Far as I know, the new van contracts at Panther are for 70 cents a mile. Mine is 77 cents a mile. Some people are on the Structured FSC, which right now is about 12 cents. I'm on the Variable FSC, which ranges between 8 cents and 19 lately, but averaging out at 17 cents. So the new contracts at Panther, with the Structured FSC, they're getting 82 cents a mile. Older contracts are getting a little more.
Panther does offer reduced rate loads at less than the contract rate. These are usually NLM loads, but not necessarily. I don't get offered very many reduced rate loads, but when I do they are usually at 70 cents a mile with a lower-end FSC, like 8 or 9 cents, and a few times the reduced rate was 75 cents plus FSC.
Twice I have been offered reduced rate loads for 70 plus 7 FSC for a total of 77 cents a mile. Several months ago I had one for 70 cents plus a 4 cent FSC. That's absolutely the lowest rate load I have ever been offered at Panther, 74 cents.
Most of my loads over the past few months have been in the 89-95 cents per mile range, some more, some less, but 89-95 is the norm. My reduced rate loads are about 15% of my load offers, not very many, really, but then again I do try to stay out of NLM Heaven, a.k.a., Midwest Hеll. Those who prefer to be closer to home all the time are likely getting more reduced rate loads, but I dunno.
The only 50 cent a mile loads that I know of that Panther has offered have been LTL backhaul loads when someone is crying about getting something, anything, to get them back into those coveted "freight lanes" of Midwest Hеll so they can be offered just a snotload of NLM Heaven freight.
I know a couple of dispatchers well enough that if I ask how much Panther has in the load, they'll tell me. They're not supposed to, but they know that regardless of the figure I won't freak out, and I never ask as a condition of acceptance. I do know that when Panther offers me a reduced rate load, like one paying 79 cents including FSC, my cut of the line haul ends up being closer to 85% or 90% (and sometimes more than that). Panther is taking great pains to keep us loaded at decent rates, but not many people realize that. Gone are the days where Panther has $1.60 or $2.00 per mile in the load and pays me 90 cents of it. I've had loads that paid me 85 cents and Panther only had 90 cents in the load. I just delivered one this morning where I got paid everything Panther had in the load. It was a particularly crappy run, and they knew it, but it was also a particularly good customer and they needed to get it covered and still have me not lose money, so they offered it all to me. That's an effort on their part that I do not take lightly.
This is, I'm sure, information that some folks at Panther just cringe when they read it in an open forum like this, and I'm also sure that other carriers read it with great interest and just get madder and madder at Panther, because they have to bid stuff that pays out at 50 cents a mile. Good. The more of them who get mad and continue to bid stuff so low, the quicker they'll be out of business and capacity will begin to be more in line with the freight. It's a cat eat 'em all world.
But I say all this to let those who think that Panther bids on loads and then pays out at reduced rates just to keep their profit margin up, you really don't know what you're talking about, and to the ones who think Panther offers a lot of loads at 50 cents a mile, you know even less about what you're talking about.
As much as Panther drives me crazy at times, I have to give them a lot of credit. They have really stepped up to the plate and have given me decent rates in a market where the shippers are calling the balls and strikes.
