A bad Christmas for some (Full Version)

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blacksword404 -> A bad Christmas for some (12/22/2009 11:03:36 PM)

Arrow Trucking: Is this any way to lay off workers?

The layoff notice? Arrow Trucking gas cards no longer work at the pump, leaving some drivers stranded hundreds of miles from home.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/2009/1222/Arrow-Trucking-Is-this-any-way-to-lay-off-workers

My company sent out a message today giving us permission to give rides to Arrow drivers to help them get home. I had just finished driving 730 miles overnight so I had no clue what was going on. But this is a fucked up way to treat your drivers. These drivers probably live all over the country. They might live in Seattle and be stranded out in ohio. And from what the rumor mill is some of them may not have been paid in a week or two. Not sure if that is true.



GreedyTop -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/22/2009 11:15:31 PM)

BAstards!   I feel for those drivers, and their families.....



blacksword404 -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/22/2009 11:56:29 PM)

From what I'm hearing the office people came in to find the doors locked up. I hope something unpleasant and non-fatal happens to him.



GreedyTop -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 12:12:17 AM)

I'm right with you.  This is NO WAY to treat the people that have been buying him McMansions and groceries. 



blacksword404 -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 12:17:23 AM)

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=11715460
Another link from out of tulsa.

TULSA, OK -- Employees are dealing with a Christmas crisis at one Tulsa business.
Employees at Arrow Trucking tell The News On 6 they are now out of a job because the company has run out of money and is suspending operations.
Employees say the announcement came Tuesday morning, but they've seen the signs for a while now. 
Several employees told The News On 6 they haven't been paid in months and others say there's been problems with buying fuel for the truckers.
"Unfortunately my son, my first child, will be born in about four days and its three days before Christmas. I have no insurance now and I haven't been paid for over a month. Mortgage is due, bills are due," said J.P. Price, Arrow Trucking employee.
The News On 6 first heard about the possible suspending of operations late Monday night. The News On 6 contacted the company, but managers have refused to comment so far.
The News On 6 has received calls from truck drivers who say they are stranded and can't get home. Some say they're locked up at one of the company's terminals, but that Arrow Trucking won't let them leave in a company truck.
Other drivers say they're stranded along their routes after the company shut off their fuel cards.
But according to the company's voicemail, Arrow Trucking is providing bus tickets for them to go home.
A truck driver in Texas called The News On 6 and said his family bought him a plane ticket so that he can get home to Pennsylvania.
Arrow Trucking is headquartered in Tulsa, but has hundreds of employees around the country.
We're told there are about 300 people who work in the office and about 1,000 truckers.
Employees at Arrow Trucking can call the State Labor Commissioner to file a claim about getting their paychecks, 1-888-269-5353.



blacksword404 -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 12:22:53 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: GreedyTop

I'm right with you.  This is NO WAY to treat the people that have been buying him McMansions and groceries. 


From what some drivers are saying, the guy didn't know what he was doing. It's really going to be hard for all of them to find other jobs. 1000 drivers, thats a lot of families. Sad.



GreedyTop -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 12:28:50 AM)

gawd. Arrow has been in biz for AGES.  is this the offspring of the orginal owner>?



blacksword404 -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 12:42:20 AM)

Yep.



EbonyWood -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 1:49:04 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: blacksword404

From what I'm hearing the office people came in to find the doors locked up. I hope something unpleasant and non-fatal happens to him.


Only Christmas spirit is stopping me from disagreeing with the second part.



sirsholly -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 2:58:27 AM)

what goes around, comes around...

So sad.



sophiesback -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 3:02:52 AM)

[>:]    [&:]   As someone that took in a homeless, stranded truck driver for about 6 weeks this summer, i feel for these people. It's sad.



Loki45 -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 5:04:14 AM)

After reading the story, I don't see how people are pissed at the company. It's not like they're sitting on a wad of cash saying "Fuck you, get out" to their employees. The story said the company is suspending operation because they ran out of money. When you run out of money, the gas cards get shut off. It sucks, but it happens. Companies fold all the time. If they have no money to give, how can they give it?



tazzygirl -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 5:30:57 AM)

Because, Loki, they know long before the suspension of gas cards that they are closing their doors.



DarkSteven -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 5:59:44 AM)

From the article: "The only acknowledgement was a brief recorded message on the company's main phone number, asking drivers of its Freightliner and Kenworth trucks to turn their rigs in to the nearest dealer and to call a special hotline to arrange for a bus ticket home."

I'd call the hotline and explain that they wouldn't get their damned truck until I had a written severance offer letter faxed to me.





Termyn8or -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 6:38:20 AM)

FR

This is not only nasty, it is stupid. First of all if they strand the drivers all over the place the loads do not get to their destination and they do not get paid. If that happens why not give the employees a bit of notice and allow them to prepare, and spend what money is left trying to cushion the impact just a bit rather than what, having to tow all the trucks in from all over the friggin country ? If the load ain't going to get there, why send it out ?

And this at the time when my boss is making payroll out of his own pocket to build stock for what we call the "income tax season".

As if we needed more proof that there really is an "us" and a "them".

T



LadyEllen -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 7:07:55 AM)

"The financiers called in their collateral" alongside the cutting off of cashflow support that goes with that seem to be the operating factors in the collapse here. This aspect is not news as it is happening across the world right now, even to reasonably good businesses.

