Panther holding back O/O's

[Twizted1]

Over the past several months,I have noticed a trend happening with my miles.I do really good then sit.I feel maybee I figuried out a pattern to the madness.Every time I sit "I'am close to other top O/O's averages",according to various panther officials.
I'am starting to wonder if its a way Panther runs the entire fleet"to keep everybody happy"and running or appear to run? I feel if some do better than others then thats how it should be.If I happen to locate my truck in good areas and use wise business choices, then I should reap the benefits.If others cant perform,why make me suffer from there incompetence!!!!The fleet is out of control in size and needs to be cut.If I'am going to be limited you could at least place me on a schedule so I dont waste my fuel and time.Anyone else experiance this problem?

 

[pelicn]

I do really good then sit.

That's the nature of the business.

 

[Twizted1]

Not a normal sit and wait(which should be expected) a extended one.Where you can see other trucks leave with same equipment.

 

[Bruno]

Over the past several months,I have noticed a trend happening with my miles.I do really good then sit.I feel maybee I figuried out a pattern to the madness.Every time I sit "I'am close to other top O/O's averages",according to various panther officials.
I'am starting to wonder if its a way Panther runs the entire fleet"to keep everybody happy"and running or appear to run? I feel if some do better than others then thats how it should be.If I happen to locate my truck in good areas and use wise business choices, then I should reap the benefits.If others cant perform,why make me suffer from there incompetence!!!!The fleet is out of control in size and needs to be cut.If I'am going to be limited you could at least place me on a schedule so I dont waste my fuel and time.Anyone else experiance this problem?

What size Truck do You have? Do you run team or single? Are you a refer unit? Do You have a liftgate? Do you have Hazmat on your CDL. So many things that can stop you from getting a load over others. Since coming to Panther I have found out that not everyone wants haul Hazmat. If I can haul a hazmat load to get me into a better place then I will have it on my CDL. All of our trucks have pads,straps,extra load lock bars, two wheel and four wheel dolleys, Decking and a pallet jack. The more things you have in the truck the more chance you have of getting a load over others.

In our one truck that doesn't have a lift gate. I don't know how many times I got passed over for a good load because the truck needed to have a liftgate on the other end to get the freight off the truck. Some things to think about.

 

[LDB]

Having spent time observing in dispatch I can guarantee you the rampant favoritism that gets brought up regularly is nothing but conspiracy theory. The good dispatchers are far too busy to have the time or inclination to play favorites and the rest aren't smart enough to. If another truck goes out ahead it's either got equipment you aren't aware of, a hometyme request being honored, is leaving without a load, can carry more weight, are willing to go to Canada, have hazmat, has a slightly longer cargo box or something that causes it to be leaving.

Does dispatch know who you (that's you generically as in anyone not you or any one specific person) are? In most cases no. They do know who a few are though. They talk among themselves about a handful that are extremely foul mouthed and nasty as well as a handful that are very polite with excellent grammar skills. Otherwise they don't know who's who.

 

[Twizted1]

What size Truck do You have? Do you run team or single? Are you a refer unit? Do You have a liftgate? Do you have Hazmat on your CDL. So many things that can stop you from getting a load over others. Since coming to Panther I have found out that not everyone wants haul Hazmat. If I can haul a hazmat load to get me into a better place then I will have it on my CDL. All of our trucks have pads,straps,extra load lock bars, two wheel and four wheel dolleys, Decking and a pallet jack. The more things you have in the truck the more chance you have of getting a load over others.

In our one truck that doesn't have a lift gate. I don't know how many times I got passed over for a good load because the truck needed to have a liftgate on the other end to get the freight off the truck. Some things to think about.

Yes, I fully understand that some equipment will get loads before other equipment. Im talking about cargo vans and I do have a class c with haz-mat team, working on a b .I talked with and viewed others equipment in my class of truck, on the same board as me and they were in fact dispatched before me even though I was ahead of them.I called in and cant get my team lead to call me back.

 

[Twizted1]

Having spent time observing in dispatch I can guarantee you the rampant favoritism that gets brought up regularly is nothing but conspiracy theory. The good dispatchers are far too busy to have the time or inclination to play favorites and the rest aren't smart enough to. If another truck goes out ahead it's either got equipment you aren't aware of, a hometyme request being honored, is leaving without a load, can carry more weight, are willing to go to Canada, have hazmat, has a slightly longer cargo box or something that causes it to be leaving.

