Question Regarding Whirlwind Express

[rpulfer]

Picked up their info packet at last year's Expo; the contract looked like it was written by a 3rd grader. Now this thread, telling me it takes 3 months to get paid. One more carrier crossed off the list.

This proves that EO can really be a newbie's best friend!

Agreed, I really appreciate this website.

Also, I just talked to another driver that is currently owed over 3K, and an owner that is owed over 17K (!) by WW

No doubt that I'll be ignoring their offers here...

 

[xmudman]

...and an owner that is owed over 17K (!) by WW

Does Johnny P have his thumbs in this one too?

 

[peewee]

Whirlwind express appears to have been purchased. And body know what the new company is?

 

[rpulfer]

Whirlwind express appears to have been purchased. And body know what the new company is?

They still answer the phone WW, but supposed to "Farm 2 Fleet" I guess...

 

[peewee]

They still answer the phone WW, but supposed to "Farm 2 Fleet" I guess...

They run TT and ST don't they? Buddy said weekly pay, advances if needed, but WW does dispatch still. Hmm. Liked those people but I would want to see the running with new management. Ann's not running it is she?

 

[davekc]

There is a Farm 2 Fleet member here, maybe he knows something?

 

[peewee]

They always had a great rate. But we know the issues. I know this Farm and Fleet company does well with TT. I see there guys down in AL, TN and KY a lot.

 

[rollincoal]

It's official as of yesterday - been in the works for some time. Great news for both companies and really exciting how this business model of F2F is shaping up. Things that were a relative weaknesses for F2F will become strong points over time now that Bill and Lauren are freed up to put much more effort into sales. WW benifits greatly from this as well. The expectations are for a lot more direct freight and growth on the brokerage side. F2F has to this point been a company capitalizing off loadboard spot freight. We do that veryt well and will continue to capitalize off that. This is just the next logical step for our small/growing company. Really excited to see the company crack into the sprinter van side of things. And also excited about where things will be headed with TT expedite especially on the flatbed side of that coin. Whatever your thoughts about Whirlwind or problems from the past, this is a new page... F2F is small with 18 TT's and approximately 40 sprinters now but we are not an undercapitlized shoestring operation.

 

[blizzard2014]

I think you guys will do well as long as you fix the pay problem. Why can't you guys just pay every two weeks like everyone else does? I would actually consider throwing my van on with you guys if the pay situation gets better because I know Whirlwind gets a lot of good loads. So did you guys buy Whirlwind or have you merged the two companies together for mutual benefit? I wish you guys the best.

 

[rollincoal]

Farm2Fleet bought them out. As far as the pay issues goes or has been going with sprinters at Whirlwind I'm positive that is something which will get addressed. That would be more Bill's area to comment on. Currently at F2F contractors have 2 choices on pay. Get paid every Friday, from the previous week, as long as all paperwork is scanned and sent in by Monday or Tuesday of that particular Friday - I forget what that day the cutoff is as I do not get paid in this fashion. Or, wait for the checks to roll in and collect an extra 3%

 

[rollincoal]

Easy there Tex, just responding to a comment about WHEN a carrier gets paid.

Got it Slim... Guess that one went over my head.

Bill, I find these comments very amusing... LoL

 

[BigBadBill]

Yes, Farm2Fleet now has all the WW units that wish to move under our umbrella. We will be doing the billing and paying of drivers. So now they will have weekly pay, docs in by Wed and ACH done Friday.

WW will be an independent agent of Farm2Fleet and provide 24/7 dispatch for all of our units. I really believe that this is going to work out great for all drivers. No one denies that WW does a great job finding great paying freight so they an keep doing that. And drivers can eliminate the stress of waiting on payment.

We are very excited about the opportunities ahead for us.

 

[Rocketman]

Typically, I'm pretty skeptical when people show up and start posting a lot when, before that, they have been relatively quiet. It has been obvious for some time now, to me anyway, that rollincoal and BigBadBill were working in unison to promote and cast a favorable light on Farm2Fleet.

