from Hacker News

Flexport slashes 20% of global workforce over weak 2023 volume forecast

by drone on 1/11/23, 8:17 PM with 241 comments

• by dakiol on 1/11/23, 10:11 PM

  Perhaps I'm naive, but I think companies are doing massive layoffs these days because of some sort of "domino effect".

  There are companies out there who would love to lay off half their staff, but in regular times they couldn't just do it (because it wasn't a common thing, and makes them look "bad"... everyone would protest). But since nowadays every damn company is doing massive layoffs (and not unknown companies, but companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.) then they take advantage of the situation and proceed to do the same.

  > While we are looking forward to what’s to come in 2023, we must also make hard decisions necessary to set us up for long-term success.

  This could have been said any damn year in the past, but massive layoffs is the latest trend, so why not.

• by grey-area on 1/11/23, 10:49 PM

  A global recession is coming against a backdrop of the Fed raising rates, that is going to be very painful. A lot of people here don't seem to realise this is the case or are in denial. This is a bubble bursting, this is serious.

  Lots of companies are laying off workers or at least freezing hiring because they anticipate earnings cratering, or are already seeing it happen. They haven't reported on it yet, but they will in the coming months. The layoffs will continue to gather pace, as will bankruptcies.

• by epivosism on 1/11/23, 10:42 PM

  Many people seem surprised that an organization would simultaneously hire and fire. I think that's normal.

  At the end of every season, the Yankees fire some players and hire others.

  Old cells in organisms die or are killed, while new ones are born.

  Soldiers going on missions may put down the equipment from the prior mission, and pick up new equipment.

  The argument "the organization is behaving selfishly, they should just repurposing the existing organization member" is inane since the function of members of an organization depends on the member's specialty, role, purpose, and an organization's purpose can change over time.

  It's really strange people act like this is some killer argument when in fact nearly every organization with multiple entities does something analogous (grow in some ways, shrink in others, at the same time)

• by maldeh on 1/12/23, 12:07 AM

  Barely two months from their announcing a hiring spree... https://www.reuters.com/business/logistics-startup-flexport-...

• by willcipriano on 1/11/23, 9:00 PM

  Remember when everyone cut jobs and canceled orders at the beginning of the pandemic and it really bit them? I'm like 49% sure that's going to happen again. Something funny is in the air.

• by 72f988bf on 1/11/23, 8:26 PM

  The original source seems to be posted at https://www.flexport.com/blog/flexport-co-ceos-note-to-emplo...

• by Baeocystin on 1/11/23, 9:07 PM

  Reading the letter, it looks like the departing folks are being offered good severance. That makes me happy to see. I've been through rounds of layoffs myself. It never feels good, but how the company treats you if your number is called makes for a lasting impression.

• by abadger9 on 1/11/23, 10:45 PM

  This is one company i've always wanted to work for- my mother is a CTO of a company in the same space/different aspect of the pipeline so I knew this company was going to do well when it entered the YC batch, but I've never even received a screening interview. Hope i can apply once the economy recovers

• by cj on 1/11/23, 8:28 PM

  This article quotes the letter sent to employees, which is published here:

  https://www.flexport.com/blog/flexport-co-ceos-note-to-emplo...

• by calr on 1/11/23, 10:09 PM

  In my mind, Flexport is part of the "real" economy of moving atoms. They don't fall into the more fluffy "we are a startup that helps other startups start-up". I wonder if this is an early sign for a rough recession that spills outside of the current VC-backed tech slowdown.

• by michaelteter on 1/12/23, 5:26 AM

  When I interviewed with them 2-3 years ago, I recall being told that while the goal was to automate shipping, 95% of their shipping was being done with humans and human processes (due to the complex and irregular nature of shipping).

  I would expect that a global reduction in shipping traffic would mean needing fewer of these people internally; so I suspect that's the bulk of the 20% reduction group.

• by sremani on 1/11/23, 8:41 PM

  >> It is also hiring some 350 to 400 engineering and software staff, as it focuses on efficiency and technology.

  Is it safe to say the Global Trade is down but there is still demand (for now) for tech efficiencies.

