California trucking company hauling mail for Postal Service files bankruptcy

A California-based trucking and logistics company, which contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to haul mail, recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Family-owned Matheson Postal Services Inc. of Sacramento, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California on May 5. The company’s terminal handling services division, Matheson Flight Extenders, also filed for bankruptcy protection on the same day.

As of publication, Matheson’s attorney, Gregory Nuti, had not responded to FreightWaves’ request seeking comment.

The filing lists both its assets and liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The 60-year-old trucking and logistics company states that it has up to 5,000 creditors and maintains that funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

The company was founded by Robert and Carole Matheson in 1962 and is a transportation and logistics provider for the Postal Service and other commercial carriers. 

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER database, the trucking company has 248 power units and 383 truck drivers. 

In November, Matheson filed an appeal with the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals (PSBCA). As of publication, a Postal Service spokesperson had not responded to FreightWaves’ request for comment about the company’s appeal.

Recently, Rooney Trucking, headquartered in Polo, Missouri, which also contracted with the Postal Service to haul mail, filed an appeal with the PSBCA. That family-owned carrier, which had 37 drivers and 66 power units, ceased operations and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Some mail contractors have struggled to stay afloat since the Postal Service announced it was revamping its $6.6 billion contract program with private trucking fleets in 2019. The program, known as Dynamic Route Optimization, changed the way private carriers were paid — switching from contract rates to paying trucking companies on a mileage basis. This led to consolidation among mail hauling companies that could service a larger region and squeezed out some of the smaller private contractors in the industry.

Matheson’s largest unsecured creditor is Porter Billing Services of Birmingham, Alabama, owed more than $1.4 million. The filing also lists Comdata Mastercard Program of Covington, Louisiana, owed more than $162,000, and Penske Truck Leasing of Philadelphia, owed more than $156,000. 

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Source: freightwaves - California trucking company hauling mail for Postal Service files bankruptcy
Editor: Clarissa Hawes