Latest news with #JackCooper
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Former Jack Cooper driver launches car hauling startup after Ford contract loss
Four months ago, McKinley Archie was blindsided by the reality that his six-figure job with a trucking company where he'd worked for about 20 years was coming to a screeching halt. Archie, 46, had been working at the now-defunct car hauling company Jack Cooper since 2004. He started there as a driver. He drove big rigs loaded with new Ford Motor Co. vehicles out of the automaker's Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships across the nation. He had worked his way up to steward at the Jack Cooper facility that served Louisville Assembly. Life was good. Then came Jan. 2, the day that Ford — Jack Cooper's second-largest customer behind General Motors — gave a 30-day notice to Jack Cooper that it was terminating its decades-long business with the hauler. Ford did not provide a reason. Archie and about 105 colleagues in Louisville suddenly knew they'd be losing what had been lucrative jobs. "It wasn't McDonald's wage jobs — those were good jobs," Archie said, noting most of the drivers were earning more than $100,000 a year. Then, one month later, GM ended its relationship with Jack Cooper after failing to reach a new contract. That put the nearly 100-year-old vehicle hauling company out of business, eliminating about 2,500 jobs nationally. In Michigan, more than 350 jobs ended when Ford and GM severed their contracts with Jack Cooper. Through it all, Archie put on a brave face to mask his fear about how he'd provide for his family. "As the steward, my coworkers looked to me for leadership and guidance, so I had to be strong for them on the outside. But internally, I didn't know what I was going to do either," Archie said. "Then, when I saw my mom, she said, 'What's wrong? Your face looks heavy?' I broke a couple tears and said, 'I don't know if I'll have a job.' She reminded me that I'm a child of God. He will take care of me. She said to suck it up, keep moving and it will all work out." Archie said he listened to his mother's advice, drew on his faith and started mulling over a plan to survive this setback. He knew that on Jan. 31, the Jack Cooper trucks had to be empty, so he wasted no time. In early February, he gathered together his lifelong band of "brothers from another mother" and proposed an idea. "We've been doing business for years, and we sat down and had a roundtable on how we can mitigate these losses," Archie said. "We decided to launch into the car hauling business." Recent car recalls: Ford F-150, Broncos among over 280,000 vehicles recalled The group has launched other business endeavors, such as in 2020, when they started bourbon-maker Black Bred Distillery in Louisville. They also run a home renovation business, Knox Construction, in Atlanta. In February, the group launched Squirrelly LLC. The goal is to haul Ford vehicles from the Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships anywhere in the nation. Archie is the company's cofounder and chief compliance officer. The newly established hauler is based in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where some of the group live. The business group consists of Archie, two other men and a woman. The three men grew up together and have known each other "from the cradle," Archie said. They went on first dates together and Archie even taught one of them how to drive. They met the woman later through friends. She brings with her an expertise on logistics, he said. Archie describes the group as "multi-preneurs," meaning that they try to find opportunities across a range of fields. His two male partners have degrees in finance and one is a youth pastor with a master's degree in divinity, Archie said. They decided on the name Squirrelly 'because we are all over the place. That's our slogan," Archie said. But they knew it would be no easy feat to start their own car hauling business. Archie said the plan has been to buy lightly used rigs from Jack Cooper. But each one carried a whopping price tag of $260,000. Then there is the cost for insurance on the rigs and for employees. He said they were able to lease some of the trucks to start, which helped get them going. So far, Squirrelly has bought 10 trucks and is scheduled to buy 25 more, he said. "So it was quite a lot we had to raise, an arduous task for us," Archie said, saying all the capital came from the group's own resources, no outside funding. "We had go into my backyard and dig up all my savings. It's hard to go even to a bank and say give me $3 million to start a dream. Now that we're actually moving cars, maybe we can go back to them and show them proof of concept. But we bootstrapped all of it.' Squirrelly moved its first load of Ford vehicles April 22 from Kentucky to Texas. Since then, it has hauled nine loads of the Ford Expedition SUV and F-Series Super Duty pickups from Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships in Texas and 17 loads to dealerships in Michigan. Archie said that's about 120 vehicles. 