The Truckers Lounge Podcast

Trucking Industry Consolidation and Influence of Major Investors

February 05, 2024 Eugene Banks and DePriest Ingram Season 1 Episode 6
Trucking Industry Consolidation and Influence of Major Investors
The Truckers Lounge Podcast
More Info
The Truckers Lounge Podcast
Trucking Industry Consolidation and Influence of Major Investors
Feb 05, 2024 Season 1 Episode 6
Eugene Banks and DePriest Ingram

Summary

In this conversation, the hosts discuss various topics related to the trucking industry, including PAM Transport's financial losses, Ryder's acquisition of Cardinal Logistics, and Kodak Robotics' development of driverless trucks. They also highlight the role of hedge fund companies and investors in the industry and emphasize the need for community and collaboration among truckers. The hosts encourage listeners to educate themselves and work together to combat the challenges they face.


Takeaways

  • The trucking industry is experiencing rapid changes and it can be challenging to keep up with the latest developments.
  • The state of the economy and freight recession continue to impact the industry, making it difficult for truckers to navigate.
  • Acquisitions and mergers, such as Ryder's acquisition of Cardinal Logistics, can have significant implications for the industry.
  • The development of driverless trucks by companies like Kodak Robotics raises questions about the future of trucking and the role of technology.
  • Hedge fund companies and investors play a significant role in the industry, and their actions can have a direct impact on truckers.
  • Building a strong community and collaborating with other truckers can help address the challenges faced by individuals in the industry.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Trucker’s Lounge podcast. This show was hosted by veteran truck drivers Eugene Banks and DePriest Ingram.

The Trucker’s Lounge is a no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-it-is podcast bringing real conversations about what’s actually happening in the trucking industry. Eugene and DePriest are committed to unveiling the raw truths and inside scoops that typical trucking media won’t discuss.

If you enjoyed the realness and transparency of this episode, make sure to like, subscribe, and share the podcast so you never miss an upload. Let’s keep the conversation going and help spread the word about The Trucker’s Lounge - the podcast that speaks the blunt truth about trucking.

Don't forget to visit our website at https://thetruckerslounge.com/ to continue your support of our podcast

We’ll see you next time for more unfiltered dialogue. Until then, keep on truckin’ and stay safe out on the road.

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Summary

In this conversation, the hosts discuss various topics related to the trucking industry, including PAM Transport's financial losses, Ryder's acquisition of Cardinal Logistics, and Kodak Robotics' development of driverless trucks. They also highlight the role of hedge fund companies and investors in the industry and emphasize the need for community and collaboration among truckers. The hosts encourage listeners to educate themselves and work together to combat the challenges they face.


Takeaways

  • The trucking industry is experiencing rapid changes and it can be challenging to keep up with the latest developments.
  • The state of the economy and freight recession continue to impact the industry, making it difficult for truckers to navigate.
  • Acquisitions and mergers, such as Ryder's acquisition of Cardinal Logistics, can have significant implications for the industry.
  • The development of driverless trucks by companies like Kodak Robotics raises questions about the future of trucking and the role of technology.
  • Hedge fund companies and investors play a significant role in the industry, and their actions can have a direct impact on truckers.
  • Building a strong community and collaborating with other truckers can help address the challenges faced by individuals in the industry.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Trucker’s Lounge podcast. This show was hosted by veteran truck drivers Eugene Banks and DePriest Ingram.

The Trucker’s Lounge is a no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-it-is podcast bringing real conversations about what’s actually happening in the trucking industry. Eugene and DePriest are committed to unveiling the raw truths and inside scoops that typical trucking media won’t discuss.

If you enjoyed the realness and transparency of this episode, make sure to like, subscribe, and share the podcast so you never miss an upload. Let’s keep the conversation going and help spread the word about The Trucker’s Lounge - the podcast that speaks the blunt truth about trucking.

Don't forget to visit our website at https://thetruckerslounge.com/ to continue your support of our podcast

We’ll see you next time for more unfiltered dialogue. Until then, keep on truckin’ and stay safe out on the road.

Priest (00:00.63)
Yo, what's up, trucking fam? Thanks for joining us in the Truckers Lounge. We back at it again. This is a place, a safe space, where we give our commentary on the latest trending news in the trucking industry, talk about how it affects us, and work together along with you to develop business strategies to work within it so we can evolve in it, as well as come up with some financial tips as well. So before we get started, don't forget to like, subscribe.

and share for future content. So let's talk about it. So on today's topic, we're gonna be talking about PAM Transport losing $2.2 million at the last quarter of last year. Ryder acquires Cardinal and Kodak Robotics, the company that develops selfless, well, driverless trucks.

