Road Rage Shootouts and Truckers with Guns: The Legal Crossroads of Trucking Violence, Financial Turmoil, and Industry Evolution - The Trucker's Lounge

Prepare to be engrossed as we dissect a harrowing road rage shootout between big rig brothers on Florida's tarmac—an exchange that's far from the ol' honk and wave. DePriest and Eugene are peeling back the layers of this explosive encounter, examining the chaotic prelude caught on camera and the serious legal questions it raises. Could a tossed water bottle really lead to gunfire? The stakes are high, and your perspective on the evolving brotherhood of truckers and the weight of evidence in such cases could illuminate the discussion even further.

The debate doesn't end with road rage—it revs up as we tackle the thorny issue of truckers carrying guns. Picture this: a Florida man's arrest, a peculiar charge of "shooting a missile into a vehicle," and the ensuing legal labyrinth. It's a narrative potboiler that prompts a serious look at the implications for self-defense rights, company policies, and federal trucking regulations. And with the ever-watchful eye of social media examining every move, we're eager to hear your thoughts on where the trucking community is heading in this age of weapon proliferation and growing tensions.

Lastly, we're shifting gears to the financial gridlock gripping our industry, from the exodus of carriers from Convoy to the strategic maneuvers of Flexport. We're talking a whopping $160,000 loss for one truck owner and a legal logjam as unpaid carriers stand up to shippers like Ikea. Tune in for a critical conversation on how these money matters are reshaping the trucking landscape. Your insights on navigating these turbulent financial waters are not just welcomed—they're essential. Join us on this riveting ride through the challenges and changes facing our trucking family.

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.

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

Transcript

DePriest: 0:00

If you look at the video before he started shooting at him, that that that driver was coming up on the left side of him.

Eugene: 0:08

They say he had a history of uh uh like violent behavior or like being dangerous.

DePriest: 0:21

What up truckin family? We back at it again. I'm your guy Priest, along with my co-host, gene Right, and you in the truckers line. Been a minute. Yes, sir, yeah, okay. So what we got on the agenda today is uh, uh, chesapeake, virginia, truck driver accused of, where he was arrested for shooting at another truck driver doing a road rage incident. They say that, uh, the article say through a water bottle at the uh driver shot at the driver, driver shot back. Nobody was hit a pan. Hmm, is that about the same information you got on?

Eugene: 1:02

That's pretty much what I, what I had seen. You know they you know, but you know it's a lot of truck drivers. You know it starts way before what we saw you know. Now I would like to see what they got on the camera footage prior to him pulling his gun down and shooting. You know, show the camera footage for maybe 30 minutes prior to that. How long had they been going back and forth? 30 minutes an hour prior to that.

DePriest: 1:28

Right, right. Speaking of the camera footage, uh, we got a little bit of the uh take from the that was provided by the sheriff's office. I guess it was the arresting share of the sheriff's office that arrested them. So uh look like we got video here.

Eugene: 1:44

Out on the interstate. This all started when the suspect allegedly threw a water bottle at another driver, thanks for joining us on this. Thursday I'm Luan Sorrell and.

News clip: 1:53

I'm John Brown. This is video from inside the suspect's truck and you can see him fire several shots out the window. Fox 35.

DePriest: 2:00

Marlisa Goldsmith is live in the Now, by no means In my opinion. Through my experience, he's not the only guilty one. In my opinion, uh, you know, as you can see in the video, you can see the other driver swerving over on him too. So they was going back and forth. Um, if you ask me, I think, uh, it's probably going to be a case where they're going to come back and possibly arrest that uh other guy. Does my mic sound fine to you? Yeah, no, you good.

DePriest: 2:32

Okay, yeah, they probably want to come back in the rest of other drivers as well too. You know Florida, they are pretty tough on gun crime. Yeah, you know we was talking earlier about the lady that was dealing with, uh, I I suppose her relationship, her marriage, was uh, uh, an abusive situation and, um, she discharged so far in the air like in the ceiling of their garage and I think that lady got like seven years.

Eugene: 3:06

Yeah, I remember that story and I think she probably just got out recently, I believe. If I'm not mistaken, I think that was like in 2016, 2017 when that happened. Some of it up in there, I believe.

DePriest: 3:19

Yeah, it was going to Obama administration if, uh, if I remember correct.

Eugene: 3:24

Okay, so it was like 14, 15, because I know it wasn't very long ago.

DePriest: 3:29

Well, you know, Obama was still in office in 16. Yeah.

Eugene: 3:33

Yeah, it was. Trump got in in 17, right 2017.

DePriest: 3:38

17 or 18.

Eugene: 3:39

So I think it was January of 2017 when he took office, okay, okay, and then he would have gotten out of office January 2021.

DePriest: 3:50

Yeah.

Eugene: 3:51

Yeah.

DePriest: 3:52

Yeah, so, yeah, so that might have been doing the Obama administration, but you know, you can clearly see it, that video, with the way Florida laws are, you can clearly see both of them are kind of going back and forth and the fact that both of them discharged so far on it may have been a situation that the only evidence that they may have had was the dash cam. Maybe his company saw you know the shooting and maybe they sent it to the sheriff's department before they even arrested it.

Eugene: 4:25

Well, from what?

DePriest: 4:26

I do that.

