Panther Refusal Stats

[guido4475]

After reading all of these posts here,it makes me glad that I am not leased to these large carriers.When I get offered a load,and if I refuse it,I kindly explain to them why,and let them know how much I appreciate them looking for me.Simple as that.As hard as it is to believe,there are no hard feelings.We treat each other with respect.And we respect each others decisions,as well.

 

[ATeam]

After reading all of these posts here,it makes me glad that I am not leased to these large carriers.

Be careful about lumping us all together. Diane and I are leased to a large carrier and have few complaints about dispatch. When we turn down a load, it is done with the press of a button and with no consideration beyond the load itself. Only on rare occasions has dispatch called and wanted to know the reason for a refusal. We are not obligated to provide one but to be polite we do. The answer is always the same. We refused the load because it makes no business sense to take it.

I would not be so quick to dismiss Panther's new system either. tkr75's words, "If you are worried about DH then go to the one rate for all miles,...." were interesting. DaveKC's frequent talk of booking one's own freight through Panther's backhaul system also come to mind. It seems there are more ways to work the Panther system than are talked about here.

Back in my military days when I was about to enter a tough school for training, someone told me, "just figure out what they want and give it to them."

It worked then and I would think it would work with any carrier, large or small. If it is not in you to figure out what they want and give it to them, what sense does it make to stay? If you are unable or unwilling to provide what your carrier wants, find a carrier or customers (own authority) whose needs you can profitably meet.

 

[Tempest]

2 things

1) I sent a message to the first driver council after NLM held my truck in texas for 3 days for a load that fell through 15 minutes after the hold was placed on my truck. And NO they didnt tell me anything about the load in the first place. I found out about it and the hold when I called to find out why I had been skipped over 4 times on loads. To this day (well over a year later) that message has not even been read but the rep. (driver web shows if it was read or not) Thankfully their is now a 30 minute timer on these holds before they cancel automatically. But to say we dont try to contact? We have and been totally ignored. This is just one example and nowhere close to the only one. Dont get me wrong, I agree 100% with the new policy and as I said before, think it is long over due and only needs to be tweaked a bit. There is a new council in place and I will try again if the need arises but understand that I wont hold my breath waiting for it to be read.
I dont expect the council to be able to solve all our problems. But I do expect someone wanting my vote to atleast take the time to glance at it.
Having said that, There are many things the council has been able to get done and it is appreciated by most of us, but dont come in here saying we dont try to express ourselves to you. This is a new council and things my or may not change from the ways of the last but now it is YOU who have to show that you want our thoughts. That last council apparantly did not.

2) Dispatch does have the ability to understand why a load is not acceptable to the driver and can make sure the stats aren't affected, and many times they do. Some dont care and nail us even when it is outside the refusal guidelines. But of those who do look out for the driver when possible, how you refuse the load plays a big roll in wether or not they will hit you with it. I find a polite "you know I dont like to turn down loads but.."
gets me a lot farther than "you call that a load?" or "theres no way I'm gonna take that load!" Think obout how you come across when you deal with dispatch and alot of the time (not always) things will work out better. Just a thought

 

[LDB]

Having been on the council for the first term I can say the number of units who contacted me were minimal, far less than the amount of "commenting" I found here on EO. I'll also add that at times messages were lost, both incoming and outgoing. That was rare but did happen so perhaps the unanswered message mentioned was a lost message not an ignored message.

I understand the desire to get all loads covered and do so in a timely manner. That must be done to maintain and grow the customer base. That said, there is a way to do it that doesn't require such a hardship on some of the drivers and still gets the loads covered. The load opportunity system used by Fedex would do it and also allow the 15 minute window for response instead of the new 10 minute window.

Vehicles are ranked by dwell time. Loads are sent to multiple units at the same time. The dispatcher determines how many to send it to based on how likely to be accepted. The vehicle with the highest dwell time that says yes gets the load. If that's the vehicle 3rd in line they haven't lost a bunch of time getting to the shipper on time while waiting while the load goes individually to other units. There have been plenty of times with Panther when the pu time was nearly impossible and I'm sure it's because time was lost trying trucks higher on the board and losing time while they decided to say no.