'It's a great start for us," Archie said. "Of course, we want to get to the point where we're moving 36 loads a day or better. Once we get our own inventory straight from the (automakers), that'll be better." Ford spokeswoman Ursula Muller declined to comment about Squirrelly hauling Ford vehicles because the automaker has a policy to not comment on supplier contracts. But Squirrelly is currently transporting the overflow work from other hauling companies because under the Teamsters union contract, haulers must give overflow work to other unionized carriers, Archie said. Late last month, Squirrelly employees voted to join the Teamsters, the union confirmed. A week later, a second unit of former Jack Cooper haulers rejoined the Teamsters Union. In a media release, Teamsters Local 964 in Ohio said a group of carhaulers in Avon Lake, employed by Fleet Transport Corp., unionized with Local 964. Fleet Transport was launched last month to fill the void in that market left by Jack Cooper's bankruptcy, the release said. Ford's Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake builds the F-Series Medium Duty and Super Duty pickups. Squirrelly has six employees beyond the 10 former Jack Cooper drivers Squirrelly has hired, Archie said. "My goal is get most of those (drivers) back to work. Cassens Transport took a few of them," Archie said, noting that besides Cassens, other haulers for the Louisville plants include Precision Hauling and RCS Transportation. 'We're the new kid on the block," Archie said. "Before Jack Cooper went out, those carriers were already there.' Archie said Squirrelly is looking to negotiate a direct contract with the Detroit automakers. In the meantime, he said it feels satisfying to be working again and able to employ others. "It's a lot of pride to me personally to help my fellow brothers get back to work," Archie said. "I just thank God that He put me in a position to be able to do it. When it was happening and we were losing our jobs, I thought, 'I'll be all right because I'll start my own car hauling company.' Four months later, here we are actually moving vehicles.' Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@ Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Jack Cooper driver starts Squirrelly LLC, hauls Ford vehicles
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Former Jack Cooper driver launches car hauling startup after Ford contract loss
Four months ago, McKinley Archie was blindsided by the reality that his six-figure job with a trucking company where he'd worked for about 20 years was coming to a screeching halt. Archie, 46, had been working at the now-defunct car hauling company Jack Cooper since 2004. He started there as a driver. He drove big rigs loaded with new Ford Motor Co. vehicles out of the automaker's Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships across the nation. He had worked his way up to steward at the Jack Cooper facility that served Louisville Assembly. Life was good. Then came Jan. 2, the day that Ford — Jack Cooper's second-largest customer behind General Motors — gave a 30-day notice to Jack Cooper that it was terminating its decades-long business with the hauler. Ford did not provide a reason. Archie and about 105 colleagues in Louisville suddenly knew they'd be losing what had been lucrative jobs. "It wasn't McDonald's wage jobs — those were good jobs," Archie said, noting most of the drivers were earning more than $100,000 a year. Then, one month later, GM ended its relationship with Jack Cooper after failing to reach a new contract. That put the nearly 100-year-old vehicle hauling company out of business, eliminating about 2,500 jobs nationally. In Michigan, more than 350 jobs ended when Ford and GM severed their contracts with Jack Cooper. Through it all, Archie put on a brave face to mask his fear about how he'd provide for his family. "As the steward, my coworkers looked to me for leadership and guidance, so I had to be strong for them on the outside. But internally, I didn't know what I was going to do either," Archie said. "Then, when I saw my mom, she said, 'What's wrong? Your face looks heavy?' I broke a couple tears and said, 'I don't know if I'll have a job.' She reminded me that I'm a child of God. He will take care of me. She said to suck it up, keep moving and it will all work out." Archie said he listened to his mother's advice, drew on his faith and started mulling over a plan to survive this setback. He knew that on Jan. 31, the Jack Cooper trucks had to be empty, so he wasted no time. In early February, he gathered together his lifelong band of "brothers from another mother" and proposed an idea. "We've been doing business for years, and we sat down and had a roundtable on how we can mitigate these losses," Archie said. "We decided to launch into the car hauling business." Recent car recalls: Ford F-150, Broncos among over 280,000 vehicles recalled The group has launched other business endeavors, such as in 2020, when they started bourbon-maker Black Bred Distillery in Louisville. They also run a home renovation business, Knox Construction, in Atlanta. In February, the group launched Squirrelly LLC. The goal is to haul Ford vehicles from the Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships anywhere in the nation. Archie is the company's cofounder and chief compliance officer. The newly established hauler is based in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where some of the group live. The business group consists of Archie, two other men and a woman. The three men grew up together and have known each other "from the cradle," Archie said. They went on first dates together and Archie even taught one of them how to drive. They met the woman later through friends. She brings with her an expertise on logistics, he said. Archie describes the group as "multi-preneurs," meaning that they try to find opportunities across a range of fields. His two male partners have degrees in finance and one is a youth pastor with a master's degree in divinity, Archie said. They decided on the name Squirrelly 'because we are all over the place. That's our slogan," Archie