates to "desire" to be home.

 

[tonymcc]

Hi Charlotte,

Nice to hear from you. We've been with Panther about two years, drive a D unit, and have been very active ... all 48 states and 5 provinces of Canada ... most several times ... UT several times ... and know what it's like to sit <g>. We use Macro 8, call for backhauls, we have a getloaded.com account ... we thought we'd get home. When they offered the Barstow load, I was on the phone with a getloaded.com broker. So, over the QC, I couldn't get the dispatcher who sent the load ... or much advice. We have been to Barstow also several times and know now it would have been better. At the time, we couldn't get Panther to advise which they thought was better. Just, "We'll take you off if you want." We decided that SLC was a better chance than Barstow ... and less miles home ... and probably a more active route ... but things change. Now we know we should have taken the Barstow.

Here's another story that affected my attitude. Once we sat for 5 days in Boise. Someone suggested a person at Panther we could call, so he authorized a 30 cent empty move to LA. We appreciated that. I guess he didn't know we'd be 5th out there, so we sat again 5 more days. Early Monday AM after the 10 days, I called the same person again to give an update. Within hours we had a load from LA to VA. I called to share my extreme appreciation and he explained he offered a bonus to the first dispatcher who could find a decent load out of LA for us. It was our full rate with a good FSC. I know it doesn't always work this way, but I also know when there are incentives, maybe people do things they otherwise wouldn't. I'm thinking certainly there were loads we could have made ... maybe 500 miles out ..., but a closer truck got the load. Ordinarily that would only be fair, but I thought Home Time was preferred. I'm not sure to what degree. We've only used it one other time and we had several more days and were in a better area. I watch our numbers closely. I look at truck miles, fuel, and expenses. Just considering fuel, we average over $1 a mile for all truck miles, loaded, dh, empty, personal ... all truck miles after we pay the fuel. Last month it was $1.17 for all miles after fuel. This pro was 61 cents. That takes our numbers down and really frustrated me.

Thanks,

Tony

 

[tonymcc]

Nope ... it was a real need. Did you read it all? We were already home and were going to stay since we needed to be home the following weekend. We thought we'd take minis or maybe to a good area ... if we went out at all. We didn't want to take two weeks off, but we had to be home the following weekend. Did you read it all? Yep ... it was a need, not a desire, and we were already home ... sort of talked into going out and taking this pro. I allowed myself to be talked into going back out. I also thought there was a good chance of getting back home ..., but I hadn't had much experience with Home Time. I thought it was a bit better than this, and the team leader seemed to indicate there was a good chance. Again ... we were already home ... shouldn't have gone back out.

Tony

 

[nightcreacher]

tony
heres how you have to look at it.if in fact you did a round trip and put any money in the bank then it was to your advantage rather than sitting home that week,but if after the week,and you actually spent the money you were making, then it would have been better just to have stayed home.If I have an obligation,and am offered a load that I'm not sure if, I can get home,I look and see if I do the load, and dead head home,if I will only need the money from the advance,if I'm going to have to dig into my pocket,I'm not doing the load, and I'm either waiting for that short load,or just going out of service.

 

[tonymcc]

That's a good way to look at it. You sound like you're on top of it.

I did consider what if we had to dh the whole 2200 miles home ... well, after fuel, we made 61 cents a mile the whole trip. If we had stayed home, we would have had our fixed expenses anyway, but with 2200 more miles, now we've got mileage expenses and depreciation. Our moving expenses have been about 8 cents a mile last year ... and then there's depreciation. So, yeah, we made some money ... not a lot for the two of us, but some. But how is Home Time with FedEx? Does it work pretty good, or is it about the same experience as I just had ... maybe it'll work ... maybe not.

Thanks,

Tony

 

[LDB]

The biggest advantage to Hometime is the ability to turn down loads going the wrong direction without being charged a refusal. When you are on hometime you are supposed to be offered every load you are eligible for just the same as if you were not on hometime in case you choose to take something a different direction or that delivers leaving time to get home after the delivery. They do try to find something heading home for you but can't find what isn't there.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[tonymcc]

That's good to know. I didn't know they would still offer you anything ... not sure they do, actually. Maybe they are supposed to, but I think if they do read the notes, sometimes they pass over you because the load doesn't fit the notes ... and that's okay. But, not one dispatcher who called had seen that we were on Home Time. We had to tell them. I had the understanding that Home Time meant a little bit of preferred treatment, like even if a truck was closer, you'd get the load if you could make the schedule. I think there's a good chance that we missed some loads we could have made, but other trucks were closer. And then ... being put on hold for over an hour by NLM for a load that wasn't east anyway ... making us unavailable. If I hadn't seen that on my own online ... well, that's another thread <g>. It's not a perfect system, but I do remember when management offered dispatch a bonus to get us out of LA after 10 days of sitting, we had a load in a couple of hours. I was just curious if others on Home Time didn't get home either. This is only the second time we've used it.