The load opportunity system is a much better system. It gets a truck on the load in the least amount of time and it doesn't require a harsh system like the <67% system.

 

[mjolnir131]

no and no offense to the fdcc drivers, but i don't want to see a load i can't get and i especially don't want waken at night by the QC showing me a load i can't get it's a very bad system

 

[bernieh48]

Ken trk you know you were called by us on several different things we wanted discussed with the new council so don't come on here and say nobody contacted you. And the only reason we contacted you and not our own straight truck council memeber is the same reason another posted said. Last council we emailed on a ton of occasions and NEVER EVER got any response back. This is a terrible system as is doesn't matter how nice you are to a dispatcher when refusing a load they will still hit you with a refual. Heck I've got ones for loads we took, and ones for loads not our rate, and ones when we were out of service for truck repairs! Now how is that fair? It's not. And yes I agree they should have set a date and started everyone back at the same 100% and work from there!

 

[redhotxpress]

Well I have sent a message to you under send driver council a message about this and you still have not responded and i sent it the 1st day they sent out the msg on QC about this.

 

[redhotxpress]

well, even if it wasn't the driver's council's idea, i think you should have said "let us present this to the ENTIRE FLEET for their opinion rather than taking it upon yourselves to answer for the rest of us. We do have a 100% acceptance and sometimes it may drop a bit into the 90's so we are one of the trks that according to some it won't affect, but we still resent the fact that the driver's council did not put it out there for all of us to consider. we believed the driver's council were to communicate between Panther and the fleet on our behalf, not change policies and procedures with no prior notice to the drivers.

 

[LDB]

The mostly thankless job of the council is to receive input from drivers and bring it to Panther. It is up to Panther to communicate to the fleet, especially if/when that communications is to be prior to making changes. Often the council knows nothing of a change until the fleet message announcing it. The council isn't in the loop on everything. They hold no seats on the board and don't attend any managers meetings. The council does not change policies and procedures. They have zero power to do so. They present their list of suggestions and then sit and wait like everyone else.

I don't speak for the council and I don't speak for anyone other than myself. That said, it might be a few days between a message arriving and a response going out when I was on council. Running jobs and making money took precedence over council emails. Keep in mind also that all time spent on council activities is part of the member's free time that could be spent reading, sleeping or whatever they do between jobs.

 

[trkr75]

Ken trk you know you were called by us on several different things we wanted discussed with the new council so don't come on here and say nobody contacted you. And the only reason we contacted you and not our own straight truck council memeber is the same reason another posted said. Last council we emailed on a ton of occasions and NEVER EVER got any response back. This is a terrible system as is doesn't matter how nice you are to a dispatcher when refusing a load they will still hit you with a refual. Heck I've got ones for loads we took, and ones for loads not our rate, and ones when we were out of service for truck repairs! Now how is that fair? It's not. And yes I agree they should have set a date and started everyone back at the same 100% and work from there!

I was mainly talking to the people I represent TT teams. The things you have talked to me about have been brought up in the meetings and also forwarded to your rep. I have no problem talking to anyone cargo van, ST, TT anyone but I do forward your concerns to your rep, and also make sure they are brought up at the meetings. I have been contacted once by a TT team that is it. I just got on EO but will not use it as a subsitute for the driver web, if you have a concern you can contact me there. As stated before you need to keep on top of your rates, talk to your driver relations people to get the ones put there that don't belong there.

Ken Billings
Truck 9276
[email protected]

 

[trkr75]

well, even if it wasn't the driver's council's idea, i think you should have said "let us present this to the ENTIRE FLEET for their opinion rather than taking it upon yourselves to answer for the rest of us. We do have a 100% acceptance and sometimes it may drop a bit into the 90's so we are one of the trks that according to some it won't affect, but we still resent the fact that the driver's council did not put it out there for all of us to consider. we believed the driver's council were to communicate between Panther and the fleet on our behalf, not change policies and procedures with no prior notice to the drivers.

