Panther Driver Council Time to make your Vote

[bryan]

Hi

Give it a chance.Hope for the best.Talk to every driver you meet so that you will be better able to pick a candidate the next time.

Atleast now we can talk to somebody who has driven a truck and understands where we are coming from.I feel that alot of PII problems effect all of us including the "pets".Also reading about a strangers whoas on an open forum and actual having to walk with them through the remedies are two very different things.Maybe after walking a mile in your shoes they will beleive you?Or maybe they will show us what we can do to make it easier on ourselves.

PS: I have always found it easier to debate my problems with a fellow driver than with a company employee.

 

[Bob and Hooligan]

The council will provide face to face repsentation with management. The driver reps should be more available to drivers than a phone call to Contractor relations.

The idea is good. My problem is in how it is being presented to those who will be voting. A message last week gave us 2 days to put our hats in the race. Then we are only given 6 days to vote. To top that off, the only way to vote is via the internet.

A council will help assure that ALL will be informed of issues in a timely fashion.

Bob and Hooligan
Truck 1851

 

[blacktiger]

Seen Dave talk at that Ohio truck show in july. He would be a good choice. How come he aint on that list. No place for a write in and right 2 days is short notice


George

 

[davekc]

Thanks to everyone for their support for something I am not running for. I appreciate everyones emails,posts, and PM's.

The basic reason is that this election is for a Drivers Council.
Simply put, I am not a driver.
I think they need people that are on the road day to day to convey the needs of the drivers. My position is to a degree limited, because I am looking at it just from an owners prospective.
I do engage in opinions or concerns with regards to fleet operations. Some of those issues overlap, and some don't.

Thanks again to all. I am confident that they will have a great group put together to represent the drivers.







Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[pellgrn]

I was wondering if anyone out there can explain what this council does,what it hopes to do,and why it exsists.It would be nice to hear from some panther employees [not drivers or contractors] so an understanding of realistic goals can be reached.

 

[davekc]

The idea is to take a elected solo and team from each vehicle catagory and meet with management to address new ideas and concerns of drivers. If you go to their website, you can review the candidates that volunteered for these positions and other info.









Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[are12]

>Atleast now we can talk to somebody who has driven a truck
>and understands where we are coming from.


I am sorry but I must disagree, I cannot see how a fleet owner can understand where we -the single truck owner- is coming from. To me, they are in a whole different catagory than us. So how can they represent us fairly?
And some of the people that are running for Council have not been in the business long enough to even begin to understand what it is about. We ran the big truck for awhile - Jim alot longer than I - and we found out that expediting is nothing like we ran before. We have been with Panther just under 3 years and still have not figured it all out yet and probably never will but we are willing to learn as we go.
>

>PS: I have always found it easier to debate my problems with
>a fellow driver than with a company employee.


I, personally, do not have a problem debating my problems with a company employee. I have always stood my ground for what I believe and will continue to do so on my own. I really don't feel we need someone to speak for us personally.

Our only problems are very simple, why offer a team a load under 500 miles if a single driver is sitting in the same area? Why give a single driver a 1500 mile run, when a team is sitting there, just to take it away from him 500 miles down the road? Panther needs to learn the utilize the teams as they should be. And, last but not least, how about an increase in our rate per mile? I know we signed on at a certain rate but should that mean our rate will always be the same? I am sure Panther's rates do not stay the same year to year with the cost of living rising each year, so why should ours?

Once again, this is just our opinion. Hope I did not offend anyone.

 

[greg334]

I know a few of you will ask why am I sticking my nose here, seeing I am not a panther O/O but I find that something seems out of place with the concept of voting for people who you don’t know.

I mean do you know every owner/driver in the fleet in your vehicle group? This could work against the owners/drivers as I have experienced in a company I used to work where it turned into a disaster.

With 1500 plus (or what ever it is) vehicles, I would say a rotation of owners/drivers based on a criteria that is selected by owners/drivers may be a better solution.

If you can’t talk to someone in upper or upper-mid management to voice your opinion, I think that a council would be ineffective in the long run.

 

[Bruno]

I wish FedEx did this, I think it is a great Ideal Dave.

 

[cheri1122]

Bryan is right, we need to give it a chance, before we start saying it isn't going to work. I applaud the fact that Panther is attempting to address drivers' concerns, at least. If they're willing to listen to the people who do the work, and try to find mutually agreeable solutions, they could become the Toyota of the expedited world!

 

[Turtle]

>I was wondering if anyone out there can explain what this
>council does,

Provides a means for driver represented face-to-face whining to management instead of vial the phone or the Qualcomm.


>what it hopes to do,

Attain Utopia for the drivers.


>and why it exsists.

To give management the opportinuty to state that the driver's issues are being addressed. Whether or not they actually address them is irrelevant. x(


Do I sound a little cynical? :+ Yeah, probably. And I hope I'm wrong. But, this was all put together a little too quickly, IMHO. We should have all been given the same information about each candidate driver, how long they have been driving, their history, and their personal backgrounds.

What issues might be important to me, and more importantly, which solutions to solve them, might not be as important to my "elected" representative. I can see solutions determined, and even concessions being made, that might benefit those in the room who have been convinced of this or that, while at the same time making things worse the drivers as a whole, or a certain section of drivers.