Eugene: 4:27

Yeah, but what I? What I got from when I had read it, because I was wondering if that, if they had gotten in touch with the company prior to that. But what I read? They said that the investigators as what as they called them, the investigators has received information as to where he was located, and they said they received the dash cam footage from his truck, from the, from the cab of his truck. I took it to mean that they, you know, I don't know was he a company driver or what, but they, the way I took it from when I read it, as if, though, they retrieved it themselves, not that it was sent to him from a company.

DePriest: 5:09

I. I don't know what kind of upgrade the EOD companies have done to their dash cam system since I kind of shut it down due to the rates going down, but when I was up and running last year there was no way for DOT to retrieve video directly from the driver's dash cam. Now that that's not to say, you know, with Holly's FMCSA regulations they've been trying to pass, that's not to say that they don't have that capability. Now, you know, if that is the case, we'd like to. You know, if anybody you know be more than happy to put it in the comments to let us know that the EOD companies have upgraded that way. But I always thought that they either had to come from the admin or the EOD company uh, themselves.

DePriest: 6:05

Okay, all right, so uh, but I'm just kind of wondering you know the time scale of from the time they got the reports that they arrested them, that they retrieved that video? Because if they had the company name, which I'm pretty sure the driver who got shot at the, he probably got the truck number. That's all you need for you know, authorities or their company to contact them, say, hey, got a driver shooting at another driver, you know? So I don't know, man, it's just. I'm not going to blame that on the rates, I'm not even going to blame that on the new driver, you, you can pretty much blame that on time changing because, like you said earlier, it was a time in trucking history when drivers would pull over on the side of the road and just get it on.

DePriest: 7:04

It wouldn't be no death situation. It was more like a brotherhood thing. You know, uh, we get into it, we fight, I kick your ass, you kick mine and we okay.

Eugene: 7:14

Right.

DePriest: 7:15

But now it's a little bit more deadly now.

DePriest: 7:20

Right hey people, people nowadays they fear strangers, people. You know, like I'm pretty sure back in the days before the dawn of social media and all these cameras every time you turn around something getting recorded I'm pretty sure crazy stuff was happening like that, but it wasn't a fear of it because you didn't see it. But now that you get the opportunity to see it, it's more of a fear now. So that makes it even more dangerous for somebody you know trying to indulge in a fist fight when there's other person that's on something else.

Eugene: 8:01

Yeah.

Eugene: 8:01

And they said that, uh, they said a couple of things about the guy. They said he had a history of uh like violent behavior or like being dangerous. So I didn't, I didn't see what all his stuff he may have done from the past, but it just that's what then media outlets said he had a history of being dangerous. But one thing that they had said when they were listening to his charges I was reading he said, uh, he was charged with shooting a missile into a vehicle, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, mischief and displaying a firearm during the commission of a felony charge. So I'm wondering, when does it go to being shooting a missile? I mean, is that a Florida thing? Or because you're moving down the highway, it goes from being shooting a weapon like a gun to a missile or something. I mean, was that just a language for shooting the bullets or something?

DePriest: 9:01

Yeah, it could have been a misprint. Yeah, it could have been a misprint, but uh, yeah, I saw that too. But um, you said, one of them was uh, discharging a firearm, what now?

Eugene: 9:16

And displaying a fire firearm during the commission of a felony charge.

DePriest: 9:21

During the commission. I guess that would be the key word commission. What would that mean in that language?

Eugene: 9:28

It sounded like doing the commission of a felony charges. If, though, they was getting ready to arrest them and charge them, and he displayed his firearm, that's what it sounded like to me. I don't know.

DePriest: 9:41

Yeah, Well, see, the thing is is that that situation wasn't a felony until he got charged. Okay. You know what I mean and that's the thing that you know. There are a lot of people who are the good fellows. You gotta understand that when they come to charges, they can charge you with anything. It's just up to you to prove your innocence so they can. In a situation like that, he gonna get charged with something, but I doubt if he get charged with all that cause. Yeah.

DePriest: 10:18

You know, in an awkward situation like that, when they don't have all the evidence a lot of the time, what law enforcement do? They just pile up charges to make sure they got the right charge eventually, when the D8 looks in.

Eugene: 10:31

Yeah, and then they say he had a second handgun but he didn't use it.

DePriest: 10:36

Oh, I didn't come to that for real. They say he had a second handgun.

Eugene: 10:39

They found another second handgun, I guess in the cab of the truck, Basically within arms reach, but he had him.

DePriest: 10:45

So they wasn't talking about the other driver. When they said second handgun, they was talking about this driver's specific.

Eugene: 10:50

They talked about him. They found a second handgun on him. Oh, they ain't got two guns Like wow.

DePriest: 11:00

Well see, I didn't even know until well. I didn't even know until recently that drivers not having a handgun in a truck was a trucking company policy rather than a federal policy, because when 9-11 happened, they put a lot of rules on trucking, especially when it came to what you can carry to protect yourself. So I don't know, it's kind of weird to me, man.

Eugene: 11:38

Yeah, because it's been so many mixed reviews on it and so much confusion. When it came to that, Like what I've heard, every company that I've gone to they'll say, hey, no guns allowed, because a company policy can supersede that of the law. It can be greater than it can't be less than, but it can be greater than. But then I've seen where I've heard a DOT officer, or even in the I read it somewhere in the Green Handbook that the FMCSA handbook. But basically you could have a weapon, but it's not supposed to be within arms reach. When you're driving it's supposed to be unloaded and locked away. The clip out of the gun. That's the way I've always heard, that you can carry it on your person, but that's how it has to be when you're driving. Now, when you stop and shut down for the night, that's a different story. But driving it cannot be within arms reach.

