Massive effort underway to help stranded Arrow Trucking drivers

[AndyA]

A Facebook page has been set up to help connect stranded drivers with others that might help them.

The local media in Tulsa is full of offers for jobs, assistance in getting home, and aid for employees who are now without jobs, just 2 days before Christmas.

This might be a modern Christmas story in the making!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-for-Stranded-Arrow-Trucking-Drivers-Coordinate-Efforts-HERE/213591833387?ref=nf

[hedgehog]

1. Kick!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

2. Kick.

[madokie]

3. I was reading about this in this mornings paper

Been in business for 61 years and don't feel the need to tell the employees what's coming down. Just leave 'm stranded

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I saw that last night on the Oklahoma news. Not only are these people without jobs,

their last paychecks apparently bounced.

[Craftsman]

6. The SOB who did this to them should be tarred and feathered

[Craftsman]

5. The Roaddawg trucking cahnnel in XM has been all over this

Trying to get people home

[DKRC]

7. Cannot even imagine

the shock of being out on the road & the business just shuts down.

From one of the posts, a dispatcher is staying in the empty office til all of her drivers make it home.
Good for her. You don't leave your people twisting in the wind.

:thumbsup:

K&R!

[guitar man]

8. Doesn't surprise me

The fucking Pielstickers are a bunch of arrogant douchebags, my wife's sister used to work for them cleaning their houses and I have known plenty of Arrow drivers over the years. They think the world revolves around them so I'm sure they couldn't be bothered with something as mundane as getting their drivers home. :grr:

[AndyA]

14. Most people seem to feel this way about Doug's side of the family.

I heard the old man was a great guy, and most of the employees loved him. The wife/mother, I don't know anything about but I would bet she's not happy with Doug.

I've yet to meet anyone who has anything good to say about Doug. :shrug:

I feel so bad for all these folks. The Pielstickers could have come up with the money to make another payroll or two, sell the Bentley or something.

[guitar man]

21. I guess the old man wasn't so bad

But according to my SIL the mom and the rest of them had a sense of entitlement that was unreal. The chance of them selling anything to help out the drivers would be pretty slim from what I've heard of them.

[AndyA]

25. I wonder if they'll have the guts to show up for church on Sunday.

A couple of people I know apparently either go to church at the same place, or know where they go.

Could be interesting.

I don't know how people like that can live with themselves.

[guitar man]

29. I don't either

I guess some people just lose any real sense of right and wrong in the pursuit of "self interest".

I don't know about the drivers but a bunch of the trucks are making it home, they are parked on every empty lot they can find near this freightliner dealer about 3 blocks from my house here in west Tulsa .

[donco]

9. The same thing happened to in 1988

over the Christmas Holidays. I was stuck in Chicago but luckily I had enough fuel in the truck to make it to St.Louis.Thanks for posting i will help someone if i can.

[MineralMan]

10. For those of you who want to understand how bad the problem is,

go to this trucking forum. The thread in the link is full of stranded drivers and people trying to help:

http://www.topix.com/forum/business/trucking/TQGLM52QLQAR7RBA1

[Maru Kitteh]

11. Thanks! Just became a fan.

[hedgehog]

12. kick

[KamaAina]

13. Why wouldn't the M$M be all over this

like white on rice? :shrug:

edit: header

[Ikonoklast]

15. Arrow was already in bankruptcy.

They have been in a downward spiral for some time now.

Typical for a trucking firm in financial straits, they have no problem screwing their employees over, lying to them, and stealing their pay.

If I was driver for them, and not being paid for any work I did, I would inform them where the truck was parked, clean it out, and catch the first bus home.

If they think I would move that rig one more foot for free, they got another think coming.

[hunter]

16. Wow.

Maybe the finance company could put a bounty on the trucks, to be paid out to the drivers?

Hand the keys to the truck to us, and we'll get you home for Christmas with money in your pocket...

[Ikonoklast]

18. International is already doing so.

many trucking firms fleet-lease their power units from manufacturers, and Arrow drivers that had Freightliners and Kenworths were aready directed to the closest dealer where they could turn their vehicles in.

International came out today with a bounty of $200 paid to the driver to bring in those trucks, which are actually the property of International, only leased to Arrow.

I'm fairly certain Arrow has broken those leases through non-payment.

