Panthers 1st outs stink

sdelliott31 · Jun 7, 2008

For the record, I tell drivers to take all loads, but on the crappy ones don't be afraid to negotiate something. Its up to the dispatcher and their supervisor if they will give it to you or not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. We feel that we have enough equipment that if a truck is on a "bad" load, that there will be good loads to cover that. I'm more interested in the miles unless it is a slow week than good or bad runs. If we don't take the crap with the good, Panther is limited in the business they can do. Plus we pay a flat rate per mile, so its in the drivers interest to take as much as possible, while including a little common sense when they are doing their factoring. I believe in taking low FSC loads as well, just because we figure that the overall truck average will make up for that low FSC run. I know that is company line, but thats how we do it. We have a couple 60/40, and since they pay for fuel I give them a little more leeway. I know they really watch the FSC, and with good reason. We have looked at going on the guaranteed weekly FSC program but we always seem to do a .02 or .03 company average than the fixed FSC Panther offers. However, I need to talk to our 60/40 guys and see if they want to do that. It may be in our best interest, so they don't worry about the loads as much either.

Tennesseahawk · Jun 7, 2008

OVM... with C&M, the only time my truck moved for less than my rate was when they were trying to get me back to civilization. Express-1 doesn't need a straight truck to move van freight; otherwise, they would've bid truck rate, or eat the loss themselves. But instead, E-1 and others like them expect you to take the loss for the good of the company. Which brings me to my second point...

SD... careful on what you TELL your drivers to do, as you maybe filling out a w-2, rather than a 1099. You can tell a driver to make money; but if he's a contractor, it's up to him to figure out how.

OntarioVanMan · Jun 7, 2008

Hawk....for board position Sprints and CV's are all the same...when load planning calls they say it's CV load or it's a Sprint load...then it's up to the driver to yea or nay.

sdelliott31 · Jun 7, 2008

Tennessee: I apologize. I phrased my words incorrectly. I guess when we are talking to drivers we tell them in our opinion to be successful, you take what you can. I sure didn't mean it as it was said. We also don't get rid of drivers if they decided to get selective on loads and don't take our advice. We feel that nature will take its course so to speak. The driver will starve because they are cherry picking and Panther has caught on and passes them up on loads and they will not make the money they want to make. Really we just offer advice if asked. I would say its our belief, but whether the driver does it is always up to them. Sometimes drivers come up with different ideas, and if they are producing, then I feel I should not question them. We have been down the road of "Degree of Control" with Independent Contractors Vs. Employees, but that is a good story for another post.

blizzard2014 · Jun 8, 2008

No, express-1 has the north west locked down. I was visiting my brother out in Vancouver Washington for a week and got a load offer picking up in Sringfield Oregon going over to Calabasas California. Got paid a sprinter rate plus the 28 cent fuel surcharge, i ended up making 1,100 bucks to drive 849 miles because they gave me a deadhead bonus. Also I got to get home for the first time in a year to California to take care of my registration and spend a day going through a years worth of junk mail. Woohooo. Only problem is there is a sprinter team van sitting over in Ontario. My only hope of getting loaded out of here is the waiting game. I am at home all comfy with my cable television and air con. I can afford to wait a week for a load and just hope that the sprinter team gets frustrated and deadheads out of here.

Tennesseahawk · Jun 8, 2008

One time doesn't make them kings of a domain. They have just as hard a time getting their trucks out of the NW as every other carrier. My nephew can attest to that.

OntarioVanMan · Jun 8, 2008

Tennesseahawk said:
One time doesn't make them kings of a domain. They have just as hard a time getting their trucks out of the NW as every other carrier. My nephew can attest to that.

Boy you got that right....this van driver we know was new and got aload out of central Missouri ONCE, the next month she unloaded close to there and she waited almost a WEEK, thinking she was going to get another load going to Laredo...I kept telling her that it was just LUCK the 1st time but she waited...