NEW discount Panther van rates

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
"cause once we're off-contract" if your "off contract" why isn't the Contract void?

The last line of most contracts read.....The carrier reserves the right to......

which makes everything above that line ....null and void.....

Gotta love our "contracts":rolleyes:
 

Suds43

Seasoned Expediter
I don't know what your all complaining about. .70 cent/mile loads are common at Bolt Express and they INCLUDE the FSC in that .70 Talk about ripping off the drivers!!!!!!
HHHHMMMMMM Can't figure out why their losing so many CV's.
If you say anything to Brian or Scott about the cheap frieght or including the FSC in with the rate they just say if you don't like it to go elsewhere.......hell of a way to run a business.JMO
I know what you mean about hauling cheap .70/mile freight though. You should try it with the FSC included! :(
 

RLENT

Veteran Expediter
Suds ..... apparently you haven't tried the occasional offer of payola or a bribe yet .... ? :eek:
 

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
Hmmmmm, I read this last night. After i dropped in madison ms., a load that paid me well more then $.70 a mile including the FSC, I looked at all of my runs since I started with bolt in the last week of aug., I have NOT hd a run that i did for $.70 CPM including FSC in all that time. Did turn down a $.65 CPM PLUS FSC when i had to sit on the load for 4 days, but that was the lowest load offer i have had.

Am i delivering cheap freight/ Maybe. All i know is that my ruck only moves when it makes me "X" amount of money, and i feel i am doing ok here in what others are saying is a bad time. I guess my expectations are low.

Now I will say, that if i was driving someone elses truck, or was asking someone to drive my truck, I can see how that would be a hard deal to deal with. But in my situation, and i can promise you that the games I play on the P&L are no where near normal, I am doin ok, and will continue to.

Bolt has been good to me....as i have posted in their section else where on this board.
 

twinpopusa

Seasoned Expediter
Those Starbucks are taking over the world. I saw 3 of them in one big strip mall. (Including one in a department store) Anyone ever try those little coffee shacks in Seattle area?
 

dcalien

Seasoned Expediter
Those Starbucks are taking over the world. I saw 3 of them in one big strip mall. (Including one in a department store) Anyone ever try those little coffee shacks in Seattle area?

Yeah, that is why I will run to the coast. They are all over Montana too. I noticed that most of them have the prettiest girls working in them. I like girls.
 

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
I wouldn't mind the 70CPM too much, IF they gave us a 1st out for it, and let us piggyback two loads if possible every now and then. Still, it's cheap frieght, and it's sad to see our rates go DOWN more over the years. These are the van rates we made with Roberts Express back in 1991..

Why should someone get a 1st out for a load over 75 miles. 1st outs are something that shouldn't be given to a driver just to take a load. You have to draw a line somewhere. You as a contractor have a choice, you either take the load or turn it down. We leave that up to our drivers. I can't really say much as to vans, because I have never had one on with a company. I know if I was in LA and Panther offered me a load going to Ohio. If the load is paying a little less than my rate, I would take it because of the miles and total pay. It just all depends where i'm at and how long the load is.
 
Last edited:

twinpopusa

Seasoned Expediter
Unfortunately, we only get 1st outs for runs paying the 50 dollar minimum, not for 75 miles.(For a Panther van)
 

warlordblee

Seasoned Expediter
When gas was around $4.00 a gallon how could you make any money hauling freight at 70cents a mile? Let's use a 200 mile run for example and a Van that gets 15miles a gallon. The run would total $140 and the fuel costs would be 13 gallons times 4 dollars for a total of 52 dollars and after fuel you would make 88 dollars for that run, paying insurance and maintenance I don't understand how you make money at that rate.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Warlord, that's why the f.s.c. was invented!

Today I was offered another .70/mile load with a .06 f.s.c. Loaded miles 444, delivering on the southwest side of Chicago. I have no problem at all with delivering in, near or within a 150 miles of Chicago. I do seem to however have an aversion to discount rates.

I declined the load offer via the QC. 2 minutes later my phone rings with a dispatcher reciting the load offer. I politely tell her I am not interested in a reduced rate load. She says okay and that she will take me off the load.

10 minutes later she calls back asking what it would take to get me to accept the load. I do some quick mental math and blurt out that a $60 bonus would suffice. She replies that she has to ask, but is quite certain she can get me $50 but not $60. I tell her not to bother with playing the asking game, I don't want the load. She hangs up on me with "why do you have to be a d**n jerk!"

I remember my first two weeks being called honey, sweetie and darling. 2 1/2 years later it's d**n jerk. See I told all of you it was the end of the world as we know it and nobody would believe me. I just hope the world doesn't end before I make my last van payment.
 
Last edited:

x06col

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Army
Three hundred fifty bucks after fuel, an being in Chi Town for the home run???

Ban tha van!! For sure.
 

RLENT

Veteran Expediter
I remember my first two weeks being called honey, sweetie and darling. 2 1/2 years later it's d**n jerk.
Man ..... two weeks ? ..... dang .... that is a short honeymoon ....

I'm coming up on 13 months ..... and it's still honey, sweetie, and darlin' ...... but most importantly - it's still "Mister RLENT" :D
 
Last edited:

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Memo to dispatch: you don't have to call me darlin, darlin - just get the right name on the direct deposit, ok? ;)
 

Hawkeye

Seasoned Expediter
I was in Birmingham, AL a few weeks ago and the dispatcher told me that she had a load at the discounted rate of .70cpm and I accepted it. After I did that, I thought about it and realized that I had a contract for .75cpm. I told myself I wasn't going to do that again.

Last week, I was sitting in Chicago and accepted a load; the load was an ASAP load. I was out of my van at the time. When I got to my van, I quickly accepted it on the QC and started rolling. As I am driving down the freeway, I looked at the load and realized it was .70cpm. I immediately called dispatch and told him that I was not informed of the reduced rate; I told him I would do the load at .75cpm. He told me that he would have to take me off of the load and offer it to every driver in the area before we could discuss my .75cpm. After he said that, I asked for a first out (which he agreed he would do) and a dry run. He put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back and said I had my .75cpm. The difference in the rates was $15.
 

miguy1957

Expert Expediter
I was in Birmingham, AL a few weeks ago and the dispatcher told me that she had a load at the discounted rate of .70cpm and I accepted it. After I did that, I thought about it and realized that I had a contract for .75cpm. I told myself I wasn't going to do that again.

Last week, I was sitting in Chicago and accepted a load; the load was an ASAP load. I was out of my van at the time. When I got to my van, I quickly accepted it on the QC and started rolling. As I am driving down the freeway, I looked at the load and realized it was .70cpm. I immediately called dispatch and told him that I was not informed of the reduced rate; I told him I would do the load at .75cpm. He told me that he would have to take me off of the load and offer it to every driver in the area before we could discuss my .75cpm. After he said that, I asked for a first out (which he agreed he would do) and a dry run. He put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back and said I had my .75cpm. The difference in the rates was $15.

Just think if you were running the company, if you can get 10% of your trucks to take reduced rate and you have 1000 trucks thats 100x15=1500/day, that would make a very nice bonus for upper management..............just a thought........ Ive been offered 3 or 4 reduced rate loads and when I say no thanks they always have offered it at my rate............
________
Vapir Oxygen
 
Last edited:
Top