New fuel program in Panther

[TwoMotherTrkrs]

Two Mother Truckers Thanks,


I know that Panther is aggressive in their sales.

I agree that Panther is aggressive in their sales. I think that they do a good job at keeping us moving when freight is available!

OK to me their dispatching is not the best, it seems to me, an outsider that punishing someone for refusing something that is not a business feasible is just wrong.

Remember, Customer Service Reps, who write the orders when the customer calls in, want to keep the fleet rolling. Driver Managers (Dispatchers) do their best to get the loads on a truck. Some loads are profitable for Contractors as well as Panther, some are not. It is up to each of us to make good business decisions.

I think that Panther makes money regardless where the load lands.

Yes, Panther is a for profit organization.

So I assume that you mean rating, the truck or owner stats, right?

If the dispatcher has access to gross profits of the trucks, that is a very bad system. It can be used to play games with trucks and should not be there to determine who gets an offer. "

I was not very clear about this one. LAST I KNEW, Dispatchers were rated on things like Load Acceptance, Load Refusal, Gross Profit and others. If this is still the case, the dispatchers themselves are rated on the number of loads they offer that are accepted or refused. Ergo, it would benefit them to have loads to offer that we are likely to accept. It is not the truck’s Gross Profit they are rated on, it is the Gross Profit from the load to Panther, after paying Panther’s expenses, i.e. payment to Contractor, support personnel, permits, etc. In other words, Dispatchers have to exhibit that they are able to make good business decisions for Panther at the same time they are offering Contractors enough payment to make the load acceptable. Sometimes it's a fine line because of the profit written into the load by the Customer Service Rep.

What Dispatchers do have access to is truck Acceptance/Refusal data. In the case of a load that has a short time interval between the time the Customer calls and the time they need a truck to arrive, ready to load, at the Shipper’s dock, the Dispatcher has the right to offer the load to the truck nearest the Shipper, or in this case, make the offer to a truck with good Acceptance stats. A little more detail is necessary here…we have approximately 15 minutes from the time the load is offered to make our decision. If we refuse, and let’s say the next truck refuses as well, then by the time the third truck accepts the load 45 minutes may have elapsed. On a load with a 90 minute commitment to arrival, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for inspection, engine warm-up, paperwork and drive time. I can accept this practice because none of us will be in business for long if we do not keep our CUSTOMER commitments.

How many Panther trucks out there without FSC or overall $1.3 a mile on loads they take?

I have no way of knowing. I have enough on my hands keeping track of my truck, but I hope EVERYBODY is doing well!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Twomothers said "I was not very clear about this one. LAST I KNEW, Dispatchers were rated on things like Load Acceptance, Load Refusal, Gross Profit and others. If this is still the case, the dispatchers themselves are rated on the number of loads they offer that are accepted or refused. Ergo, it would benefit them to have loads to offer that we are likely to accept. It is not the truck’s Gross Profit they are rated on, it is the Gross Profit from the load to Panther, after paying Panther’s expenses, i.e. payment to Contractor, support personnel, permits, etc. In other words, Dispatchers have to exhibit that they are able to make good business decisions for Panther at the same time they are offering Contractors enough payment to make the load acceptable. Sometimes it's a fine line because of the profit written into the load by the Customer Service Rep."

IF thats the way it works the dispatchers are rated wrong...IMO as it's the customer service rep who takes the order and quotes the price. IF they(CS) rate it too cheap then dispatch takes it on the chin for not being able to find a truck and make a profit for P2? No wonder theres a high turnover.
So in theory the first load offer will be as low as they think they can get away with and NO regard to the operator, Its then the O/O's responsibilty to make a sound decision from that point.

 

[pjjjjj]

IF they(CS) rate it too cheap then dispatch takes it on the chin for not being able to find a truck and make a profit for P2? No wonder theres a high turnover.
So in theory the first load offer will be as low as they think they can get away with and NO regard to the operator, Its then the O/O's responsibilty to make a sound decision from that point.

