My new experience with Gordon Trucking, post-buyout

And yet they wouldn't take me back, a known commodity. That says a lot.

 

That's too bad. Losing a storied company like Gordon is sad and wasn't necessary.

The owner of my current company, Paschall Truck Line or PTL, is getting up in age and, like Mr. Gordon, knew that one day he would want to retire and go fishing. His Dad started the business in Murray, Kentucky, and it was a major employer in the area. He wanted to stay.

However, unlike Mr. Gordon, he knew he did not want to sell the company outright; that always leads to the new owners doing things like selling assets, moving headquarters, changing policies and procedures, and eventually making the 'old' company disappear completely. That is what is happening to the 'old' Gordon.

That is how PTL became an employee-owned company. Their lawyers and accountants worked up an ESOP, an employee-owned stock ownership plan. Everyone participates; if one stays long enough - which, for the "inside" employees is very realistic - it can be a good thing. The original stock price was $2.00 a share and the most recent valuation was $30 a share, so for long-term employees, it can be part of a very healthy retirement package.

I obviously know nothing about the internal workings of the pre-sale discussions, but I surely would have thought that an ESOP would have been considered. Whether it was or not, though, the end result is what normally happens in a sale. Soon, Gordon Trucking Inc. will be an entry in Wikipedia and a memory for thousands of former employees.

I hope Mr. Gordon is enjoying his fishing and his money.

 

And I bet they really do fix your APU when it breaks!

 

PTL uses an APU specialty shop in Indy and they send a QC message every day asking if it's working. Every day I respond with 'no' and the load I was on when I was originally dispatched on Friday was supposed to go to Indy. After delivery, I was going to the APU shop then home. Yay!

But I got a swap and now have a load going to Detroit...then I go home. No Indy APU shop yet. And I just/still cannot bring myself to idle, so I use my fan.