As I stated earlier we did not make this change. We are not employed by panther. We have no say in policy changes. They asked us what we thought and we told them. The percent of drivers below 67% is low so for the rest of the drivers / owners it is a good thing. If you are not on a one rate for every mile check it out against your past quarter. In the long run you make out better. Running a lot of DH is now great. I now love the 300 DH for 130 loaded miles. I ask to DH across the country for a 50 mile load, hasn't happened yet but I am waiting.

Ken Billings
Truck 9276
[email protected]

 

[aristotle]

After reading all of these posts here,it makes me glad that I am not leased to these large carriers.When I get offered a load,and if I refuse it,I kindly explain to them why,and let them know how much I appreciate them looking for me.Simple as that.As hard as it is to believe,there are no hard feelings.We treat each other with respect.And we respect each others decisions,as well.

I'm with you Guido. I soooo don't miss this pseudo-babble. Carriers can reach a point where they are hamstrung by layers and layers of ever changing rules and policies. In an effort to please certain fiefdoms, efficiency gets tossed.

 

[FREE TO FAIL]

Its 67 percent now but what happens when its 50,40,30 or even 25 percent? Just another way for corporate to put pressure on you to take runs that work for them but make you nothing. I would vote with my feet and leave this carrier right away! You guys aready work for way less then I would even consider running for! Are you O/O or taxi drivers for your carrier? A true O/O looks at a run for economic benefit to them, not what impact it might have on some arbitrary meaningless stat! I dont get why you continue to subsidize your companies marketing program by taking their discount freight.... you guys are taking runs right now for under your contract rate but when things turn around will you make anymore then your contract? I dont think so!!!! Its funny, panther drivers used to tell me that their guaranted a certain amount per mile, so they dont have to worry about working on a percentage basis. Well look what happened, DISCOUNTING!!!are you getting your contract amount? No, so effectively you gave away all potential profit on the high value runs for a guarantee that is erroding by the day. Run from this carrier vote with your feet!!!!! I did at the other large carrier when they started talking about acceptance levels not about making money. Ask yourself how long is it going to be before you turn down a load and get a call from dispatch suggesting that this refusal is going to hurt your acceptance level? Your driver counsel opened the door time will tell what monster comes through it.......THIS IS MY OPINION FEEL FREE TO BERATE ME ACCORDINGLY

 

[Turtle]

Okie, consider yourself appropriately berated.

If you go to a support site about your cell phone, you will mostly see postings where people are having problems with their cell phone. Read enough of those and you'll soon believe that everyone is having problems with their cell phone. It's the nature of the Net, the nature of a complaint outlet. It's the same here. Read enough of these posts and you'll be thinking that every load at Panther is a reduced rate load. They're not. It's actually a rather small percentage of the loads which are offered at a reduced rate.

To date, I have been offered 4 reduced rate loads. I have actually been offered far more loads at above my contract rate, right up front, didn't need to ask for it, than I have at a rate below my contract rate. While my experiences are hardly typical, I can't believe that I'm unique. A lot of it has to do with timing and where you are more than anything else. If you hang out in NLM Land, you're probably going to see a disproportionate amount of reduced rate loads, but NLM loads are actually a far smaller percentage of the overall loads at Panther than many people believe, and it's mainly the NLM loads that are being bid at reduced rates.

The whole Acceptance Percentage thing is getting a lot of server hits here on EO, as well as keeping those in Driver Relations feeling loved and wanted. People are freaking out about it, but it won't take very long at all for people to realize that it's nothing more than business as usual, at least for most people. If you're one of The few, The proud, The Marinated who turn down more than 1 in 3 loads you are offered, then you really don't even understand what expediting is all about, nor what your job is within the industry. You may think you do, but I promise you, you don't. Not really.

 

[guido4475]

Be careful about lumping us all together. Diane and I are leased to a large carrier and have few complaints about dispatch. When we turn down a load, it is done with the press of a button and with no consideration beyond the load itself. Only on rare occasions has dispatch called and wanted to know the reason for a refusal. We are not obligated to provide one but to be polite we do. The answer is always the same. We refused the load because it makes no business sense to take it.

