More than a month after the One20 company ceased operations entirely — and nearly three months after the company’s former boss resigned — owner-operators Lee and Lisa Schmitt say they are still owed in the neighborhood of $4,200 for loads hauled under the One20 authority through early May. That was around the time when they, like the rest of the One20 user universe, first heard about the company’s impending shuttering, announced via bulk email. The Schmitts were the only truck to be operating under One20’s authority.
Owner-operator Lee Schmitt, pictured outside the House Rayburn Office Building in Washington, D.C., during demonstrations last October.One20’s former head, Christian Schenk, told me early Wednesday that he was hopeful to settle everything with the Schmitts by the end of this week. In the meantime, the Schmitts have been through quite a lot the last few months, from a major operational change with a new leasing carrier to a medical emergency and more.
In this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, they tell their story in part, and along the way reveal an element as yet not widely reported in all the chatter around the One20 company’s demise — the financial support from trucking mobile-comm provider PeopleNet’s owner the Trimble Companies, whose decision to withdraw investment support in One20 was part of a series of events that essentially precipitated its fall, including the shuttering of its F-ELD.
Lea Ann McNabb of Trimble: “Trimble was an investor in the One20 business. After evaluating the performance of One20, Trimble decided to cease financial support for the business. One20 ceased business operations in June 2018. We assisted with the wind-down of the business,” which occurred in the wake of Schenk’s departure.
Related properties the company was not invested in, recently consolidated under the TruckThat Holdings name, including One20 Trucking, were apparently not part of Trimble’s investment and were entirely under the purview of Schenk.
“None of the assets of One20, Inc., have been sold or transferred to a third party,” Trimble’s McNabb says.
Schenk, meanwhile, is launching under the Wheel19 brand a platform quite similar to the former One20 app, an avenue to on-highway discounts on a bevy of products and more. He says he has no plans to do anything further with the One20 Trucking motor carrier authority. Find more discussion with the Schmitts in the podcast. Take a listen:
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