Carroll Fulmer Ceasing Operations After 71 Years

At least they didn't leave their drivers scattered all over the country.

 

No, drivers are included

➡️ All the way

 

I saw somewhere where Heartland Express intended to downsize. I've always been of the opinion that some some of these huge companies need to sell off some of the trucks. It's impossible to keep all of those trucks moving in my mind. The big megas may not fold, but I can envision a scenario where they reduce their capacity. What say you?

 

This is giving me strong Pinecone vibes. You can blame the litigiousness of society, but that hasn't changed in the last 10 years. More likely Philip is ready to retire and couldn't figure out a way to keep the company running and keep his income. Closing up and selling the assets now means a nice little nest egg. Rolling the dice with a new president/ceo in a challenging and uncertain environment at best means taking no personal income for a few years but likely means losing equity that will never be regained.

 

They are reducing capacity - sort of. Look at how many Swift, Werner, and Schneider trailers are being pulled by 3rd party carriers. The big boys are doing a lot more sub contracting/power only. Their power unit total drops (and employee count), but capacity doesn't. It's a new version of the IC/LP scam - until the 'easy money' for new entrants dries up it's not going to matter how many of the 'mid majors' fold or big players retrench themselves.

Heartland is in a unique position because they bought a bunch of TL carriers in 2021 and 2022 at premium prices and is now paying for it.

 

Carrol Fulmer used to have an office in Salinas California 30 years ago. Back before I was in trucking. When I became a driver I remembered the office when I saw there trucks. Same thing with Sam Tanksley. They had a small terminal in Santa Nella California right off highway 5. Anyone remember them ?

 

Sam Tanksley, back in the Pirkle days.

 

No, they did not leave drivers stranded but they brought the house down on themselves. Shady business practices, not paying brokered loads, hiring low quality drivers and treating them like dirt and not keeping house. They got what they asked for. Check the Indeed reivews. I called them about 25 years ago and they were just outright rude on the phone so it seems nothing had changed.