Panther and UPS Part II

[fortwayne]

Ok, now I have been told at 10pm tonight by a UPS freight broker that his office has been given a memo to expect thier incoming calls to increase by nearly 4,000 calls per day starting July 16th.
I was told at 6pm tonight by a fleet owner of UPS (one of the few), that they have been told to expect and increase of load offers come July 16th.
So - what can we determine from this. I believe one of two things. One - Panther is taking over the UPS Expedite business but the current UPS freight brokers will be 'awarded' their current customer base along with being 'awarded' the customer base of Panther thus explaining the increase of phone calls to the brokers.
Two - UPS is buying Panther outright and the current calls going into the Panther office will be re-routed to a UPS freight broker.
OR three - the UPS freight broker and the fleet owner are both being told the same BS we are all hearing.
Well, I will say - be it one or two I can not see any draw backs for Panther drivers/fleet owners. Give credit where credit is due. Panther has the fleet power and while UPS has not prospered in their own attempt into the expedite market they certainly have the customer relationships and marketing power with their broker network to make this a very special company.

Fort Wayne
Boycott The Flyless J!

 

[Jefferson3000]

Well, maybe I'm being a stickler for wording, but since when does UPS Freight have ANYTHING to do with expedite? UPS Freight is heavyweight LTL and expedite is just that.....expedite. Nevertheless, it could happen. They could have all these new calls routed to them. Then again, it may have NOTHING to do with Panther at all.

No one saw the Conway Now sellout coming. At least you won't find any thread on here about it at all. No one on here talked about Panther buying Integres, until it was a done deal. If anything happens at Panther, the O/O will likely be the last to know. Just this past Monday, employees and O/Os with EGL showed up at their terminals to find that the locks had been changed and they no longer had a job at all. Such is life.

Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

 

[jbrbears]

Well said jefferson3000. UPS freight and UPS Expedite are two different entities, with two completely different agendas. UPS freight actually calls us when they can't handle shipments, believe it or don't. UPS Expedite and other smaller portions of UPS are merging together sometime in early July, and we will be reconfiguring what we are doing. please don't ask me what that means, because getting clear information from Alpharetta, GA is nearly impossible. We get piecemeal info, just like it looks like you guys out there are getting. This is just speculation, based on some pretty solid evidence from here in the office, but UPS buying Panther is most likely NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, at least not in the near future. We already have them under contract to broker freight out to them, so why buy them? The liability to UPS is much less buy keeping them at arms length, don't you think? This is not to say that UPS will NEVER buy panther, I just don't think it will be in 2007. Of course, I could be completely wrong, and we buy panther next month....:7

 

[LDB]

OK, I'm not supposed to tell this and will probably face the firing squad but...... there is no UPS/Panther merger in the works. Period.

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

 

[LDB]

OK, I'm not supposed to tell this and will probably face the firing squad but...... the UPS/Panther merger is almost finalized. Within 60 days the black cats will be holding brown trucks in their paws.

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.

 

[LDB]

Now that we have the absolute end of the story on the UPS/Panther merger we can return to our ongoing list of regularly scheduled rumors. Don't believe everything you read and believe even less of what you hear.

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.

 

[greg334]

Sorry you all, if this was the case that there would be a joint venture, a buyout or something like that both Panther and UPS would not say a word about it to anyone at our (or mid-management) level. The danger of screwing it up with any disclosure is too great and as a policy of most companies, they do this all qiuetly until it is done.

Beside as one Panther owner pointed out, 'why in the h*ll would they even consider Panther, they are not the model to follow and UPS knows this' - which I have to agree. Just because they are on a growth cycle which they seem to be lagging with a few things and still at risk for a number of reasons.

 

[joebob1_30132]

I hear ya ft wayne ..but I reiterate the pernt..UPS never was seriously going for their own expedite..they didnt fail cuz they knew what they were doing . When I was in managment there were smart people paid a lot of money to study, analyze ponder wonder ,and say "what if we .....???" a whole lot. with money to study all the what ifs in anything they did... Example: Ray crock of Mcdonalds ..was asked what he thought of His Mcdonald hamberger enterprise he said Its ok ..But Im really a realator ..Im in land speculation... He knew the money was in the placment of those stores not so much the stores..So he paid a buch of very smart geeky wellllllll paid pinheads to study population trends county state records population trends to find out that he wants to buy that corner lot in that pasture in the middle of nowhere ... cuz they will come 5 maybe 10 years away..what was my pernt??? oh yeah,.UPS walmart Mcdonalds dont do anything on a whim. if UPS wanted to get serious about a expedite they would have rolled it out huge ..It would have made news

 

[Jefferson3000]

Very true, Joebob.


Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

 

[jbrbears]

joebob....who said we failed? we are not closing down, and UPS hasn't said "we're not doing expedited freight." I'm not understanding what you're trying to say. just because we are not "buying panther" means we failed? I'm trying to understand what you're saying, because unless you knew ALL sides of the issue, you couldn't possibly say we "failed". There are things on the horizon (within the next three weeks) for us that you have no idea about. The problem is, I'm not at liberty to say what we're doing, (and honestly, I don't know why I can't) but I reiterate....we have not failed. peace.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Bears,

I don't think he was saying you huys failed. He was mentioning what someone had said about UPS in a previous post. I would probably agree that there hasn't been a failure with UPS in the expedite field simply because UPS corporate hasn't even tried to give your division some expansion.....YET. It will be interesting to see what happens when they actually do that. Good luck to you guys.

