Panther Expedited Services, Inc. - Seville, Oh.?

thanks, interesting post

 

Chase Doggy made some good points but he is an O/O contracted to Panther . Panther is all O/O and most of those making negative posts were drivers working for fleet owners . Most drivers are contracted (be sure to get a written contract and read it carefully ) to fleet owners and get 60% of the gross . They pay for fuel and should get 100% of the FSC . Never drive a van for a fleet owner . The revenue gives a marginal profit for a van O/O . A member inquiring to Panther about driving a tractor was told they require 6 months experience . They will hire straight truck drivers right out of school .
They will pay a 50% "advance" on receipt of a copy of signed bills when the load is delivered .

 

I know a driver that was offered a Panther job from a fleet owner. 60% and driver pays for fuel.
This sounds like a risk. If Panther does a lot of deadheading and you choose to leave a DEAD AREA this could be a loosing situation. I am guessing that is why Fleet owners pay this way instead of the normal 25 to 30% and no fuel responsibilities.
I did not know you could negotiate rates as a Panther driver. I thought every Panther driver was paid the same. If drivers are able to negotiate for a better rate I am sure they are asking drivers to work for a lesser rate also.
Rick-What are your thought on the 60% deal and driver buys fuel? I do not like it. Am I missing something?

 

It's really necessary to avoid excessive idling and too many off route miles when drivers sit a couple of days waiting for loads . It's pretty much the standard of the industry . There are some fleet owners out there that take very good care of their drivers and some that abuse them . Panther does far less deadheading now because they use brokers for backhauls or to get out of a dead area .

 

Mr RickG and others who speak in facts, you like FECC or Panther for E class ? Pro's and con's plz

 

That, ladies and gentlemen is what TOTAL Panther pornography looks like. I've been there, in both a van and a 24 ft straight truck. I was left places for 8 days in a row. I had loads taken over 20 times when I was next out. He sums it up best in his conclusion when he says "book a backhaul." BECAUSE they are ALL backhauls. I took every load offered and even then I've had $14 weeks.. yes.. an entire week when the total after they took out their deductions was $14... and some that were $0.0

Here is exactly what you need to do first... go drive your vehicle to a Walmart parking lot and live there for one week. You'll not only save money but you'll have the same experience you would have paid Panther to show you.

But don't take my word for it... go spend all your saving just to find out that you'll be screwed and there will NEVER NEVER be any money left over to send home. Be sure to ask him for that number for the guy he says is " high enough up that he can handle big issuse" because you'll be needing it a LOT.

 

Each has their pluses and both run some flatbed and stepdeck . FedEx Custom Critical bought out PassPort and has an auto hauling division . Panther Elite division does a lot of government high security loads . I see more Panther trailers on the road than FedEx CC .

 

RE: I see more Panther trailers on the road than FedEx CC .

The Panther trailers are going home and calling it quits. You may see a lot more Land Star trailers. They have over 800 brokers that post loads that you can take. Nothing in trucking is without problems today. Arrow just killed their fuel cards, leaving thousands of their truckers stranded.

 

My wife and I drive for a fleet owner that is leased onto Panther. So far the experience has been a very good one. My definition of a "Good One" is the bills are paid and money still left over in the bank. We both have CDL-A's with experience driving 18-wheelers but we chose to drive the straight trucks - no hazmat. The longest we ever sat waiting for a load was 3.5 days.

 

I'm sorry, but Chasedoggy is not telling you the truth at all. First he's claiming to be a solo driver that makes $1.80/mile. Panther Pays $1.40/mile if you have hazmat, and currently 25 cents a mile for fsc. That makes it a $1.65/mile at that rate you get 30 cents a mile for your deadhead.

Currently panther treats solo drivers as if they cannot drive more then 400 miles in a day, and you will be lucky to get 1200 miles in a week. If your not very careful, it is quite possible to sit for 4 days even if you have 100% acceptance and 100% available.

Also, if you don't happen to have a few thousand dollars laying around to purchase fuel your going to be pretty strapped in a tractor trailer for fuel. Don't count on Panthers fuel advance to keep you running down the road, they allow you an automatic 45% advance. This would seem like enough, however it is only 45% of the $1.40/mile for only the loaded miles.

For example you get a load that has 100 mile dead head to pick up, runs 350 miles, that means your going to get paid $30 for your dead head $87.50 fuel surcharge and $490.00 for your line haul. This means your going to get paid $607.50 to run 450 miles comes out to $1.35 mile, which seems good. However your only going to get 45% of the 490 to pay for fuel so that will be $220.50 to buy your fuel to run this load.

