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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Yellow Belly Up

Yellow Belly Up

by | 82 Comments

This post is in: 

As expected, Yellow has gone tits up:

Yellow Corp., a 99-year-old trucking company that was once a dominant player in its field, halted operations Sunday and will lay off all 30,000 of its workers.

The unionized company has been in a battle with the Teamsters union, which represents about 22,000 drivers and dock workers at the company. Just a week ago the union canceled a threatened strike that had been prompted by the company failing to contribute to its pension and health insurance plans. The union granted the company an extra month to make the required payments.

But by midweek last week, the company had stopped picking up freight from its customers and was making deliveries only of freight already in its system, according to both the union and Satish Jindel, a trucking industry consultant.

While the union agreed not to go on strike against Yellow, it could not reach an agreement on a new contract with the trucking company, according to a memo sent to local unions Thursday by the Teamsters’ negotiating committee. The union said early Monday that it had been notified of the shutdown.

“Today’s news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry,” said Teamsters President Sean O’Brien in a statement.

Company officials did not respond to numerous requests for comment Sunday and Monday.

While the company is based in Nashville, Tennessee, it is a national company with terminals and employees spread between more than 300 terminals nationwide. Experts in the field said it was primarily an unaffordable amount of debt, more than the cost of the union contract, that did in Yellow.

“The Teamsters had made a series of painful concessions that brought them close to wage parity with nonunion carriers,” said Tom Nightingale, CEO of AFS Logistics, a third-party logistics firm that places about $11 billion worth of freight annually with different trucking companies on behalf of shippers. He said the company began taking on significant amount of debt 20 years ago in order to acquire other trucking companies.

“Now their debt service is just enormous,” he said, pointing to $1.5 billion in debt on its books.

All that remains now is to see how much management fleeced from the coffers and how much the taxpayers are on the hook.

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    frosty

    Is there any indication that the hedge funders who broke Sears, K&B Toys, and Toys’R’Us were involved in this one? Inquiring (LWNJ*) conspiracy theorists would like to know.
    * like me
    ETA, OK, I’ll say it. Frist! I mean Frost!​

  5. 5.

    satby

    That big pandemic loan under tfg that they got but weren’t eligible for would make an interesting investigation too, since it became 1/2 the debt that put them under.Where TF has Ronan Farrow been, anyway?

    Also, Popehat fillets Glem Greenwald into sushi, here

  7. 7.

    sukabi

    first thing any bankruptcy managers need to do is make sure the CEO and other upper management / board members don’t give themselves bonuses…

  10. 10.

    cain

    @satby: gonna order some sushi now!

    Also, yeah – that was a nicely written popehat thing – handled Greenwald with kid gloves.

  12. 12.

    bbleh

    “Captain, we’ve fleeced the coffers, vacuumed the files, and hosed the scuppers!”

    “Excellent, m’boy!  To the longboats before the crew awakes!”

  14. 14.

    Quaker in a Basement

    “All that remains now is to see how much management fleeced from the coffers and how much the taxpayers are on the hook.”

    The company had $700mm in federal loans they hadn’t paid. That’s just for starters. Let’s see how much of the pension and healthcare fund gets bailed out.

  15. 15.

    karen marie

    @satby: Glenn’s ridicule here is dishonest or, at least, willfully ignorant. He spins it as if the U.S. is just being nice to the Bahamas, as opposed to abiding by treaty obligations.

     

    This brought to mind the comments I read from Musk fans who are delighted that he violated SF building regulations with his new signs, giggling that “he’s challenging the man.”

    Glem would be apoplectic if the DOJ ignored the treaty obligations and prosecuted SBF for non-extraditable crimes.

    Rightwingers have no respect for the rule of law.

  16. 16.

    sab

    Meg, aka Megatron, just clawed the fuck out of me. I know she has issues, but what the Fuck? Toss her out the door so coyotes eat her for dinner. Husband says “she’s just a cat.”  I say “those guys out front are just coyotes.”

    Of course she is safe, but WTF! Major claw marks. Why?!

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    @karen marie: Musk fans who are delighted that he violated SF building regulations with his new signs, giggling that “he’s challenging the man.”

    Kid in the back cut a loud fart — again — and his buddies are snickering and snarking.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    @sab: Sorry.  :-(

    Supposedly many/most cats have a defense mechanism where, if they get too comfortable and relaxed, they treat touching as a threat and the claws come out.  (E.g. why it’s risk[y] to pet a cat’s belly).

