Panther Driver Council Time to make your Vote
- Thread starter babs3361
- Start date
FAMILYEXPDT
Seasoned Expediter
Moot,
As a female business owner, I have to say that your archaic sense of male duty is wearing a little thin. Surely even you can come up with a better mode to express yourself? I realize this is a predominately male career, but must you be so totally stereo-typical? I am seeking information as to why people that think fleet owners have so many more advantages and are "out of the loop" so to speak on issues in this industry. Do you have any input about that issue? If so please share.
-Charlotte
p.s the post about allowing QC voting was a very good suggestion. I will pass this on if ok with you.
As a female business owner, I have to say that your archaic sense of male duty is wearing a little thin. Surely even you can come up with a better mode to express yourself? I realize this is a predominately male career, but must you be so totally stereo-typical? I am seeking information as to why people that think fleet owners have so many more advantages and are "out of the loop" so to speak on issues in this industry. Do you have any input about that issue? If so please share.
-Charlotte
p.s the post about allowing QC voting was a very good suggestion. I will pass this on if ok with you.
I understand your point and do feel that many overlap. But some issues I feel are driver specific. Some issues with dispatch and QC issues are really driver issues. Like everyone, I have talked to dispatch and I have worked a QC and driven in the past. That is much different than day to day. I'm an owner and haven't worked a QC in over a year. I don't think a fleet owner is as credible to the other drivers unless he/she is doing it. I may go several weeks, and never talk to anyone in dispatch. Same issue. It doesn't mean I am not aware of issues as they come up, but a fleet owner may not have that same credibility unless they are driving themselves. If that is the case, then I would have a different opinion.
As mentioned, fleet issues which may or may not be the same, are addressed in those meetings. On the other side, a fleet driver would be limited in his contribution and credibility in a fleet meeting if say he never owned a truck.
Not saying I am right or wrong,
Just my penny in pond.
Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator
As mentioned, fleet issues which may or may not be the same, are addressed in those meetings. On the other side, a fleet driver would be limited in his contribution and credibility in a fleet meeting if say he never owned a truck.
Not saying I am right or wrong,
Just my penny in pond.
Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator
FAMILYEXPDT
Seasoned Expediter
Dave,
How many trucks before you stopped driving? We are looking at 15 before we take ourselves off the road. The reasons are two-fold. Our tractor definitely makes more money and we do not want to lost touch with issues by not driving.
-Charlotte
How many trucks before you stopped driving? We are looking at 15 before we take ourselves off the road. The reasons are two-fold. Our tractor definitely makes more money and we do not want to lost touch with issues by not driving.
-Charlotte
I don't know that there is a set number. Whatever your focus, I find it easier to work with what you have and make them as profitable as you can. Once you get to a certain amount of trucks, you lose the focus on what is going on with your teams unless you bring in additional help. Being on the road will certainly affect many things depending on how you operate.
For us personally, I never focus on a specific number of trucks to determine whether I would drive or not. We have been at that 15 trucks before, and it is very labor intensive to keep everything flowing smoothly.
What do I mean? In todays climate I would rather have 5 paid for trucks verses 10 that I have obligations on.
Again, there is no wrong or right way, it is just what works best for you.
Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator
For us personally, I never focus on a specific number of trucks to determine whether I would drive or not. We have been at that 15 trucks before, and it is very labor intensive to keep everything flowing smoothly.
What do I mean? In todays climate I would rather have 5 paid for trucks verses 10 that I have obligations on.
Again, there is no wrong or right way, it is just what works best for you.
Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator
Charlotte,
I guess it was the P.M.S. crack that set you off. For your information P.M.S. stands for Panther Meltdown Syndrome. So as a male business owner I find your post offensive. I have been suffering from P.M.S. and C.S.F. (cat scratch fever) since Thursday afternoon. I am hoping to make a full recovery by Monday.
I sent a fellow E.O. member an e-mail chronicling my dealings with P.M.S. and C.S.F. Maybe she can post it here or send a copy to you via e-mail. I found writing about my experience with P.M.S. to be very cathartic. But I deleted the letter from my computer after sending it. You could say I flushed the toilet.
It wasn't meant to be a sexist remark, just a purging of my brain.
I guess it was the P.M.S. crack that set you off. For your information P.M.S. stands for Panther Meltdown Syndrome. So as a male business owner I find your post offensive. I have been suffering from P.M.S. and C.S.F. (cat scratch fever) since Thursday afternoon. I am hoping to make a full recovery by Monday.
I sent a fellow E.O. member an e-mail chronicling my dealings with P.M.S. and C.S.F. Maybe she can post it here or send a copy to you via e-mail. I found writing about my experience with P.M.S. to be very cathartic. But I deleted the letter from my computer after sending it. You could say I flushed the toilet.
It wasn't meant to be a sexist remark, just a purging of my brain.