DePriest: 12:46

This is gonna be a tricky situation because, in my opinion, I think drivers should be able to have protection when they're on that road like that, because you could be broke down. We all know about sundown towns, but it's broke down in a sundown town. I mean I gotta follow these regulations to make sure that I'm ready to go, because they're just driving by and start firing on you and in those towns you trust law enforcement, I would say hell.

DePriest: 13:23

Nah, it's a sundown town. They own the whole goddamn thing. Yeah, that's gonna be a tricky situation. You know they're gonna use that situation to blow up all counter rules and regulations, depending on how far this go. And then on top of that, by happening in the great state of Florida, they're gonna push it. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be I guess you could say contradictory, because see, if they speak against drivers having being able to have weapons on them in the state, then it's gonna bring back the last few years when you was debating, you know, reconstructing the gun laws.

Eugene: 14:14

Yeah.

DePriest: 14:14

So what's this gonna be? I mean, I don't really think they really too much, give too shit. Because we go back to the lady again who was allegedly in an abusive situation with her husband and she fired one shot in the air, gave her like around seven years in the state of Florida, where you had the right to carry where she was in a situation, where she was in danger.

Eugene: 14:41

And she was standing on ground.

DePriest: 14:43

Right, she was standing on her ground. And then you turn around and you give the guy who killed the young man at the gas station manslaw and he actually killed somebody. So I don't know he gonna have to have, you know, some people really involved in his case, because he lives in Virginia.

DePriest: 15:08

He's got a charge in Florida. That's gonna put a strain on his family because the distance is so great, you know, back and forth. And then on top of that they got him locked up with no bond, right, you know. So who's to say that the judge won't say it's blunt here. I'm not giving you a bond because you're a high risk, because you were from another state. That's gonna destroy that man whole life. He hadn't even had a chance to get back home and get his house in order. So it's just a bad situation. Man, I think drivers should really think not twice, three, four times before you act in a situation when you're out here on this highway, cause you gotta think about it. When you act out in a different state that's not of your home state, you have to keep that in mind. It's a process.

DePriest: 15:59

with these charges you could be considered a high risk because you're not of their state, and they can revoke your bond and you'll be trapped in that state like the movie life.

Eugene: 16:12

Yeah, cause that's the first thing. If you know, depending on what type of attorney he finds for himself, this first thing they're gonna try to do is okay, let's give him a bond, let him get home so he can try to get his affairs in order, but that's gonna be it, to sole discretion. That, lloyd, I'm not the Lloyd the judge.

DePriest: 16:34

Well, really more so the DA than the judge Cause the same like in a lot of situations, the DA have more power because-.

Eugene: 16:42

They got a lot of power.

DePriest: 16:43

Yeah, because he's like the judge right hand man, you know the judge might look at the DA and say, well, what do you think? Da might say well, I don't want him to leave the state. We might have to spend too much money getting him an expedited here if he decided to run. You know, what does he have to lose If he's not an owner operator? He's already lost his job. You know whether he leased on or a company drive. So DA might say what does he have to lose? He may run.

Eugene: 17:13

Yeah, well, that's another thing, because the driver who told it as in all the media outlets they calling him the victim they said the victim went to stop at the loves and he's the one that reported it and that's when the police they went and found the guy. That was like dealing dealing a Valentine, something like that.

DePriest: 17:46

That's when they pound up the suspect. Uh-huh.

DePriest: 17:49

Yeah, yeah, I'm willing to bet you. I'm not trying to choose sides, but I've been in those situations where I've been on the highway and it's like drivers be trying swerving over on you because your truck only goes six to eight miles an hour and theirs go 75. So they get frustrated by traffic because they can't get around you and mad because you won't break your speed going up a hill because you're lighter than them, they're heavy, hitting you and then they start doing old craze and stuff swerving on you, just like we saw that guy doing that video there. You know, you could clearly see that. You know, like I said earlier, they been going back and forth but then just start because even in the article it said they pulled over to the side and the alleged victim is claiming he pulled off and the other driver chased them down. Right, I just can't take that at face value.

DePriest: 18:56

Due to my experience out there on the highway and I'm talking about most of us we're guilty on both sides of it. We start shit and we try to end shit. All of us are guilty on both sides. We all had those frustrating days where, if you didn't do nothing stupid you imagine. You know, we've all had those frustrating days. It's just that you have to keep in mind that just as well as your day is frustrated, someone else day is frustrated too. Just as well as you may want to do something because a person is aggravating you, that next person may be willing to actually do Right. You know, yeah, careful.

Eugene: 19:41

Yeah, that's so true. But you know a lot of guys. You know when, years ago, guys would get on the CB and they'd be talking to each other and they said man, go and pull over. You know they get in there and start talking and cussing each other out man, pull on over. And we're going to pull over right here. And you know they pull over on the side of the road and then you might have other truck drivers who've been listening for a half a minute of miles. They pull over with them so they can see a good fight. And sometimes they get into the truck stop and do it. Yeah, but you know, like you said, now you go into a fist fight to somebody who they you meet, and you're going to think you're having a fist fight and someone else bringing the gun to the fist fight. Right, you know so it ain't worth it. But either way, both of them could have avoided that situation by just minding their own business.