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @karen marie:

    It’s good but Glenn Greenwald always does this and has for twenty years:

     He doesn’t tell his readers about the treaty obligations at all. He doesn’t tell his readers that the United States has grown much more careful to abide by extradition treaties after 9/11 because treaty violations makes it much easier for other countries to rationalize not extraditing people we want. He doesn’t pretend to cite cases where the United States defied the Rule of Specialty and violated treaties on the grounds that the extraditing country was powerless, as he suggests the United States should have done. Glenn treats this some sort of substantial victory for SBF, despite the fact that the campaign finance charges have absolutely no cumulative effect on the already draconian sentence SBF faces on fraud charges involving billions of dollars. SBF’s sentence exposure has been reduced from “life plus cancer and we kill everyone in your family” to “life plus cancer and we kill everyone in your family except one of your second cousin’s three goldfish.”

    Glenn doesn’t ever tell his readers, because if he did they would find out that a huge percentage of his faux outrage is nonsense. He has contempt for his readers- he’s confident they won’t check his work.

    I am continually amused, however, by how many white men who were formerly edgy or bold contrarians twenty years ago have turned into bitter, Right-leaning ranters in middle age. They’re not handling aging, or change, well. This seems to happen to women a lot less frequently.

  20. 20.

    sab

    @Another Scott: I wasn’t patting her belly. I just put her in my lap.

    ETA. I am a grown up non-feline. I will get over this. (Hisss you stupid feline. Hissss.)

  21. 21.

    Mart

    It’s my fault. Back in the 80’s a friend was traffic manager at a factory and the Yellow salesman was relentless. I played the decision maker from Corporate in Detroit. Got to golf on Dubbs Dread and attend a couple Blackhawks games before my cover was blown. I am sorry.

  23. 23.

    Jackie

    @Another Scott: My Cinder was that way. Give her loves, but watch her eyes and ears. When she had enough loving you had a second or two to retreat before the claws or teeth attacked. She was the Boss.

  24. 24.

    MattF

    @Baud: X took down that big flashing sign. Or maybe it was taken down by the building owner. Or maybe by local govt. This is a business strategy that was already mocked in an old Seinfeld episode.

  25. 25.

    Trivia Man

    LTL rates should rise and help the remaining carriers. Capacity should be ample for the near future, helping shippers.

    I deal with supply chain stuff for work, the last 3 years have been wild.

  26. 26.

    lowtechcyclist

    He said the company began taking on significant amount of debt 20 years ago in order to acquire other trucking companies.

    They were their own vulture capitalists, then. They were big but borrowed too much money in order to become even bigger.

    Now I remember their trucks, because I used to laugh at them. They had the word “YELLOW” in black on an orange background.

  27. 27.

    twbrandt

    @Nukular Biskits: oh I’m sure the C-suite guys will be just fine.

    OT: excited to be on a flight to Iceland, where I will be for the next 10 days. This is my second trip there. It’s an incredible place. Much of the trip will be a hike along the Laugavegur Trail, and of course the obligatory dip in the Blue Lagoon.

  29. 29.

    HypersphericalCow

    I have a little bit of experience in this area;

     

    yellow completely shit that bed?

    imagine some fingers. Human fingers.

    Pointed straight at you. Not in a friendly way.

    oh, and they might, uh, excuse me, i need to uh, helicopter.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @sab: (Sorry, if you’ve talked about her personality before – ) If her behavior is unusual, and continues, it might be worth having a vet look at her.  Kitties don’t like being crabby all of a sudden.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    Fester Addams

    Apparently Apollo Global Management had a hand in this particular bust-out.

  35. 35.

    Alison Rose

    @satby: From the essay:

    Glenn Greenwald, compulsive Fox guest and professional agitee, has written many smart and important things over the course of his career

    It’s been a long damn time since Greenwald spoke or wrote a single “smart and important” word.

  37. 37.

    Kent

    My favorite “fuck around and find out” story of the day?

    Biden just canceled Trump’s plan to move the Space Force HQ from Colorado to Alabama.

    Of course Tuberville being a flaming asshole had NOTHING to do with that decision ;-)   It turns out one of the military promotions he is holding up is the new head of the Space Force or some such.

  38. 38.

    Mallard Filmore

    @sab: 

    Meg, aka Megatron, just clawed the fuck out of me.

    My cat does that too, claws and bites. Especially if his eyes have dilated. I have to grab an empty plastic grocery bag and rustle it to chase him away.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    “Now their debt service is just enormous,” he said, pointing to $1.5 billion in debt on its books.

    Well, I feel better about the 20K of debt I have!

  44. 44.

    Eric S.

    I’ve got nothing intelligent or insightful to say but a good friend just started with them 2 months ago as a dock supervisor. When he showed up to work Friday his manager sent him home. This after he was out of work for several months. :-(

  48. 48.

    Another Scott

    @sab: Relatedly, … Phys.org:

    Declawing house cats to keep them from scratching people and furniture is controversial—and even banned in some countries and areas in the U.S.—but the practice is not limited to house cats. In a new study, researchers looked at the effects of declawing on larger cat species and found that declawing disproportionately impacts their muscular capabilities as compared to their smaller brethren.

