Arrow dynamics
For more than a year, Arrow Trucking Co. has faced financial problems that include bills going unpaid and vendors and contractors filing lawsuits totaling almost half a million dollars against the company, records show.
Now Arrow Trucking, a 61-year-old Tulsa-based flatbed carrier, has suspended operations indefinitely, laying off employees and stranding scores of drivers around the country.
Jeffro could have seen it coming:
Arrow has a pretty bad reputation — a simple web search will find a lot of bad info on forums and the like. It’s one thing to go belly up, but to strand their drivers just before Christmas? Arrow actually dispatched drivers with loads knowing they were going to shut their doors and kill their fuel cards. Their management has known of this for quite some time, so one can only infer what sort of benefits they received by keeping this quiet until the last second. I’m quite sure “they got theirs” out before the walls came crashing down.
Apparently they were considered at least somewhat solvent early last year, when they financed (through Freightliner) a plan to replace their entire fleet over five years. Still, a lot can happen in a very short time.
Jeffro »
23 December 2009 · 10:25 pm
I read on a TX TV news site that had interviewed an Arrow driver – he said if they were driving a Freightliner, go to a dealer and they would pop for a bus ticket or cash up to $200, and the KW and Navistar drivers to the appropriate dealer would get the same. However, if the driver did not turn in his truck by Thursday, the company would report the truck stolen by the driver. Bah humbug, eh?
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the principals involved surfaced with a new trucking company – it wouldn’t be the first time. So while some will rejoice that an unethical rate cutting firm bit the dirt, they might be back.
Da Goddess »
23 December 2009 · 10:44 pm
Wait, you mean they didn’t somehow qualify for a bailout?
I simply can’t abide by the tactics of some of these companies. You don’t do that to people. Especially people who have kept the company running.
Lisa Paul »
24 December 2009 · 7:53 am
And these poor guys (the drivers) literally kept the company running.