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ABF | ABF Employees Reject Strike In Regional Vote!

nothumbleenough said:
This management team and company philosophy are not any different than it was 10 years ago when they consistently had low 90's operating ratios. The difference is our competion and how the lack of higher cost union labor has disappeared and therefore made profit more difficult.

This contract will bring roughly 25-50 million more in profit annually. That isn't a lot considering its a 2 billion dollar revenue company. Old D and Fed Ex make much higher levels of profit. Lastly, seems like eventually (not necessarily under the current congress) the multi employer pension laws will be changed. My best guess but at best this is a shot in the dark, the company will save an additional 20 to 40 million in their annual pension contributions that are north of 120 million currently. This will not make them the leader say in the image of Old D but it will make them an absolutely relevant and profitable company within the Ltl industry.
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So you think this contract is just enough to keep the company profitable? I think the company is profitable now and this is just a way for management to increase their wages. What I see isABF robbing employees to pay manager (as the proverb go’s).
 
Homesick

How are we profitable, when we don't have enough to replace the road fleet and improve the city fleet. Profitable is more than making a dollar, it means having the resources for capital investment which has been very low in last couple years.
 
Pulled Both Ways said:
Homesick

How are we profitable, when we don't have enough to replace the road fleet and improve the city fleet. Profitable is more than making a dollar, it means having the resources for capital investment which has been very low in last couple years.
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Couldent be that low they bought panther & that moving company in Texas ....
 
GO40 said:
Couldent be that low they bought panther & that moving company in Texas ....
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My thoughts exactly. But I have to admit that those are investments and they will improve the bottom line. Still a capital expenditure.
 
This is the first time I can remember that no new equipment was bought except during the Carolina/Worldway acquisition & that was because Carolina was adding new Internationals at the time of the purchase. It takes three years to renew the fleet when a year is skipped & that is very costly.
 
DCM_Doc said:
This is the first time I can remember that no new equipment was bought except during the Carolina/Worldway acquisition & that was because Carolina was adding new Internationals at the time of the purchase. It takes three years to renew the fleet when a year is skipped & that is very costly.
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Do you think they over spend during this rough economic period?
 
Pulled Both Ways said:
Homesick

How are we profitable, when we don't have enough to replace the road fleet and improve the city fleet. Profitable is more than making a dollar, it means having the resources for capital investment which has been very low in last couple years.
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All they need to do now is kill the a/c in the units -cut the power steering and run up the mileage to around three or four million miles and have people accuse you of stealing time and it would be just like working at The BIG R all over again !!! WOO-HOOO !!!
 
bad slavin said:
All they need to do now is kill the a/c in the units -cut the power steering and run up the mileage to around three or four million miles and have people accuse you of stealing time and it would be just like working at The BIG R all over again !!! WOO-HOOO !!!
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I never worked for the big "R" but that is exactly what I was thinking. I heard so many stories about how horrible they were to work for that I even began to believe them and it looks like we're headed in that direction. At least with the contract language we have that will permit and promote that style of management. The big question I have is how did you guys go to work in that environment and still give they company 100%? I would expect that type of management to ruin the morale of the work force.
 
Pulled Both Ways said:
Homesick

How are we profitable, when we don't have enough to replace the road fleet and improve the city fleet. Profitable is more than making a dollar, it means having the resources for capital investment which has been very low in last couple years.
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You ask how we are profitable and I say because ABC showed a small loss last year but they over paid there taxes by 31 million dollars. Listen to the conference call for the first quarter of this year and you will hear Judy say ABC forgot to take the “alternative fuel” tax credit for 2012. That tax credit is worth $31 million and it will be taken in the year 2013.

And you are correct that profitable is making more than a dollar but it does not mean to have the resources for capital investment. Just because you (personally) choose not to buy a new and expensive vehicle every year does not mean you are not profitable. And so just because ABF does not choose to invest their profits in what YOU think they should does not make them unprofitable. Consider Lean Production.

And finally, if you want to know how ABF is profitable, look at the amount of debt they are incurring. Just like you, me, and everyone else who reads this post if you can’t support yourself you start incurring or increasing debt.

So Pulled, my question to you is how much debt has ABC incurred or increased in the last two years? And what did they do with the $$money?
 
GO40 said:
Do you think they over spend during this rough economic period?
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I am not sure I understand your question. I don't think the company overspent on anything. I do know that when a company tries to cut expenses by neglecting maintenance & not renewing the fleet they are in trouble. Every company ABF has bought had worn out equipment. A company that doesn't invest for the long term won't last long. Also a company must have growth to survive. That applies to every business not just the trucking industry.
 
