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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

#531

Post by thaumasiotes »

emgeee wrote: post #21
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…

Dang, no severance or healthcare is really brutal and signals to me they probably should have called it earlier.

> Dang, no severance or healthcare is really brutal

When NCC Group fired me, they gave me zero days notice and no severance.

They did emphasize that my healthcare would stay good through the end of the month, but they didn't seem to have realized that I would be unlikely to find that useful after being fired on October 31.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#532

Post by thaumasiotes »

datavirtue wrote: post #375
drewrv wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously it didn't pan out, but you could think of Convoy as an aggregator of small carriers. A big shipper doesn't want to deal with 1,000 small carriers but they can deal with Convoy, and Convoy deals with the small carriers. Convoy could interface with large companies as though they had a large fleet of drivers and trucks. That "fleet" wouldn't require paying for benefits to employees, maintenance or fuel on the…

Logistics is so crazy saturated. We have an aggregator in Cincinnati, TQL, that was started by a dispatch employee and has just blown up like crazy ever since. They are still growing.

> Logistics is so crazy saturated. We have an aggregator in Cincinnati, TQL, that was started by a dispatch employee and has just blown up like crazy ever since.

Don't these sentences tend to contradict each other? What do you mean by "saturated"?

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#533

Post by thereisnospork »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #514
thereisnospork wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL, but my understanding is in agreement with the GP - failing to pay wages is de facto 'serious executive misconduct'. a probably relevant article: https://www.severino-law.com/blog/oqz4dx2ivdnzt7aqqrvbk9et11...

This however is not a bankruptcy case, but a wage theft case. Going through a perfectly legal bankruptcy procedure is very different than working your severs 72 hours a week for years without overtime then refusing to show up at court. This comports with my understanding that piercing the veil usually requires illegal behavior.

I don't understand your point? It is a simple concept that wage liabilities, eg a last check that bounces, or 'wage theft'[0], can result in those liabilities passing through to become personal liabilities of the company's owner(s).

Again IANAL, and ymmv based on specific circumstances, but piercing for unpaid wages is very much a thing in (at least) California law.

[0]an obviously illegal activity?

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#534

Post by asdff »

netbioserror wrote: post #187
asdff wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could easily rewrite this comment to be about child labor in coal mines and textile mills. At the end of the day people are starting to expect certain basics from businesses considering places like In n Out are now offering benefits packages, and its about time we also enforce certain standards. If that raises the cost of doing business, so be it. I expect the business would be even more lucrative if you didn't h…

Boilerplate vapid moralizing nonsense. Are you assuming there's some magic stockpile of millions upon millions hiding somewhere that could be used to sever all of these people? You've already been told this is fantastically unrealistic for a startup bankruptcy. Unless you can suggest where to find the funds, you need a reality check.

Well, back in the old days, they did just that and called it a pension plan. Takes a little foresight and is too little too late for convoy of course, but these things can be planned for too but clearly the worker is not prioritized in these ventures.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#535

Post by asdff »

Fordec wrote: post #201
asdff wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole issue with this premise is that someone has to bear the risk. There are no 20 year olds who know with certainty that they don't or will not soon have health concerns that require insurance. Anyone could be get hit with a car walking across the street or get a photon to break some DNA in their skin and cause a melanoma. 20 year olds are not invincible or always in perfect working order.

And yet, statistically, the vast majority will be healthy. And the ones with chronic issues should know where they need to be on how to manage it. It's down to you if how you want to live your life. Plenty of tech companies that aren't startups. Plenty of countries that pay less and have higher taxes that have the safety net. Pick your lifestyle and live with your decision. I did, took the risks, it didn't pay off, b…

I don't think you understand how much money is in the bananastand here in the US. Even with a european tier safety net, its not like a huge tradeoff will be made. You could easily pay people the same and give them solid benefits to boot with just a little bit more taxation at the top end of the economy. People act like taxing rich people will scare them off, yet there are probably more rich people in California than in Texas or some other red state where they'd be taxed less presumably.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#536

Post by MaxHoppersGhost »

cheriot wrote: post #517
MaxHoppersGhost wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would those be though? I work at a U.S.-based software startup with 100 employees and no one makes less than $80K. Avg cash comp is just under $200k. It’s likely Convoy had a very similar profile.

The place I work has physical security, baristas, and random other staff in an expensive city. Tbh I don't know what they make.

The people we have like that at my startup are contractors and may be out of work a short bit but their agency will just move them elsewhere when something comes up.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#537

Post by sofixa »

robocat wrote: post #148
emgeee wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dang, no severance or healthcare is really brutal and signals to me they probably should have called it earlier.

Probably to fix that would need legislation specific to start-ups. I would hope most employees know that is a significant risk of working at a startup?! But yes, harsh, regardless of how predictable.

Why specific to startups? Everyone deserves some leeway during layoffs, having a minimum severance for everyone is pretty basic stuff.

Also, healthcare shouldn't be employer provided.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#538

Post by trucking »

Are they not going to pay us? We hauled the load from convoy but didn’t get the payment that was supposed to released yesterday. I tried calling them but nobody answered.we are just a small company and we are not getting paid for the we have done. Diesel is so expensive. Do I have pay expense out of my pocket?

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#540

Post by juliangmp »

I'm a bit confused by the fact that the article doesn't seem to mention what the company was even trying to do. Like they had 1500 people at their peek... what were they doing? What was the business model here? Just farm investment and pull out before they notice you dont actually have any idea what to do?
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