[Subdivisions]

17. Questions for those familiar with this story...You mean Arrow

just left their drivers hanging wherever they happened to be? What about the trucks? What about the cargo being hauled in the trucks? I take it since this Facebook effort is attempting to get them truckers home they are having to leave their trucks...WTF?

Kudos to those helping in the Facebook effort!

[Ikonoklast]

20. The drivers fuel cards were shut off for non-payment by the company.

They cannot buy fuel, or get a cash advancement on their paycheck for living expenses on the road.(not that Arrow was paying them anyway).

The trucks will be turned into their respective actual owners, the manufacturers that had them out on lease.

The shippers whose product Arrow was carrying are screwed, big time. They probably have no clue as to where their product is, they have to arrange for another carrier to recover and deliver that freight.

But, you know what, fuck any shipper that was still doing business with Arrow, already knowing that they were in bankruptcy re-organization, but were still enticed by the bottom-feeding cut freight rates that Arrow was offering.

Most shippers, the smart ones at least, won't go anywhere near a carrier that is having financial difficulties no matter how cheap a freight rate they get offered, just because of scenarios just like this one.

The way things like this usually work is any of the last income coming in goes right into the owner's pocket, while he stiffs all creditors, employees, and shippers.

Old story in the trucking biz. Lots of liars and thieves in this business wearing a suit and tie and driving a Mercedes.

[guitar man]

22. If I was driving one of them

And I had the money in my pocket, I'd dolly the trailer down on a backroad where they would never find it and bobtail the truck home and lock it up in my yard until they came up with every cent of my pay including the fuel I burned getting home, then I'd tell them where their damn trailer was. :grr:

[Ikonoklast]

23. "I swear to God, Patrolman, three guys stole my truck!"

"No, it was pretty dark, can't give a description except they were fairly short for tall guys, kinda on the skinny side for being so fat, and the whitest black guys that spoke ChineseI ever saw."

"Hope that helps, Smokie."

[DeschutesRiver]

26. And it can cost $1000 to fill up one of those beasts

we have an average size dump truck for the ranch, and when we bought it years ago, I was gobsmacked when the first fill up of that little guy was over $250.

Buying the equivalent of $5 of gas to get themselves home would be hundreds of dollars, depending on how far from home they were stranded. And they'd have to do that knowing their last paycheck isn't coming.

One trucking board mentioned that some truckers were telling their spouses to return Christmas gifts now in order to raise some cash for them to get home. Imagine that. I hope this trucking family rots in hell for handling their business failure in such a way that they hurt people, at the worst time of year, in order to improve their prospects during a bankruptcy. Bastards.

[Ikonoklast]

27. My bill for diesel averages $1400 to $1600

a week, depending on the weight of the freight and actual miles driven.

When you average 6mpg, a 300 gallon fill-up at $2.75 per gallon doesn't go too far.

[DeschutesRiver]

30. I was thinking about how much it would cost for them to drive their rigs back home

We've known more than a few long haul truckers, and as tight as things have been, there just isn't a lot of excess cash on hand to deal with an emergency like this. For a few that we know, their trucks are fully equipped homes. Unless they drive themselves home, how do they get all their things home with them? I know that much stuff can't be hauled back with them on a greyhound bus.

With the gas mileage so low, it would cost a few fillups to make it back, and that is some serious cash to front when you aren't going to likely get it back. How does it work if you are stranded out there like this, and are many states away from where you live?

I heard that drivers were supposed to deliver their trucks to certain locations, but if you had to leave your truck behind instead of driving it home, how do you get back? How does your personal property get back with you? I mean, if you can't afford the fillups needed, would you just have to leave your things behind? Which cost you a bundle too.

[AndyA]

24. Yes, Arrow abandoned the drivers.

Their pay checks bounced. The company gas cards were canceled. The drivers were told to take their rigs to one of several different companies that have locations spread out across the country, and that from there a bus ticket home would be arranged for them. But apparently there are a lot of problems with that plan, as some drivers don't have the fuel to get to one of those locations, and several have said it would cost over $500 to refuel, and that would have to come out of their pockets.

It's a horrible thing to do any time of the year, but before Christmas...especially bad.

One local driver interviewed on the air said he has a baby due the day after Christmas, mortgage and car payments are also due, and he has no money and it's Christmas.

It's really, really horrible.

The owners of this company live in a mansion. :(

[Fuzz]

19. Merry fucking christmas

[Fuzz]

28. Kick