Eugene (00:35.646)
way.

Yeah.

Priest (00:56.502)
They have opened up a truck port in Houston. So let's talk about it, G. What we got going on here, man, with these people? We gotta watch these people, man. We gotta keep our eyes on them, man. They trying to, what they say? Rob Peter kill Paul, what's it say? Yeah, Rob Peter to pay Paul, you know? So I guess we Peter in the trucking industry is the smaller guy.

Eugene (00:56.547)
Mm-hmm.

Eugene (01:03.334)
Man, what?

Yeah.

Eugene (01:10.846)
to yeah Rob Peter to pay Paul yeah apparently so because yeah we see all this news of different things going on with the mergers and company this company acquiring that company this company losing money so hey it's a lot going on in this transportation sector

Priest (01:37.846)
Yeah, and it's kind of difficult for a lot of us to understand why, well, let me rephrase that. I'm not gonna say difficult. I think it's moving too fast for a lot of us to latch on to what's going on. Because I mean, think about it. Before you even wrap your mind around one thing happening, something else happens.

Eugene (01:59.458)
something else and you got to try to dissect what's going on and where did it come from?

Priest (02:06.03)
Right. And then when it gets to, you know, the point of us feeling the pain behind it. So now it's like, I guess you could say we're a limbo, right? You know, we're just stuck.

Eugene (02:18.778)
Yeah, that's what it seemed like. You know, I think everybody's kind of having a hard time trying to decide on which way to go, you know, with the economy not being at its best, which I've heard a lot of people in the media saying the economy has rebound. I've heard that, that it's rebound, but it's hard for me to tell.

Priest (02:42.442)
Yep, cuz see some of the reports I see on that they see like

You gotta watch them when they talking about percentages. Because if they're talking about in comparison to last year, yeah, we are rebounded. But if you talk about in comparison pre-pandemic, no, we still in a freight recession. Nothing has changed. And that's what they're not telling because they're trying to keep people's spirits lifted up in it.

Eugene (02:52.572)
Okay.

Eugene (03:00.973)
Mmm.

Eugene (03:08.39)
Yeah, exactly.

Priest (03:16.79)
but it's kind of hard to keep lifted up. I mean, like you okay the first, I say from the second day to about the 28th day in each month, you okay. Or maybe the fifth day to about the 28th day, because that's when most of us ain't got all our bills out the way. You don't really feel it again until it's time to pay bills again. And that's when you start feeling it. So it's like, we didn't...

Eugene (03:16.862)
Mm-hmm.

Eugene (03:41.819)
Right.

Priest (03:48.694)
put ourselves to the point to where I think that we, we just willingly becoming numb to what's going on. We don't want to hear it because if it ain't one thing, it's another. And I think we, yeah, you know, we become numb to it. Go ahead, Gene.

Eugene (04:04.914)
Yeah, and that's what it seems like, you know, a lot of people just kind of just at this point just rolling with the punches I feel, you know, because you don't know what to expect. Hey, you know, everybody just, hey, I'm trusting in God and just go from there.

Priest (04:12.247)
Right.

Priest (04:20.278)
Right, and you know what? And I'm glad that you said that about the trusting the God part. People don't get it, Mr. Kaskrew. God still wants us to put forth effort. He can't do everything. He can do everything for us, but he won't. He won't because he didn't design this planet that way for us to be on the titty, you know, all our existence here. You know, he, right. You know, he put

Eugene (04:46.682)
Right, that's true.

Priest (04:50.71)
He put obstacles in our way to test us to see how we are growing to get around it. And this is an obstacle that we got to get around. And if we work together, we can accomplish it. We don't have to wait on them to tell us when it's okay to come outside without a coat on. We can control it. But...

So we're gonna talk about PAM first. PAM reported $2.2 million loss in the last quarter at a financial year closing. That marked a 24.2% decrease in revenue as compared to last year's quarter four from 237.6 million in 2022 to 180.2 million.

Eugene (05:30.484)
Excuse me. I'm sorry.

Priest (05:50.726)
in 2023. It was reported by Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the president of PAM has blamed the losses on poor freight market and United auto worker strike, which affects several of PAM's customers. So, so what you think, Gene, you know?