Announced over the Qualcomm, but voting is over the Internet. That's odd. Why not allow voting via the Qualcomm, or the phone, or by mail. For that matter, why not go all out and allow a secret ballot? (gasp!)


>It would be nice to hear from some panther employees [not drivers
>or contractors] so an understanding of realistic goals can be
>reached.

It would be nice, but I don't think it's gonna matter much. Panther thinks in fleet and fleet owner mode, not driver mode. The whole premise of this thing is for the Driver Council, "to present fleet issues and concerns while working with management to provide remedies." But, it's the drivers who have issues and concerns, not the fleet.

But, hey, like it says on the Web site...

"Please choice wisely as these representatives will be your voice."

We'll see. I'm hoping for the best, tho.

 

[tec1959]

I think make the drivers board maybe a group of 8-10 members,(2) Drivers, (2) O/O's, (2) Fleet Owners, (2) O/O's/Drivers, Maybe (1) Disp,
Maybe (1) From Company Management... Thanks Just me thinking out loud folks....

 

[pellgrn]

Panthers done this before with the drivers roundtable,there were some changes made that were win/wins however the one i attended was a bunch of contractors complaining to management.I was turned off and they stopped the roundtable not long after that,there were to many people and the focus would not stay on the one issue that everybody agreeed was to be discussed or debated and a compromise reaches.

 

[babs3361]

Jim and Arlene I could not agree with you more. That is why Phil and I (Barbara) as a single Truck owner T/T decided that we needed to volunteer for this. The fleet owners from my understanding will still have there meetings. We as O/O have alot of the same issues as just drivers do. I just hope it works best for all of us, and yes the internet is a good place for e mailing things you want done to those that get elected. Someone else said how do you know the other drivers. Well really none of us know every person that drives for Panther, But do you really know your goverment representatives..... and you vote for them. Sometimes it works well other times it just plain stinks. I hope that this is not a 1 time election and that 1 or 2 years later we can vote again. New and fresh ideas make us grow.

 

[cheri1122]

We will have to vote again, if only to replace those who drop off the Council, but that's all we know so far - issues such as term limits haven't been clarified. Unless it was done on the QC - with mt van in the shop all week, I haven't seen the QC since Monday.

 

[davekc]

I don't think there has been any discussion on a specific term or time limit. I do think it should change from time to time.
This is to be for drivers only as fleet meetings for owners are seperate.

To avoid what was mentioned earlier, it makes sense to have a meeting or short conference call prior to a meeting with management so the important issues for all are addressed. Too many ideas and or complaints get lost in the shuffle and nothing gets accomplished. A unified front will get more positive results than everyone with a complaint or personal agenda.

On Bruno's question, to my knowledge, Fedex has a driver council as well. EO moderator Terry I believe is on the council.











Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

As a fleet owner, AND a driver I have to say that I find the "separation" issue from single truck owners a little disturbing. What issues do you feel that you have that I do not have? I started with one tractor with panther and made the choice to grow a fleet from that tractor. I have not seen any difference in issues with 7 trucks than with one...except I have 6 other teams to worry about when they are left for days in a certain area without loads or offered 200 mile runs for teams or watch bogus first outs being given to people that should not have them. You ask how a fleet owner can represent you, well 7x the issues...the SAME issues that you deal with. Teams not getting more than 2000 miles a week with 99% availability happens to us all the time also. Being offered loads that go to nowhere and having to deadhead 1000 miles to get a load happens to us also. What is so different between you and I? I pay 10k a month in truck payments and have a responsibility to keep 6 other families making a decent living. We all share the same issues.....there are many times when my tractor has kept my fleet afloat. We have dispatch issues magnified 7x, we have slow freight issues magnified 7x, we have stupid load offers magnified 7x. We have no "hired" people to help us, we are on phone 24/7 with Panther and drivers trying to help our drivers make a living. What is so different?
Round table discussions were very beneficial....the new link for submitting payroll issues was our idea at the round table....many companies have drivers councils. Part of what that is is for people to have a face that they can talk to that will address their issues....but also to SUGGEST solutions. A very wise person once said "if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem."
Too many people try to shoot an idea down that may be beneficial to them for what reason? Will a drivers council HURT you? Don't you think it may possibly give you one more avenue to express the likes and issues with the company you are in partnership with? How is that a problem?
I can think of so many issues that affect fleet owners AND drivers...the whole equal compensation thing about whether or not you go into canada being one...the crappy load offers that seem to be generated to a canadian team if they are anywhere near the border...so seriously I really want to know how my issues are so different from yours, not being sarcastic, just seeking info.



-Charlotte

 

[babs3361]

Charolett putting it that way i do see your point. Problems 7x and trying to deal with a driver. I was not trying to offend. My thought was is that you already have fleet owner meetings and to put it simply we as single owners do not. As with many big companies the open door policy is a little to be desired if you know what I mean.

 

[Moot]

I think I feel another bout of P.M.S. coming on.

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Fleet owners meetings are not what you would imagine. I would think they would be an ideal place to discuss fleet owner issues, they are more of a training session to help people be successful fleet owners. I have seen ONE fleet owners meeting in a year. That is all. You did not offend in any way. I am truly seeking information. I drive my truck, Terri drives our truck and we help all of our teams so we see ALL issues and we HAVE to be proactive or we get lost in all the shuffle too.


-Charlotte