We shouldnt jump to conclusions too readily. Although such financiers often take this sort of action on failing businesses, we dont necessarily know that Arrow was failing - after all, how many vehicles did it have parked up for want of work? The reports say that office personnel were reduced back in February but dont mention any reduction in the fleet, so one might imagine that there was work for all of the vehicles it had prior to and since that time.

Cashflow is absolutely critical to any business, and in a business like road haulage - where margins are low and customers tend to believe they can get away with late payments more so than in any other business - small dents in cashflow can have marked effects. Even with a large capital base of reserves, some form of cashflow support from the finance sector is essential to smooth out cashflow and enable bills to be settled on time regardless of the tardiness of incoming payments; whether your customer paid on time or not, you still have to pay your people and pay your leasing and fuel etc on time. With good cashflow management or support its possible to operate a business for years at a time at a loss.

We would need to see the figures here to know whether Arrow was struggling and so the collapse was foreseeable and someone needs hanging out to dry for the predicament of the drivers and their families, or whether it was doing OK and the collapse was simply the result of financiers taking a dim view of a low margin business at a time of economic crisis when their funding might enjoy greater return elsewhere.

The one good thing to come out of this is that other companies appear to be rallying around to help get the drivers home at least. If I had one of the rigs though I'd be holding it as security right now for my back pay and severance package - in English law at least this wouldnt be theft since there is no intention to permanently deprive anyone of the rig.

E



JudasButcher -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 9:46:56 AM)

Absolutely horrible, i had the same thing happen to me 5 years ago. I left the office, typical see ya tomorrow out the door. One by one we all got calls that very night telling us the company was closed, and to call later to set up a meeting to get our final paycheck and turn in company tools and trucks. Cooincidently the owner was showing off pics of his newly finished florida home not 2 weeks before this. So much for 8 years of loyalty.....



FirmhandKY -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 10:04:59 AM)

FR:

Their website, from the Google cache (their actual website is gone, apparently):

This is Google's cache of http://www.arrowtrucking.com/. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 22 Dec 2009 17:12:01 GMT:

Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Arrow Trucking Company is one of the country's largest and most financially sound flatbed motor carriers.

Firm



domiguy -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 10:15:35 AM)

It sucks. There are a lot of people out of work.  I have  friends, some college educated some work in the trades, that have been out of work for close to a year now.  My work has slowed down substantially over the last eighteen months.

Things are bad and forever changing.  Just have to be thankful for what you have.

I would rather work for Arrow trucking than be Brittany Murphy.



Mercnbeth -> RE: A bad Christmas for some (12/23/2009 10:29:49 AM)

~ Some Fast Things Most Don't Want To Hear / Know ~

  • A creditor take-over of a business is not announced. Announcing it gives the owners a chance to hide assets from the liquidator.

  • When the owner of the company you work for or the officers, start relocating to Florida - its time to consider leaving the company. Florida exempts real estate holdings from any Bankruptcy proceedings. You can own and live in a $10 Million home free and clear and it can't be touched. Florida's most significant exemption is the Homestead Exemption because it is unlimited
  • Under current Banking environment and knee jerk initiated regulations foreclosure or ceasing assets once a net positive equity position is clear is a first resort. It used to be the last resort - but the fear of Washington scrutiny has changed the priority.
  • You can't renegotiate a Bank loan now - unless you have 50% matching cash on deposit with the Bank.
  • You can't get a new Bank loan unless you have 100% matching cash on deposit with the Bank.
  • The closing and/or contraction of small businesses is being felt by the larger suppliers. Truckers are on the front lines of this lost war.
  • It is damn near impossible to make money legally under the current economic and regulatory environment in the trucking industry.
  • Suspending credit and credit cards on a business always happens without notification. When you go Christmas shopping and go to use your credit card and it's rejected because you're over your limit; did the prior place you used it let you know? Nope - you find out your out of credit the next time you try to use it. The first call they got from a trucker that the card didn't work - was their 'notice'. Once that happened "It's over Johnny."


Sorry - no 'good news' here. 'Word on the Streets' is that come February the economy will be much worse. There is no available investment capital, no reason to invest. In the past - a company 'in trouble' like this would have been an ideal merger partner or an acquisition for some other affiliated industry. Now - there is no incentive for an individual, or corporation to do that. There is a war being waged against profit and financial success being waged by the US Government. As in any other 'war' most casualties are in the ranks of the 'foot soldiers'; nobody represents that image more than a trucker! They are the current day 'factory worker' except unlike that group, most don't have the fall back pension, retirement benefits.

It doesn't matter what political or socio-economic philosophy you believe. After a couple of generations of 'hungry' citizens got used to being given fish instead of a fishing pole and directions to the water - they lost the ambition necessary for self sufficiency and determination. The results are clear and indicate a pragmatic condition. Consider, if a trucking company has problems and is closed down during the busiest delivery period of the year - how many more are on the cusp? Apply the same to every store you see, or any other venue. Those 'for lease' signs are precursors indicators of the next wave of economic troubles for the Banks - commercial lending. It could make the personal mortgage problems seem minor.

There is only one 'growth sector' in this economy, only one sacrosanct group isolated from the type of economic reality the trucking industry is experiencing, only one job sector hiring - public employee bureaucrats.



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