New Panther Division

bludragon13 · Mar 21, 2009

We were on way to del. in Madison, Wi. and got a load offer -Portage ,Wi. to Standish, Mi 535 miles @ 1.25mi. P/u Fri del. on Mon. however no Fsc came with offer, called in about fsc, this is a New Department no fsc being paid. They are LTL loads only. I asked about the POD as that didn't come over after we accepted the load,well LTL loads don't have POD unless requested which means it will be deducted from that weekly settelment not the week you are paid for the load. I was also told refusals would not go against acceptance ratings. I told Matt that I might not take these loads often but that this one went by the house so we'd be spending a couple nights at home, the response surprised me , " yes we noticed where you lived and thought you might like a weekend at home".
I decided to post this for a couple reasons, 1. the offer looked just like any regular Panther offer. So be certian about the offer before accepting if you get this type of offer, no sense getting upset if you accept without realizing it is at rate per mile pay only,no fsc or bonus money available. 2. These loads are coming off of internet load boards.
So maybe DaveKC could let us know if we can "double up" and possibly make additional revenue with a second load added?
I see this as being an oppurtunity in some cases and not so much in other cases just depends. This happened on 3-18-09 .

Tempest · Mar 21, 2009

Unless they are backhauls panther usually doesnt let us stack loads. It would be interesting to find out if these will fall within the backhaul guidelines allowing stacking. Also I wonder if we would still be limited to the 25% load advance. $1.25 is pretty high in relation to most backhauls panther has sent our way.

Scuba · Mar 21, 2009

Ill be at M.A.T.S. today ill look into this i for one haven't heard of this LTL division. There is a truck load deal out of Cali from one of those logistics compaines that Panther bought that does general freight. That logistics co may or may not offer you a Panther rate load but they are not expedite loads. Mostly they are loads to get you out of a dead area

Scuba · Mar 21, 2009

I just get an email from Frank Ilacqua Director General Operations there is no LTL division at Panther

bludragon13 · Mar 21, 2009

Scuba said:
I just get an email from Frank Ilacqua Director General Operations there is no LTL division at Panther

I may have not properly labeled this post, the dispatcher referred to it as LTL, and the loads are being offered in the same format as regular load offers. He said the loads were not backhaul and not expedite loads.
The expedite dispatcher for the load I was on could not give me any information on the pre plan load offer as it came from a new department and transfered me to that department for the information on the offer.
In the past I have never received back haul offers in this manner always a call and number to get a hold of a broker.
Perhaps you did not ask the right question to Frank, as I doubt Panther would have a new dept he was unaware of, however I will be e-mailing him and will report on his response. Did you ask Frank if there was a new department that was sending offers at a per mile rate only, or did you ask about LTL dept.?

davekc · Mar 21, 2009

I believe that program has been there for awhile, but was more focused on tractors. They now have expanded it.
As far as multiple loads, you should be able to do them with no problem unless there is some exclusive use tied to the load. If that is the case, it will be on the QC and reflected in the rate.

Scuba · Mar 23, 2009

the following is a cut and paste from an email from Frank
Ken

This is our truck load department. Slightly different than backhaul. The backhaul process allows drivers to find loads regardless of destination. The truckload group was put in place for two main reasons:

Find loads with specific destinations for our fleet stuck in backhaul markets. We look at where our demand will be 2-3 days out and try and get our fleet (specifically TT) loads into those “hot spots”.
For example: the West Coast team will send a specific truck number over to the TL group to find a load from Los Angeles to Kentucky because two days from now we have some TT expedites coming out of KY that our guys would want.
Provide some capacity for our customers that don’t really have an expedite load - - more of a traditional truck load.

I then touched base with Frank on the phone this afternoon these loads can be refuesd with no hit to your stats if they are below your rate. Its just Panther looking for a backhaul out of an area that is a poor area for an expedite. They just sent 6 trucks to washington state and found backhauls for all of them BEFORE they got there. So they can either take them or sit and wait for a Panther load drivers choise. I think this is great Panther is being very proactive for the first time since i have been here in attempts to get tractors out of bad areas

LDB · Mar 23, 2009

Scuba said:
I then touched base with Frank on the phone this afternoon these loads can be refuesd with no hit to your stats if they are below your rate.

The problem with that is the dismal record of dispatch in getting refusals correctly recorded.

