Panther is not Military friendly

[hondaking38]

After numerous phone calls to drivers relations prior to my 2 weeks annual training... with no results...now i dont want or expect special consideration, however i believe while on military duty, that we should not have to be out of service on vacation ...after 2 weeks i have a 45% inservice percentage....of course they all say they dont look at that number, however when you see a 45% you would skip over it, I no i would as a dispatcher, got a letter from the dept of the army that has my name and dates of the 2 weeks duty and it states the provisions and titles that this training is mandatory and can not be construed as vacation,,,faxed it to them a week ago and called a few times and no changes, before it goes any farther and the military jag office and military veterans affairs office gets involved, i was hoping someone on here with a little clout could try to get it squared away with panther...of course they will say they dont no anything about it but the phone calls are recorded...i debated putting this on here because i no i will receive tons of negative replies...like its your choice to serve-so deal with the consequences...or no one told you to expedite...the truth is i love doing both of them....country first, then expediting...however the point above is becoming a burden.....the bigger question is that driver relations say they dont care about in-service!!well if thats true, why hold it against us...i no they can somehow freeze the numbers because a friend had a 2 week emergency and they froze her numbers.....or maybe they just arnt concerned with the few that are veterans or are serving now..... ok i ready for the negative input now...

 

[late4dinner]

How could two weeks off drop your in-service percent all the way down to 45%?

 

[hondaking38]

well i guess i better explane it further lets see may 1-5 military duty june 4-9 military duty will have duty 6-10 august 11-14 sept oct 2-12 military duty...

 

[aristotle]

Hondaking, in my seven years with Panther, I have never known out-of-service percentages to play a factor in getting load offers. I have been OOS for extended periods of time and it never mattered at all. Got load offers same day I reurned in-service. On-tme percentages and safety percentages are crucial... acceptance rating matters, too. I don't know why they even keep stats on OOS. Be sure to enter a return date and time on the QC. Leave a message with your team leader. You should be fine. Thanks for your service to our country.

 

[late4dinner]

Let me start out by saying, Thank You for being in the military. Now on to something you don't want to hear, You sound like Panther is a hobby. Do you think that you should be treated just the same as another contractor who works at it all the time? You stated that after two weeks training,,, but that was not the entire story, was it? You, me, and 99% of the rest of the expediters out here are independent contractors, and that is the way the companies want it. They don't have to abide by the same rules as they would have to do if we were employees. They can do anything they want to do as far as dispatching or not, or they can cancel our contract at the drop of a hat. I agree with you that if a dispatcher were to see two trucks sitting and one only had a 45% in service rate that would effect which one I offered the load to. If after your two weeks you was to stay in service for a while your % would come back up quickly. You probably think that I am ragging on you but just remember what I said in the first line of this post

 

[jaminjim]

Honda said:
before it goes any farther and the military jag office and military veterans affairs office gets involved,

So you want the same IT guys that redesigned the load boards, to write a code just for you???
You aren't one of those people that wrote your Congressman because the Drill Sergeant yelled at you , are you? Well are you? I CAN'T HEAR YOU

 

[hondaking38]

hmmm look at the negativity already...two things straight, in the last 2 years i have not taken leave of vacation, none of you have done that,only time not available is stated above, if they can freeze family emergence time, they can freeze military time, also when i did a upgrade my stats were froze...so it can be done with out to much effort...and if you are out there or have to be out there 365 days a year you have my condolences and appologies....unless your homeless by choice, and theres very few of ya out there,,, HELL LETS TURN THIS QUESTION ,WHICH IT STARTED OUT AS ,INTO A *****IN SESSION...



SO LETS ROCK THE BOAT...

 

[hondaking38]

Oh jammin i forgot nope it wasnt me i was the drill sgt 1988-1990

 

[piper1]

Of all the BS things companies let folks get away with why would there even be an issue with something as honorable as militarty service.

If I was with panther and got passed over for a load that was given to you because they froze your military time I wouldn't care. Why the hell would I have the freedom to be in business in the first place, oh yea, guys like honda are out there ensuring it. It's not like he's taking 2 weeks off to go drink Pina Colada's on the beach!

 

[cheri1122]

It's not like he's taking 2 weeks off to go drink Pina Colada's on the beach![/quote]

If he were, he wouldn't care what Panther thought about it, lol - I know I wouldn't.
Shame on them, for 'punishing' someone for military service....

