The Daily Dash: Amazon and malls; Convoy’s big deals; and could a big deal fall through?

The Daily Dash is a quick look at what is happening in the freight ecosystem. In today’s edition, Amazon is looking at malls; Convoy pushes low-rate factoring and fuel card discounts; the deal between Covenant and Triumph hits a snag; and alternative fuel efforts continue despite high upfront costs.

Same-day delivery to the food court, please

Amazon is reportedly in talks with one of the nation’s leading mall retailers to convert old J.C. Penney and Sears locations into fulfillment centers.

Mark Solomon explains how this could alter your Amazon experience: Mr. Bezos goes to the mall (maybe)

No fees and a discount, too?

Convoy is pushing the boundaries of traditional enterprise with two new offerings for its carriers. For fleets that factor Convoy loads through Convoy Factoring, they can get rates as low as 0% for payment within two days. And a new fuel card offers big discounts above and beyond industry averages.

Brian Straight has details on the new programs: Convoy offers factoring at 0% rate; fuel card with 63 cents per gallon average savings

Not so fast

A previously announced deal between Covenant and Triumph Business Capital has hit a snag that has put the sale of Covenant’s factoring business in jeopardy.

John Kingston explains: Sale of Covenant factoring business to Triumph hits a snag

A high cost for alt fuel? That’s not a problem

Even as trucking companies move forward with alternative-fuel vehicles, upfront costs and infrastructure limitations are still impacting adoption rates.

Linda Baker has more on why fleets remain committed to alternative fuels: Report: Climate change, air quality concerns drive clean truck adoption

Stories we think you’ll like:

Delivering envelopes to refrigerators, all in a few hours

Navistar streamlines executive lineup under new CEO

Safety most at risk at beginning, end of drivers’ shifts

Covenant’s restructuring leads to sharp but better-than-projected decline

Workhorse losses grow as stock surges, production ramps up

Lineage Logistics expands network with multiple cold storage deals

Did you miss this?

A vacation while under indictment is probably not going to be looked upon favorably by a judge, and it wasn’t in William Meek’s case. Meek, the former Celadon executive facing nine counts of fraud and making false statements, asked a judge for permission to travel to Cancun for his birthday. Naturally, the judge did not approve.

John Kingston has more on the request: Federal court denies ex-Celadon COO’s request for birthday trip to Mexico

Hammer down, everyone,

Brian Straight

Managing Editor

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