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Family-owned Howard Baer Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee, ceased operations Jan. 31, citing government regulations, the ongoing struggle to find qualified drivers and soaring insurance costs as the main reasons behind the company’s decision to close after 69 years.
Owner Greg Baer told FreightWaves he made the decision to retire and wind down operations after his son decided he didn’t want to take over the family business Greg’s dad started back in 1951.
The shuttered refrigerated carrier had nearly 200 drivers in April 2018, according to its last filing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but the company was down to around 35 drivers at the time of its closure.
“Trucking just isn’t worth it anymore,” Baer told FreightWaves. “The government has piled on so many regulations on these drivers that most young people don’t want to become truck drivers.”
Baer said he lost his best drivers when the federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate took effect in December 2017.
“My drivers said, ‘We are older and tired and just want to retire instead of dealing with ELDs,’” he said. “I couldn’t blame them.”
Lawsuits and soaring insurance costs also factored into Baer’s decision.
“I hope all of those ambulance chasers burn in hell,” he said.
Over the past 24 months, Howard Baer Inc. trucks had been inspected 90 times and 26 were placed out of service, according to the FMCSA SAFER website. Its trucks were involved in seven crashes, including one fatal wreck, over the same two-year period.
Greg Baer said Hogan Transport, headquartered in St. Louis, is leasing the shuttered carrier’s building in Nashville and hired most of its remaining drivers.
A skeleton crew is still working to collect accounts receivable owed to the company, but the plan is to completely wind down operations in the next few weeks.
“We’re not broke, but it’s just not worth running anymore,” Baer told FreightWaves. “I want to retire and spend more time with my grandchildren.”
Bigdee
Not only did they mislead congress and the public about the cost of elds because every body knows you have to have support staff just for elds 24 7 365 but they are saying statistics are saying the roads are safer but that’s not true because all these companies have went out of business so if you have less trucks on the road and less drivers and less miles being driven then off course it’s going to be less truck accidents so they are still lying to Congress
Norm Sargent
to much Gov .And State Bull Ship . Im No Longer Driving Due To Injuries But Feel Sorry For the company That are Still Fighting .
Scott Barton
25 year industry Veteran here and looking for things outside of the industry due to ELD’s and these stupid ass 14 hour / 30 minute mandatory breaks. On top of that all the foreign trucks and tailgating shitty drivers. Sadly an industry I once loved is gone. Lack of respect from the public and government, having to pay people to load and unload shit I didn’t buy, drove me out of Reefers. Now I’m wondering what’s next?
George
Well. After all, the majority of Americans think the shelves are magically stocked over night… So who needs trucks anyway?
Trucker since March 1995
Keith
Every truck on the road should park for about 2 weeks maybe that would open some eyes but I doubt it. These bigger trucking companies are too much of a candy ass to shut the doors for a couple of weeks
Walkingtall
U got that right a bunch of pussys out here!!!!
Rodger Armstrong
This fine mam is a hero . Provided income for people, the industry let him down…sad really…
Bill
His drivers let him down if you look at his safety rating.
Raymond
He had 200 trucks on the road, 90 of which had been in inspections, 90! Almost half and only 26 violations, 26 out of 200 that is. Not bad . Lol life’s not perfect and I personally don’t know a dame operating that is. Dude come on lol . Our system ( government wasted money) and how the industry is regulating is way way way by far out running what our logistics freight company’s can financially keep up with.
mighty midget
200 trucks and 90 inspections was bad enough but if you read the article again they had 26 placed out of service and that is horrible. No matter what they were placed out of service for. 1/3 of the inspections resulting in OOS. Poor maintenance or poor pre and post trips contributed to this. I think his drivers let the company down and blaming on the ELD rule is just and excuse. Plenty of older drivers out there that learned to us them and have continued on. Look for an underlaying issue.
FIRST AMERICAN.
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James j
Well, I’m a 22 year veteran and I’m medically retired now. I watch my career over the years and noticed every year or so, it would be new rules and regulations. It got to the point where you was restricted so much, we wasn’t able to make what we was. Then after that, now you have all the ambulance chasing attorneys looking for a settlement. I’d say 80 percent of wrecks involving a large truck is the cars fault. I was hit once, the only accident I was ever involved in. This guy ran the red light and caught my front corner of my bumper. I’m sure wrecks like these the companies settle just to not have to fight in court. This runs the insurance up. People are looking for a paycheck when they see us.
Now days it’s no longer fun do to how people are driving and just plain old stupid driving skills they show, None!
My point is, the people of the U. S. A these days have run trucking into the grand.
FIRST AMERICAN.
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