Talkin' Trucks With Mike:A History of the TNT Companies

Only every post that you and others make....

 

Yes, building cars is a complicated process. West coasters like me know very little about that industry.

 

On top of that beating up, we now have NAFTA coming under review, which may mean more delays and procedures to cross-border supplying, so more absorbed costs for carriers who may be stuck in dedicated contracts.

US vehicles are often now made in maquiladora's on the other side of another border, not sure how that works for carriers but the.

The only vehicles not made in the US will be US brands pretty soon. Like those Harley rice burners.

 

Hello Mike2633, I found this website and this thread by chance and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. You give the source of your information as well as of the photos; it's great because it's not always the case on the web. I'm happy to see a thread about TNT which was
a carrier very special in many regards. So, I decided to sign up and see if I can give comple-
mentary information or answer to some questions. I will read carefully the 13 pages of posts.

A +

René Buron

 

When I told that `` I will read carefully the 13 pages of posts `` in my approximate English;
I mean with pleasure and great interest. I'm proud to see somebody go forward with a so
complex subject and share its finds with other interested people. It's interesting for me to
see how the company is perceived by people.

So, my posts on the thread should be limited to some information accessible with difficulty
for you like the numbers supporting the scope of the Group, it's strategy or the philosophy
of its leaders.

It's your thread, I don't want to look constantly over your shoulder or be the guy who knows
everything. Be comfortable and go forward.

 

It's occurred to me that I missed an important point. When TNT acquired those companies, customers already knew who to call.

Where TNT likely stumbled was integrating that customer base into the larger TNT. I wonder how many Overnite customers left after the UPS buyout, for example. Or when Fedex bought RPS.

I have been involved on post-takeover projects or new software implementations where transportation companies have failed miserably and alienated customers, but those were railroads and the customers are more captive.

@R. Buron, what drove you to take photos of those trucks at the time? Did you work for one of the consumed companies and wonder how they were going to resolve the branding mess?

I got interested in TNT because I saw similar paint jobs on both coasts during my traveling days, with --I was pretty sure but not perfectly-- different names. . Fast forward almost 15 years and I'm now trying to break into LTL myself and I still see orange and white trucks with dead logos on them, although more of them now are on vacant land out west, working as storage rooms with dead rotted tires.

It's interesting out here, once I started looking, how many places pup trailers end up in. They are handier than a 48/53 to situate, likely cheaper to buy and move, and pretty sturdily built. There's an ancient DATS trailer in Silverton, CO, for example. DATS doesn't go there far as I know. Did someone rustle it long ago and figure that no one in Silverton would know who DATS is and who to call?