Eugene (06:13.046)
So is he pretty much saying, well, I mean, of course, everybody kind of suffered from the poor freight market, but is he kind of saying that they, I guess they had some contracts with auto contracts?

Priest (06:26.034)
Yeah, that's what it sound like to me. Hauling auto freight is big dollars, big money. And I'm pretty sure that was probably one, or not probably, but he's indicating that was one of their biggest contracts. That's what they relied on most. You know, like I said in the last show, bigger carriers still use the low board too.

Eugene (06:34.226)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Eugene (06:47.615)
Right, one of the big customers, right.

Priest (06:54.518)
but it's just to pay for diesel or to pay their drivers. They don't rely on that to pay revenue to the company. Right, you know, so they're saying that the strike hurt them. Which is good news because, you know, it show how unity can move the needle on things.

Eugene (06:54.917)
Mm-hmm.

Eugene (07:01.122)
100% right

Eugene (07:15.878)
Right, because that strike ended in November. How long did it last? I'll check it. No, I don't. I'll check it. But yeah, that's something that they lost that much money and that was in the fourth quarter. They lost two million.

Priest (07:20.47)
That I didn't catch. Do you see that in the order?

Priest (07:33.922)
That was just in the fourth chord.

Eugene (07:35.783)
Wow.

Priest (07:37.354)
Now, $2.2 million, but they still made like 180 million in that quarter. Now that could be gross, gross revenue.

Eugene (07:49.906)
Okay, yeah

Priest (07:51.351)
Yeah.

But like I said, you pay attention to those percentages, but they're confident that they're gonna bounce back now since the strike is over. And see, that's my issue with it. And I'm talking in reference to the smaller guy like us. We out here struggling to hang on to these so-called contracts that we don't have in writing. It's just an agreement with a broker or a shipper that say we gonna give this amount of load.

Eugene (08:23.634)
those lows, yeah.

Priest (08:23.946)
We're struggling to hang on to these lows. They're coming to us, asking us to drop our rates on these contract lows. And really you have no choice because it's nothing on the low board. So I put it like this, it's nothing on the low board in terms of not having the headache to compete so hard for the low. So you still gonna end up getting a low rate anyway in most cases, unless you're lucky enough to catch a broker.

Eugene (08:46.029)
Mm-hmm.

Priest (08:53.042)
in a bad position to where you can pull enough money out of them. But who wants to play that game all the time? I mean, that's a headache.

Eugene (09:03.955)
Yeah, it is and I was looking at this that strike lasted six weeks.

Priest (09:10.911)
week.

Eugene (09:11.846)
Yeah, it lasted from September 15th to October 30th when they called it off.

Priest (09:16.088)
Mm-hmm.

Eugene (09:20.675)
October 30th of 2023 is when they call that strike off.

Priest (09:20.95)
it.

Priest (09:25.226)
And that was a very short time for them to move the needle on that. Yeah.

Eugene (09:29.01)
for them to lose that much money. Yeah. So if they lost that much money, then I would like to know what's the percentage of their business is in, what percentage of their business is committed to auto, the auto parts, and you know what I'm saying, the auto industry for PAM.

Priest (09:53.382)
I'm pretty sure it's on the internet and that's something we didn't think to check. So if you guys want to look that up yourself, that'd be a good keyword to put in what Eugene just stated, to put into Google to see if anything pulls up on that, if you're interested in it. But if you can't find anything, we will surely know, because by them being a public traded company, we will surely know after the first quarter of this year what they're looking like.

Eugene (10:00.623)
Right.

Priest (10:22.046)
in terms of what percentage of that is paying, you know, pretty much taking care of their investors. Because like I say, it's nothing on the low board, worth anything. So, right, so if they revenue picks back up, what they tell you.

Eugene (10:30.398)
Hmm.

Eugene (10:35.066)
No, not at all.

Priest (10:44.198)
Yeah, so now we got, you know, not only that, we got Cardinal is deciding to pretty much bow down what we would think, but it's not so much as that, it's not what we actually think. So right now you got Ryder Logistics, you know, the company where you rent, lease your bar trucks from.

Eugene (10:44.862)
Yeah.

Priest (11:09.442)
They have acquired Cartinal Logistics. Cartinal Logistics is a company that's headquartered in Concord, North Carolina for those who don't know. They specialize in providing dedicated fleets and professional drivers catering to the complex route, structures across distribution centers, suppliers and stores. The company offerings extend to complimentary freight brokerage services, last mile delivery and contract logistics.