DePriest: 20:42

Right, right Now. If it was the case that that other driver lied and not either way to me they're both going to end up being wrong in the situation. But if it's the case where they pulled off and they restarted and that other driver was still Swerving on them and stuff like that, I mean I don't agree with it. But I can understand why he reacted the way he did. I can understand that, you know. I mean, he's only human. You know we can, we can act like, as I Will say this here it's easy to say what you won't do If you ain't even in the situation you get in there so.

DePriest: 21:27

I wouldn't do that. That was stupid Until you've been in that situation. Who know, could have had his kid in that truck with him.

Eugene: 21:38

You know, and as. I, as one of the police officers said also, you know they being that they had bullet holes. When he shot from that passenger side, he shot into the passenger side. There was also bullet holes in the driver's side door in the window.

Eugene: 21:58

When he shot into the to the victim's truck and he shot through the passenger window and it also bullets holes went through the driver's side window. And so what one of the officers was saying? They say you know, just because it shot through the window they don't stop traveling. You know, the bullets keep going. So, as we said before, they make their charge of him on the possibilities of what could have happened, even though no one was injured or killed, just the possibilities of what could have happened. What if those stray bullets hit northbound traffic? They were going southbound on 75 and the bullets could have gone into the northbound traffic and hit someone.

DePriest: 22:40

So do he have bullet holes in his truck.

Eugene: 22:43

I didn't hear them say anything about that, but I'm pretty sure they did. They say that the victim was shooting, where the victim, you know, admitted to shooting back, saying that he was in fear for his life. But I didn't hear them say anything about bullet holes or how many or whatever. Yeah, so.

DePriest: 23:06

So if you look at the video before he starts shooting at him, that that that driver was coming up on the left side of mm-hmm. You know I'm saying did you pay attention to that?

Eugene: 23:18

Well, yeah, I see him like he was about to pass him, but was it because that guy slowed down?

DePriest: 23:25

He was swerving on the man's. He passed him looking how close his trailer got to his one Right as he starts you, that dude has started swerving on him. Yeah, I see him. Like I don't know how much other of that video it is, but to me that looks like that was going back and forth before he starts you right, and that's Of course.

Eugene: 23:49

That was going on. They were going back and forth. That's what I would like to know. You know we winded tape a hour back, you know, 30 minutes prior to that, and what was going on? How long had they been going back and forth and everything. Right, that's gonna be the big part of the case right, which I'm pretty sure that's what they're gonna do, you know, when they're building a case right, right.

DePriest: 24:11

See, this is a media thing to put out the short clip because you know you got to have a Victim and you got to have a suspect. But, it wouldn't. Did the media know justice to get a lot of clicks on this Just by posting a whole video and showing the food deal? If the Sheriff Department gave them a full video, the Sheriff Department may have just cut it and just gave them that portion to justify their reason for arresting this guy. No.

DePriest: 24:42

But like I say when the DA reviews did, they might be coming back for that other driver too.

Eugene: 24:49

I'm pretty sure they would give them some time. They'll announce charges for him. It's saying that they looking for him right, right, right cuz he cuz.

DePriest: 24:57

If he did there, right there, like that was the start of the video. Look he coming in, swerving on. As he swerving on, he reached out the window star shoe, as if he was already expecting that driver to swerve on. You see what I'm saying. So to me it may the other driver truck may have been faster. Couldn't have been so if he was fast, he could easily avoid it, that situation.

Eugene: 25:25

Right yeah yeah, so either that truck was faster or this guy slowed down.

DePriest: 25:30

Well, that guy's slow down, but it like I said, you look at the video. You can see the white in the background, his trailer right up on the side of you know, but either way, they both was engaging with one another.

Eugene: 25:46

Right, but you know Huh, I say, yeah, that was for certain right, right, but see when you know.

DePriest: 25:54

So, like I say, I'm not Justifying anything, but this is one of them. If you in a truck going 65 miles now and you got a person that's in a truck going 75, 80 miles now when his truck would go that fast and he hell bent on starting shit, yeah, it's gotta do what you gotta do.

DePriest: 26:17

You know I mean, sometime you may have to suffer the consequences. Who's to say if he didn't do what he didn't do, that that dude wouldn't try to run him off the road for whatever reason they was pissed off at each other about? You know cuz he goes? Like I say my personal story. I've had many situations where I get on the CB like yeah, I, I pull on which, oh yeah, pull your head over. And then I see the pull over and I'm I'm ahead of you now so you know I'm not indulging in that.

DePriest: 26:50

You know I'm gonna catch me at the truck stop. What's witnesses it right?

Eugene: 26:56

Yeah, I'm sitting on the side of the road, yeah.

DePriest: 27:00

Yeah, I'm not indulging in no mess like that man. People, you know, like I say, people get hurt out there in the worst way, running up on people they don't know anything about. You don't know what this man going through. This man probably Called his house at at three o'clock in the morning, talk to his wife, and his brother picks up the phone. You know what this, what the next person's going through. So yeah you know, like I say, just just had to be careful.

Eugene: 27:31

Yeah, you do. That's one of them things. I'm sure what we know is a developing story, but we'll see how they play it out, if they're gonna have it available, you know, in the national Spotlight for all of us to see what's going on as they continue to come with more Information with this, because I would definitely like to know how this plays out.

