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I had many friends at CF.
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CF Labor Day 2002
- Thread starter Dockworker
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another labor day is about here on us once more 8 years now. in the 8 years we had 3 to pass on two t/o and one city and the ones that is left we see very little or talk to each other. time moves on but you never forget that day and i sure don't forget that other company.
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Worked for CF Bulk Commodities and Clark Farnsworth (mostly flatbeds and lo boys) out of Martinez, CA (SF Bay Area) from 67 through 71. Wonder if anybody remembers those divisions. I see on some pages of this CF forum that there was a CF Tankers. Incidentally there's an old CF bulk commodities wrapped semi moldering away here in Anchorage.
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You're welcome.
I have a bunch of old CF friends...some have moved on to other occupations.
I still see a few of the trailers spotted at various customer locations, all being used as storage trailers. (still have the logo and trailer numbers on them) Sad but humbling.
Cornbinder
Steering wheel holder
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It still ****'es me off when I read or hear on how the CF folk's were F_ _
_ _ d over, and see Conway now CF running down the highway.I still can't understand how management legally got away with it.CF/Conway
There are probably a lot of reasons for the demise of CF. (Incidentally, the Clark Farnsworth that I referred to in my prior post was the heavy haul/flatbed division of CF; it Clark Farnsworth was headquartered in China Basin in San Francisco but answered to Menlo Park -- our checks were standard CF payroll checks.) Several reasons come to mind:
1. The decline of union power
2. The end of regulation
3. The standard problem of most transportation modes, in general there is overcapacity (at least that's what I learned from a class from the American Society of Transportation and Logistics).
I don't know if investors got hurt by the CF bankruptcy and demise. For sure a lot of working stiffs got hurt. When the bankruptcy occurred I wasn't a trucker so was not affected to any appreciable degree. It seems that wiser heads, especially driver-type wiser heads should analyze the CF problems and demise and contrast these things with the current problems in the industry, particularly in the LTL carriers, e.g. Yellow-Roadway.
Whether or not there is an entity capable of analyzing these things and perhaps drawing lessons from them is beyond me. But should some group exist or be formed and I can add to its work product, count me in.
All the best, Don
There are probably a lot of reasons for the demise of CF. (Incidentally, the Clark Farnsworth that I referred to in my prior post was the heavy haul/flatbed division of CF; it Clark Farnsworth was headquartered in China Basin in San Francisco but answered to Menlo Park -- our checks were standard CF payroll checks.) Several reasons come to mind:
1. The decline of union power
2. The end of regulation
3. The standard problem of most transportation modes, in general there is overcapacity (at least that's what I learned from a class from the American Society of Transportation and Logistics).
I don't know if investors got hurt by the CF bankruptcy and demise. For sure a lot of working stiffs got hurt. When the bankruptcy occurred I wasn't a trucker so was not affected to any appreciable degree. It seems that wiser heads, especially driver-type wiser heads should analyze the CF problems and demise and contrast these things with the current problems in the industry, particularly in the LTL carriers, e.g. Yellow-Roadway.
Whether or not there is an entity capable of analyzing these things and perhaps drawing lessons from them is beyond me. But should some group exist or be formed and I can add to its work product, count me in.
All the best, Don
the best way to find out about our demise is get you hands on the book never stand still. i just wish i had on to keep going back to sometimes. things that went on after 1982 will make you shake your head. and out great union leader at the 90s the late Ron Cary did help us any. all I can say is get your hand on that book and read read read.
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Last time I checked, that book was impossible to find. You can probably snag it off Ebay for a primo price or from an unsuspecting seller who sells it dirt cheap.
I found the book to be very informative.
Never Stand Still
The book is on Amazon. For a new edition, it's $70 and for a used edition it's $50. Think I'll check the local library first.
Not sure that the demise of CF is attributable to operations at lest for the tankers and flatbed/heavy haul operations. As I recall the tanker (more properly, Bulk Commodities) division was efficient as hell when I worked there. We ran teams mostly up and down the Pacific Coast out of our terminal in Martinez (originally it was in San Pablo or Richmond when CF bought Conyers (don't recall the spelling) tank outfit). Rarely did we run light and rarely did we lay over at any of the terminals in Long Beach, Portland, or Seattle.
There were some CF tankers in or around Montana but I cannot recall working with them. Tankers were welcome in the freight terminals for fuel and like stuff but the nature of the operations were so different that we didn't know many of the LTL guys or management.
I recall that CF sold its bulk commodities division to Matlack in the 1970s, several years after I quit and became a City of Richmond firefighter. CF relocated the Martinez tank operation to Richmond at the old P.I.E. tanker terminal (which might have been a CF terminal at one time). The Clark Farnsworth (i.e. CF flatbed and lowboy operation) did not appear to have been bought by Matlack as I used to go by the old place (even worked there briefly when the Richmond terminal was the P.I.E. terminal) when I was a firefighter.
Better go and retrieve my Jeep from an old girlfriend (never did see her in 20 days -- she got sick and returned to FL) and then head to Big Lake and work on the cabin.
Don't recall how it is down there in America. But, do wives encourage you guys to get a place out in the woods? I fell into that trap. We think the wives are the greatest gals on earth when they promote such a great idea -- think of all the fishing, hunting, beer drinking, etc. Of course the reality is that these places that are supposed to put us in touch with manly virtues and all that blab become projects -- never ending projects. The wives get rid of us but know that we don't have time to hunt, fish, drink beer, chase women, much less talk about those great activities. The "C" in "cabin" or "cottage" stands for "control" and little else.
All the best, Sourdough Don
The book is on Amazon. For a new edition, it's $70 and for a used edition it's $50. Think I'll check the local library first.
Not sure that the demise of CF is attributable to operations at lest for the tankers and flatbed/heavy haul operations. As I recall the tanker (more properly, Bulk Commodities) division was efficient as hell when I worked there. We ran teams mostly up and down the Pacific Coast out of our terminal in Martinez (originally it was in San Pablo or Richmond when CF bought Conyers (don't recall the spelling) tank outfit). Rarely did we run light and rarely did we lay over at any of the terminals in Long Beach, Portland, or Seattle.
There were some CF tankers in or around Montana but I cannot recall working with them. Tankers were welcome in the freight terminals for fuel and like stuff but the nature of the operations were so different that we didn't know many of the LTL guys or management.
I recall that CF sold its bulk commodities division to Matlack in the 1970s, several years after I quit and became a City of Richmond firefighter. CF relocated the Martinez tank operation to Richmond at the old P.I.E. tanker terminal (which might have been a CF terminal at one time). The Clark Farnsworth (i.e. CF flatbed and lowboy operation) did not appear to have been bought by Matlack as I used to go by the old place (even worked there briefly when the Richmond terminal was the P.I.E. terminal) when I was a firefighter.
Better go and retrieve my Jeep from an old girlfriend (never did see her in 20 days -- she got sick and returned to FL) and then head to Big Lake and work on the cabin.
Don't recall how it is down there in America. But, do wives encourage you guys to get a place out in the woods? I fell into that trap. We think the wives are the greatest gals on earth when they promote such a great idea -- think of all the fishing, hunting, beer drinking, etc. Of course the reality is that these places that are supposed to put us in touch with manly virtues and all that blab become projects -- never ending projects. The wives get rid of us but know that we don't have time to hunt, fish, drink beer, chase women, much less talk about those great activities. The "C" in "cabin" or "cottage" stands for "control" and little else.
All the best, Sourdough Don