Eugene (11:09.851)
Right.

Priest (11:39.17)
primarily serving in industries like consumer packaged goods, groceries, building products, automotives, industrial verticals, and et cetera. So Ryder plan is to fully integrate Cardinal Logistics Operations facilities and equipment into its dedicated transportation, fleet management, supply chain, business.

with the transaction anticipated to be increased in 2025.

Eugene (12:15.403)
Okay.

Priest (12:16.734)
Yeah. So it's possible that even with Ryder acquiring Cardinal, Cardinal probably still will bear their own name on the side of their trucks and in their business. It's just behind the scenes maybe. Ryder is going to be running everything. Yeah.

Eugene (12:30.238)
Right.

Right. Yeah. For a timeframe. Yeah. For a timeframe. Because usually in a lot of those acquisitions, they'll continue to run under the same banner for a while before they actually, you know what I'm saying, decide to fully integrate, as you said. You know, but it's interesting that the guys who started Cardinal Logistics also...

worked for Rider back in the 80s and in the early 90s. They were workers for Rider and they pretty much said that they used the same business model. They used the same business model that they were accustomed to at Rider when they founded their business, Cardinal, back in 1997.

Priest (13:08.89)
Y'all better pay attention. Go ahead, pay attention.

Eugene (13:22.786)
And so I think that they're going to pretty much go on. And usually when you see these acquisitions or these mergers and stuff, well, yeah, mainly acquisitions, the executives or the owners go on to the next company as pretty much like an overseer. They still get on the board of directors to help oversee that everything runs smoothly.

Priest (13:47.39)
Right. Basically what you're saying is they don't totally lose the company. And not only that, a lot of this be, you know, these acquisitions and mergers be disguised as bell outs too. You know, to where they're not really buying the company, they're buying the company on paper or they're acquiring the company on paper, but it's like, you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Eugene (13:52.286)
correct.

Eugene (14:12.882)
Mm-hmm.

Priest (14:15.966)
Hey, I see you having financial trouble. We're gonna invest money to pick you back up and we gonna make a little percentage off of this. And then seven years maybe, whatever the law is that they go by and finance, you buy back from us. Whether you wanna buy back from us under the same name or a different name comes in and buy.

Eugene (14:41.262)
Yeah. And I didn't see in their way says how much they bought it for. Did you come across that? They probably they don't know him numbers out yet.

Priest (14:48.522)
That's the thing. That's what I'm trying to tell you. That's what I'm trying to tell you. They have this stuff disguised and we thinking, you know, Cardinal sold their business to Ryder. And we never think about who the owners are, anything like that. You know, we just see those headlines and we leave it. It's just that, but it's more to it. You know, these are investors, you know. Matter of fact, before I get into that,

Let's bring up Kodak because see, all of this is about to tie in with each other. Other part of what I wanna touch on, you know, with our viewers. Kodak, Robotic, the company that makes driverless trucks. They have, how was it worded? They have opened up a truck port in Houston now.

Now, I just wanted to say that part there before I hit you with the last part. They opened up a truck port in Houston under, at Ryder facilities, the same company that just acquired Carton. That's what we do here. We're connecting the dots. And I'm pretty sure you caught on by now. Now, Kodak, we did a show on Kodak that...

Warren Buffett owns a share in it. Now we finding out they have involvements with Ryder and, you see, now, do you want me to let you take it? Cause I don't want to take this part cause I know you researched this part cause I'll be glad to tell it.

Eugene (16:29.153)
Yeah, well see, that's the thing, you know, when you look at the timelines on everything, so if you if you go, go by the timeline, let's go back to 2023, basically. Well, actually, let's go to 2022. And August of 2022, pilot joined Kodiak's board of directors.

You know, I didn't pilot. I didn't know how the pilot truck, truck centers, travel centers. They had, uh, they joined Kodiak's board of directors and they. Yeah. August of 2022, they had made the plan in August of 2022.

Priest (16:56.034)
Pilot.

Talk about the, the common warm buff it just bought.

Priest (17:09.65)
You said it was in 2022.

Priest (17:15.058)
Aw, that's bull crap, though. You know, this man just bought 100%, Warren Buffett just bought 100% of Pile It. Just, this year he just closed on that and it was already on the board with Kodak.

