My co-driver and I were left stranded in Laredo with no transportation after Celadon acquired the assets of USA Dry Van. We arrived in Laredo just before midnight on August 4th and were instructed to leave both the cab and trailer in the yard in Laredo. We asked if we could deliver the load to the client, a Mexican company in a different section north of Laredo but the guard said to just leave it there in the yard, someone else would take care of it. We needed to get the paperwork stamped by the recipient in order to get paid. The security guard didn't know anything whatsoever and had no other instructions for us. We asked the security guard if any arrangements had been made for us to get home but the Celedon security guard said he hadn't been told anything. We were stuck there. Nobody else was there waiting for us and we were stunned that no arrangements had been made for us to get back to McAllen. Normally, we would unload the trailer and drive the cab back to McAllen to the USA Dry Van terminal in McAllen. Everyone from the terminal in McAllen had already been relieved. Finally, with our belongings by the guard post the security guard took pity and said we could drive the cab to a different area where the Celadon dispatch was open.
When we got there, I immediately noticed a group of people sitting at a picnic table. I also noticed alot of
people's belongings out in the open by the entrance to the yard. These were no doubt also now unemployed USA dry van employees left stranded by the take over. This Celadon security guard didn't have any instructions for us either. He only said he heard that Celedon might hire employees of USA Dry Van and told us to park the cab.inside, I asked the Celadon dispatcher if any arrangements had been made for us to get back home to McAllen, a three hour drive away. He said he didn't know anything and that no one would be there to answer our questions until around 8:00 the following morning. At that time, it was around 12:30 am on a Saturday. He said we could sleep in our cab if we wanted to. We weren't about to spend the night in 100 degree heat since both our APU and A/C were not working. My co-driver had gone to park the cab and come back and just then another USA Dry Van driver arrived and he went up to give him the news. He was so stunned that his truck began to roll backwards and my co-driver banged on the side of the truck to get his attention.
To make a long story short, my co-driver called a cab and we went to the Greyhound Terminal in Laredo to get on a bus. He took a bus to Mexico, and I had to wait many hours until my bus left at 10:00 the next morning. This was really a crummy thing to do, and I can see Celadon took no responsibility whatsoever for this, probably pointing the finger at USA Dry Van. Just what did they expect us to do? Either we had to wait until the next morning and accept their offer of employment or we could go screw ourselves. It was clear that they expected us to wait in the heat for eight hours, accept an offer of employment and turn around and go directly to Indianapolis in a truck. If we didn't want to do that, we could go screw ourselves as far as they were concerned. That is how I interpret their attitude toward the USA Dry Van employee's who lost their jobs. I had just been hired by USA Dry Van in June but my co-driver had been driving for them for five years. Not a very nice send off. As an addendum to this story, a Celadon recruiter called me the following Monday or Tuesday, telling me that Celadon wanted to offer me a job. I felt like telling Celadon what they could do with their job offer, but I didn't. No explanation as to why we were left stranded in Laredo, or apology for that matter was ever given to us. I would not work for a company that would treat an employee, or potention employee in this manner! The Celadon recruiter also told me they were not going to be utilizing the McAllen terminal, which was huge.
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