It's not personal, not everyone fits with every carrier, I did time at panther and was very happy... To leave!
Headed to Panther!!!!
- Thread starter Gene Forshey
- Start date
Plus there is a Panther sub forum right here on EO under the Carrier Forum. This too may be of some help, but I seriously doubt it. If you do decide to visit, watch where you step.
How can they call you an independent contractor and have you under forced dispatch? What happens if you refuse a load? They just start skipping you on the board? Sounds like a fancy way of saying "youre fired" to me.
Panther doesn't have forced dispatch.
That's probably because you don't understand what forced dispatch is.
Well ttruck alluded to it. Please explain...
Forced dispatch means you have no choice to accept or refuse the load. Period. If you refuse to do the load, you will be terminated. The term applies almost exclusively to company drivers - A.K.A., employees.
The notion of an independent contractor being forced to accept a load, or be terminated, is just silly. If you are an electrical contractor, for example, and a building contractor calls you and offers you a job doing the wiring on a house, you can accept or refuse that job offer. If you refuse it, there can be consequences, like the building contractor may or may not be as quick to call you in the future. You may drop a spot of two on the list of electrical contractors to be called when jobs are available. But you are still able to refuse the job and are not forced to do it.
It's exactly the same with trucking and expediting. Refusing a load and then having negative consequences does not equal forced dispatch. Forced dispatch does not mean that your carrier won't or can't make you life harder if you refuse to take a load.
Even at Landstar, turning down loads have consequences. They just aren't as centralized, because Landstar doesn't have centralized dispatch. But an agent can certainly put you at the bottom of the go-to list for load offers if you turn down loads.
At Panther or most anywhere else where you are an independent contractor, refusing a load and then dropping to the bottom of the board does not mean you have just been subjected to forced dispatch, sorry. You are not forced by the carrier to accept loads any more than the carrier is forced by you to give you loads.
you start to move down a percentage list fall below a certan % and you start to get skipped over,and for you panther drivers don't say it doesn't happen 3 yrs there and it happened several times to me don't let it happen in Laredo deadheaded out be cause they kept putting trucks over me because after I took 3 loads to san Antonio and being deadheaded back to Laredo I started refusing I went home didn't ans the phone for a week and they put that down as a refusal.
stop that now turtle
In my opinion, forced dispatch is any type of penalty for turning down a load. Moved to bottom for saying no.. Equals forced dispatch, turn down enough and they park you for 24 hours equals forced dispatch.
have you ever worked for or do you have trucks there, your analogy is right in away but when I was there I ahad a dispatcher tell me how it was going to go I was bumped from top of list to 11 over nite because of a san Antonio to Laredo again 3 rd. time in a row. that's when I went home.the only way a contractor electrical or other wise is because hes in a union but as an idependent you should be abel to come and go as yu please,example after 36 yrs of driving in snow and crappy weather after nov. I don't go aboe ga.I run I 10 and go west and I have never been told by any agent that they wont call me because I refused or didn't want the load my phn rings every day for loads not saying there the best loads but now I have a # I don't go below.
tknight
Veteran Expediter
Dispatchers cop an attitude way to often even though it affects their own commission they are like spoiled children
I don't think they would provide a reason not to call someone. Kind of a waste of time I would think. They just wouldn't call unless they have to.
That's because you think you should be able to turn downloads without having to incur consequences. The term “forced” is the thing most folks get all bent out of shape over. Nobody likes to be forced to do anything. Maybe the term should be changed to, “Strongly suggested if you want any good loads in the future” dispatch. Because that's what it is. Even if you have your own authority and obtain your own loads, there are still penalties from those direct customers when you turn down loads. They may simply never call you again.
Five years, yes. I was very careful not to allow myself to drop below the magic threshold percentage. Because I knew that if that happened, I'd have to deadhead to pretty much where NO ONE ELSE is sitting. I knew that even if I was sitting in Brownsville and I was the only one down there other than the trucks in Laredo, that they'd even call trucks in Laredo before the called me.
Actually it's right exactly. If you don't believe me, ask the IRS and see what they have to say about refusing loads. If you are subject to forced dispatch, they will classify you as an employee and your carrier will have to W4 everybody. The only way you can be subject to forced dispatch as an independent contractor is if you agree to those terms in the contract, and even then the IRS would be looking closely at the carrier, as too much control over the worker's choice in when, where, and how to work is grounds for employee classification.
That's right I have to what is right for my business, it's a 2 way street, needs to benefit all party's, but my business comes first.
Right, I understand all that. That's what I thought forced dispatch was. I have no experience in this industry, but it seems if they don't work you for not doing what they want, then that is similar to being "fired". Then again, since we are "independent" I suppose they are under no obligation to use us for the job. I guess its a pretty fine line.
It says that very thing in most, of not all, if the contracts they have you sign. It is a partnership, where each is dependent on the other for their best interests, so it benefits them to find you loads just as it benefits you to take them. But as fastman said, you have to do what's right for you business.
Davekc
it wasn't that I didn't have the money to get there. It was the fact of going into this business totally green.The owner I spoke with wanted a 6 month commitment and when I asked for him to send the contract before I drove out there (9hrs) I got crickets (no response) as for failing the drug test shouldn't that be in writing from the owner that if they fail they would have to pay the $ if the owner paid for your travel, hotel, and orientation? No one wants to go to court to get their money back but I would think that would be a deterant to anyone that might come up dirty. No?
it wasn't that I didn't have the money to get there. It was the fact of going into this business totally green.The owner I spoke with wanted a 6 month commitment and when I asked for him to send the contract before I drove out there (9hrs) I got crickets (no response) as for failing the drug test shouldn't that be in writing from the owner that if they fail they would have to pay the $ if the owner paid for your travel, hotel, and orientation? No one wants to go to court to get their money back but I would think that would be a deterant to anyone that might come up dirty. No?
Indeed you should have the contract prior to departure so everyone is on the same page. I don't complicate the simple. I don't do a sales job on someone and have no incentive to "sweeten the pot". Everyone here comes by word of mouth for the most part. In fact, my current & previous drivers talk to them before I do. I don't pay "to get someone here". If they can't afford to join in a business venture, then it isn't there time and I move on. I have nothing in my contract as to whether one fails a drug test or a physical as I have nothing invested at that point. If the prospective new driver/operator knows the risks in advance, it eliminates any problems on my end. Again, keep it simple. If hypothetically one fails a drug test, then they absorb the cost and I save by not hiring them.
Sections D, U, M, & B
Contract Item #57. Don't show up if you can't pass a drug test.
Contract Item #57. Don't show up if you can't pass a drug test.
People show up at orientation and fail the drug test all the time. The same same kind of people moronically say "Yes" instead of "No" when the police ask them if they can search their vehicle at traffic stop. They also try and smuggle drugs right through a border checkpoint that exists to find smuggled drugs.