Marmaduke Freehold: Official Statement

May 22, 2440 8:00 AM

I run multiple businesses, and I honor the contracts I put my name on.

My companies are not obliged to work for free, nor are they obliged to accept contracts we would lose money on. We do not take every contract pitched to us. In fact, for twenty years AgriSolutions has turned down more work than we have accepted.

We work within the limits of what we can actually deliver, at the quality and reliability we are known for.

There are still independent contractors hauling between Memphis and Ames. If they use roads I control, they pay the tolls and charge accordingly. Marmaduke Logistics is charged for the roads it uses as well.

That is the way of things in the middle of the continent.

Roads do not maintain themselves. Bridges do not inspect themselves. Snow does not plow itself. Somebody pays for the crews, equipment, drainage, pavement, lighting, communications, and emergency response.

What is different with Marmaduke Logistics is that we generally absorb those tolls into our quoted price instead of adding them later as a surprise.

If you prefer to use someone else to haul your goods, you are free to do so.

You are also free to start your own freight business.

It is how I got started.

That does not mean you will start with what I had, build what I built, or have the same advantages I had. It means there is no law requiring you to hire me.

People are talking as though I woke up one morning and decided who eats and who goes hungry.

That is not how logistics works.

We build corridors, depots, warehouses, and schedules. We sign contracts to move specific tonnage from specific places to specific places within specific windows.

Every one of those words matters.

When I say your local problems are not mine to fix, I am not saying I do not care.

I am saying I will not lie to you about what I can actually do from Missouri with the people, equipment, money, and capacity available to me.

If a city, region, cooperative, company, or government wants our help, bring us a proposal and bring some skin to the table.

Sometimes that means money.

Sometimes labor.

Sometimes land.

Sometimes access.

Sometimes a long-term concession that makes an infrastructure investment worth building.

Sometimes it means changing a local rule that makes the thing you are asking us to do impossible.

Sometimes I say yes.

Often I say no.

I would rather tell you no today than tell you yes, take your money, make a promise I cannot support, and leave people waiting for trucks that were never coming.

That is how infrastructure fails.

That is how people die.

You are free to be angry with me.

You are free to take your freight, your business, and your attention elsewhere.

Customers have that right. Governments have that right. Citizens have the right to demand that their own governments choose different partners.

My responsibility is to keep the roads under my authority safe, the contracts I sign honest, the companies I control solvent, and the people under my care fed and paid.

I will not promise you more than that merely because you would prefer a different answer.

Curated Social Media

• @PrairieCoOpFarmer:
  I do not love all his answers, but at least Marmaduke talks like a grownup. Clear limits, clear terms, no fake “we care” slogan. Roads cost money, trucks cost money, people need to get paid. I can plan around that. Hard to plan around politicians who promise everything and deliver potholes.
• @RotterdamPolicyNerd:
  On one hand, he is right that logistics follows contracts and capacity, not feelings. On the other, “your local problems are not mine to fix” is a harsh line from someone whose companies control corridors a lot of people depend on. It is coherent, but it raises the harder question: at what point does private infrastructure become a public responsibility whether the owner wants it to or not?
• @MemphisDockRat:
  Easy to talk about “start your own freight business” when you were born with a Trust name, access to warehouses, capital, land, and a family network most of us could not reproduce in three lifetimes. Our warehouses are empty and you are telling us to bootstrap a fleet from thin air while you collect tolls off the roads. Call it honest if you like. It still sounds like greed from here.
  • @MattMarmaduke:
    Two points. First, I did not say you started where I started. I said you are free not to hire me.Second, once grain is delivered under contract to the Port of Memphis, its river handling, storage, allocation, inspection, customs, and onward movement are their responsibility.If nothing is moving north, ask their management why.If your silos are empty, ask why.Thousands of tons of grain are sold into the Port of Memphis every day. Ask what happens to it after delivery.
    • @RiverBargeCap:
      I actually ship that river. Matt is right on the custody question. Port signs the contracts, sets storage terms, handles inspection and customs, then assigns river movement. If grain is disappearing between weigh-in, storage, and outbound loading, that is a Memphis problem unless somebody can show otherwise.
    • @BluffCityShopkeep:
      Honest question, though. If you know the Port is broken and you still sell thousands of tons into the same system, are you not profiting from the mess the rest of us are drowning in? Feels like everybody gets paid except the people staring at empty shelves.
      • @MattMarmaduke:
        If you want to come to me and buy grain directly, you are welcome to come negotiate.Until then, I have a fiduciary obligation to get the growers I represent the best price and terms I can.I do not get to steal from them because somebody else’s government is bad at distribution.
    • @OldManDelta:
      Easy to say “ask the Port” when your companies own or control so many roads feeding the region. Y’all built a maze of tolls, contracts, concessions, and NDAs, then act surprised when regular people only see higher prices and empty shelves. From down here, all the suits look the same.
      • @MattMarmaduke:
        Then stop looking at the suits and follow the paperwork.Who bought the grain?Who took custody?Who controls the warehouse?Who assigned the barge?Who decided where it went?Those answers exist.I do not own the Port of Memphis. They are a sovereign state. I am not their boss, their governor, or their mom.If you want to know what happened to their grain after they bought it, ask them.