Scuba · Mar 24, 2009

Leo,
they are getting better on this issue like i said they sat every dispatcher down and went over the policy and made them sign it so they no longer have an excuise. And if everyone uses the complaint form that can be found on both the owners and drivers web. It gives them a way to track which dispatchers are causing the problem. Talk to Frank Leo see if you come away with the same feeling about him that i got.

davekc · Mar 24, 2009

This is pretty much what we do with regard to refusals. We go over whatever is there for the day and then submit it through the owner site. Seems pretty easy and haven't had any problems so far. Since you don't drop to the bottom on a refusal, there isn't any rush to fix them. Next day is good enough. Unless of course you are hovering around that 67 percent thing, then you might want to call in.

LDB · Mar 24, 2009

I've never doubted their sincerity about getting it right, I just know what happens in reality. Just yesterday one of my friends was talking to a dispatcher about a load. The dispatcher is one that's been there a couple of years at least. During the conversation she said to him that if he declined it wouldn't count as a refusal. He declined. When he checked a half hour later it was showing as a refusal.

My guess is it takes one click to make it a refusal and at least two clicks to make it a non-refusal. Autopilot being what it is the dispatchers click and move on to the 87 other tasks they have to do. The program should be rewritten so a confirmation message pops up and must be responded to before a refusal can be given. That would reduce the number of incorrect refusals by making the dispatcher acknowledge what they're doing and take another step beyond the autopilot to get it done.

Scuba · Mar 24, 2009

I often thought the same thing 1 click and move on. But now that Panther is using this number drivers ALL drivers must use the complaint form or nothing will get done. If people dont use it i would hope they don't waste my time by complaining this isn;t going to get better overnight but i think it will. But only if we do our part

Scuba · Mar 25, 2009

I was in Seville today and talked with one of the guys in the New truck load division. I was impressed with what I heard about how the program is working and at the same time shaking my head at some of the drivers out there. Panther proactively went out and found loads for several trucks in one location {I won’t mention the area but It’s an area where the shot at an expedite load is about zero} and only 3 trucks took the loads. But because it wasn't paying their rate the others passed on them. Well people have you called a broker lately? If so you are lucky to get $1.10 per mile to the truck from them. The loads all paid over that and were less than 20000 lbs and still only 3 trucks took the loads. The loads were going into Chicago. Where you all know you will get an expedite load from there. Now the trucks that turned the loads down are still sitting there searching the load boards. The 3 that took the loads are now on expedite loads. The reason the other guys didn't take the loads vary but some figure if the load comes from Panther then they should get their rate. People you have got to use your head if you go to a dead zone and we all know where they are and Panther did something we aren't used to don't read something into it that isn't there. They did it to benefit both of us You can tell by the amount of time in the load that it's not an expedite that it is a general freight load and a general freight load with miles in it isn't going to pay your rate to the truck 90% of the time. I do know of one that Panther found for a team out of the LA area for $1.51 per mile. They have also found loads out of FL for over $1.00 I can’t count the number of times that I left FL without a load because the best I could find was $.70 pm. I think part of the problem is that for as long as I have been here Panther has “talked” about doing this but it never got past the talking stage and for the first time it’s happening. If we as drivers/owners don’t use this service Panther will figure why bother and stop trying. Trying a new thing always brings out the skeptic in us. I say give them a chance.

LDB · Mar 25, 2009

Do you suppose this might be working better if it had been announced ahead of time with a significant workup and explanation? It seems like the typical communications method is implementation followed by afterthought haphazard communication rather than detailed and informative communications followed by implementation.

bludragon13 · Mar 26, 2009

scuba, Thanks for confirming the new dept/div. As I stated this load was out of portage ,wi and was at 1.25 w/o fsc. We have never sat ,in 42months, more then 24hrs in Fl. without an expedite load. Just lucky but t/t is different from straight trk.Same with west coast ,twice last Dec. That is a big difference from t/t. My real concern here was the offer looked at first glance like an expedite load and was looking to alert others so they wouldn't complain if they just accepted it then felt they weren't told the whole story. I also am happy that panther has started this and is sending it to straight trucks also.

Davekc, thanks for your response,this load did not say exclusive use,and was over the weekend.Would I have to call and confirm it was not exclusive use as expedite loads don't always state on the offer they are exclsive use? I just don't want to step into any problem as we start looking at back haul loads to expand our revenue.

LBD, I agree Panther could send a fleet message announcing the new dept.and making o/o and drivers aware of this possibly helpful alternative to sitting
Thank you again to all for your responses and I hope it helps others and we don't hear about how panther is cheating their drivers from those who are un-informed.

Scuba · Mar 26, 2009

communications communications communications communications communications
Leo we all know this could be a department all by itself Panther really lacks in communications and they know it but still don't seam to know how to do it