I've raised that very question myself, and so far no one at Panther wants to offer up anything remotely resembling a valid, intelligent explanation. In addition to having to pay for a service that is not being rendered, there are untold cell phone minutes having to be burned to deal with the problem, not to mention the untold hours wasted sitting there in the cue waiting for someone to pick up the phone.
Being a computer guy I can understand glitches and stuff, but at this point I have to wonder if they have even identified the problem in the first place. If they have, it should have been fixed already. I also wonder why they did an "upgrade" without knowing, for sure, what was going to happen. That's "Information Technology 101" type stuff. You walk it through, test it out, and be utterly prepared to go back if things don't work out as planned. Clearly, they did no planning whatsoever. The problems manifested themselves immediately, and they should have known what the problems were just as quickly, and then remedied the situation in short order. Instead, the problems continue, now going on three weeks.
Since the upgrade I have had three Load Acceptance messages go through automatically, without having to call in. I have had one, count 'em, one POD go through automatically. I have had one Depart Shipper, and thus an automatic Comdata Card load, go through automatically. I've looked closely at the Satellite Position History and note that there are times when 4, 5, 6 hours go by between updates. It's pathetic. By any criteria you choose, the system doesn't work, and hasn't worked for nearly three weeks, yet they're still charging people for it. I wonder what would happen if everyone began picking up and delivering freight with the same level of competence as those who are in charge of fixing this problem.