said. But they knew it would be no easy feat to start their own car hauling business. Archie said the plan has been to buy lightly used rigs from Jack Cooper. But each one carried a whopping price tag of $260,000. Then there is the cost for insurance on the rigs and for employees. He said they were able to lease some of the trucks to start, which helped get them going. So far, Squirrelly has bought 10 trucks and is scheduled to buy 25 more, he said. "So it was quite a lot we had to raise, an arduous task for us," Archie said, saying all the capital came from the group's own resources, no outside funding. "We had go into my backyard and dig up all my savings. It's hard to go even to a bank and say give me $3 million to start a dream. Now that we're actually moving cars, maybe we can go back to them and show them proof of concept. But we bootstrapped all of it.' Squirrelly moved its first load of Ford vehicles April 22 from Kentucky to Texas. Since then, it has hauled nine loads of the Ford Expedition SUV and F-Series Super Duty pickups from Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships in Texas and 17 loads to dealerships in Michigan. Archie said that's about 120 vehicles. 'It's a great start for us," Archie said. "Of course, we want to get to the point where we're moving 36 loads a day or better. Once we get our own inventory straight from the (automakers), that'll be better." Ford spokeswoman Ursula Muller declined to comment about Squirrelly hauling Ford vehicles because the automaker has a policy to not comment on supplier contracts. But Squirrelly is currently transporting the overflow work from other hauling companies because under the Teamsters union contract, haulers must give overflow work to other unionized carriers, Archie said. Late last month, Squirrelly employees voted to join the Teamsters, the union confirmed. A week later, a second unit of former Jack Cooper haulers rejoined the Teamsters Union. In a media release, Teamsters Local 964 in Ohio said a group of carhaulers in Avon Lake, employed by Fleet Transport Corp., unionized with Local 964. Fleet Transport was launched last month to fill the void in that market left by Jack Cooper's bankruptcy, the release said. Ford's Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake builds the F-Series Medium Duty and Super Duty pickups. Squirrelly has six employees beyond the 10 former Jack Cooper drivers Squirrelly has hired, Archie said. "My goal is get most of those (drivers) back to work. Cassens Transport took a few of them," Archie said, noting that besides Cassens, other haulers for the Louisville plants include Precision Hauling and RCS Transportation. 'We're the new kid on the block," Archie said. "Before Jack Cooper went out, those carriers were already there.' Archie said Squirrelly is looking to negotiate a direct contract with the Detroit automakers. In the meantime, he said it feels satisfying to be working again and able to employ others. "It's a lot of pride to me personally to help my fellow brothers get back to work," Archie said. "I just thank God that He put me in a position to be able to do it. When it was happening and we were losing our jobs, I thought, 'I'll be all right because I'll start my own car hauling company.' Four months later, here we are actually moving vehicles.' Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@ Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Jack Cooper driver starts Squirrelly LLC, hauls Ford vehicles Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Former Jack Cooper driver launches car hauling startup after Ford contract loss
Former Jack Cooper driver launches car hauling startup after Ford contract loss Show Caption Hide Caption The impact and history of autos in Detroit, The Motor City Here are some facts about Detroit's auto industry. McKinley Archie and three business partners started Squirrelly LLC in February. Squirrelly hauled its first load of Ford Expeditions and F-Series trucks on April 22. Squirrelly is looking to get a direct contract with Ford or General Motors to haul more vehicles. Four months ago, McKinley Archie was blindsided by the reality that his six-figure job with a trucking company where he'd worked for about 20 years was coming to a screeching halt. Archie, 46, had been working at the now-defunct car hauling company Jack Cooper since 2004. He started there as a driver. He drove big rigs loaded with new Ford Motor Co. vehicles out of the automaker's Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships across the nation. He had worked his way up to steward at the Jack Cooper facility that served Louisville Assembly. Life was good. Then came Jan. 2, the day that Ford — Jack Cooper's second-largest customer behind General Motors — gave a 30-day notice to Jack Cooper that it was terminating its decades-long business with the hauler. Ford did not provide a reason. Archie and about 105 colleagues in Louisville suddenly knew they'd be losing what had been lucrative jobs. "It wasn't McDonald's wage jobs — those were good jobs," Archie said, noting most of the drivers were earning more than $100,000 a year. Then, one month later, GM ended its relationship with Jack Cooper after failing to reach a new contract. That put the nearly 100-year-old vehicle hauling company out of business, eliminating about 2,500 jobs nationally. In Michigan, more than 350 jobs ended when Ford and GM severed their contracts with Jack Cooper. Through it all, Archie put on a brave face to mask his fear about how he'd provide for his family. "As the steward, my coworkers looked to me for leadership and