Editorial by Deborah Lockridge, Editor

The more news that comes out about the demise of Arrow Trucking, the more the company emerges as an example of how NOT to run a trucking company.

By now you've certainly heard the story about how the Tulsa, Okla.-based flatbed carrier suddenly suspended operations days before Christmas, leaving many drivers stranded with no way to get home for the holidays. When their primary lender shut off the spigot, company officials shut the doors, turned off the phones, and sent everyone home. A couple of weeks later, amid new lawsuits and existing ones, Arrow Trucking filed for bankruptcy liquidation.

The story garnered tons of local and national coverage, being the perfect heartstring-tugging kind of topic right before the holidays, when news outlets have little else to cover beyond last-minute holiday crowds at the malls.

The Tulsa World newspaper has done an amazing job of staying on top of this story and digging into the background, trying to piece together what happened (www.tulsaworld.com/arrowtrucking). As we were getting ready to go to press with this issue, more than a month after the story broke, the paper detailed how the defunct carrier's financial records are in disarray. An accountant hired by the bankruptcy court to wade through the mess called the company's offices "dysfunctional" and as bad as he's seen, according to the paper.

Now that the dust has largely cleared (except for on those financial records), here are a few thoughts, a few lessons the industry might take away from the very public failure of the privately held 61-year-old company:

Behold the power of the Internet. I first saw a link to an article on Arrow Trucking's shutdown on the Facebook page of a fellow trucking journalist. Facebook and Twitter soon exploded with the latest updates and offers to help stranded drivers. Another new technology, satellite radio, also played a part, as Sirius XM's trucking channel not only covered the breaking news but also helped connect stranded truckers with those who could help them get home.

The trucking industry has a big heart. No, that's not actually anything new, but it was certainly apparent the week of Christmas. Fellow drivers and a number of trucking companies offered their help getting stranded drivers and their belongings home, often postponing their own holiday celebrations to do so, or hosting stranded drivers in their own homes. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association created a Facebook page to match Arrow drivers with those willing to help. By the next morning, there were a thousand people offering help.

Have a succession plan in place. Arrow CEO Doug Pielsticker took the leadership position in the company after his father, Jim Pielsticker, was killed in an airplane crash back in 2001. While there's no way to know for sure if he ran his father's company into the ground, as some have claimed, what's happened in the years since does make you wonder whether he was truly ready to take over the company reins. One Tulsa World article detailed the alleged mismanagement, including three company presidents in five years (only one of whom had trucking experience), Pielsticker's casual work ethic and his extravagant lifestyle, even during a recession.

Treat people right. The first article I saw on the situation was a short online piece from the Christian Science Monitor titled, "Arrow Trucking: Is this any way to lay off workers?" Author Laurent Belsie said it quite well: "Layoffs are a fact of life in this economy, but there are humane ways to do it. Then there's the Arrow Trucking method. The Tulsa, Okla., trucking company stopped payment on the gas cards of its drivers, leaving some of them stranded ... miles from home. No explanation on the website. No one at the company answering phones." Arrow Trucking had initially said they were "suspending" operations and were negotiating with their lender to resume operations. It's probably a good thing they filed for bankruptcy. After the way they treated drivers and customers alike, stranding truckers as well as loads, no driver or shipper in their right mind would have gone back to them.

From the February 2010 issue of Heavy Duty Trucking.

CORRECTION (3/4/2010): Corrected previous allegation from Tulsa World that Arrow had a string of presidents with no trucking experience. One of those presidents, Tom Witt, did have experience -- 27 years of it -- before joining the company in 2007, including executive positions at Smithway Motor Xpress, Roehl and Dart, as you can read in this November 2007 press release.




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