Eugene (17:26.578)
In 2022, they had made plans in August of 2022 to start the, that first, what was it called? It was the,

Priest (17:36.498)
It was a truck stop that was going to be designed to service driverless vehicles. Yeah. In Villarico, Georgia. Yeah.

Eugene (17:41.394)
the autonomous trucks in Villa Rica, Georgia. But they came up with that plan when they got on their board of directors in August of 2022. Well, let's fast forward a year later, August of 2023, they got the truck stop set up in Villa Rica. And Kodiak has an 18,000 mile network, which we had pretty much discovered they running back and forth from Georgia to Dallas.

Priest (17:58.217)
Right.

Priest (18:09.814)
Doubts.

Eugene (18:11.802)
Now, Ryder has a network. Well, let me go back. We did another show where Ryder, not Ryder, a Kodiak had teamed up with Mayersk. How you say it, Merck? How you say the shipping vessel? Merck's needed help because they had a lane that they needed help running from Houston, Texas, from their terminals in Houston, Texas.

Priest (18:27.762)
Mercs, the container coming, the shipping vest, Mercs, yeah.

Eugene (18:41.862)
to Oklahoma City. So that's over 400 miles of running right there. Well, that's a lane that since Kodiak was already running that lane, well here comes Ryder, merging or teaming up with Kodiak to run a lane between Houston to Dallas. And they began running that lane. So now this gives Kodiak a lane to run.

between a rider facility in Houston to a rider facility in Dallas back and forth. So Kodiak's lanes that they're going to have from Texas is from Houston to Dallas is one of their set routes and also from Houston to Oklahoma City. So they run it at I-35 corridor. Well 45-35 corridor from Houston to Dallas. That's I-45.

Dallas to Oklahoma City, that's I-35 straight up. And that's a busy stretch of interstate all the way, especially when you get on that Dallas area. That's a very busy stretch of interstate that they're doing the driverless trucks, but they have a human in there. Well, their goal by the end of this year, 2024, later this year, they want to introduce completely driverless trucks to run that lane because they've been running it now.

Already since last year. So the goal is to create enough data which we talked about this in our in our show with the executive vice president of OIDA Louie Pugh to where They are just trying to create this data to show that hey We have so many months or so many years of safe driving so many thousands of miles or so many hours of safe driving locked with

without an accident, without a hiccup, with nothing happening, without a computer failure or glitch. And now that's going to sell the idea with all this data that, hey, we can do it by ourselves in this busy corridor. You know, at first they were testing out these driverless trucks out west on a stretch of interstate wide open, 75 miles an hour just stretch. There's not a lot of traffic, but this is a busy corridor. And if this is successful...

Eugene (21:07.914)
It's just going to really open up the door wide open. You know, yes.

Priest (21:10.646)
Yes, Guinea Pig project. Yeah. First, let me clean up what you said about merch needing help. I wanna do this for the supertruckers before they probably go into the comments and go in on you. No, merch didn't need no help. They got help. That's what the freight market is for. You got the low border. They got plenty of help. They just wanna cut us out. So I just wanted to protect you on that. I got Eugene back. Furthermore.

Eugene (21:20.381)
Okay.

Eugene (21:23.812)
Okay.

Eugene (21:32.907)
Exactly.

Priest (21:40.99)
which I know that you was touching on, but I'm just going to simplify. They running these trucks in more congested areas to... No, no, you know what I'm saying? No, I'm telling them that's what you were saying. That they running these trucks in more congested areas to... That's why I call it the guinea pig project. They've been testing it in the open areas where it's not a lot of traffic yet. You know what I'm saying? The congestion is kind of loose.

Eugene (21:47.549)
Okay.

Eugene (21:52.835)
Okay, I got you.

Eugene (22:07.439)
Exactly.

Priest (22:10.402)
They wanna run an entire congestion, congested areas this year, so that they can prove and pass the test and move this forward faster than they planned at first, because the original plan was to have it fully driverless by 2030. Now they done bumped this up six years. You know, so I just wanted to make sure that, you know, that I put that in there. So yeah, it's a guinea pig project.

Priest (22:40.27)
And furthermore, like Becky, what you was saying about for them to sell the idea, my problem is, it's the person that's willing to buy and that's our government. They're willing to buy this idea. If Gene and I had brought this idea to the government, or you, they would have ran us up out of that capital so fast. See, they're all investing in this. And what we have...

