My trucks have been busy.

ericmoss37 · May 23, 2008

I have a team that drove 1300 miles two consective weekends in a row. They have a load going from Ohio to Texas delivering on Sat night. Amazing they did 3500 miles this week I never thought I would see that. They went from Ohio to Missouri and back to Ohio again. From there they went to Jersey and got a load out within an hour back to Nebraska. They got loaded back to Jersey again before they even got to Nebraska, but Panther set up a swap so they could get home for the weekend in Columbus OH and they had a Jersey contractor that wanted to get home. My team has not been home in three weeks and guess what? They left the truck with the qualcomm reading in service so they were home for two hours and accepted a 1350 mile run to Texas. I told them to leave it in service because after the weekend the boards will be flooded with drivers so I never expected them to get a load delivering on Sat.

are12 · May 24, 2008

Glad to hear your team is doing so well. Would you mind if I ask how many trucks you have on with Panther??

ericmoss37 · May 24, 2008

I purchased my first two trucks in Febuary. It's been a long ride to get back the investment I put in. I had a guy show up to orientation just to steal a GPS and I ended up making a truck payment without any runs. Then I finally got someone good, he is part of the team I just mentioned, but the truck broke down on his first run. I had to replace the seals in the engine and all the coolant hoses and the waterpump on a seperate occasion. Right now I have one solo and one team. I am working on making the other truck a team because I will make more money.

Streakn1 · May 25, 2008

Are you talking T/T units or straight trucks when you say your trucks are busy? We stayed fairly busy when we owned our DR-Unit. When we purchased the T/T thats when we saw the change.

davekc · May 25, 2008

I would have to think a T/T would stay reasonably busy whether WG or not. There are several T/T drivers Steve aka Nightcreacher being one of them. Maybe he can chime in and possibly help you out as he says he is busy.

easyrider2697 · May 25, 2008

I am as busy as I wanna be..taking some long overdue time off...taking a run just to change the scenery if you know what I mean..different town, different scenery..catching up on rest and paperwork getting ready to get back at it full swing this week........but the load offers have still been coming strong even when OOS.. I was in dispatch friday and they would just walk over and ask if I was interested...had plans for the weekend thats why OOS, but still didnt stop them..
As far as numbers go...eveyones situation is differnt, but on the average I have been running 1800 -2000 a week panther miles and maybe 500-700 backhaul miles and deadhead is WAY out of controll average about 200-225 per load, but they are paying for the DH
As far as FSC goes, I am on the structured plan and it is paying great, right now its at .61 or .62 ( that was friday) for TT. I average 7-7.5 mpg so its paying for all my loaded fuel , bonuses help with the DH fuel....
Right now I am a happy camper with PII, have no plans on going anywhere..

pjjjjj · May 25, 2008

The more I read about Panther, the more I think you guys have it pretty good over there, and hard to understand why some people are full of complaints about them.
Everything is relative, and it seems that relatively speaking, they have a lot to offer.

ericmoss37 · May 25, 2008

My trucks are straight trucks, but owning a TT has it's advantages because back hauls are available to get home when you need them. Straight truck back loads a few and far between.

easyrider2697 · May 25, 2008

Again...eveyones situation is different, grass is not always greener on the other side

Streakn1 · May 25, 2008

With our carrier back haul loads have not been an option for us, can't afford to haul for the rates they pay. That's based on information from others that we know that have done them to get home,etc. Shouldn't there be enough expedited freight availible not to have to rely of the cheaper back haul freight?

ericmoss37 · May 25, 2008

Streakn1 said:
With our carrier back haul loads have not been an option for us, can't afford to haul for the rates they pay. That's based on information from others that we know that have done them to get home,etc. Shouldn't there be enough expedited freight availible not to have to rely of the cheaper back haul freight?

Yes but when it's the big holiday weekend and you need to get home it might be easier just to search the backhaul websites and freight brokers that can get you directly home. Backhauls are not designed to make you money, but to keep empty moves down. How do you know if you will get expedited freight going back to your area? It's better then sitting Friday through Tuesday at a truck stop.

easyrider2697 · May 25, 2008

Streakn1 said:
With our carrier back haul loads have not been an option for us, can't afford to haul for the rates they pay. That's based on information from others that we know that have done them to get home,etc. Shouldn't there be enough expedited freight availible not to have to rely of the cheaper back haul freight?

