I don't get it.

[Gofirstclass]

OK, Yellow Freight lines went bankrupt and fired all of their employees. I won't get into all of the reasons that led to the bankruptcy, but I do have something that puzzled me.

The 13,000 employees are saying they are going to have a hard time getting new work.

Yet, on virtually every semi I see on the road there's a sign on the back begging truckers to join their fleet.

So, on one hand you have a ton of laid off truckers and on the other you have companies looking to hire them.

What am I missing, or what is wrong with this picture?

 

[Golfman25]

Well, first is the narrative -- Big, Bad, evil corporation left it's workers in the gutter to die.

Second, my guess is they would have to take a pay cut of some type. So they'll bitch and moan about "no work."

 

[highslice]

I agree, Mike. I owned a trucking company for a while until about 6 years ago when the feds mandated the electronic logs. My best drivers also had other skills. One even operated a saw mill on his off days. For better or worse, the drivers needed to "'fudge" their logbooks to make deadlines and make money. I don't know about Yellow, but most companies pay their long-haul drivers by the loaded mile. It was hard enough to find drivers before the electronic logs, let alone good drivers. After electronic logs all of my good drivers left and the crappy ones stayed. I didn't need that headache anymore. Sold the equipment and moved on.

I would guess the pay cut assumption is correct. Yellow had high labor costs, so I am guessing they were over paying their drivers.

 

[fr8dog]

They were Teamsters making a living wage. Likely had some benefits as well. Nothing wrong with that. While there are jobs out there that the terminated drivers will take, they will not pay the same. Tough situation for them.

 

[jmcdboater]

Many of them might have to relocate for a new driving job, and having an established life, especially with a family and all their commitments could make that a daunting task. Real bummer for those folks, hopefully many can fall back on those other skills.

 

[Pirate Lady]

From what I gather, Yellow was a short-haul home-every-night company. All the others are long-haul home-once-a-month companies. Fast track to divorce. Got a friend was the second kind of driver, His marriage didnt last.

 

[JHornsby3]

I looked at working for them. I'm not a union type of guy. So find the good in them, I do not. Yes they are a line haul driver company. Doubles, triples and delivery to homes and businesses. They had very competitive wages with the same bennies as everybody else. But I noticed that a lot of their drivers were company taught. So they are no better than the JB Hunt, SWIFT or Interstate drivers.

The ones that are going to have a hard time finding the work is the warehouse workers. For every driver, there was about 1.75 warehousemen to support that truck. Add in the mechanics and other staff.

Yellow looked like it was having troubles for many years. And with tiny local companies like the now gone Tillamook Portland Lines (TP Lines), that were looking at buying Yellows local operations, years ago. It was just a matter of time.

Electronic logs are very easy to fudge. Just have to be smarter than the governmental system. Although I never had an issue with the electronic logs. And I drove dedicated runs from White Head City, Oregon to Buffalo, NY then back again. Almost twice a week by my self or three and a half with team. Although I preferred hauling gravel and asphalt more.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I know very little (read that as ZERO) about trucking companies other than seeing them on the roads. Your feedback helps by giving me insight into their world.

It's also nice to hear from people who have worked for trucking companies.