With that said, good promotional skills are a huge part of success in any business. As long as the people promoting themselves are willing and capable of backing it up...I support it. As for WhirlWind, they have obviously been needing help for some time now. I truly hope that the pay issues do get straightened out so that current and future contractors get the money owed to them. As has been mentioned, I've heard a lot of good things about WW, but always with the disclaimer that its hard to get your money. Get that straightened out and keep it straight....you might have yourself a winner!

I would strongly suggest keeping the weekly settlement program. The only way I would consider any of the newer, lesser known companies is on a weekly settlement plan. It's not that the contractor should be spoiled to that weekly settlement like so many are, it's that given the recent history of this particular segment of our industry the amount of money that the carrier owes the contractor is kept at a more minimum level by weekly settlements.

Good luck with the new venture! This industry needs more carriers who promote the success of the contractors and back it up. You guys are talking a good game and I truly hope you are backing it up. Something tells me that maybe you are.

 

[Mike99]

So what will happen with the money that Ann Hannah the owner own us? We have a contract with Whirlwind Express . Probably we will take her to the court.

 

[zorry]

I'm in my 36th year of trucking.
Never had to wait on my money. Never paid a percentage to get it early.
Looking at you youngins and your new fangled ideas makes me sick.
No wonder so many struggle.

 

[Mike99]

I'm in my 36th year of trucking.
Never had to wait on my money. Never paid a percentage to get it early.
Looking at you youngins and your new fangled ideas makes me sick.
No wonder so many struggle.

Good for you! You didn't have the 'luck' to get loads from Whirlwind express.

 

[Rocketman]

I'm in my 36th year of trucking.
Never had to wait on my money. Never paid a percentage to get it early.
Looking at you youngins and your new fangled ideas makes me sick.
No wonder so many struggle.

Actually, you paid a percentage to get your money early...you just weren't told you were paying it. F2F is giving you the option of paying the factoring bill on the money...or wait for the customer to pay. I have no idea what %'s F2F is working on but I would bet that they are keeping FAR less of the total invoice than FDXCC...even with the 3% held out for weekly settlement.

There is a difference in a company that keeps a huge % of the invoice and then offers a lot of "free" stuff....and a company that takes a relatively small % and lets the contractor choose his own additional expenses. The former is for the more independent.

 

[zorry]

I've never been close and intimate with factoring.
Back in the day we would haul the freight,get paid in 7-14 days,and pay our people every Friday.
When a company slow paid us we still paid our people.
If a company is so undercapitalized that they can't cover payroll then it's time to move on.
There isn't enough profit in trucking to be giving money away.

 

[Mike99]

I've never been close and intimate with factoring.
Back in the day we would haul the freight,get paid in 7-14 days,and pay our people every Friday.
When a company slow paid us we still paid our people.
If a company is so undercapitalized that they can't cover payroll then it's time to move on.
There isn't enough profit in trucking to be giving money away.

If you have 30 years experience and never get burned you may give us an idea how to collect the money from Whirlwind...

 

[BigBadBill]

Farm2Fleet

Rocketman, as a very active member of another forum I completely understand what you are saying. And I fully expect people to sit back and take a wait and see attitude. I do hope that we get feedback along the way.

I do plan on being more active on this forum as I have been on other trucking sites. Being a driver myself, you will learn that I have some very strong opinions on how drivers are treated, on the outdated, bloated, stagnant business models in the industry and the complete lack of business skills by many O/O's (one of my favorite sayings is "they bought a job"). And I am sure that I will provide plenty of opportunities for the grammar police (I tend to type and not edit on forums - sue me).

We went into this with our eyes wide open. WW has done a great job building a system that is efficient from a back office standpoint. That has allowed them to pay drivers better rates and it is too bad the financial issues caused the problems that they did. We plan on leveraging the strengths that they have with ours so that we can take Farm2Fleet to the next level.

And I recognize that we are in an industry that has plenty of slick salesmen come and go with plenty of promises that fall flat and leave owners on the short end. Time will tell.