DCM_Doc said:
I am not sure I understand your question. I don't think the company overspent on anything. I do know that when a company tries to cut expenses by neglecting maintenance & not renewing the fleet they are in trouble. Every company ABF has bought had worn out equipment. A company that doesn't invest for the long term won't last long. Also a company must have growth to survive. That applies to every business not just the trucking industry.
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I understand the need for growth, what I'm saying maybe the dident need to purchase that moving company if it was going to affect equipment purchase .....
 
Homesick said:
You ask how we are profitable and I say because ABC showed a small loss last year but they over paid there taxes by 31 million dollars. Listen to the conference call for the first quarter of this year and you will hear Judy say ABC forgot to take the “alternative fuel” tax credit for 2012. That tax credit is worth $31 million and it will be taken in the year 2013.

And you are correct that profitable is making more than a dollar but it does not mean to have the resources for capital investment. Just because you (personally) choose not to buy a new and expensive vehicle every year does not mean you are not profitable. And so just because ABF does not choose to invest their profits in what YOU think they should does not make them unprofitable. Consider Lean Production.

And finally, if you want to know how ABF is profitable, look at the amount of debt they are incurring. Just like you, me, and everyone else who reads this post if you can’t support yourself you start incurring or increasing debt.

So Pulled, my question to you is how much debt has ABC incurred or increased in the last two years? And what did they do with the $$money?
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Homesick, if you are going to talk specifics at least get facts right.

The alternative fuel tax was not signed into law until 2013, but was retroactive back to 2012; therefore you can't take it unit 2013. The amount of credit was closer to 2 mm not 31mm. I know that no one forgot to take the credit.

Company's need to use debt leverage and if you are given the chance to finance purchases at good rates to preserve cash, then you do it. Most company's use debt leveraging. The recent debt was used for acquisitions and 2012 purchases of equipment per the annual report.

I still stand on the fact that if we can't replace our working fleet in the industry that we are in, we are not being profitable. Company like ABF must make equipment purchases. Also sometimes if you can't support yourself or you do not know where a contract will lead, you chose to not purchase equipment and hope for better days.

Hopefully, ABF will now have the resources to get the best equipment into the worker's hands.
 
GO40 said:
I understand the need for growth, what I'm saying maybe the dident need to purchase that moving company if it was going to affect equipment purchase .....
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The moving company was in 2010 or 2011 before the contract issue and the price paid was nothing compared to the normal amount of CAPEX spent to renew equipment.
 
Pulled Both Ways said:
Homesick, if you are going to talk specifics at least get facts right.

The alternative fuel tax was not signed into law until 2013, but was retroactive back to 2012; therefore you can't take it unit 2013. The amount of credit was closer to 2 mm not 31mm. I know that no one forgot to take the credit.

Company's need to use debt leverage and if you are given the chance to finance purchases at good rates to preserve cash, then you do it. Most company's use debt leveraging. The recent debt was used for acquisitions and 2012 purchases of equipment per the annual report.

I still stand on the fact that if we can't replace our working fleet in the industry that we are in, we are not being profitable. Company like ABF must make equipment purchases. Also sometimes if you can't support yourself or you do not know where a contract will lead, you chose to not purchase equipment and hope for better days.

Hopefully, ABF will now have the resources to get the best equipment into the worker's hands.
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Just so I am clear on this, you are stating that ABC over paid their taxes in 2012? You are giving a reason for them doing it, but you are stating that ABC over paid their taxes in 2012?
 
Pulled Both Ways said:
Homesick, if you are going to talk specifics at least get facts right.

The alternative fuel tax was not signed into law until 2013, but was retroactive back to 2012; therefore you can't take it unit 2013. The amount of credit was closer to 2 mm not 31mm. I know that no one forgot to take the credit.

Company's need to use debt leverage and if you are given the chance to finance purchases at good rates to preserve cash, then you do it. Most company's use debt leveraging. The recent debt was used for acquisitions and 2012 purchases of equipment per the annual report.

I still stand on the fact that if we can't replace our working fleet in the industry that we are in, we are not being profitable. Company like ABF must make equipment purchases. Also sometimes if you can't support yourself or you do not know where a contract will lead, you chose to not purchase equipment and hope for better days.

Hopefully, ABF will now have the resources to get the best equipment into the worker's hands.
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Pulled, I understand debt leveraging and I agree that if a company can get rates that are less than what they could make in production, then it is a great idea to leverage an asset and profit from the difference between what the asset makes and the cost of that asset. That is a great way to build a company. What I don’t understand is why a company would borrow money in order to pay dividends? ABC paid out over $3mm in dividends each year during the economic down turn. And they did it while losing money and then had to borrow additional funds to purchase Panther. So my question is; why would ABC continue to pay dividends while loosing money?
 
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