Does dispatch know who you (that's you generically as in anyone not you or any one specific person) are? In most cases no. They do know who a few are though. They talk among themselves about a handful that are extremely foul mouthed and nasty as well as a handful that are very polite with excellent grammar skills. Otherwise they don't know who's who.

I do not think that dispatch favores any one truck to load them more than others.I feel that its more of a share the wealth senario, where when one truck pulls ahead it gets the brakes untill the rest catch up.Again I fully understand the truck classes and different hauling specs and different license endorsements that can effect who would get a load.
I always treat others the way they treat me and with respect to how I treat dispatch,never had a complaint.

 

[LDB]

Dispatch has no clue what you've done without going to a lot of extra work and trouble to look up each truck. What they see when they need to dispatch loads gives no clue whether you've got 25 or 2500 miles per week average so they can't choose a unit to "catch it up". Vans have fewer variables since you don't have lifgates etc. but it could be a case of weight capacity at times as well as cargo length and perhaps one or two more I'm not aware of. The biggest factor I can think of on some load offers is acceptance ratio as well as on time and safety ratios. If there isn't a lot of time till pu they will skip trucks to go to a unit that has a very high acceptance ratio on the theory they'll take it. This is a prime example of why the Fedex load opportunity is valuable and beneficial to the operators. The ones with poor acceptance can get the offer along with those with high acceptance and if the 42% guy is first out and says yes he gets it whereas under the current Panther system he gets skipped to offer it to the 85% acceptance guy.

 

[pjjjjj]

I don't know about just discounting this particular conspiracy theory. I wondered the same thing about our carrier.

I enter our financials into quickbooks, so I can see the gross revenue for each month, among other things. It was kinda eerie how close the gross revenue was each month. To me, over a period of months, it was more than just a coincidence. Depending how someone enters their stuff, they may not even notice it.

We viewed it as job sharing. Not enough to go around for all those new recruits coming in each month, so we figured they made sure, as much as they could, that each OO got at least a certain amount. Add in a bonus month here and there so they feel prosperous once in awhile.

That said, as I'm not an insider in their operations, I have no idea how that would/could've been monitored, but I'll bet there's a way. In fact, it seemed to us, that if we'd had a bad start in a month, the end would pick up, so it would end in the same place.. and vice versa, if the month started out good, the end would be slow, again ending in relatively the same place.

I know it sounds preposterous due to the sheer volume of contractors they have, but when you think they can tell what your acceptance percentage is, at a glance, why would it be so ludicrous to imagine there is another percentage they could see just as easily, ie what percentage of monthly gross income any OO is at, at any given time in the month. The amount being arbitrary, and chosen by the powers that be, which they might view as an acceptable gross revenue per type of truck or situation.

Sometimes when people sign on with a carrier, they're asked how much they'd like, or expect to gross in a month, or they're asked what they need as a minimum to pay their bills, or they're asked for a copy of their truck lease. What do you figure they are doing with this information? Nothing?

 

[piper1]

I'm not into conspiracy theories either but pjjjjj has a good point. A lot of (not all) dispatch software has a "revenue target" function built into it that can be used (sometimes without dispatcher input) to equalize all of, or a group of owner operators.

Not saying the cat does it but it does exist out there.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Yes..It's called "income averaging"....or to us in the trenchs...spreading it around.....While I understand the idea of it from a carrier point of view...it's NOT right..it punishes the proactive and those willing to work and rewards the lazy. It's a socialistic idea...

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Very good point, Pj! Who's to say other criteria doesn't show up on the screen, that doesn't appear on the qc? Who honestly thinks that ANY company would allow every contractor to know the details of their inner workings? They all have their secrets. The only solution is to figure out a way to outsmart the secrets.

 

[Turtle]

That's why I like working the fringes. Less opportunity for them to skip me over because I'm making too much money.

More risk out here on the fringes, though, as you can sit a little longer, but in the long run ya get longer runs so it works out in the long run over the long run.


Oh, hey, one thing that makes 'em mad. Every day there's a report that gets generated of trucks and vans that have been sitting more than 24 hours. Sometimes you're in the boonies, but they will actually go out there and try to find you a load (as long as you haven't made too much money recently ). Might not be a great load, might not be to a great place, but they will try to get what they can to get you loaded and moving. If they go to that trouble and you turn it down, that makes 'em mad, and they'll then let you sit there and rot.