Eugene (22:51.311)
Yeah.

Eugene (23:03.058)
They would have.

Priest (23:07.926)
have found out with PAM. PAM, Ryder, they have similar, they have some of the same investors. Vanguard Group, BlackRock, two of the top investors in both of those companies. PAM is a transportation company. Ryder, to the so-called acquired, Cardinal, was just supposed to be

logistics, equipment rental leasing, and a little bit of brokerage here and there that they kind of start sneaking in. So the point that I'm getting to is that you got these major hedge fund companies that are using our money that we put into the stock and they invest in it in different business.

Eugene (23:47.762)
video.

Priest (24:07.306)
which is nothing wrong with it. But what we have to be aware of now since we're in post pandemic and we're wondering why we're hurting so bad in the trucking industry, this is why. It's these same investors that we are putting money that we are giving our money to for stock. They are investing heavily into logistics and trucking, transportation as they call it. And they're putting a hurting on us. And

Eugene (24:19.55)
Mm-hmm.

Priest (24:37.61)
I mean, I just got a problem with it and I think you should too.

Eugene (24:41.538)
Yeah, that's true. That's that's so true because, uh, I think, and here's the thing, they're not really even hiding it, you know, everything is in our face. We just have, sometimes we're not really looking forward. We're not catching on to exactly what's going on because like you said, once before, oftentimes when people.

when they make these mergers or they make these acquisitions, people not really paying attention. Okay, this person bought this company out or they bought this company out. We were saying, in some of the comments we were seeing when we found out that Warren Buffett owned 100% of pilot, a lot of people said, okay, but this is my good feeling, man. This might be a good thing. A lot of people was looking at it like that, but no, if you look at everything, connect to all the dots.

He has a partnership with Kodiak, which the partnership was there prior to him taking on that 100%. But nonetheless, there's a partnership. This is not really a good news for a driver at all.

Priest (25:51.306)
Right, right. Not an owner operator, not a business owner, not a small carrier owner, not unless you're gonna publicly trade your company, which a lot of us don't know how to do. But back to what you were saying, the information is in our face, but see, this is the thing, in this information area, in order to be able to unlock this stuff that's in your face to see it, you have to have the question or the thought in your head to put in a Google search bar.

Eugene (26:00.446)
Right.

Eugene (26:20.231)
Yeah.

Priest (26:20.234)
If you don't have the thought or the idea to put in your head, to put it in a Google search, you'll never see this information. That's the thing. You know, if we look up, you know, you think about it, if you look up the owner of Ryder or let's just say Pam, you look up the owner of Pam, Joe Vitrio, however you pronounce his last name, he's going to pop up, but he's not the owner. He's a president. The owners.

Eugene (26:27.454)
That's true.

Eugene (26:38.875)
Okay.

Priest (26:49.574)
are the shareholders behind them. Some of them do have privately owned company that's funded by private equity funding companies. But even in those cases, the private equity fund company really owns the company, even though they're just an investor. So you should be upset now that we in this year.

Eugene (27:12.382)
Hmm.

Priest (27:19.31)
tax time coming up, some of us insurance renewals, heavy highway taxes, registration renewals. We don't have that kind of financial backing. All of that money is coming out of our pocket.

Eugene (27:35.518)
Mm-mm.

Priest (27:36.398)
And we're back to square one, most of us, you know, back trying to build our money when these companies have all these investors who are investing in multiple businesses, like the people who invest in JB Hunt, they have the shares in other trucking companies too. And we wonder why in the time why everybody's going out of business, Swift is able to buy US Express. Hell, it's because

Some of the investors that probably had shares in USC S.F.R.E.S. just probably transferred them over to SWIL and just said, Hey, let's put it on paper that SWIFT about to come.

Eugene (28:18.768)
Mm-mm.

Priest (28:19.982)
I mean, I'm not against the art or the science. I'm just against the fact that we don't have access to this as well. We should have access to stuff like this here too, so that if we wanted to build a community and work together to start our own thing, we could do it and compete. That's supposed to be what America stands for. Go ahead.

Eugene (28:26.075)
Okay.

Eugene (28:44.795)
and

Eugene (28:48.038)
be able to do it and compete and not have to worry about being kicked out the sandbox. You know what I'm saying? Not have to worry. Because like soon as, because you did watch that movie Dumb Money on Netflix. You know how they all created it, how this one guy, Kitty, I forgot what they actually called him, Kitty, roaring kitty, developed this community.

