Looking for some first hand experiences of how Panther Expedited is to work for, we are an owner operator team shopping for new lease.
Panther
I drove for a fleet owner leased to Panther, bad owner, but Panther was great. They kept my truck rollin, gave me plenty of time to pick and drop, and they do have a great dispatch team.
They wanted me to stay, but not having my own truck, I didn't want to go with another owner. Not all fleet owners are bad, I just happen to work for one at that time, so I moved on.
I was leased with Panther It did not work out well for me. But I was probably in a different situation then you. First I was recruited as a Flatbed Team in their Elite Services Division. I had talked with them for 6 to 8 month's before signing on. They are new to Flat bed, and they do not have a clue, about them, they just want to cover more bases for there customers, and try to grow this division. That's not to say that in a couple of years they won't have it figured out. But I was used as sort of a ginny pig for there little flat bed experiment. There was only 3 Flat bed qualified teams in a 1500 truck system. Well make it 2 as I had to go to Georgia to pick up a trailer,that was left at a T/S, by the first ginny pig. The other was a local driver that did it part time.
Panther does however have a good opportunity for Teams, If and only if you can qualify for Elite Services. You and your co-driver must have Hazmat, and be able to get a Gov. Secruity Clearance, Be willing to go to Canada, (Often) and then you can make a good amount of revenue.
Most of the problems I had at Panther was not their fault, I had most of my problems because of my co-driver. He did not have Hazmat, which we did not need parse as we did flat bed, but we swap back and forth from flat to van. so it would have opened more doors. We went to Canada 12 strait trips, mostly re-powers from driver's who would not go to Canada.( A great way to make bonuses by the way, as dispatch will pay you extra to re-power) Then after 12 trips my co-driver got checked out at the border by Canadian Customs who finds out he has a felony. So that closed the Canadian door for us. Now being very limited as to what we can do, the revenue dropped allot. We ended up sitting for day's waiting for freight, that eventually came to the point to where my tractor got repoed.
The Panther deal was a good deal, I just did not have all the pieces to the puzzle covered on my end. Mainly I did not check out my driver enough before committing to Panther. I had problems before I got there, my truck had got wrecked before I went by some idiot at a T/S that could not use a mirror. I had lost 8 weeks of revenue before starting, and when you start at any carrier it will take time to build the momentum back. With all the options closing, no hazmat, no Canada, I just lost control of the situation. But that's trucking we move on an survive.
If and when you go to Panther, use your tools on the qual-com they have a place on it that will tell you where and how many trucks are sitting, as well as how much freight is likely to be there. Good Luck!
Panther
I was not able to go to Canada either, but then I was in the van division, and they kept me busy. There is plenty of freight here in the US, going to Canada is not necessary to be sucessful at Panther, granted going to Canada pays more, but if you stay stateside, van division, you should do pretty good.
Like I say, I just worked for a bad owner, if I had the means then to get my own truck, I would probably still be with them.
hey give this site a try
www.expeditorsonline.com it has every every thing you want to know bout FedEx Panther Piss ....................etc BOL