 

[LDB]

I can't speak about all carriers but I can speak about Panther. I've sat in dispatch observing. They encourage that. Next time you're near Seville instead of sitting at the T/A waiting on a load go sit in dispatch and see for yourself. Now, I'm not a computer programmer so I can't comment on the inner workings of the computer but I can tell you the dispatch screens I saw didn't highlight miles or revenues in the truck availability lists. If you know ahead of time you will be there and can sit in dispatch email Rick Buffington to set it up. There's a rumor that if you spend a 1/2 day sitting in dispatch observing $50 will magically appear on your next settlement.

 

[pjjjjj]

There's a rumor that if you spend a 1/2 day sitting in dispatch observing $50 will magically appear on your next settlement.

Well, as one who has done this, is the rumor true?
Is this magicmoney in return for getting the word around that no favoritism exists in dispatch?
hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Turtle... that was my original thought about outsmarting the secrets... go where there are no other trucks. You keep giving away your thoughts, and they'll all park around YOU!

 

[LDB]

I don't know if they are still giving a little bit of bonus or not. I do know it has happened in the past but not sure about 2008. My observations are just that, my observations. Panther doesn't have enough money to buy me to report something that isn't so and certainly not $50.

 

[Bruno]

I can't speak about all carriers but I can speak about Panther. I've sat in dispatch observing. They encourage that. Next time you're near Seville instead of sitting at the T/A waiting on a load go sit in dispatch and see for yourself. Now, I'm not a computer programmer so I can't comment on the inner workings of the computer but I can tell you the dispatch screens I saw didn't highlight miles or revenues in the truck availability lists. If you know ahead of time you will be there and can sit in dispatch email Rick Buffington to set it up. There's a rumor that if you spend a 1/2 day sitting in dispatch observing $50 will magically appear on your next settlement.

I can't speak about Panther as of yet Leo, but I can speak about FedEx Custom Critical. I have sat with the agents many times at FedEx and the agents can't do that at FedEx without a good reason. If they want to skip a truck to to give it to another unit. At FedEx a screen will pop up saying you need a reason to do this and it better be a good one. Like the other unit can make the pickup on time. If they skip you and it is found that the reason was not a valid reason the agent will be fired. So I will say it's not worth it to an agent to lose there job.

 

[Bruno]

Yes, I fully understand that some equipment will get loads before other equipment. Im talking about cargo vans and I do have a class c with haz-mat team, working on a b .I talked with and viewed others equipment in my class of truck, on the same board as me and they were in fact dispatched before me even though I was ahead of them.I called in and cant get my team lead to call me back.

I'm sorry I wouldn't wait for your team lead to call you back after 24 hrs. My next step would be to their boss. The change of command works great. Even the president has a boss, his boss is his WIFE. lol

If your in a van running as a husband and wife team like Terry and Rene did for years at Robert Express/FedEx Custom Critcal as a owner you can do fine. But to be honest if your running for a owner in a van I don't know how you can make alot of money. In a van there is so many things that can stop you from getting that van load. Yea the customer may have just one skid that is only 500 lbs, but they don't have a ramp to load a cargo van either. So many different things to look at. Can you go to Canada? Does your Cargo Van have a DOT sleeper. How long is the load? If the load is over 1150 miles at most carriers they will have to a transfer because they don't let b units teams do load over 1150 miles.

I will say this Phil Madison and me don't always see eye to eye on things. But Phil did his homework when him and his wife did his truck build. They checked into what truck has the best chance of getting the best of both worlds. I have always said that a C-Unit or a CR unit is the best unit to have. My 1st truck was a C-unit. Lets say a full rate B-load comes up and its going 2500 miles who is going to get the offer 1st? A C-unit team because it's over 1150 miles and the company will not have to set a transfer on the load a few times if the load was put on a C-unit team.

Something to think about. Just some of my thoughts.

 

[pjjjjj]

Panther doesn't have enough money to buy me to report something that isn't so and certainly not $50.

I was kiddin ya Leo, I know you're not for sale (like the rest of us!!!). Just having fun. It is nice of PII tho, to even allow a driver to sit in dispatch awhile. I would imagine that would be the last thing many carriers would want their drivers to do.