    The work appears in Animals.

    While it is illegal in the U.S. to surgically modify an exotic animal, declawing is still done on large cats like lions and tigers, often in an effort to allow cubs to more safely be handled in photo opportunities or for entertainment purposes.

    “What people might not realize is that declawing a cat is not like trimming our fingernails; rather, it is removing part or all of the last bone of each digit,” says Adam Hartstone-Rose, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the research. “Like us, each cat finger has three bones, and declawing is literally cutting that third bone off at the joint.”

    […]

    More information: Lara L. Martens et al, The Effects of Onychectomy (Declawing) on Antebrachial Myology across the Full Body Size Range of Exotic Species of Felidae, Animals (2023). DOI: 10.3390/ani13152462

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kent:

    Biden just canceled Trump’s plan to move the Space Force HQ from Colorado to Alabama. 

    I was hoping that Biden just completely canceled Space! Farce!

    What 80’s assclownery!

  51. 51.

    HumboldtBlue

    @cain:

    Also, yeah – that was a nicely written popehat thing – handled Greenwald with kid gloves.

    Far too kindly. But I think that was the snark.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    @satby: some cats are not cuddlers and don’t want to be in laps. And they’ll let you know.

    Then there are those that want to be cuddlers, right up to the second they let you know otherwise.

  58. 58.

    Alison Rose

    @satby: I don’t care enough about Greenwald to read the whole thing, but my comment wasn’t meant to shit on Popehat. Just saying that I don’t think that one statement is as true as he seemed to believe.

  59. 59.

    Alison Rose

    @Another Scott: It’s often not about being too relaxed. When you pet a cat a lot, especially rubbing their belly, it builds up something akin to static electricity in their skin, so even if they like the petting, it starts to feel like they’re being harmed by it, so then they lash out a bit. When people make jokes about “don’t ever touch a cat’s stomach!!!!” it’s probably because they ruffle the fur too much and too quickly. Most cats, a few gentle belly-pats won’t make them attack.

  60. 60.

    Jay

    @Ken:

    Enid’s cat Zoe was an attack cat, and badly matted. Tortoise shell. PITA, always attacking feet.

    When we took her in when Enid was moving and getting settled, (motels, rooms, until she could get a house, 6 months), I had to do something.

    Between treats, small periods of brushing and lots of bandaids,

    about 3 months in, Zoe was no longer hiding out on top of the cabinets in the kitchen, but coming up on the couch for a grooming session and scooches. And she stopped attacking.

    Well, me,………….

  62. 62.

    Kay

    Starting in 2024, the IRS will provide taxpayers an option to file taxes for free, directly with the government. That means an end to having to hand over $240 and your sensitive, financial data to companies like Intuit and H&R Block

    * you can file your taxes free now IF you’re under a certain income AND you go thru one of the private companies on the “free” part of the IRS site, but this is much better and should have been done long ago. Apparently they finally resisted the lobbying from tax prep companies.

  64. 64.

    JaySinWA

    @Kay: I filed for free this April without restrictions with https://www.freetaxusa.com/ However, It is good that the US will finally cut out the middle men

    ETA true free tax filing has been deliberately hard to find. A fiction invented to prevent making things too easy and allowing the scalping of money (and data) from the majority of tax payers.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @JaySinWA:

    It was hard to find in the past but it seems they made it easier this year – I found it quickly. I do my youngest taxes every year for him. Next year I’ll show him the new gov app and he can file his own :)

  67. 67.

    Origuy

    This hits home because my niece’s fiancé works (worked?) for Yellow as a mechanic. They have two little boys. She posted that everyone has taken home their toolboxes.

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    I’ve done my income taxes since day one. I think it is rather easy.

    Now the corp taxes always got done by a very good accountant.

  69. 69.

    Jay

    @Origuy:

    that’s always been a red flag for me. You are hiring me for my skills and my knowledge, if you can’t provide tools, (often specialty tools), f/o.

  71. 71.

    Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Problem is, people are always stealing (ahem, “borrowing”) tools, and either not returning them, or damaging them.

    At the Orange, I had my “own” tools, locked in a tool box, but Corporate paid for them. Got tired of strait edged screwdrivers being used as prybars, scissors that couldn’t cut, shears that were useless, taps that couldn’t tap, broken drill bits. They were “my tools” under lock and key, and when they got rid of me, they became Gary’s tools under lock and key, and when they got rid of Gary,………… well they all just disappeared because “morons”,…..

    Got offered a great job, doing hydraulic cylinder repair.

    Problem was, “own tools”.

    I have all the basics, ($2300), don’t have a secure tool chest, ($800), and don’t have the $20,000 in specialty tools.

    Employers pull the BS. that “you can write them off” on your taxes, but you can’t unless you are an independent contractor.