DePriest: 27:58

Yeah, just have to keep track because he's something like that from what I see. See, that's a headline, big news truck driver shoots at another truck driver doing road rage. The media very rarely comes back with that same big headline Giving details on what happened. Right, you know, so you're not paying attention to you, you'll never see it, and you know. And it's unfortunate because you know, uh, people are already Developing their opinion about this guy Because they, looking at it from a simplified way, they don't know what happened. You know, I mean just you know, like I say he's wrong, but I think they both wrong.

Eugene: 28:47

Yeah.

DePriest: 28:48

I'm looking at the driver swerving, you know, and I'm speaking from the perspective of a driver, not the perspective of All that other. You know, I'm saying, you know, I look at things in a different way.

DePriest: 28:59

I'm looking at the perspective of a driver, and it's possible that you know that other driver was probably on some BS and probably got what he was looking for. Well, he got what he wasn't looking for, but he was looking for. That's the possibility. Yeah, you know, cuz I I've seen that crap too many times. I've even seen drivers pull over and in Block the whole highway because they into it with another drive mm-hmm stupid. Yeah absolutely stupid.

Eugene: 29:36

Yeah, a lot of guys. They get real bold on the CB, especially when they don't, when they feel like you don't know where they are right. Yeah, they get real balls on the CB and then they be those. Be the same guys when you hit the truck. Stop Opening the door for me. How you doing buddy. Yeah, after they just got ready, talking crazy on the CB right, right.

DePriest: 29:57

Well, you know, it's, it's, it's. It's kind of weird to some, but it make it, may make sense to others. Some people Feel like they win in a fight just by out talking you, over talking you or talking about you and getting under your skin. You know, I mean Guys like me. Call them cow.

DePriest: 30:21

Yeah that's just some people way. You know Something you just have to let roll off your skin and just understand. It's just talk, you know. So what if he call you a racial slur? He don't know you, don't know nothing about you, and then on top of that, he can't affect your bottom line by calling you that? I mean you just have to look at it in a more mature way.

DePriest: 30:42

I didn't look at it in a mature way when I was younger. It took me a while to get it, but I'm letting a lot of People not just drivers, people know you need to catch that while you're young, right now, because the times that we live in here now you don't get many second chance. Yeah, you know, to get it right, you know. I tell my kids that all the time, you know, try to be respectful, be able to notice a bad personality before you get too deeply involved with it To the point where you can't turn back. That's whether you're getting in a relationship with a woman or friendship or whatever. Just start noticing all the things that you may not, can't deal with and just find a way to minimize it or just delete it all together.

DePriest: 31:33

You know, right, I mean, life goes on, you know it does you know, some people call me cold because of the way I move. I just move in a way like this here I Try not to care about a whole lot of things that don't mean anything to me. Now I help anybody as long as they help me, but some but, but, but, like even with the help, when I start noticing that I'm getting shut down, I'll start watching them fall and I would know, you know.

DePriest: 32:01

I mean, it's just that you just have to know how to bag Officer people, especially when you're on the highway. You know, you know a lot of these people. I'm not even big on make you know, just being so open to try to make a lot of friends because you don't know who you're inviting into your bubble.

Eugene: 32:15

That's true.

DePriest: 32:16

You know so just how to be careful.

Eugene: 32:19

That's true. Yeah, so he's in the what they call the Marion County jail down in Florida, so I guess that's around Ocala. So I'm sure, yeah, so I'm sure that that the local media down here will have more on their story, you know, as it, as it unfolds. So anybody who want to know, try to keep track of that local media and see what's going on with this story as they come out with more information on it. Right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

DePriest: 32:48

but yeah, but that's all we want to really touch bases on gene. I just want to touch base on that. It hadn't really been a whole lot going on in the trucking industry, just been kind of like balanced out, same old, same old line and statistics about the rates and all that shit. You know. I mean, yeah, you know, you know, you know, but no note, no other major companies going out of being this other than what Convoy ain't gonna pay nobody money.

Eugene: 33:20

Well, I was gonna say that's why I was just about to talk about convoy. You know, flex port getting back started up as convoy, right? I think they already have right and they've already started a Onboarding new carriers right and a lot of the carriers who didn't get paid through convoy have on board it. I mean on board it back with flex port.

DePriest: 33:46

They have on board, yeah, so okay, they won't pull full.

Eugene: 33:50

Well, they're still gonna. They're signing back up with them.

DePriest: 33:53

Oh, not all. I thought you said they on board it.

Eugene: 33:56

Yeah, they're what they call it on boarding. You know I probably said it wrong, but I wasn't trying to say on board him up, but on board it and that's what they call it. When they're on, get your sign them on to uh, to sign, to run under there to run with them.

DePriest: 34:16

Right and so.

Eugene: 34:16

Flexport. All of the carriers who were running with a convoy have signed up to run with Flexport. Not all of them, but of quite a few of them have I probably kept the same name.

Eugene: 34:30

Uh, they may have, but they, they, they called in the Flexport, um, and they said they started up as as Flexport, the, the article that I was reading. It was talking about, uh, Flexport getting started and maybe they are going to keep that same name as convoy, but, um, they're, they're, they're in articles that I was reading. You said what I said. The article that I was reading they, they, they had kept saying Flexport.