FAMILYEXPDT
Seasoned Expediter
LOL Moot....joke's on me...guess I missed your PMS post. Sorry to take offense when none was intended..I apologize. No Panther meltdown here tho =)
-Charlotte
-Charlotte
are12
Expert Expediter
Charlotte,
Like I said earlier, I did not mean to offend anyone but I really do feel as though a fleet owner should not represent a single truck owner. Yes, there are many concerns that we will both agree on but then there are those that we will not.
We have been dispatched over because a fleet owner had more than 1 truck sitting in the same area. Panther has to realize that, once in a while, the driver's do talk out here! To me, a fleet owner wants to know that their trucks are moving and making money not costing money-which I cannot blame you. We, as a single truck owner, have to depend on keeping ourselves moving in order to make our bills. And yes, you have 7x's the amount of problems we have but you also have 7x's the amount of income.
I am glad that you were able to build yourself from 1 truck to 7 - don't know how you managed to do it
, things can get pretty scarey out here when they slow down - especially if you have no nest egg put aside for those times and a lot of people don't.
You ask if a "driver's" council will hurt me, it may. If our representive does not have the same concerns as us or feel the same way about an issue - are they going to fight for what we want? or what they want? We both know the answer to that. :+ :+
As I said earlier, I am not out here to make enemies, just voicing my concerns and opinions. And you know what they say about opinions!!
:+
Like I said earlier, I did not mean to offend anyone but I really do feel as though a fleet owner should not represent a single truck owner. Yes, there are many concerns that we will both agree on but then there are those that we will not.
We have been dispatched over because a fleet owner had more than 1 truck sitting in the same area. Panther has to realize that, once in a while, the driver's do talk out here! To me, a fleet owner wants to know that their trucks are moving and making money not costing money-which I cannot blame you. We, as a single truck owner, have to depend on keeping ourselves moving in order to make our bills. And yes, you have 7x's the amount of problems we have but you also have 7x's the amount of income.
I am glad that you were able to build yourself from 1 truck to 7 - don't know how you managed to do it
, things can get pretty scarey out here when they slow down - especially if you have no nest egg put aside for those times and a lot of people don't. You ask if a "driver's" council will hurt me, it may. If our representive does not have the same concerns as us or feel the same way about an issue - are they going to fight for what we want? or what they want? We both know the answer to that. :+ :+
As I said earlier, I am not out here to make enemies, just voicing my concerns and opinions. And you know what they say about opinions!!
:+
Charlotte, I have something to say about the issue of drivers vs fleet owners. There is a perception among many drivers that fleet owners receive preferential treatment. After all, a disgruntled driver who leaves costs Panther one driver, but a fleet owner can pull a large number of drivers... I did not know that there is already a fleet owner's council in existence, but the fact that there is, says to me that fleet owners feel their concerns are different than those of drivers. If you feel the fleet owner's council isn't addressing your needs, working to change that makes more sense than insisting that fleet owners have the same issues as drivers. As DaveKC pointed out, they do not.
Charlotte, you didn't miss my PMS post because it was never made public. When I made the PMS crack in this thread I neglected to define PMS or at least my version of PMS. And I blame that on the fact that I had PMS at the time. Also it was coincidence that I posted after you. It was not a direct response to your post. Now that everything is perfectly clear...............
I think a driver's council is an excellent idea, but if appears to have been set up in a halfass fashion. Bob (Roadhooligan) pointed this out. He also said in post #2 "Vote early, vote often". I'm not from Chicago but I spend enough time there and so I gave it a try. I voted several times for the same candidate and it appears my votes were excepted. I don't know if they will be counted though.
I believe Panther could have put a little more time and effort into setting up this council and voting procedures. Soliciting input from drivers prior to the election would have been the thing to do.
I concur with others as to the seperation of fleet owners and single owners and drivers.
I think a driver's council is an excellent idea, but if appears to have been set up in a halfass fashion. Bob (Roadhooligan) pointed this out. He also said in post #2 "Vote early, vote often". I'm not from Chicago but I spend enough time there and so I gave it a try. I voted several times for the same candidate and it appears my votes were excepted. I don't know if they will be counted though.
I believe Panther could have put a little more time and effort into setting up this council and voting procedures. Soliciting input from drivers prior to the election would have been the thing to do.
I concur with others as to the seperation of fleet owners and single owners and drivers.
FAMILYEXPDT
Seasoned Expediter
There is no fleet owners council at Panther, what they are referring to are fleet owners meetings, which as I said before are more like owrkshops. This is the first council that Panther will have started.
The voting anomaly, I discussed with Jeff and asked specifically if ip's were logged or user id's to keep people from voting multiple times, the response I received was yes, so whether they weed out multiple votes or what they do to prevent that scenario.
I guess the old adage applies here, you can please some of the people some of the time......
-charlotte
The voting anomaly, I discussed with Jeff and asked specifically if ip's were logged or user id's to keep people from voting multiple times, the response I received was yes, so whether they weed out multiple votes or what they do to prevent that scenario.
I guess the old adage applies here, you can please some of the people some of the time......
-charlotte