Panther II Transportation has a neat little business scam going via fleet owners (Owners of trucks needing drivers). Since Panther hires fleet owners as contractors to have drivers (also Contractors) pick up/deliver loads, It (Panther) is not responsible for the pay or expenses of the Drivers and dumps this responsibility to the Fleet Owners.
When a Fleet Owner such as Laura Dunaway fails to pay her (6) drivers for approximately 3 thousand dollars (each) in wages, Panthers payroll reply to Drivers is "Too Bad, we don't handle pay issues!" and hangs up.
This in itself is frustrating to a lot of drivers who end up quitting. However, Losing Drivers doesn't matter to Panther since they have a huge Recruitment machine suckering in other people for 250 dollars a pop for a 2 day orientation. This fee then is taken away from the Driver on his/her first pay 3 weeks later.
To make matters worse... There is Forced Dispatch via Fleet Owners or the Load percentage board. 1) Fleet Owners will tell Drivers "Take the Load or Else!", 2) Refusal of a Load drops Driver Load percentage thus giving Dispatch the "OK" to not give Driver (or Teams) any more loads out of area. As you can see, the Driver/Team is then FORCED into taking the load or bumped to back of load list.
The Horror for Drivers doesn't end there either... During the 2 day orientation,
Recruiting/Training will give a 1 Trick Pony show (same with most Companies) on great the company is. (If they had audio here I would load the 5 different showes for your audio listening pleasure.) Below is a list of lies told to the unsuspecting Truckers/Team followed up with the TRUTH.
Home Time - Rarely, Drivers spend weeks at a time out there and many don't get paid in full. Wages - Below Industry standard (. 16-. 23 cents per mile). Benefits - NONE!!! Loads - 1200 miles per week average for most Drivers/Teams. Pay - Per Panther "When We get paid, You get paid", Usually after they have collected interest off your money weeks later.
If you are knew to this type of driving then stay clear. A follow up to this letter will be posted soon with more information of Panther and a web site for drivers to contact each other regarding a lawsuit against Panther.
How do I know this stuff you ask? I still work inside Panther watching them ripp you off. And YES I'm getting tired of it.
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