Any former YELLOW drivers here?
Posted by scottiethegoonie@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 23 comments
Every now and then I'll pass a random industrial lot filled with old yellow 20' trailers. Like 40 of them just sitting there with full Yellow logos. Why are these not sold? How many years has it been?
What became of the drivers who were employed during the shutdown? Did they ever receive any recompense?
SaigaExpress@reddit
There is a lot near my house with a bunch of CF trailers. I know lots of former yellow and cf employees. They had a rough ride some of them.
kramitohbear@reddit
I worked for yellow for 30 days in march of 2023. My trainers and I were moving sets of empty trailers around between terminals just to give us something to do, my trainers said it was totally normal for the time of year. My 31st day I was required to join the union, and pay a pretty hefty initiation fee. It was my first job out of school, I had a 3 month old at home and was getting no sleep, on the days we did have freight to move they would have us wait for hours before going on duty(they used paper time cards for our paid hours) and I was doing 16-18 hour shifts. They had just recently absorbed reddaway and there was a lot of disdain between the drivers, generally just a really shitty atmosphere. I bailed, 3 months later they went out of business and left a nasty stain on my resume as I had plenty of companies tell me they weren’t allowed to hire drivers from yellow. Went over the road with a crappy 1099 company hauling mail, and now work out of the same yellow terminal which has been taken over by R+L.
scottiethegoonie@reddit (OP)
Why where former yellow drivers blackballed? Fear of them organizing at the new company?
Chuuby_Gringo@reddit
Don't be racist. The correct term is Asian, and it's not something you recover from.
Reported to mods.
Vanstrucker2222@reddit
Are you trying to be funny or is this real life?
Chuuby_Gringo@reddit
Trying (unsuccessfully it seems) to be funny.
ChiDaddy123@reddit
You should have just quoted The Big Lebowski and gone with the whole “the preferred nomenclature is…” bit… might have landed better. 🤷♂️
wittywillync@reddit
I'm fully prepped for the downvotes but I thought this was funny.
Cfwydirk@reddit
All the equipment was sold including 28’ pup trailers. Just sitting could mean the owner is using them for storage.
When people buy salvage trailers they are not compelled to change the badging.
Everyone was paid their wages. As their pension is a Teamsters Union pension controlled by the union, no one lost their retirement.
Imaginativested@reddit
Nobody was paid their vacation or pto time they were owed.
Spitfire954@reddit
Also, at least out west, drivers agreed to take a pay cut just to keep the company afloat some time around 2016.
zdw0986@reddit
Beside I got my cdl I worked the dock for YRC in Houston. Most fucked up drama filled job I’ve ever had..coincidentally the first and only union job I’ve ever had
Spare-Good-5372@reddit
Note, but my dad drove for Road Way
pervy_phil@reddit
Wow, great contribution.
nmackey@reddit
Every time I see something about yellow, I think about the time that I had an interview at yellow. I put in my notice at my old job, got ready to go to my interview. My buddy who is a teamster called me the night before everything happened and told me to not go in and to turn on the news or look up yellow. They closed and didn't tell the recruiters. I scrambled after that but found a good job I was with for a couple years.
Cardinal_350@reddit
My Uncle got a job at the Diamond Rio truck plant on a Friday and dtold to show up Monday morning. HE showed up to start work and they had locked the doors and gone out of business
scottiethegoonie@reddit (OP)
I had a friend in a similar situation as you.
Backstory is that we were both Schneider drivers, and we almost got into a fist fight at the PHX terminal. This dude thought he could put his backpack in a shower stall to reserve it while he went back to his truck to grab something. I put his shit out in the hallway and showered. 5 minutes later dude is banging on my door. I hop out and both of us were in each other's face, dude was yelling at me in Spanish and I was like bitch I'm from Los Angeles don't be cute with language.
Anyways, an hour later we were cool and laughing about the whole thing dapping it up. All the drivers in the lounge were scared when we were yelling it made us both laugh.
Well, this guy and I transferred to local intermodal at the same time and not even one week into it he got on with Yellow. 2 months later they went bankrupt.
This is my yellow story.
TheJuggernaut043@reddit
CPKC in Wylie,TX still had at about 15 of these lined up in the intermodal yard. Where sometimes parking space can be a premium. Not sure of the story behind it or where their yellow trailer went.
mr-doctor2u@reddit
I talked a friend of mine into going to get his CDL. He got brought on with yellow. They put him up in a hotel, paid him a per diem and he finished ELDT. Less than a week later, shut their doors. He never even hauled a load for them and obviously his debts were forgotten
Heavym3talc0wb0y_@reddit
I was a mechanic for Reddaway for about 5 years. I hated the union but liked the job and the people I worked with. The worst thing to happen to that company was when Yellow took over. Thankfully I moved onto greener pastures about 2 months before they locked the doors. Some days I kinda wish I still worked for Reddaway. It was a pretty easy going job.
Armchair-Attorney@reddit
My dad’s first job out of college was working as a night shift shop supervisor for Roadway in Chicago Heights in 1976.
Beneficialsensai@reddit
Bruh
Honch777@reddit
I worked for USF Holland for 10 years which was rebranded to Yellow in it's final couple years. Our yard in Cincinnati has been a giant parking lot for all sizes of trailers for a long time now. Majority of our trailers were severely neglected and could probably only be used for storage.