I would not be so quick to dismiss Panther's new system either. tkr75's words, "If you are worried about DH then go to the one rate for all miles,...." were interesting. DaveKC's frequent talk of booking one's own freight through Panther's backhaul system also come to mind. It seems there are more ways to work the Panther system than are talked about here.

Back in my military days when I was about to enter a tough school for training, someone told me, "just figure out what they want and give it to them."

It worked then and I would think it would work with any carrier, large or small. If it is not in you to figure out what they want and give it to them, what sense does it make to stay? If you are unable or unwilling to provide what your carrier wants, find a carrier or customers (own authority) whose needs you can profitably meet.

Phil,I do apologize to you and anyone else I may of offended by my wording.I will try to choose my words more carefully in the future.Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

We got stuck behind a cherry picker {yeah I know its their right} cost us 2 days...both loads we would have taken but after the #1 van turned it down, it disappeared and not offered to us....it was a sprinter that took only sprinter rate loads...St Louis to St Paul at CV rate...80 cents

 

[ATeam]

Phil,I do apologize to you and anyone else I may of offended by my wording.I will try to choose my words more carefully in the future.Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

No offense taken. I just want expedite newbie and wannabee readers to know that each carrier has its own system, and within that system, there are contractors and drivers that like it and hate it to one degree or another.

So too with large and small carriers. Some like the large carriers, some like the small, for reasons that vary as much as the contractors making the choices.

It's not about which carrier or system is best. It's about which is best for you.

 

[davekc]

Okie, consider yourself appropriately berated.

If you go to a support site about your cell phone, you will mostly see postings where people are having problems with their cell phone. Read enough of those and you'll soon believe that everyone is having problems with their cell phone. It's the nature of the Net, the nature of a complaint outlet. It's the same here. Read enough of these posts and you'll be thinking that every load at Panther is a reduced rate load. They're not. It's actually a rather small percentage of the loads which are offered at a reduced rate.

To date, I have been offered 4 reduced rate loads. I have actually been offered far more loads at above my contract rate, right up front, didn't need to ask for it, than I have at a rate below my contract rate. While my experiences are hardly typical, I can't believe that I'm unique. A lot of it has to do with timing and where you are more than anything else. If you hang out in NLM Land, you're probably going to see a disproportionate amount of reduced rate loads, but NLM loads are actually a far smaller percentage of the overall loads at Panther than many people believe, and it's mainly the NLM loads that are being bid at reduced rates.

The whole Acceptance Percentage thing is getting a lot of server hits here on EO, as well as keeping those in Driver Relations feeling loved and wanted. People are freaking out about it, but it won't take very long at all for people to realize that it's nothing more than business as usual, at least for most people. If you're one of The few, The proud, The Marinated who turn down more than 1 in 3 loads you are offered, then you really don't even understand what expediting is all about, nor what your job is within the industry. You may think you do, but I promise you, you don't. Not really.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Nothing has really changed. If your in that below 67 percent crowd and are looking for a quick fix, just go to Detroit (land of the minis) and spend a day or two there. Jersey might be another pick for that.
If you want to be more creative, just book 3 or 4 single pallet loads on one trip and your problem is solved. Each pallet will carry its own pro number.
For some, I think if they spent as much time looking for a solution as they do complaining, this would be a non issue.
As for reduced rates, we have done a few here and there. Mainly remote places out west or places where competition is fierce and they are trying to get you out. Like Turtle, we do a few here and there.

 

[brandi323]

would you take this load. this is a actual load. 179 mt 179 loaded your rate. you are now pos 1 84% acceptance. load board says 1 per day and you will be third out because load brings you back to same board. remember this is a refusal. you make the call.

 

[pelicn]

Where to where? Elite? General? These figure into whether or not the load is accepted by us or not. If it's a general load probably not, but if it's a government load then probably, and if it's a reefer load probably.