Updated: ELD provider KeepTruckin lets go of almost one-fifth its work force

KeepTruckin, the maker of electronic logging devices, has laid off 18% of its global workforce. Employees who received the termination notice on March 31 in a letter signed by CEO Shoaib Makani were told that the layoffs were effective that day. In an email to FreightWaves, he said the company now has 1,550 employees. The layoffs affected 349 employees out of a team of 1,900 employees, Makani said in the letter. Reasons for the layoffs should bring pause to anybody in the freight industry who has been comforted by the strong volumes and rising rates of the past few weeks. Those volumes and rates have been fueled by demand to resupply store shelves that have been emptied of supplies by concerned buyers. Keep Truckin is seeing some other worrying signs.