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Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

bloomberg.com

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Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#71

Post by mywittyname »

sputknick wrote: post #6

start-up idea if anyone is bored: disrupt car shipping. When I moved from Seattle to Raleigh shipping my car was BY FAR the biggest headache. It's a 20th century business where you have to call people, who will bid for you, and you have no idea if your bid is accepted. Agents will promise a low price to get your business, then tell you a week later that bid was too low, you need to double it. I eventually just gave u…

I've dealt with this, I've had friends deal with this, etc. Every person I've known who shipped a car was screwed over by it. Even military people. You're lucky they told you up front that your cost was double. I had a shipper tell me that I they were doubling the fee about 45 minutes before they delivered it (I called their bluff and said I'd just report it stolen - it was an $800 rat rod Miata though).

I think the fact of the matter is, shipping cars is not going to be cost effective for an individual. Trucks are expensive, putting fuel in them is expensive, paying a trained person to drive one is expensive.

Maybe a company like Carvana could offer this as a side service, drop your car off at a local Carvana, and eventually pick it up at another location. Even then, I think the costs are going to be order of thousands of dollars.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#72

Post by benced »

vogt wrote: post #55
wooly_bully wrote: post #11

(Ex-)Convoy engineer here. No mystery as to why this happened, sudden tight market and low available capital demolished us. External reasons given in the article were the same we knew and couldn't do anything about considering that none of the M&A options materialized. Detailed the shutdown on a call at 8:30am Pacific this morning. CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Lot of talented folks in Seattle and…

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

Ex-Convoy employee here: if a company is shutting down, it obviously can't provide severance. It's not a matter of class or not.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#73

Post by brianwawok »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #60
vogt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

Isn’t this standard for startups that shutdown?

Yes, OP is either from Europe or very entitled or both.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#74

Post by thegginthesky »

I work for one of their competitors and I can empathize with them. My thoughts goes to all the employees and their families.

The Freight business is collapsing after an unrealistic high during the pandemic. Since April 2022, revenue per load has decreased to about 70%, this means less ways to generate a profit under the same headcount.

We also saw a decrease in volume as companies overstocked and consumer spending has shrunk to less than 50% of what it used to be. Just add it all up and you see why so many companies are collapsing, carriers and brokers alike.

Though market.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#75

Post by [deleted] »

vogt wrote: post #55
wooly_bully wrote: post #11

(Ex-)Convoy engineer here. No mystery as to why this happened, sudden tight market and low available capital demolished us. External reasons given in the article were the same we knew and couldn't do anything about considering that none of the M&A options materialized. Detailed the shutdown on a call at 8:30am Pacific this morning. CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Lot of talented folks in Seattle and…

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

[deleted]

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#76

Post by bastardoperator »

apercu wrote: post #24
infrawhispers wrote: post #4

From a friend: Everyone was laid off with no severance or benefits. The CEO put all the blame on a lender in order to explain why there were no severance packages. This sucks because they took it upon themselves to offer staff retention bonuses earlier this year to keep people around after the earlier layoff.

I'd be interested in whether the C-level got any severance or healthcare....

[flagged]

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#77

Post by gist »

cityofdelusion wrote: post #31
sputknick wrote: post #6

start-up idea if anyone is bored: disrupt car shipping. When I moved from Seattle to Raleigh shipping my car was BY FAR the biggest headache. It's a 20th century business where you have to call people, who will bid for you, and you have no idea if your bid is accepted. Agents will promise a low price to get your business, then tell you a week later that bid was too low, you need to double it. I eventually just gave u…

Last time I moved a car halfway across the U.S. I just went online, submitted a request, got a quote, paid and it was all done. It was about as friction-free as something like that can be. Just need to use a direct carrier like Intercity, NOT a broker. Brokers have infested Google SEO.

> Just need to use a direct carrier like Intercity, NOT a broker.

So because you mentioned it I just called them for transporting by enclosed carrier on the east coast between 2 cities. High end car enclosed carrier.

Intercity wanted $1995 for the same transport that the car dealer (a high end car dealer well established no less) want $1600 dollars for.

Intercity essentially said 'busy time of year etc etc'. Didn't give remarkable reasons why they would be better than anyone else. Picked up the phone right away and was otherwise business like.

https://intercitylines.com/request-a-quote/

Also their website to get a quote they want an 'auction' number. That made me call them (which I would normally never do.)

Additionally their price was higher than other brokers I had checked including the one that just moved a car for me (same route) not enclosed who quoted both enclosed and not enclosed.

Would like to point out that the job of a broker is not to match you with anyone but match you with people who they know and trust and have used. And specifically the broker I used (for the last open move) made a total of about $250 the rest paid to the driver on delivery.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#78

Post by boringg »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #60
vogt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

Isn’t this standard for startups that shutdown?

It is. I think the commenter is confused on the difference between layoffs and shutdowns.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#79

Post by brianwawok »

bastardoperator wrote: post #68
dragonwriter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBRA isn't employer-paid healthcare, its an ex-employee option to pay for the previously-employer-offered plan, while the employer offers a plan to current employees . If there are no more company operations and no current employees, there is also no plan and no COBRA. This could also be an issue if a company restructured so it didn't have to offer employees health care because of size or everyone being part time or…

Cobra is such a huge slap in the face too for most people. We know you just lost your income as of today, but do you wanna buy this health insurance plan for 3K a month?

You can often use it to game insurance between jobs though. You have like 60 or 90 days to decline coverage, and it backdates to the day you lost coverage.

So 46 days of gap between job 1 and job 2? Don't get cobra, just tough it out. If medical bills are >= 3k, then go ahead and sign up for cobra and get a chunk covered.

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