• by sanguy on 1/11/23, 11:25 PM

  Already seeing startups out of funding and not able to raise more being given away to companies that can assume the payroll and running costs.

  We've had 5 such approaches in the past 6 weeks of which 2 we have taken over.

  It is going to get very very bad inside the next 6 months. We're still in the pre-swell phase before the tidal wave hits.

• by anm89 on 1/11/23, 10:44 PM

  People in this thread seem to be expressing confusion as to why they would be doing this "when the economy is still so strong"

  The economy is not "still strong" by most measures. Employment is still strong although there are lot's of arguments to be made that when you dig beneath the surface things are much less rosy. But it get's way worse when you look past employment.

  Both volume and rates on maritime container shipping are down roughly 80% YOY. https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chain-advisors/supply-chain-...

  PMIs are falling off of a cliff https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/manufacturing-pmi

  S&p Earnings are in steep decline off the peak https://www.macrotrends.net/1324/s-p-500-earnings-history

  Consumer revolving credit is extremely high while the savings rate has fallen off of a cliff since the pandemic peak https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REVOLSL

  https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT

  Housing volume has fallen off of a cliff, auto wholesale has fallen off a cliff, Major Metro Commercial real estate volume has fallen off a cliff while REITs are suspending withdraws.

  All of this while tax receipts are about to drop off of a cliff while US debt to GDP and deficit to GDP are essentially at historic highs while the rollover rate on that debt is constantly increasing.

  And then realize that the US is in a drastically better position than China, Europe and Japan

  It seems like some of the HN crowd is very out of touch with the realities of the economic data.

• by zwilliamson on 1/12/23, 4:34 AM

  I’d be curious to get Peter Zeihan’s thoughts on this. Flexport’s business is built around globalization and trade. What if Peter is right and we are seeing it all unravel before our eyes right now? Trading paradigms shifting to regional groups of countries. I wonder if this is on the radar for companies like Flexport

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_the_World_Is_Just...

• by coolbreezetft22 on 1/11/23, 9:25 PM

  I interviewed for a software engineering position here literally just yesterday.

• by crote on 1/11/23, 10:17 PM

  Wow, that's a huge surprise.

  I hadn't heard of Flexport before, but they seem to be focused on global shipping. The company I work for ships almost all of its products internationally, and we have seen a massive price hike over the last 2-3 years. Some of it necessary due to rising costs, but we know for a fact that larger-volume customers are still getting lower prices. Additionally, the well-known carriers still offer incredibly poor service - most notably when it comes to tracking shipments and providing proper updates. This seems to be exactly the market Flexport wants to tackle.

  If they can't even compete in the current overheated market, something must be going seriously wrong at their end.

• by pm90 on 1/11/23, 8:49 PM

  This is really surprising considering the number of open recs they post on linkedin.

• by whatever1 on 1/11/23, 9:35 PM

  The AMZN logistics ceo first ruined AMZN with the over expansion and then took the ceo role in flexport to do exactly the same thing.

  Amazing incompetence.

• by nsonha on 1/12/23, 3:15 PM

  This is one of those companies that were always hiring when I checked HN's jobs page. Honestly I thought they seemed like they have trouble hiring, but good for them that at least they've hired enough to get to the point they need a reduction.

• by LarsDu88 on 1/12/23, 7:47 AM

  I think what's missing in a lot of these articles are the headcounts of these companies in 2019. Does a 20% layoff hit as hard if the readers find out headcount at a given company is 200% larger than in 2019?

• by ffggvv on 1/11/23, 11:56 PM

  remember this company was being hyped alot on twitter the past 2 years as we had supply chain issues. glad i dont just follow the trend.

• by msoad on 1/11/23, 8:24 PM

  I don't know what Flexport is, all I know is that it was the only jobs ad in Hacker News for a long time

• by mensetmanusman on 1/12/23, 1:32 AM

  The fed strategy will fail because the labor market will always be tight due to retirements.

• by paxys on 1/11/23, 9:45 PM

  I have been badgered by their recruiters multiple times a week through the last 2-3 years. No doubt they grossly overhired during that period.

• by blacklight on 1/11/23, 9:27 PM

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