How do I see Panthers' available loads?

[LDB]

Now I would have no way of knowing if some loads were never offered to a contractor or not....

So have no fear! Panther is not offering stuff to others before they offer it to their own trucks.

By your own admission you have no way of knowing. Yes, contrary to what you later say, Panther puts stuff on the load board while Panther trucks are in service waiting on a load on the same board the load is shipping from. I have said that twice already and it is a fact known personally to me. It isn't my opinion. It isn't parking lot gossip. It's a fact. One of those times was a load out of Illinois to the Carolinas. The load was a day away. There was a Panther truck inbound that would have it's 10 hour break completed several hours before that pickup. Apparently there were no trucks already sitting there. It went on the load board and the inbound truck was never offered the run as a backup. After calling to complain the inbound truck was given the load. Several hundred miles at full rate with decent fsc. Yes, a lot of dog loads go on the bid board. Good loads do too. It's one of Panther's warts.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Leo,

I'm sure it does happen, because nothing is perfect in this world. But here's the question:

There's a 500 mile up for grabs tomorrow morning. Let's say it would cost them $725 to your truck for you to do it. A partner carrier offers them $950 to do it. Now why wouldn't they want to give it to a contractor? It almost always costs them more to go outside than inside.

 

[Jefferson3000]

BTW, if it happens at Panther, you are not alone. If something gets offered to someone ouside or inside that theoretically should have been offered to you, it happen at Tri-State, the Fed, Landstar and everywhere else.

 

[CharlesD]

I can't tell you how many times I have had the low bid on something there, only to see the load disappear and I don't get the award. Then I'll talk to them and I'm told that one of their contractors accepted the load, so they pulled it off the bid board. It's happened to me half a dozen times in the last week.

All the larger carriers out there broker out some loads, and some of the ones brokered out are quite good loads. Most of the time when I get a good load from another carrier, rarely do I see one of their vans in the area.

 

[jaminjim]

By your own admission you have no way of knowing. Yes, contrary to what you later say, Panther puts stuff on the load board while Panther trucks are in service waiting on a load on the same board the load is shipping from. I have said that twice already and it is a fact known personally to me. It isn't my opinion. It isn't parking lot gossip. It's a fact. One of those times was a load out of Illinois to the Carolinas. The load was a day away. There was a Panther truck inbound that would have it's 10 hour break completed several hours before that pickup. Apparently there were no trucks already sitting there. It went on the load board and the inbound truck was never offered the run as a backup. After calling to complain the inbound truck was given the load. Several hundred miles at full rate with decent fsc. Yes, a lot of dog loads go on the bid board. Good loads do too. It's one of Panther's warts.

I think that happens more because the people that put the load out on the board are to lazy to see if there is an inbound truck that can cover the load.

Just curious, how did the truck find out about the load to begin with??

 

[davekc]

Probably seen it on the broker board. Panther has more "Partners" than some because of their freight base. Without a doubt a few fall through the cracks. Same issue at the other carriers just not as many people have access so most wouldn't know whether it happened or not.

 

[LDB]

I know someone with access to the broker board. When we talk I'll hear about some of the loads that are on there. One time I was the truck sitting who never heard an offer from Panther on the load but was told by the outside partner it was on the board.

I agree it's failure to check on inbound trucks in the one situation. I'm sure that happens regularly.

 

[dhalltoyo]

If they can't get a good rate from a broker, they try again to cover it with their truck. Sometimes, they fish the brokers and their drivers at the same time, then yank it off the board when a Panther truck accepts it. Or, they'll give it to a stoopid monkey carrier who bids $1.25 on it (which many do).

The Hawk has this part correct! Through the advent of technology, a few friends at various carriers and some pretty nifty software...I look at multiple boards throughout the day.

In the case of Panther, I have been sitting next to one of their trucks that initially turned down a load and it appeared on the Broker Board. An independent sitting in my truck bid the load. The Panther truck had second thoughts and called into dispatch. The load disappeared off the Broker Board and we watched the Panther truck move out of the parking lot.

 

[Jefferson3000]

So how many minutes does a contractor have to accept or decline a load? 15? In my world, the day is won or lost in 90 SECONDS! I can pee, calculate, and talk on the phone at the same time if I must.

Twice I've lost a Panther run to the same driver. One was coming out of Hialeah, Florida. They posted several mail drop loads at the same time. I was chatting with a broker about one, when it suddenly disappeared. He said one of their own trucks finally accepted it. So I bid on my second choice out of the same shipper and was awarded it. Got down there the next day, to find myself sitting with three Panther tricks. I even met the guy who got the load that I had originally wanted.

So last week I was sitting in Rogers, MN when that same unmistakable truck pulls in next to me. My wife calls as I'm sitting across from EO's very own Turtle about a Minneapolis to AZ. I hardly had time to get the info from her and the load disappeared. I told Turtle that that Panther truck probably accepted it. Ten minutes later, that truck pulled out of the lot. Such is life.

 

[RLENT]

There's a 500 mile up for grabs tomorrow morning. Let's say it would cost them $725 to your truck for you to do it. A partner carrier offers them $950 to do it. Now why wouldn't they want to give it to a contractor?

Sounds good Jeff - now lets add a little more into the mix:

Instead of one load, there's two runs up for grabs - one is a 500 miler that pays cheap - and the second one is 750 miler that's from an occasional shipper that pays significantly more per mile.

There isn't really enough in the first one to farm it out to a partner carrier that is gonna want a 50% premium (+ or -) over what your contracted o/o's would haul it for. If you farm it out to a partner, you'll be making a pittance.

But on the second one you got some extra coin in it to play with .....

How do you think that scenario would play out ?

It almost always costs them more to go outside than inside.

Of course it does - but that doesn't necessarily mean that going outside isn't going to earn you (some more) money.

I say the name of the game is controlling and running as many loads as possible at a profit (some profit .... any profit ....)

If you gotta go outside and pay a premium sometimes, well then ..... that's (more) money that you wouldn't have earned if you were unwilling to do so.

Think of the largely fixed expenses that any carrier has - those expenses are there whether you are running 100 loads a day ..... or 300 .... or 500 ...... or 1000 .... the more (profitable) runs one shoves thru the pipeline, the better off you are (..... providing you can collect) because it spreads the fixed expense cost over more loads.

Better to control more loads and squeeze out something on every one that you can - more money for you, less money for the competition .....