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

I don't know if they are still like what i wrote. Would you let me know?

 

I just thought I'd give my two cents on Panther.

My wife and I drove for them and loved it. Sometimes we had bad weeks, but, for the most part, the money was there.

The only problem we had were the owners we drove for. Their rule was 3 weeks out and 1 week home. Good deal, right? Well, apparently not. We stayed out for 3 months at a time and, when we came home for a week, they would call and harass us to get back out. One time, they had us take their truck to Freightliner in Greensboro, NC. It just so happens that the particullar Freightliner we took it to has the most inept mechanics in the world. It took a week to "fix" our truck and, when we picked it up, it still wasn't right. Apparently, our owners thought that was our fault.

Anyhow, other than that, Panther kept us rolling and kept us paid. The owners were a little to be desired, but I would go back in a heartbeat, for the right owners.

 

If the driver was in a cargo van theres no way you can run illegal as hell no logs for cargo vans as far for strieght trucks and tractor trailers they have paperless logs system form qual com the new ones have a count down clock for your hours on the screen I drove for a owner this was a big mistake. own your own truck they treat you better (panther does)

 

I owned two cargo vans and ran for panther in 2006. The pay then was 72 cpm and 77cpm if you ran canada plus fsc, which was between 6cpm and 30 or so cpm. Got an average 1200 to 1800 miles a week untill all fees were paid to panther then sat for days and averaged 1000 or less miles a week.

You also have to pay quallcom fees, 35.00, messaging fees, ins., bobtail ins., etc. about 110.00/wk. you pay deadhead miles up to 100 then they pay 20cpm and a few other extras also. Now the pay is 77cpm all miles. I took my vans out in November to to losing to much money. I paid my drivers 60 percent plus fsc but neither could make money. If you want more info on expediting ther is a great site called hope this helps.

 

My husband and I are thinking of driving a straight truck for Panther. My husband drove with my son-in-law a straight truck for another company, but they didn't make enough. They weren't kept busy at all. Sometimes only 300 miles per week. Then 1500 the next. It sounds like Panther keeps you going is that right? We are in our early 50's and I have never driven, but my husband has. He has his CDL b and I am studing to take the written. I was told Panther will let us use the truck we are going to drive for me to take my driving test. Do you know if that is true? Did both you and your husband have driving experience?
Thanks.
Knitsterlady

 

I ran a van for 3 weeks with Panther and decided to get a straight truck.

It is not comfortable living in a van, space is so limited and there are a LOT of vans waiting on every load so it's hard to average over 1,000 miles a week. They pay 77 cents per mile and 27 cents per loaded mile for fuel. You have to buy some fuel to get to the loads but that's usually not much and a diesel van will get 20 mpg.

You don't need a log book but safety will make you swap a load that you can't deliver within 16 hours... or take a 5 hr break if you have time to get it in before the scheduled delivery time.

You will probably never touch the freight unless you have a very light load and just hand it over to another driver on a swap.

Express 1 and Bolt also use cargo vans. FedEx isn't putting on any more vans for the time being.

Panther has several vans that owners are trying to get drivers into... however it is very risky. Many Many drivers get taken by the owners and Panther will not do anything to help you collect your pay from them. Even if you hire an attourney it is very difficult and expensive for your attourney to get records from Panther to prove the owner ows you any money. Some owners NEVER pay drivers.. they just run them for a month and keep their money and look for new drivers.

The ONLY way I would drive for somoeone else is to do it under a vehicle lease plan and have them sign a power of attourney so that the finances are under my name and go to my account. If you don't pay the owner they can have you removed from the boards so you can't get any loads.

Pros.... low vehicle cost... usually you can get a van for under $19k

 

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I'll be getting in to this right now as fuel prices are high. When you had your van, how did you have it setup? Did you stay in hotels all the time or did you have a little sleeper area in it?

 

I think the Panther fleet has to get down to the 600 mark before things get busy. They are averaging 500 loads a day nation wide. Right now they are at 1100 between Cargo,Straight and Semi. That count needs to be cut in half.

 

I want to purchase a trailer or two instead of pulling Company owned trailers. Do you remember what Panther had as far as company owned trailers spec wise? Thanks.

Rob

 

Keep in mind expedite shippers expect rapid pickup . The only way to accomplish that is to always have trucks sitting empty to respond . Keeping trucks loaded would keep customers waiting .