    So it’s $23,100 up front to get the job, then 3 months probation, so the employee like an Uber diver, is fronting the Corporation capital costs.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    @JaySinWA:

    ETA true free tax filing has been deliberately hard to find. A fiction invented to prevent making things too easy and allowing the scalping of money (and data) from the majority of tax payers.

    For the past few years, just typing IRS free File or even just going to the IRS site and looking on the main page got you to the free filing options.

    And the elderly and some lower income people have the VITA program.

    Of course, Inuit got blasted a while back for redirecting people from their free option to their paid service when they searched online.

  73. 73.

    JaySinWA

    @Brachiator: Intuit got blasted because it misled people from free tax filing to paid versions

    ETA:

    For the past few years, just typing IRS free File or even just going to the IRS site and looking on the main page got you to the free filing options.

    And when you followed those links you got misdirected to paid versions unless you knew what you were doing

    I’ve been there and [not] done that

    I supported TaxAct in the past because they were largely straight forward about what you could get for free, but they have gone down the Intuit line of deceptive practice. No more.

  76. 76.

    PaulWartenberg

    How many large corporations drive themselves into debt in order to boost their stock or pay their CEOs in the millions?

    Debt becomes the great killer of industry, does it not? And who owns the debts?

  77. 77.

    Kay

    More on the long-overdue government/public tax filing option:

    The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the funding it received from the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ flagship climate and health care measure that President Joe Biden signed last summer. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report on how such a program would be implemented. The report shows that the majority of surveyed taxpayers would be interested in using an IRS-provided tool to prepare and file their taxes electronically — and that the IRS is “technically capable of delivering direct file, but doing so would require additional resources and add complexity to IRS operations,” Werfel said on a call with reporters.

    The IRS’s existing free e-file option, available to lower income taxpayers who qualify, will remain in place, he added. Individuals of all income levels can also still submit their returns for free via the mail — although it can take months to process paper returns and taxpayers still have to buy postage.
    The new, direct e-file program being tested “could potentially save taxpayers billions of dollars annually,” said Blatchford, who noted that an individual taxpayer pays an average of $140 preparing their tax returns each year.
    The report’s initial cost analysis shows that a pre-file option run by the IRS “could cost less than $10 per return to provide, and of course would be free to taxpayers — by comparison, simple electronic filing options currently available to taxpayers are around $40.”
    The study estimates that annual costs of direct file may range, depending on the program’s usage and scope, from $64 million for 5 million users to $249 million for 25 million users.
    “We believe today’s announcement is a significant step toward revolutionizing access to the tax system so that it is easier and more equitable. A free and simple direct file service will ensure that more families in America receive the tax benefits they are eligible for,” Amanda Renteria, CEO of civic tech nonprofit Code for America, said in a statement.

  78. 78.

    AM in NC

    @Kay:   I think the issue is that Gen X men and older grew up in a world where EVERY movie had a white man as the hero; every TV show was told from a white man point of view; every politician, business, educational, scientific, and cultural leader was a white man who prioritized issues that were important to white men. Our entire world was presented/constructed  from the white man perspective, and it was the ONLY legit perspective.

    BUT, in my adult lifetime, things have started to change. Women, non-white people, and gay people have gained both visibility and cultural power. These out-groups got access to education, employment, and creative spaces they were denied since our nation existed.  And that was a HUGE change for the white, middle-aged and older men who were used to always and only being centered at the heart of EVERYTHING. At home, at work, and in the culture at large.

    Older men (boomers, and silent gen.) still mostly got/get to live in unchallenged white supremacist/male-supremacist spaces and culture.  Gen X men grew up in one culture and now have to adjust.  Milennials came of age while these changes were already underway, so it’s more “normal” to them.

    My Gen X female friends have sympathy for our husbands who watched their automatic assumptions of unending privilege swept away, but we are so.fucking.glad. that time has come (and our husbands are all liberal Democrats). Our sons haven’t been raised like their fathers were, that’s for damn sure. And neither have our daughters been raised like we were.

    So yes, there are a lot of bitter Gen X white men who are pissed off because the wimmenz have caught up, and the non-whites are threatening the “natural order” of things, and that was NOT what they were promised during their teen years (I mean just watch Porky’s or Revenge of the Nerds and see what white boys were promised! It’s horrifying!)

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    @AM in NC:   Agree with String.  Great comment.

    WRT the topic of Yellow:

    Investigations, please.  This company sounds more like a financial scheme than a going concern.  Can any of that ridiculous $700 million “loan” be clawed back?  You know it went into corporate pockets.

  82. 82.

    robtrim

    @twbrandt: Did you fly on Play Airlines? It’s the low-cost way to get to Europe and Iceland. I’m using it next month to get home from Paris. I’ve only been to the Reykjavik airport once. It’s a nice airport and the Icelanders seem to be nice people.

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