Thanks,

Tony
Panther Elite

 

[are12]

Tony,

The last time we put in for home time, we had a similar problem with getting load offers everywhere but home,plus, we were getting hit with refusals. When we called in and spoke to one of the dispatchers, they claimed we were not listed as Home Time since we were not highlighted in yellow. We were told the next time we want to head for home, call and verify that we are listed as such.

Don't know how much it will help but we will try it and see if it changes anything.

 

[tonymcc]

Thank you, Arlene & Jim!

Tony

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Hey Tony,

I still did not catch what type of unit you drive.....I am probably an idiot at this time of the morning Terri and I lived in AZ the first 2 years with Panther.....anytime we tried to go home via hometime board it did not happen....plain and simple. We learned to find backhauls and move ourselves where we wanted to be. Understand that once you cover that "omg we have to get it there " load for dispatch you become a lower priority than their other fires they have going. I would have asked for a deadhead bonus to be sent across qc before I took the load...otherwise "I am on hometime and already home....would love to help you out but unfortunately I have things I need to take care of." You can say NO.....and yes, some dispatcher will try to guilt you into taking the load because after all if they can talk you into taking it..you just made their job easier. I will say that Special services is VERY GOOD about getting you out of remote places, and that I am certain they would have had no problem getting another truck to cover that load....you could have offered to pick the load up for them and hold it for it to be swapped out till they got another truck there. Hindsight is always 20/20. Unfortunately you learn in this business from your mistakes and successes...and our mistakes ALWAYS cost us money. If your revenue is that low per mile, I would be happy to help you figure out what is going on. Just PM me if ya need a hand.



-Charlotte



ps...ok I AM an idiot this morning.....2nd sentence "I drive a D unit." There are better load boards for D units than get loaded.....I rarely find anything on there. If you have your own account at get loaded cancel it and use pantehrs account and take your money to get Internet Truckstop. If you have it auto debited from your account it costs just 25$ a month and has generally much better loads....there is some crossover but hey...get loaded is free to you cause of Panther so may as well get a little more bang for your buck. Also http://www.landstarbroker.com/ will sometimes have ltl loads

 

[pelicn]

Hometime board has NEVER worked for us, neither has getloaded.com. We feel your pain....we deadheaded from Portland, OR to New Bern, NC just before Christmas after sitting in OR for a week. We too, did the "favor" and they assured us that there was the freight to get us back home before we needed to be.
We are now deadheading from Tulsa, OK to New Bern, NC because we have to be home today. We've been offered one load since delivering on the 11th in Tulsa, and that was to, you guessed it....UT to deliver yesterday afternoon. NOT!

We've had it with Panther...

 

[jaminjim]

We've had it with Panther...
===============================

And by that you mean.....

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Pel,

You are the owner of your business not Panther. You need to take the responsibility to either know YOU can get yourself where you need to be or DO NOT TAKE THE LOAD. If I have a truck that unloads in Tulsa...I send them to the IL and MO border right across the river from st louis. Immediately...they do not sit hoping for a load out we know better. If i can get them a backhaul I will but if not when they accept the load we know that we have x miles of dh to figure into that load. If you are still taking a dispatchers "word" for it who is trying to get their load covered...shame on you. Either you KNOW YOU can get yourselves out or you know where you need to be when and do not take loads out of the primary service area.


-Charlotte

 

[pelicn]

Charlotte, Unfortunately, we do not own the truck, otherwise we would make some different choices. Given our circumstances we do the best we can within the parameters we have.

Ooops....I forgot to add...great post above about the brokers Charlotte...

Jaminjim....it means we are headed home to local jobs. If we decide to go back into Expediting, we'll go back to FedEx. It was a better fit for us. Our truck isn't set up to haul the type of freight Panther has and we can't afford to sit out here waiting for them to get the customers.

 

[jaminjim]

Was not trying to be a wise ***, why not go with Fed Ex now?

 

[pelicn]

I didn't take your question as "wise***" Why not go with FedEx now? Ummm....I wouldn't mind but my better half needs a break from OTR truckin I think. LOL You know how men can be.....(runnin to hide now)

 

[nightcreacher]

Its not a matter of what you ended up per mile,what I'm saying is,you needed to be home.Now they offered you a load that takes you away from where you needed to be.If you take load,you have to look not what the pay per mile is,remember you are at home,but what is left to bank.The loss of money per mile will make itself up over the rest of the month.So therefore if it were me,my decission to do the load,would only be bottom line what cash
I actually banked,forgetting the money per mile aspect.

 

[Broompilot]

Newbees READING THIS?

When in SERVICE that is what it means. There are ABSOLUTLY NO PROMISES made,that could actually be made unless pre-dispatched and even then it could cancel.

When one needs to be at home, one must turn down the $ or decide Priorities. Hard lesson to learn, this business = travel and sitting. Many rewards to this business but many downsides also.

The decision is yours, but one must use more than common sense when it comes to PRIORITIES. Hard lesson to learn, I believe we have all made the wrong decision like this at least once. Me included.