guidance, so I had to be strong for them on the outside. But internally, I didn't know what I was going to do either," Archie said. "Then, when I saw my mom, she said, 'What's wrong? Your face looks heavy?' I broke a couple tears and said, 'I don't know if I'll have a job.' She reminded me that I'm a child of God. He will take care of me. She said to suck it up, keep moving and it will all work out." Digging up the seed cash Archie said he listened to his mother's advice, drew on his faith and started mulling over a plan to survive this setback. He knew that on Jan. 31, the Jack Cooper trucks had to be empty, so he wasted no time. In early February, he gathered together his lifelong band of "brothers from another mother" and proposed an idea. "We've been doing business for years, and we sat down and had a roundtable on how we can mitigate these losses," Archie said. "We decided to launch into the car hauling business." Recent car recalls: Ford F-150, Broncos among over 280,000 vehicles recalled The group has launched other business endeavors, such as in 2020, when they started bourbon-maker Black Bred Distillery in Louisville. They also run a home renovation business, Knox Construction, in Atlanta. In February, the group launched Squirrelly LLC. The goal is to haul Ford vehicles from the Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships anywhere in the nation. Archie is the company's cofounder and chief compliance officer. The newly established hauler is based in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where some of the group live. The business group consists of Archie, two other men and a woman. The three men grew up together and have known each other "from the cradle," Archie said. They went on first dates together and Archie even taught one of them how to drive. They met the woman later through friends. She brings with her an expertise on logistics, he said. Archie describes the group as "multi-preneurs," meaning that they try to find opportunities across a range of fields. His two male partners have degrees in finance and one is a youth pastor with a master's degree in divinity, Archie said. They decided on the name Squirrelly 'because we are all over the place. That's our slogan," Archie said. But they knew it would be no easy feat to start their own car hauling business. Archie said the plan has been to buy lightly used rigs from Jack Cooper. But each one carried a whopping price tag of $260,000. Then there is the cost for insurance on the rigs and for employees. He said they were able to lease some of the trucks to start, which helped get them going. So far, Squirrelly has bought 10 trucks and is scheduled to buy 25 more, he said. "So it was quite a lot we had to raise, an arduous task for us," Archie said, saying all the capital came from the group's own resources, no outside funding. "We had go into my backyard and dig up all my savings. It's hard to go even to a bank and say give me $3 million to start a dream. Now that we're actually moving cars, maybe we can go back to them and show them proof of concept. But we bootstrapped all of it.' Looking to make his own deal Squirrelly moved its first load of Ford vehicles April 22 from Kentucky to Texas. Since then, it has hauled nine loads of the Ford Expedition SUV and F-Series Super Duty pickups from Kentucky Truck Plant to dealerships in Texas and 17 loads to dealerships in Michigan. Archie said that's about 120 vehicles. 'It's a great start for us," Archie said. "Of course, we want to get to the point where we're moving 36 loads a day or better. Once we get our own inventory straight from the (automakers), that'll be better." Ford spokeswoman Ursula Muller declined to comment about Squirrelly hauling Ford vehicles because the automaker has a policy to not comment on supplier contracts. But Squirrelly is currently transporting the overflow work from other hauling companies because under the Teamsters union contract, haulers must give overflow work to other unionized carriers, Archie said. Late last month, Squirrelly employees voted to join the Teamsters, the union confirmed. A week later, a second unit of former Jack Cooper haulers rejoined the Teamsters Union. In a media release, Teamsters Local 964 in Ohio said a group of carhaulers in Avon Lake, employed by Fleet Transport Corp., unionized with Local 964. Fleet Transport was launched last month to fill the void in that market left by Jack Cooper's bankruptcy, the release said. Ford's Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake builds the F-Series Medium Duty and Super Duty pickups. Squirrelly has six employees beyond the 10 former Jack Cooper drivers Squirrelly has hired, Archie said. "My goal is get most of those (drivers) back to work. Cassens Transport took a few of them," Archie said, noting that besides Cassens, other haulers for the Louisville plants include Precision Hauling and RCS Transportation. 'We're the new kid on the block," Archie said. "Before Jack Cooper went out, those carriers were already there.' Archie said Squirrelly is looking to negotiate a direct contract with the Detroit automakers. In the meantime, he said it feels satisfying to be working again and able to employ others. "It's a lot of pride to me personally to help my fellow brothers get back to work," Archie said. "I just thank God that He put me in a position to be able to do it. When it was happening and we were losing our jobs, I thought, 'I'll be all right because I'll start my own car hauling company.' Four months later, here we are actually moving vehicles.' Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@ Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Young Australians urged to think twice before going to university: Debt and regret after dropping out