At a cost of $2.80 a gal that means you will be able to buy roughly 79 gallons. Now if you average 6 mpg that means you can go 472 miles off that fuel. So you just barely squeak by on having enough fuel to run that particular load.

Your now going to sit overnight waiting for your next load, and it's -5 degrees out, you don't have the choice of shutting the truck off so your going to run it for the minimum 10 hrs that your in the sleeper, which means you are now out of fuel in the middle of the night.

Now lets say you happen to have the money to keep your truck running and your waiting for that first paycheck to replenish your funds. Well your in for a shocker, First week you've spent Mon-Wed going through orientation, they have now deadheaded you 475 miles to get a trailer and Paid you 75 cents a mile to get there. Of course they are not going to give you a load on wed because as far as panther is concerned as a solo driver you are out of hours. So it's now thrusday, you finally get dispatched on a load like the one above that has a gross of $607, it picks up at 5pm and delivers at 6am. Well this puts you at delivery on a friday and out of hours as far as panther is concerned. Your now sitting till monday to get your next load.

Sunday's the end of the pay period so now, you've now grossed $1213 for the week between your orientation pay and your deadhead and load. You've run 925 miles and spent $431 in fuel. Which means after fuel you've made $782, but wait Panther has a surprise for you, your first check will get $150 taken out of it for physical and drug test, and will have double deductions taken out of it as well thats $200 for plates, $100 in escrow, $70 for qualcomm messaging $60 for workmens comp insurance, $50 for truck insurance (im sure im missing a few charges). So that's $630 in deductions which means your first check you'll have made $152 profit.

But it gets better they hold back a week, so no your not going to get your $152 this friday, but next friday. So best case scenario it will be almost 4 weeks before you get a decent check. And that's assuming you do not idle your truck at all. Or eat for that matter.

And then to top it off you've now been away from home for 4 weeks and decide now that you've got a decent check your ready to go home. Ooops Hometyme program is only a minor thought in the back of someones head and you might get there sometime in the next 2 weeks.. Or your going to eat the fuel cost and deadhead home burning up a good portion of your first decent check.

Now lets say you get home and decide your going to take a week off, you should be alright, you'll have a check coming in friday. Wrong, Panther will not process your payroll if you are sitting at home for a week, you will have to wait for that check next friday when your actually out on the road.

Now your going to say wait wait that's 21 days from receipt of my paperwork and my contract says they will pay me within 15 days from the receipt of my paperwork. Panther does not care about following their own contract, it is their assumption that you may stay home for 2-3 weeks and burn up all that pay in deductions and they will hold on to it to ensure that those deductions are paid. In fact they will hold your money and refuse to pay you for 2 months, until you start hauling loads again your not going to get paid.

If your thinking, that sounds like a breach of contract, your absolutlely right. However Panther does not care about that fact.

Also if you want to get down to the nitty gritty it gets even better. Let's say you pick up and deliver a load on monday Jan. 25th and scan the paperwork in to panther. According to your contract you should get paid for it 15 days later which would be Tues Feb. 9th. However due to Panther's pay period and them holding back a check you will not get paid for it till Feb 12th which is 18 days from reciept of paperwork. In fact any load that is turned in on a monday, tuesday or wendsday Panther will breach contract on and pay you later then the 15 days even if you are running every day of the week.

Now you might even say that's not right, Panther drivers should get together and start a class action lawsuit. However Panther has a clause in their contract that states the independant contractor cannot seek a class action lawsuit and his only means of remedy is binding arbitration that will cost the independant contractor minimum of $400 to even get started.

You might even be sitting there thinking, that sounds a bit dirty and shady, how can you trust a company that won't even follow their own contract on what is probably the most important issue in the contract.. Answer is you can't and i would strongly advise anyone thinking of leasing their truck on to Panther expedited against doing it.

And to other Panther owner operators or ex panther owner operators that might be a bit cheesed off and happen to be a member of OOIDA, should get in contact with them as one of the requirements for a contract to be legal and binding it has to be entered into in good faith. Being as Panther expedited enters this contract with it's owner operators with prior knowledge that they will breach it and intend to breach it they are not entering into it in good faith, which makes that contract unenforceable and would make the no class action clause unenforceable also, along with all those wrongful charges they most likely added on to your final settlement.

*edit*

Just a quick note as i forgot to mention Panthers Quick pay program. This is a program where the Contracter pays Panther 3% of the load in order to get paid quicker (In otherwords they will not hold back a week, however that's $30 out of every thousand that your handing over to Panther.) But this gets interesting, think back to where i mentioned the loads that are turned in on Mon-Wed, for those loads if you are on the quick pay program you are actually paying panther a fee so that panther will follow it's own contract and pay you within the 15 days as they should already be doing for free. Sounds Illegal to me, but I am not a cop.