DePriest: 35:03

Yeah, flexport is the owner, but they said it was going to open up as convoy. Uh, I don't know what I'm saying, but but the way it was looking at me like they was going to have the Flexport name involved in it.

Eugene: 35:15

So yeah, yeah.

DePriest: 35:18

And see they, website is back up.

Eugene: 35:23

Uh convoys.

DePriest: 35:24

Yeah, okay, cause their website was down in one time, right.

Eugene: 35:30

I had never gone on it on their website.

DePriest: 35:32

No, I'm talking about from the last report. We did them, them, them report there. Uh, they had shut down a website that drivers couldn't get access.

Eugene: 35:40

Right, they, they did do that.

DePriest: 35:43

Uh huh, yeah, I'm looking at their website now and they got uh and they just say convo and they got it. Where you can uh, go ahead on here and sign on and everything.

DePriest: 35:58

Okay, hey what it got on here where you got to download the app. If you're a carrier and if you're a broker that got in here, you uh. Well, it says available soon. The convo platform will be available to new brokers account in the near future. Provide your contact details below to be notified when access is available. So, the broker part. They hadn't started onboarding any new brokers yet, but it looked like they own board and carriers and they doing it under the convo name. Okay, yeah, so they keeping the name. They just didn't want to uh deal with the debt. And so you know, and uh, what, what? What was the name of that? Uh, the bank that they was using? Was it Bench?

Eugene: 36:48

Uh, was it? Was it IKEA? Let me see. No, our key was a firm.

DePriest: 36:54

It was a financial company that was associated with venture capital. Oh, I want to say it was gorilla capital or something like that, but uh, they the ones that sold the software to Flexport and they pretty much put out a statement.

DePriest: 37:12

They said uh, carriers need to get with their factory and company to uh to uh retrieve their money. Now my thing is what this here is that uh, I hope it wasn't a lot of trucking companies using their factory and companies with a company like convo, because you could have you know what I'm saying got your money directly through convo through their quick pay system. You didn't have to sign on with their factory and team to get paid. They had a quick pay system in place where you could just directly submit your invoices to them. Now you do have some factory companies that uh want to want to own all your invoices, but but I never dealt with them because to me I you know I didn't want to deal with it.

Eugene: 38:07

No, that it makes no sense. Then away, Right, Right Now. What now were you talking about? Uh, Hercules, capital.

DePriest: 38:14

Hercules capital. That's the name of the uh, the financial institution that uh took over a convo as assets and foreclosure. Right, Okay, yeah, and they, but they never said how much they sold the software to Flexport for.

Eugene: 38:36

No, they didn't.

DePriest: 38:40

So, uh, flexport wouldn't technically be on the hook for the debt, but I don't understand how they still able to keep the same name, though you know. So, like I said, I don't know. But but back to you know about ways to get, get, get their money. Uh, I think it was transport topic or overdrive online. They had reported this, but uh, so what they trying to do now? They trying to get together and go after the shippers for payment, but see, I remember seeing something like that Right, and that's probably where you got Ikea from, because Ikea is one of the shippers.

DePriest: 39:21

That's one of the big names shippers that they're planning on going after, cause one of them carriers were old over a hundred thousand dollars, yeah.

Eugene: 39:31

Uh, one carrier said he was old like 500,000.

DePriest: 39:35

Okay, it was 500,000.

Eugene: 39:36

Yeah, yeah.

DePriest: 39:38

He had dedicated the majority of his trucks to that contract freight. Uh right.

Eugene: 39:44

A lot of those guys who lost a lot of money were running pretty much contract freight, dedicated contract freight. Hmm. They said one of the carriers left unpaid by convoy and now tied up in the. No, I'm I'm misread it, but it's a $519,000 lawsuit against convoy Uh with former convoy customer Ikea.

DePriest: 40:12

So Ikea is suing convoy.

Eugene: 40:15

That's what appears to be. Yeah, claims convo left it unpaid on a hundred and sixty thousand dollars worth of invoices back in October. And and shoot, that's a hundred and sixty thousand this guy would have. Uh, he had eight trucks out of Illinois. What do you mean?

DePriest: 40:33

Is Ikea a shipper or a truck and come.

Eugene: 40:36

Ikea is supposed to be a shipper, but I think this, uh Ikea was was suing convo. Let me see the name of this truck and company was called Eagle. Uh Radivish Right. And they were old.

DePriest: 40:54

So are they suing Ikea.

Eugene: 40:58

Uh, no, to me, what, what? What I'm getting from this is they that they're suing convoy with. Let me read this Hold on In the mix so one of the one of the carriers, eagle Radivish, left unpaid by convoy and now tied up in the $519,000 lawsuit with former with former convoy customer, ikea, okay so so it's like they're all together suing against convoy Claims convo left it unpaid.

DePriest: 41:32

Right, but you know, uh like what would come for older shipper, unless they didn't deliver they freight. I thought they cleared out all the freight.

Eugene: 41:46

They didn't say that in an article why they were suing them.

DePriest: 41:48

Yeah, I think they got that mixed up because what I had read it? What, what, who, who you reading it from? What's the source?

Eugene: 41:56

This is, uh, this is a overdrive online.

DePriest: 41:58

Yeah, this overdrive online article that came out, uh, today actually, yeah, Cause I know they had named the list of shippers and Ikea was one of the shipper that they got this lawyer Uh damn something banked on the board, bankruptcy.

