Panther

I was a company driver working for a fleet owner leased to Panther. Orientation was OK. The medical card issued is first class except the signiture did not state the qualification of the examiner ie Doctor etc...
Orientation was fine. There is a nearby truckstop and a decent lunch was served each day.

Dispatch however was dissapointing. The staff is underqualified and sometimes clueless. They are often arrogant and rude. They left me hanging for pickup numbers multiple times causing severe delays and late departures from shippers causing late deliveries. I'd call and call and the people in dispatch would not see to the task of getting the pickup numbers. Sometimes by the 4th call I'd reach someone who would do their job and get the numbers. Then..... they would not know the complete adresses of customers OR even the name of the customers.

My fleet owner reported he was frequently more often than not paid late by 3-4 weeks. He reported to me that communication with the staff was spotty and supervisory personel were difficult to reach and would sometimes lie to cover their butts. My Owner has 25 years experience in the business and he says that he has never seen an organization so poorly run.

The quality of the trailers we pulled were either extremely poor or extremely good. No middle ground. Our first trailer was extremely poor. We refused to pull it. The shop it was located at refused to fix it because it was so far gone. The next trailer we got was excellent.

Pet Peeve: They make you carry 6 logistics bars at all times. The kind that hook into the walls of the trailers. There is no way to store them on the tractor. So..... you have to load and unload them by hand each stop from the trailer.

LeBubba