A social media star has warned young Australians to seriously reconsider going to university, saying it left him with nothing but regret and thousands of dollars in debt. Jack Cooper issued the warning in a video shared to social media about his own university experience after enrolling in a business degree. 'So five years I went to uni thinking that's just what I had to do in life,' he said. 'I enrolled, went for a year and absolutely hated my life.' He said he felt misled by teachers and the school system, and claimed they pressured students into thinking university was the only path to success. 'Do you know when you're in school and the teachers are like "yeah you've got to go to uni, you've got to get a good ATAR" and all of this,' he said. 'They are scamming you. They are setting you up for failure.' After he endured subjects like accounting and finance, Mr Cooper realised it wasn't for him. 'After a year, I dropped out and I didn't think too much of it. I was like "yeah I know I've got a bit of a HECS debt but who cares".' But he didn't realise just how much debt he got himself into by giving university a go and leaving so soon. 'Let's bring it forward to now. I've just had to spend $13,000 to pay off my entire HECS debt because of something to do with my taxes or something, I don't really know but I had to pay off the whole thing,' he said. 'It's $13,000 down the drain because I dropped out. Don't get me wrong, I know this is a very common thing for people but back then I didn't really think like that.' Cooper said young Aussies needed to have a good think about whether university was right for them because it if it didn't work out it could really set a young person back, financially, in an already tough cost of living crisis. 'My advice to you all is if you are going to uni, only go if you truly want to be there and you're setting yourself up for the life that you really want, because otherwise you'll end up like me, spending $13,000 on f****g nothing,' he said. Mr Cooper's message resonated with thousands online. 'We don't realise, as freshly 18 year olds, what that money actually means. We just think "oh yeah we'll pay it off when we get a real job anyway". The longer I do my degree I'm realising how much $82,000 actually is,' one said. 'They don't educate us about HECS properly in school. We are just babies at 18 going to uni with no idea about the weight of that debt on us!' another said. What's the alternative to uni for young Aussies? Melbourne woman Chelsea Taylor has three unfinished university degrees and about $30,000 in student debt. The 23-year-old told Daily Mail Australia she felt a 'real big push to go to university' and did a year studying each in Exercise Sport Science, Teaching and Nursing. 'It was at the end of my third year of university that I realised that I didn't want to be there – I wasn't enjoying university, and it wasn't leading to what I wanted,' Ms Taylor said. Ms Taylor said she was 'feeling lost' and unsure about her career when her brother saw a TV ad calling for Melbourne Metro Train drivers. The young Aussie applied and landed the role. She has been working as a train driver since September 2020. 'When I started as a train driver, I didn't know anything about trains... but the training required was incredibly comprehensive,' Ms Taylor said. 'It can be a challenging job, it's a big responsibility transporting hundreds of people at once, but it's worth it,' Ms Taylor said. Ms Taylor wished she had discovered her job sooner. 'When I finished high school, I didn't know there were great jobs available if you didn't go to university or didn't go to TAFE,' Ms Taylor said. 'There's also a stigma that if you're not going to university, you're wasting an opportunity. I think this couldn't be more wrong.' Many high school leavers are snapping up jobs in the mining industry, some of which pay up to $120,000 a year - to save money and further their careers. Janne D'Huyvetter, 29, works as a FIFO (fly-in fly-out) cleaner and earns up to $2,650 a week. Ms D'Huyvetter said it's easy for her to save money because she doesn't have to spend on things like a gym, housing, food, or going out since everything is provided at the camp. 'Every mine site has a recreation room with ping pong and pool table. Most of them also have a pool, gym, and a bar. Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Dick Smith told Daily Mail Australia we should get youngsters out of the lecture halls and into practical work. 'If you want to become a doctor, or an engineer, well, that (university education is) a necessity - but so often it is wasted, especially with people who get arts degrees and never use them,' Mr Smith said. The businessman said Australia needs more qualified tradespeople as record population growth - fuelled by immigration - has spiked the demands for all kinds of tradesmen, which are now in short supply. 'A tradesman can earn really good money, especially if he or she opens their own business,' Mr Smith said. 'My local electrician, he's a millionaire. He's done very well. And so, to me, a tradesperson who opens their own business can do incredibly well in Australia. Australian universities experienced a record high dropout rate, with 25.4 per cent of students who started a bachelor's degree in 2017 dropping out by 2022. The increase in dropouts coincided with a 13 per cent decrease in university enrolments since 2016. There was also a 7.1 per cent rise in student debts in 2023.