DePriest: 42:19

It started with a uh, it's, it's a law firm that specialized in debt collection, okay, and they made the statement that that, uh, they was going to get with the drivers to to go after all, the shippers that convoy was associated with, and Ikea was one of the name and I think general mill catalogs to, I believe. Okay.

DePriest: 42:44

Well, some of the names that they was going to include in the lawsuit. Hmm, so that may be what they mean by when they say tied up in a lawsuit. They may be compiling convoy and all the shippers that they was doing business with and trying to bring them all in in a lawsuit for the driver to get that money and the five hundred some thousand dollars probably told enough to how much they owe the drivers. This in the lawsuit. That's involved in the lawsuit.

DePriest: 43:13

Yeah, Now what did they say about the hundred and sixty thousand dollars with Ikea? I thought you said something about that.

Eugene: 43:19

Uh, that was talking about one trucking company. Was old, about a hundred and sixty thousand.

DePriest: 43:25

Oh, okay, cause when you said it first, you said something about Ikea in the hundred and sixty dollars.

Eugene: 43:31

Well, they were putting them together. They said five hundred nineteen thousand dollars lawsuit with former convoy customer Ikea, and so, um, and what's owed to this guy is what he was saying was a hundred and sixty thousand dollars that was left unpaid.

DePriest: 43:50

Right, yeah, that's one of the gap that went out of business behind that.

Eugene: 43:56

Uh, it didn't say he went out of business. Uh, actually they say he signed back up to run with them. Uh, recently, hey, he said he had to shut a couple of his trucks down, but he's signed up to run with them.

DePriest: 44:11

Well, he don't have any trust issue. All right, I don't know. I just can't see myself doing that. I can't see myself, you know, working back with a company. You know that owe me money, you know not like that, especially that much money.

DePriest: 44:29

Right, yeah, not like that One, you know. Uh, when we read, well, when I read the article a couple of weeks ago and all this was unfolding, it, it, it did a compare of it, cause I think one guy was old six hundred and something and another one was old a hundred and some over a hundred, some thousand, and he went out of business. Well, I'm gonna say he that company had went out of business and said dead in the article. So this must be another guy, or it could have been the same guy that was misquoted in the first article.

Eugene: 45:04

Okay, yeah, cause he's running dedicated freight and he's running loads every day with those eight trucks. Kept those eight trucks busy, I'm sure he was.

DePriest: 45:17

Every day. Yeah, I'm on low, low, low, low rate, as those they had a down the contract deal.

Eugene: 45:28

Yeah, they say, even though what one of the guys was saying, even though the rates weren't great, it was a lot of consistent high volume freight and it was better than running the low. The spot market yeah, they run in the spot market trying to put stuff together. He was able to stay consistent and he was running kind of local Right. So, so that's what one of them said made sense for them to just come on back. Hopefully he get his money back.

DePriest: 46:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 160 grand. And you say he only had eight trucks.

Eugene: 46:09

That's what they say. He had eight trucks running, so I don't know how long was he running for him to be missing out on 160,000.

DePriest: 46:19

That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Eugene: 46:21

I don't see that, I didn't see that in there, with how long he was running before he realized, okay, we can't, we got to shut it down. How long was he not getting paid his money?

DePriest: 46:36

Well, he's what I don't see in there. He used to be accumulated in 30 days if he was running every day, like he said. Yeah. You know that, that that could easily be accumulated. No, but see that that wasn't my question. My question was you know you got truck, you know you got guys who got got put out. You know they had more trucks than that.

Eugene: 47:01

Yeah.

DePriest: 47:02

I put out a commission with a loss of less than that.

Eugene: 47:05

Yeah, I'm saying that.

DePriest: 47:07

Yeah, I'm saying so, that's you know. Now he may have not have had a lot of debt or other than his drivers, but I don't know what he was paying his drivers, but that would have put a hurt on that. He just had some drivers. That's cool, like that, which I doubted that they wouldn't wait on their money with him.

Eugene: 47:32

Unless he was, unless he was paying them up front, no matter what.

DePriest: 47:37

Yeah, but unless he has some other kind of money in reserve, he must have a good amount of money in reserves to be able to take a hit like that. It's almost $200,000. Yeah.

DePriest: 47:49

And you still got taxes to pay and you ain't got the 800. I mean, you ain't got eight trucks rolling. That math ain't math to me. I'm sorry it just you know I'm. You know I'm a mathematical person. Right now that article is saying two plus two equals five, and they ain't stupid like that, you know. So I don't know what that is. That I, you know. I can see him saying he had 20 trucks running and he had to shut 12 of them down. I could see that.

Eugene: 48:21

Yeah.

DePriest: 48:21

He may have kept eight loyal drivers with him. You know what I mean, or something like that, and in most cases those are probably going to be family members who had the same ambition and aspirations as you do. The reason why they're going to hang tough with you like that, and you know, and they probably listen to each other and work with each other and got their money in order. But you know that's a hit. You know big time.

Eugene: 48:50

That's a big one. Yeah, it's a big one.

DePriest: 48:52

You know, especially if you got on the operator. So let's say, unless he just had some loyal guys, I don't see how that math is math and they would have to be real loyal.

Eugene: 49:06

Yeah.