Back in the Emery days, I used to run a bunch of overflow work from you for a local agent. Usually either late night airport pickups, or T-Shirt deliveries after a major sports win.



Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

 

[jbrbears]

I know, I'm just tired of everybody assuming that they know what's happening with us, and I'm right here in the thick of it. Unless they work for upper management UPS, or have seen concrete documentation of any "changes", it's all speculation and heresay. I will repeat: we are going through a change within the next three weeks, and it will bring us a lot more business in the expediting realm. whether or not it has to do with buying Panther or any other expediting company, it's still just speculation. Personally, Panther was a great company for me when I was dispatching over the past 10 years, but I don't know if it would be a good idea to "buy" them. In a sense, it's kinda like the old saying..."why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"

 

[Packmule]

I would think that a contract between UPS and Panther or any quality Expediting company, that would create a type of partnering agreement without the investment and overhead of operations of owning a serperate division, would be a smart move for UPS.
It would allow UPS to enter the Expedite market in a big way without the expense. This would be another product offering and sales tool for UPS while at the same time giving an established Expedite company the opportunity for considerable growth without expanding there Sales force. UPS could take the Expedite company into accounts and business opportunities that they could not even dream of getting into on their own.
Will it be Panther? Or would it be one of many other well established Expedite companies out there?
I would not think FedEx would be considered in this opportunity due to the rivalry and competition of these two major giants.

Just my thinking out loud,
Danny

 

[greg334]

Like I said before, when you talk about large companies like UPS, FedEx and DHL this market is rather small and in some ways insignificant to them and they don't think logically. They see it as part of a 'package' of services that they can offer to a customer, not as a main stay as part of their business model. As much as Panther looks sucessful from some of our points of view, a company like UPS, FedEx or DHL may look at it as a very unsuccessful company to get involved with.

Mid managers and below have no clue what is in the minds of these people towards the top. Until you start working with the top people of a large company, you can not understand their twisted logic commanding from such a high position.

I think that the facts will come out in a few weeks if at all. The increase that jbrbears is talking about may simply be something internal, remember that UPS is the largest of it's kind and has the ablility to shift a lot of work towards this group just like FedEx can do the same for all of us poor C truck owners.

Personnally I would think if UPS had any seriousness, they would hire people who were successful at FedEx and maybe Landstar to get the thing off the ground, forget Panther. This will allow the reorginaztion of the UPS unit to bring into the fold, then focusing on expanding the business and working with the larger company for a stratigy that works within the companies business model.

How long has it been since this 'take over' by UPS?

a year?

jbrbears is in the same situation as I was in 2000 when we were part of a larger company and taken over. It took only 2 years to get all of the problems worked out and all of us on the same page as the parent company.

 

[Jefferson3000]

>
>Personnally I would think if UPS had any seriousness, they
>would hire people who were successful at FedEx and maybe
>Landstar to get the thing off the ground, forget Panther.
>This will allow the reorginaztion of the UPS unit to bring
>into the fold, then focusing on expanding the business and
>working with the larger company for a stratigy that works
>within the companies business model.
>
======================================================

Probably one of the smartest responses I have heard yet on this topic from someone not actually involved with UPS.

I have to agree. This is how I would probably make it happen if I were going to run it.

Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

 

[kangar0085]

Somethin must be brewin.

 

[joebob1_30132]

Iwasnt saying anyone failed I said the opposite ...my meaning was that if UPS was to do it they would not dabble they would roll it out. Ft wayne had metioned failer if I read him right.... This is all speculation on my part ..And I believe news would not come down til the very end if anything was to happen... the middle would not really know just like the middle of con-way didnt know.. They do this so keep the disruption low people bailing out.. rummormilling escalating causing caos and the wailing and nashing of teeth..

 

[fortwayne]

tick....tick....tick....the time is coming.....but what will REALLY happen.....stay tuned for the next episode of "As To Fool A Fool."

What?

Fort Wayne
Boycott The Flyless J!

 

[grog111]

Wow! Now this is interesting! I just found out that my favorite dispatcher, who quit my company three week's ago, apparently left to go to UPS. Our mid level manager Quit yesterday to go to UPS. There is no doubt in my mind that something big is going on.

 

[are12]

<<<<<< Personnally I would think if UPS had any seriousness, they would hire people who were successful at FedEx and maybe Landstar to get the thing off the ground, forget Panther. This will allow the reorginaztion of the UPS unit to bring into the fold, then focusing on expanding the business and working with the larger company for a stratigy that works within the companies business model. >>>>>



Exactly what is it that you don't like about Panther??



Jim says his opinion is that this is not about UPS and Panther but it is about UPS competing in it's own market with it's #1 competitor, which we all Know is FedEx. The only thing UPS is lacking is an expediting division so Panther could possibly be a pawn in the business ventures of UPS.

As far as FedEx being a better expediter than Panther that is a joke. We have friends that work for FedEx and are aware of the policies and the way they are changing. And our friend's are lucky to get a load at a $1.10 or so a mile. At least at Panther, if a rate is cut to get a load, Panther takes the cut - not the driver.

Keep in mind, that all companies have their faults - what works for one, may not work for another.

By the way, what is it with those funny looking uniforms at FedEx!!;-) ;-)

That is it - that is all I have to say!!