At SPAN Enterprises, we love truckers. When I was brought into this company, I was overwhelmed by the savvy and dedication it takes to create a financially viable company within the trucking industry. Underinformed, underprepared people who get into this business will not be in it for too long. On the surface, it looks simple. But it’s complex. Just to discover the hidden costs of transporting something from one place to another requires significant research and understanding.
As someone who supports the trucking industry, I am always eager to learn about the business from the people within it. As Stephen Covey has stated, always try to understand before being understood. I’ve heard stories about trucks shutting themselves down because their drivers tried to push beyond the 14-hour rule. Another one I heard was about a driver who repeatedly refused to stop in Kentucky for fuel so his company received a significant bill from that very same state for the highway use tax. Had he stopped for gas when it was needed, the taxes would’ve been lower.
Anyway, maybe these stories seem small, but they are glimpses into an industry that most people know very little about. How many trucks have you seen on the road? We seem to be surrounded by the trucking industry without ever knowing how dynamic and challenging the business is. Sadly, maybe people take it for granted.
We do not. And when the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to shut down, truckers kept moving. They had to. Had they stopped, the role of the trucker within our economy would become glaringly obvious.
As an employee at SPAN Enterprises, I am a supporter of the trucking industry—it’s a part of who we are. And as an individual, I am proud of the service we provide to an industry that our country so heavily relies on, whether they know it or not.
When I saw this morning that the US taxpayer bought ownership in a trucking firm, it got my attention.
I’ll explain that: The US Treasury Department announced on 1 July 2020, that it will loan $700 million to a trucking company who ships military equipment. The most interesting part? The US Treasury, and by extension, the US taxpayer, now owns 29.6% of it.
Several details about this make it a unique deal and situation. For one, the trucking firm, YRC, was worth $70 million before the government intervened. Secondly, YRC was, by all accounts, struggling. Their stock had dropped by 27% this year. Over the last years, it had dropped by 85%.
If you recall, the CARES Act included money that was meant to be used to help small businesses survive the pandemic. This $700 million was NOT part of it. Then how did YRC get the money? It was because of what they were transporting.
According to CNN, YRC “...provides a majority of the trucking services moving pallet-sized shipments of freight for the US military, a segment of the industry known as ‘less-than-truckload’ or LTL.”
And the last particularly strange detail of this is that YRC was sued by the US government in 2018 because they were overcharging the Defense Department for their shipments. The civil complaint states that YRC “reweighed thousands of shipments and suppressed the results whenever they indicated that a shipment was actually lighter than its original estimated weight.” This was done over a period of seven years and cost the government (and the US taxpayer) millions of dollars.
Going back to the start of this article, I pointed out that we at SPAN Enterprises devote part of our business to supporting truckers. And we are very proud of that. I also pointed out the complexities of the industry, and the deal with YRC can certainly serve a testament to that.
Lastly, I want to end on a positive note: most of that money (about half) is going towards covering short-term contractual obligations, pensions, and healthcare benefits for the truckers who help keep grocery stores and other essential businesses stocked during a very difficult time in our country’s history.
We here at SPAN Enterprises will continue to support the trucking industry in every way we can. One of our contributions to them is helping out with their Form 2290s through ExpressTruckTax. The 2020-2021 Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) Form 2290 filing deadline is August 31, 2020.
Need help? Try ExpressTruckTax today and please call with any questions.
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