Miami Herald
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Huge trucking company closes permanently, no bankruptcy filed yet
Thousands of trucking companies over the last two years have shut down operations for a variety of economic reasons. About 88,000 trucking companies and 8,000 freight brokerage firms ceased operating in 2023, Freight Caviar data revealed, and the trucking sector was further reduced by about 10,000 carriers in 2024, reported. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Last year, a significant trucking company with 75 drivers and 70 power units, Mighty Move Transportation of Illinois, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in October 2024 and went out of business, as it faced two breach of contract lawsuits. Related: Huge auto parts brand files for bankruptcy liquidation All litigation is subject to an automatic stay during bankruptcy cases. The American Trucking Associations is confident that the industry will improve in 2025 as it projected in its annual freight forecast released in January that truck volumes would grow 1.6% this year after two years of declines. Despite the prediction that the industry will recover, several companies have already ceased operations in 2025. Auto-hauling company Jack Cooper on Feb. 10, 2025, alerted employees in an email that the company was shutting down its operations after major automakers Ford and General Motors stopped doing business with the trucking company. Ford Motor Co. on Jan. 1, 2025, invoked a 30-day termination clause to end its business agreement with the auto logistics company. More bad news came as General Motors on Feb. 6 instructed its workers to stop loading new cars on Jack Cooper trucks. The trucking company could no longer continue operating after losing business from those two huge auto companies. About a month later, Michigan-based trucking company Equity Transportation Co. Inc., which had 100 drivers and 109 power units, laid off all of its drivers and ceased operations, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation, FreightWaves reported. Employees of the company had questions about their final paychecks in March, as some of the company's drivers were waiting for their paychecks and others had received checks that were returned for insufficient funds, according to Facebook posts. The company did not indicate if it would file for bankruptcy and did not reveal a reason for closing down its business. And now, huge trucking and logistics company LTI Trucking Services informed its 250 drivers on April 2 that it is shutting down its operations, FreightWaves reported. Related: Major furniture company closing down, no bankruptcy plans "After exhausting all possible options and careful consideration of our circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to close LTI Trucking Services," a message to drivers said. More closings: Popular retail chain to close unprofitable store locationsBankrupt retail chain unloads store leases, key assetPopular discount retailer files bankruptcy, closes all stores The Madison, Ill.-based trucking company reportedly told drivers it would work with them to return them home immediately and issue them their final paychecks. "Any driver that wants to go home immediately, we will work with you that way," the company told drivers. "We promise that you will get all funds you are due." The company has not indicated if it will file for bankruptcy protection. LTI Trucking Services was established in 2005 in suburban St. Louis and had 300 tractors and 575 trailers. The company specialized in temperature-controlled freight transportation, shipping to over 30 states in the Midwest, South, and East. Among the companies whose products LTI Trucking shipped were AB InBev, KraftHeinz, Vlasic, Hershey's, Nestle, Tyson, Hillshire Farm, Kroger, Hostess, and Sara Lee. Related: Major national healthcare chain files for Chapter 7 liquidation The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