 

[greg334]

Sorry people, Panther is not obligated to do a thing.

This is a contract between a contractor and a company, not an employee and a employer.

If Panther told him that if he is going to be terminated due to the obligation he has with the military, than yes there is an issue but by considering a hold on a contract during an out of service period is something else.

 

[piper1]

Sorry people, Panther is not obligated to do a thing.

This is a contract between a contractor and a company, not an employee and a employer.

If Panther told him that if he is going to be terminated due to the obligation he has with the military, than yes there is an issue but by considering a hold on a contract during an out of service period is something else.

You're right Greg, they aren't obligated to do a thing, Having class is obligatory in business but it sure is nice when you run into it.

 

[cheri1122]

Paraphrasing Pjjjj's spot-on tagline: "It's what you do, when not legally obliged, that determines your ilk"

 

[jaminjim]

oh jammin i forgot nope it wasnt me i was the drill sgt 1988-1990

1972 - 1980 under the hat 1 1/2 years

 

[theBeemer]

Of all the BS things companies let folks get away with why would there even be an issue with something as honorable as militarty service.

If I was with panther and got passed over for a load that was given to you because they froze your military time I wouldn't care. Why the hell would I have the freedom to be in business in the first place, oh yea, guys like honda are out there ensuring it. It's not like he's taking 2 weeks off to go drink Pina Colada's on the beach!

Actually friend Honda King does sit up in Northern Michigan with snow up to his......sleeping in a tent drinking Labatts and eating jelly donuts going around and saying drop and give me twenty.... eh?
Really though what kind Low Life would hold Military Service agaisnt anyone who is in the Armed forces? and yes if your in service is down you do get passed up. Remember your a faceless steering wheel holder to the computer and dispatcher.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

IF I owned the company I'd even suspend the 2 weeks QC expense while he's serving...If people don't serve I may not have a business to run!!!

 

[davekc]

That sux...military service shouldn't count against anyone contract or not....IF I owned the company I'd even suspend the 2 weeks QC expense while he's serving...If people don't serve I may not have a business to run!!!

Might want to promote that thought at E1

With regards to Panther, as mentioned, it doesn't count against you in run selection or dispatching.
It is used for the purpose of availability if someone is complaining they aren't getting their projected revenue.
If someone is doing military service, this would be a presumed assumption.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Might want to promote that thought at E1

With regards to Panther, as mentioned, it doesn't count against you in run selection or dispatching.
It is used for the purpose of availability if someone is complaining they aren't getting their projected revenue.
If someone is doing military service, this would be a presumed assumption.

No need to be protective Dave..

I forgot to add the standard disclaimer that seems necessary lately....

"And this would apply to any carrier"

 

[romoore245]

I find this hard to believe, we just took off the last two weeks. Our percentages right now are 75 accept and 63 in service. We worked sixty days then took off two weeks then worked 24 days and have been off 15. The numbers are on a 30 day cycle or something of the sort, otherwise right now we would only be at 15%. Even during the 60 days we worked we had to take a day here or there for minor maintenance. You can't let the percentages bother you too much it's all about the bottom line. If you are paying your bills then what are you complaining about there are thousands of people right know who are not. We came across some people the other night having a party at the del. I asked "whats the special occasion?" Another Friday! Was the reply, "Oh, You work for Ford! One more week employed, I would throw a party too..."

 

[pjjjjj]

There could be many reasons why a person would have a legitimate, mandatory, reason for being OOS, through no particular fault of their own. I can't see a company giving you less opportunity for that.
If they're telling you it isn't relevant to what you're concerned about, why not just go with it. The person who got their stats frozen could've been becuz at the time, they couldn't state a return date, perhaps their emergency could've been for months, depending on how things worked out in their case.
As well, an 'emergency' isn't the same as a commitment you already knew you had, when you signed on with PII.
Obviously they have their reasons for keeping the OOS stats in the first place, but as Dave mentioned, that stat comes into play with determining other stats.
And as Greg mentioned, you're working under a contract which can be terminated at any time by either party for any reason, and they're not terminating you, which would be worth complaining about. Perhaps they might use the OOS stat to terminate someone's contract if their in-service time was consistently low for less than important reasons.