BREAKING NEWS: MacKinnon Transport files NOI; Laidlaw to take over van line

Didn't MacKinnon just hire Dan Matthews about 2 months ago as VP of ops or something?
Hmmm, ex CONTRANS guy, then months later Laidlaw taking over MacKinnons van division?
Interesting coincidence?
 
If anyone knows any of their van drivers I would hire 10 or 15 of them immediately and pay a pretty good finders fee for them also.
 
Wonder what will happen with the flatbed division. Just finished doing 2 loads for them at MY rates. HMMMM...how long before I get paid!!!!
:mad:
 
Everything makes sense now as they were phoning here on a regular basis looking for flatbeds for outbound freight. Thought it was odd as they have a yard full and didn't take anything because they are very slow @ paying when things are good.
 
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Hopefully they can turn it around. They try hard and have a good rep in the industry. Perhaps they over extended themselves with the LE Walker purchase, and the economy sure hasn't helped matters.
 
Anybody who is owed money will probably not see a dime our great system allows them to screw everyone and then continue on in business.......what a wonderful world.
 
Freight Broker said:
Hopefully they can turn it around. They try hard and have a good rep in the industry. Perhaps they over extended themselves with the LE Walker purchase, and the economy sure hasn't helped matters.
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I really hope this is a joke let them sink! Over extended what in the Walker deal they bankrupted it after taking all the freight and drivers!!

Let them sink why should they be able to screw all the hard working Mom and Pop's but continue to run.
 
Not a joke...in business sometimes bad things happen to good people. I don't think they set out to scam anyone, and bankrupcy protection, if indeed it goes that way, is a legitimate way to restructure and hopefully move forward. Who knows, maybe you too will find yourself in dire straits one day, and then what? We've all made bad decisions at some point...we've all had bad luck too. And we all think we're so smart and can avoid every pitfall, but trust me, there are many things beyond our direct control that can come out of the woodwork and bite us big time. Not saying that they haven't made some poor decisions that led to this, but I don't think they purposely set out to hurt anyone.
 
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I read the story. Looks like Contrans wants all the drivers to stay on ... they'll just be relabeled as Laidlaw Van.

Mackinnon was always a good carrier, but notoriously slow for billing things out, which explains why they pay slow too. You'd think they would have gotten their act together years ago but not to be.

I don't think it was the Walker takeover that sunk them ... I was surprised it even happened. I thought Mackinnon would go down before Walker.
 
What to do

There must be a bunch of carriers out there that got shafted, noting the carrier that took flatbed loads, while McKinnons equipment was parked in the yard.

This is very important to note!!!!

Did they not have the money for fuel ? Then where would the money come from to pay said Carriers.

I would suggest that any party that is owed a lot contact a lawyer and freeze the funds in that trust account they should have to pay carriers, and pronto!!!!
 
Ah, the trust fund. It will be interesting to see if MacKinnon has one in place. Although they are (were) a carrier, once they started brokering freight to others, they would have to abide by the regulations in the Highway Traffic Act pertaining to freight brokering. Most probably, they were co-mingling the receivables in their general account and not setting aside the funds owed to their "carrier partners". Great point Alx, anyone owed money should start the process by making a claim against the trust account right away.
 
Freight Broker said:
Not a joke...in business sometimes bad things happen to good people. I don't think they set out to scam anyone, and bankrupcy protection, if indeed it goes that way, is a legitimate way to restructure and hopefully move forward. Who knows, maybe you too will find yourself in dire straits one day, and then what? We've all made bad decisions at some point...we've all had bad luck too. And we all think we're so smart and can avoid every pitfall, but trust me, there are many things beyond our direct control that can come out of the woodwork and bite us big time. Not saying that they haven't made some poor decisions that led to this, but I don't think they purposely set out to hurt anyone.
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Well said FB. After 50-60 years its hard to believe that any business would intentially shut it down. The McKinnon family are good people. It's easy to sit back and slam but no one is bullet proof these days.
 
whatiship said:
Well said FB. After 50-60 years its hard to believe that any business would intentially shut it down. The McKinnon family are good people. It's easy to sit back and slam but no one is bullet proof these days.
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Whoa I never said the Mackinnon,s weren't good people. I said that alot of other good people where gonna get screwed in this mess and MacKinnon will get to move on. I just heard of one company that is owed $180,000 by them. It is ok for that to happen but Mackinnon can carry on. I dont think so the system is flawed.

As far as the 50-60 years they owned Walker for 50-60 days and shut it down if you don't think that was a dirty deal then..

Yes bad things can happen to anyone and lots of people have had a real rough go the last couple years ourselves included but to say the poor Mackinnons and screw what 1000 other carriers suppliers etc is bulls!@#.....


If they are gonna declare bankruptcy then do it but to declare we only collect and dont pay and get to carry on is a load of crap!!!
 
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Well said Rob.

Why is it that companies that are mismanaged seem to have such an easy time making others pay for their mistakes? I don't just mean transportation companies, the manufacturing sector has always been much worse for taking advantage of their suppliers in this way.

I realize that having the ability to restructure is of some benefit in that protecting jobs and keeping industries from shrinking is important. However I think that some "Upper Management" people see it as a chance to engage in risky business practices with no real consequences for their actions. Ultimately they can come back stronger than ever if something does go wrong.

Just my two cents but I think ripping off a bunch of your suppliers and then describing it as making your company "a stronger industry competitor with a renewed financial outlook” is quite obnoxious. If I didn’t have to pay my bills I’d have a renewed financial outlook too…lol
 
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