Another Seattle Area Business Lays Off 533 Workers

Convoy was a company that attempted to 'revolutionize' the freight trucking industry, but now it's laying off 533 Seattle-area workers.

Company closes doors across the US

According to Geekwire and a WARN (Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification) from the Washington State Employment Security Department, Convoys has immediately let go of 533 Seattle area workers.

Founded in Seattle in 2015, the company attempted to "disrupt" the traditional trucking industry by adopting an Uber-like approach, matching shippers and carriers directly.

They wanted to bypass what are called traditional brokerages in the business. By 2022, backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the company said it expected to surpass $1 billion in revenue (stated in April, 2022).

However, the company began to lay off workers, and closed its Atlanta operations center, and according to a corporate CEO memo, was a victim of recent economic issues:

"...the company faced both an “unprecedented freight market collapse” and “dramatic monetary tightening.”

There's a lot of movement in the freight and trucking industry, according to Geekwire:

"Avery Vise, a trucking analyst with FTR Transportation Intelligence, said it’s a challenging time for freight brokers because truck capacity is plentiful. That means shippers can find attractive freight rates with large asset-based carriers — versus smaller trucking companies like the ones Convoy targeted."

The ESD WARN alert indicated 533 workers were let go, Geekwire says reports indicate they did not receive any severance.