Priest (28:55.136)
Bye.

Priest (29:01.367)
Yes, sir.

Priest (29:11.018)
roaring kitty.

Eugene (29:15.182)
of people who was watching him and he was posting his, not a spreadsheet, but his balance sheet of his transactions that he was making and everybody was following him. And as soon as they built a community of however many people that was going along, what did they do? They put a stop to it. You know?

Priest (29:19.746)
balance sheet.

Priest (29:36.682)
Well, they didn't exactly put a stop to it. They, well, yeah, essentially, but they changed the rules. You're all right. They said you could play the game, but we didn't know you could play it this damn good. So we got to change the rules because you ain't supposed to be that good at playing this game that we are masters at. That's what it really was.

Eugene (29:44.454)
They changed the rules, yeah. Yeah.

Eugene (29:52.751)
Right.

Eugene (29:58.202)
Right. And that was a crazy part about it. I had a lot of people losing money, which some of them end up losing those hedge funds, end up losing some money themselves. But there's something, even if we decided to do something like that ourselves, they would eventually find a way, come up with a way, like you said, to change the rules.

to where now we gotta go back to the drawing board and do something different.

Priest (30:30.338)
Well, that's true. That's why it's good that they have movies out there like this so it kind of prepares you to cut them off because this still the land of the free. No matter what they do, they still have to live by that this is the land of the free. You build a community strong enough, like say for instance, well, not for instance, this is factual.

Eugene (30:55.23)
Mm-hmm.

Priest (30:55.242)
hedge funds control the freight market. What I mean by that, you know, the rates that you see on DAT load board and truck stop and everything, all that is controlled by the hedge fund companies, which when you bring all the hedge fund companies together, you have Wall Street. Once you understand who all the players are and all the ins and outs, as much as they wanna try, they still wouldn't be able to.

stop us if we built a community together. If we built a community together, if Wall Street or the hedge fund companies is controlling what the freight rates should be, imagine if we built a community together, one umbrella, one topic, one movement, lockstep. Imagine how much of the freight market we could control. We could bring a lot of them to their knees.

Eugene (31:25.79)
Mm-hmm.

Priest (31:51.478)
We advise you to go watch that movie on Netflix, Dumb Money, to get an idea of how that works. It can be done, I believe that.

Eugene (32:00.154)
Right. And that's something we've spoke about several times about creating a forum to where everybody was on the same page and understood to it. Even if someone became a member of the forum and they were new to the industry, you know, like what happened during the pandemic when you had people who were coming off of, you know, jobs where they were working in a warehouse or they were other entrepreneurs and other...

industries but they came into trucking and didn't know anything and decide if they got into that community got involved into that forum they would know hey this is the standard this is where we at you can't do nothing any different regardless of the experience that you have this is where we are and this is what you need to be doing you know

Priest (32:45.534)
Right. And anyone that's viewing this video, this podcast, that's why we want, matter of fact, that's why we need you guys to share, subscribe to this. And let's talk about it. Our doors and lines are open for anybody to come on the show or you wanna email us, give your opinion.

Let's build something and work together. We can combat against this. I mean, this, like I say, like I always say, this career could be generational wealth for our kids, our grandkids, if it's done right. We look at these hedge fund companies, they work together to bail each other out just to make money off of us. You know, so it could be done. I mean.

I mean, heck, we saw that in the movie, Dumb Money. You know, watching that, it really motivated me. So we encourage you guys to go watch that. Continue to educate yourself. You know, have more questions that come up in your head. And when they come up in your head, put it in Google search. Search for these answers. They're out there.

Eugene (33:44.423)
Yeah.

Eugene (33:57.618)
Right.

Eugene (34:01.842)
Right, there you are.

Priest (34:03.862)
Yeah, well, that's gonna be it for us today. We thank you guys for joining us and continuing your support. And we're gonna be about it here. Much love.

Eugene (34:15.55)
All right, y'all have a good one.

Introduction and Overview
The Difficulty of Keeping Up with Industry Changes
The State of the Economy and Freight Recession
PAM Transport's Losses and Impact of Auto Worker Strike
Ryder's Acquisition of Cardinal Logistics
Kodak Robotics and the Development of Driverless Trucks
The Role of Hedge Fund Companies and Investors
The Need for Community and Collaboration
Conclusion and Call to Action