DePriest: 49:09

You know, I don't know man, more power to him. You know, I hope it does work out for him like that where he could build back up. But you know, like I said, man, that's a, that's a hundred and six thousand dollars hit, and then on top of that, you know, what has he been doing all this time?

DePriest: 49:26

Maybe he have been trying to keep busy you know to try to try to recoup some of that money. But I don't know. You know that's a lot of money and that's a lot of shit. Man, that's a lot of your time you dedicate to come for a manager. My experience will come what they just like I don't know how flicks for this plant pan I mean playing it but they probably pan a little more and probably got more opportunities. Since they do specialize in air and a modal. They probably got more power, power only, opportunities geared toward that.

Eugene: 50:06

Yeah.

DePriest: 50:07

You know that. You know that could probably make up for a lot of that stuff. So we're going to see how it play out.

Eugene: 50:14

Yeah, because I know a lot of guys who did. I knew one guy in particular out of Atlanta. He did a convoy. A lot, A lot of his lows with convoy or maybe CH Robinson, you know, but I never really. They had a few lows that I liked when I had my authority but they weren't my number one source right for loads, Right.

DePriest: 50:39

Yeah, yeah, they. They were like in my top four when I when I first came out in 2018, they had some pretty good lows running out from Memphis to Texas. You know Memphis up north. You know to like Ella Norris, they had some good paying lows. Then them, them and Uber all of them had good paying lows. It's just that they started dropping. They race way before the pandemic. Yeah.

DePriest: 51:09

They started dropping. They were raised way before the pandemic we started seeing and I'm talking about before the pandemic. We started seeing lows from Memphis to Jolietta. Ella Norris dropped from 1800 to to eventually down to about $1,000 and those before the pandemic they were doing that yeah. Yeah.

DePriest: 51:32

So I don't know, maybe Flexport coming in with a new way, maybe they are up to rates and you know and made it more profitable. You know anybody who catch this video, drop it in the comments and let us know. It's a convoy paying more now with a new owner. Was it about the same?

Eugene: 51:50

Yeah, That'd be interesting to know.

DePriest: 51:55

Yeah, yeah, cause right now they got the. I I think you know they got the, they got the, they got the. The way I read the article, the way it sound, it sounds like they're going to be taking on all the drivers that they've been working with, sound like they're going to be taking them on first, as well as the brokers that they've been working with.

DePriest: 52:16

Then they're going to start pulling more in. You know, maybe they trying to build their book back up, their book of customers. You know, with these lawsuits going on, there may be some trust issues there. But who knows? We hadn't looked into who, who who the shareholders are in Flexport. I'm not thinking of it. I believe I did. I think I can't think of the guy named, but I think they got like a sole owner. They may be probably on.

Eugene: 52:46

Flexport Okay.

DePriest: 52:47

Flexport may be a probably own company I have to go back and look but if it's a public company it's not going to be a problem with him getting that trust back with the other shippers because the same shareholders in that company probably going to be shareholders with Ikea, general Mills, home Depot and so forth. So it wouldn't be no problem with them building a book back. But if he a private owner it may be a little bit more of a challenge. Yeah, you know for him to make sure he getting all those customers back.

Eugene: 53:21

Yeah, I can see that.

DePriest: 53:22

Yeah, I can see, because I'm pretty sure they want to make sure they got some, some companies in position to move the freight before they start. You know, promising a lot to the, to the shipper, yeah.

Eugene: 53:38

Cause at one point I want to say, a convoy had like 50,000 carriers on boarded with them, some like that.

DePriest: 53:49

I can't remember how many. It may be more than that. Okay.

DePriest: 53:55

It may have, but I can't remember on top of my head I would have to look that up, yeah. So hopefully everything worked out for the drivers who came up short. I got a feeling and I hope I'm wrong I got a feeling that they're going to spend this off so much that it's probably going to become too expensive to the law, to the law firm that's putting this in play, that they're probably not going to follow through with it because they're going. Because you know, Hercules already said we paid the factory company and we ain't paying nothing now. And and if Hercules took over all of a convoys assets, as well as their debt, because they're they help, funded them, I think they gave them like a hundred million dollars alone not long before they actually went out of business. So if they owned all the assets, surely they owned all the debt. And if they owned all the debt, whatever shipper that old convoy better believe they recoup that money.

DePriest: 55:12

And if those shippers have already paid, they're not going to pay again. Right, and if, if, if? Hercules has already said we paid the factory company and I know personally factory companies don't always do a great job on keeping up with their books. Yeah. Because they put drivers through so much about getting their money, because they pay you within 24 to 72 hours. So it's money out there in the air, just tied up. So I don't know, I don't know how that's going to play out.

Eugene: 55:49

Sure, we definitely going to see. Yeah, yeah, we definitely going to see, cause, like I said, they they getting everybody signed up right now and we'll see what type of customers that they have. Cause most of the guys who were coming back said they were coming back because they it really ain't much going on right now and they liked the fact the way, how easy and simple the app was for them to play. So they says the app is still easy and simple for some of the guys who signed up.

DePriest: 56:20

Right, I'm pretty sure they kept the same format, cause you know they wanted to buy a convo software anyway and I think when the owner of convo was shopping it around, I think the most he got offered was like 50 million, which wouldn't cover that hundred million dollar debt that he owed her to leave. Okay, you know, to be continued, yeah, we'll see. Yeah, until next time, bye.