This just makes me laugh! hahaha This is just nuts! Not you guys.. but if that is how it is? Jeeze, so first the dispatcher is in sh*t, becuz he can't get anyone to take the cheap load the CS rated, and then the OOs are in sh*t for refusing the cheap loads! No WONDER our dispatchers aren't telling us how much the loads pay! And no WONDER they're starting a new wave of orientation sessions this week to get some new drivers!
<=====has it all figured out now! Thanks! Now back to washing my bobbleheads...

 

[greg334]

Barb, I misunderstood, now I get the gross revenue thing.

My point in other threads, Dispatch needs to have positive incentives to keep the trucks rolling, not negative ones.

I think that maybe going to a share incentive between the two departments may be better and have some ability to push back on issues at higher levels on these things may help but again, who knows this is panther.

 

[Moot]

It seems to me that in order for this f.s.c. program to work Panther would need either a low number of owners enrolling or else 90% or greater participation. If participation was in the 40% to 60% range would there be enough money in the kitty to cover everything and leave Panther a buck or two?

The new f.s.c. program could be written into the lease of a new owner. This coupled with attrition and voluntary participation could get the numbers where they need to be.

 

[LDB]

So in theory the first load offer will be as low as they think they can get away with and NO regard to the operator.

Uh, no. We aren't on a system like that. I don't know anyone who is. We're on a set rate per mile plus fsc. The first, last and every offer in between will be at the truck's contracted rate plus the fsc. If the CSR sells the load for $27 per loaded mile a single truck contract D unit gets $1.20/mi plus fsc. If the CSR sells it for $1.25/mi the truck gets $1.20/mi plus fsc. If the CSR sells it for $1/mi the truck gets $1.20/mi plus fsc. Panther makes or eats the difference.

On a system like FX or Landstar, at least as I understand their systems, the first offer isn't low either. The truck gets a fixed % of what the CSR sold the load for. I don't know their numbers but perhaps 62% plus fsc. In this case the truck may indeed get a low offer, not because they are lowballing the truck but because the CSR sold it cheap so the % to the truck is low.

 

[TwoMotherTrkrs]

Leo:

I see that very differently!! Yes, it is Rate + FSC, but how many times have you received a bonus for taking an undesirable load? I have been offered bonuses MANY times. How many times have you asked, "Can you help with the FSC?" and had them answer, "No there are other trucks in the area that I have to ask first"? Each of these scenarios happens weekly for us. And, as I said in a previous post in this thread, once they have gone on and sweetened the offer, they never come back and make that same sweetener to the 'first out' truck.

 

[LDB]

There are times bonuses are given for various reasons. That wasn't my point. My point was they aren't going to offer the load to trk 1 at $1.00, truck 2 at $1.10 and then truck 3 at $1.20. The impression I got from the quote was offers start as low as possible and go up from there.

 

[dhalltoyo]

Leo:

I see that very differently!! Yes, it is Rate + FSC, but how many times have you received a bonus for taking an undesirable load? I have been offered bonuses MANY times. How many times have you asked, "Can you help with the FSC?" and had them answer, "No there are other trucks in the area that I have to ask first"? Each of these scenarios happens weekly for us. And, as I said in a previous post in this thread, once they have gone on and sweetened the offer, they never come back and make that same sweetener to the 'first out' truck.

Yeah, that really chaps me too!

I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have been offered loads that paid very little, or took me to a dead area, or through very hazardous weather that caused me to refuse that offer.

After I refuse the load the dispatcher then begins to offer the same load to other units, but they will increase the rate, the FSC and cover the deadhead miles to the pickup as an enticement to get the load covered.

FIFO reallys means nothing in this business.

 

[LDB]

It should be required that loads be offered at the same overall compensation level and that if the level is changed upward they should be offered to the trucks in the original order. There's no way to monitor and enforce it though so it would be meaningless.