I believe, I might be wrong, if so, I feel quit sure I will be quickly corrected...but FECC only allows you to backhaul like once a quater or something like that....that in itself I see as a problem, maybe not so much for tractors , but as far a far as other units I can see it as a problem...
I use backhauls to move me where I want to go and if it moves me into a better lane...so be it, I do not strictly rely on backhauls but I do feel it is an valueable tool.
I stand by my earlier statment....everyones situation is different

morningstar55ny · May 25, 2008

easyrider2697 said:
I believe, I might be wrong, if so, I feel quit sure I will be quickly corrected...but FECC only allows you to backhaul like once a quater or something like that....that in itself I see as a problem, maybe not so much for tractors , but as far a far as other units I can see it as a problem...
I use backhauls to move me where I want to go and if it moves me into a better lane...so be it, I do not strictly rely on backhauls but I do feel it is an valueable tool.
I stand by my earlier statment....everyones situation is different

I do ok finding back hauls when i need to use them...
and using back hauls..... sure at least help pay towards fuel . with the high price of fuel these days.,

davekc · May 25, 2008

I look at backhaul loads differently than brokered loads. Many broker loads will pay exceptionally well.
Even LTL can be profitable with a little creativity whether decking a load to get a tractor rate, or laning a load and throwing more than one on.
With fuel on the uptick, this is a valuable tool to eliminate any significant DH.

Tennesseahawk · May 25, 2008

We were close to deadheading from Salt Lake City to either Omaha or home, but found a diamond in the rough on Friday on getloaded. Of course everyone was trying to get back east for the long weekend, so eastbound loads were rare. Can't say .96/mi is gravy, but it works in a pinch.

pelicn · May 25, 2008

We've only done 1 brokered load and it paid very well. We've tried Getloaded, but so far haven't found anything that paid enough even when combining a few loads.

davekc · May 25, 2008

You will have to likely get outside of Getloaded.

rdtrpn · May 25, 2008

ericmoss37 said:
I have a team that drove 1300 miles two consective weekends in a row. They have a load going from Ohio to Texas delivering on Sat night. Amazing they did 3500 miles this week I never thought I would see that. They went from Ohio to Missouri and back to Ohio again. From there they went to Jersey and got a load out within an hour back to Nebraska. They got loaded back to Jersey again before they even got to Nebraska, but Panther set up a swap so they could get home for the weekend in Columbus OH and they had a Jersey contractor that wanted to get home. My team has not been home in three weeks and guess what? They left the truck with the qualcomm reading in service so they were home for two hours and accepted a 1350 mile run to Texas. I told them to leave it in service because after the weekend the boards will be flooded with drivers so I never expected them to get a load delivering on Sat.

Ha, i'm solo and did a run from wi to tx on the wknd then sat for a couple days but then did another from tx to In. in a span of 11 days i did 2800 miles myself.

davekc · May 25, 2008

We have been real busy as well. It is good to see many busy and doing great.

easyrider2697 · May 26, 2008

davekc said:
I look at backhaul loads differently than brokered loads. Many broker loads will pay exceptionally well.
Even LTL can be profitable with a little creativity whether decking a load to get a tractor rate, or laning a load and throwing more than one on.
With fuel on the uptick, this is a valuable tool to eliminate any significant DH.

my point exactly...Dave I hate to say it but we have so many in this indusrty that sit back and wait for the inevitable beep, then sit and whine cause it was a bad load offer...sorry I have no pity for these type of people, this is a cut throat, and tight time we are all in, so it takes a little more thinking outside the box to make things work out, there have been times where I have made more money off backhauls and ltl than expedite...those that say its not worth my time ....IMHO have never sat down and really worked it..they might have called one or two numbers and got discouraged and never tried...I have made upwards of 100 calls in a day to find what works well for me...any way I am preaching to the choir on this one, so therefore i will stop and let the backlash begin!!