Truckers going on strike?

[Fla._Deadheader]

The strike is about FUEL prices, Fred. I don't HAVE that problem ???

[snowman]

I never knew that about diesel, the gallons per barrel thing. It makes sense that diesel would go up some as demand went up but I've also heard enviro standars for diesel changed and oil comps had to reformulate it and it supposidly cost more to make now,the cost is passed on to consumer.With reg gas at 3.40 and diesel at 4.15, maybe it's both.

[crtreedude]

The strike is about FUEL prices, Fred. I don't HAVE that problem ???

How so? You pay more than they do unless you have managed to go vegetable oil or something.

[Dave Shepard]

Let me start out by saying that along with owning a truck or two myself I have contracted out the trucking of thousands of loads of freight over the years of all kinds, on all kinds of trucks, for all distances from local to across the country. I've shipped logs, lumber, sawdust, hay, corn, cattle, equipment, steel, you name it. In every case, on every load, my trucking contractor had the opportunity to make money. There is thing called a fuel surcharge that reimburses the trucker for high fuel prices. I pay it and pass it along to my customer receiving the freight. If the customer doesn't want to pay it, the load isn't sent. Anybody who is hauling someone else's freight who does not incorporate a fuel surcharge into his pricing structure is not running their business efficiently. If the shipper says here is what we'll pay, and you take it, that's your decision. Don't come crying to me if you don't make money.

Where the high fuel prices hurt is the company who handles some trucking themselves as part of their business operations and there is no easy way to asses a fuel surcharge. Say I haul logs from my logging job to my sawmill. That is where it hurts.

A couple weeks ago one of the TV talk show hosts interviewed a trucker who has about eight or ten trucks hauling eggs out of Ohio. The slant of the interview was that high fuel prices are killing family owned trucking companies. When the host asked the trucker if the shipper helped defray some of the cost of fuel he said that they were real good to work with and they were currently paying an $.84 / mile surcharge. That is on top of the regular freight charge. That more than pays for all the fuel, not just some. Right there I saw that this particular host was very disingenuos and I swore I would never watch him on TV or listen to his radio show again.

Thank you. ;)


I don't know what low sulfur fuel is doing for MPG, but a friend of mine hauled granite curbing@99,500GCVW, he got an average of 6.5 MPG.  $.84/mile is paying some of the fuel on the back haul too. ;)



Dave

[Brian_Rhoad]

I have a Ford F350 Powerstroke. I used to get 15+ mpg towing on the interstate. I made a trip to Florida and got 10 mpg with the new uls diesel. Thats a 33% decrease in mileage just from the new diesel fuel. Some stations still sell the low sulfer diesel. I filled up with low sulfer and my mileage went back up to almost 15 mpg. Using 1/3 more fuel to get less emissions just does'nt make any sense. And on top of that, the new crappy fuel costs alot more. Add the higher cost and less mileage it's no wonder the truckers are upset.

[Polly]

 8) 8)   lets put the blame where it belongs epa backed by undle sam mandated the low sulfer diesel fuel and the sxhaust emissions on new diesel trucks the class 6 trucks which i am familar with the price went up from 35000 to over 50000 dollars with the introduction of the 2007 models and diesel fuel from 300 to 400 pr gal partly because of the low sulfer fuel i dont wnow the solution to problem but it makes me sick at my stomach to think all of this was not necary i wish ross pero would run again 

[snowman]

I run offroad diesel in my pickup. Cheaper and better. How often does that happen?

[Tom]

Florida DOT has taken the opportunity given by the high price of diesel to check for off-road diesel in over-the-road vehicles.   It's almost an excuse for them to go over the rest of the truck too.   If you are running red fuel on the road here, you get fines, penalties and then sent to the IRS where your audit schedules are made up for the next few years.  The intimidation, along with the fines, is enough to stop most of us from doing it. 

A couple of years ago, when we had diesel prices rising, they allowed the trucks to burn off-road fuel for a little while. I've not heard of this being offered now.  It's best to stay on the right side of the law even when they make it difficult to stay in business.

[Quartlow]

The only problem is truckers are like farmers, they complain about the prices they get but they still work away with the prices they are given. :

Doug hit the nail on the head. I never understood why owner operators would haul a cheap load just to go home. It used to tick me off when a broker would say, "well it takes you home".  >:(  >:( Sorry pal it cost the same to run the truck on the return leg as it did on the outbound leg.

Of course the term owner operator is a misnomer. I don't know an exact number, but a very high percentage of OO's go out buy a truck then lease on to a company. The company sets the pay rate, takes car of filing IFTA paperwork, very often you run on a company plate, pull a company trailer.
Thats not an Owner Operator. Thats a glorified company driver.

Anybody who is hauling someone else's freight who does not incorporate a fuel surcharge into his pricing structure is not running their business efficiently. If the shipper says here is what we'll pay, and you take it, that's your decision. Don't come crying to me if you don't make money.

Where the high fuel prices hurt is the company who handles some trucking themselves as part of their business operations and there is no easy way to asses a fuel surcharge. Say I haul logs from my logging job to my sawmill. That is where it hurts.

You don't need a fuel surcharge on hauling your own product. When you price the product figure in the cost of running the truck. If  you can't fix the cost of hauling the logs yourself contract it out so you have a fixed cost. My brother wants to cut some logs off of his property next winter.
Theres no way I'm hauling the logs 45 miles with my pickup and a goose neck trailer. Not when his neighbor has a log truck and said he would move them for $170 a load. I would have paid $200 to get them hauled. What he can haul in one 2 hour round trip would take me a day and a half

I read elsewhere that the problem is the fuel surcharge is not being passed on, either in whole, or at all, to the ones hauling the loads.  The freight brokers are collecting the surcharge, and either pulling their normal broker % out of it, or simply keeping it for themselves.  Many of the truckers are asking for better transparency in how the business operates.

As a "broker" myself, if I tried something like that I'd be out of business in a hurry. 

Brokers have been doing that for years, very seldom that they get caught. When my Brother, nephews and I hauled local iron we worked for as many as 20 or more different brokers in any given week. We got paid by the weight, So much for every hundred pounds. We worked out of a building that housed 35 different brokers. competition for the local freight was stiff. You could walk into Broker A's office and get offered a load out of LTV to Carnegie that paid $.50 a hundred.  Buy the time you walked the loop you could find that same load from 8 different brokers ranging from $.50 to $.85 You know darn well that if LTV could get it moved for $.50 cents from broker A they sure weren't going to give the load to Broker B $.85

As a former company owner and 15 year driver all I can say is....it will never happen.  They talk of strikes 2-3 times a year and nothing ever comes of it.   The main reason.....drivers have no official voice to speak for them.   Plus the fact that if you asked 10 drivers what they want out of the strike you will have 10 different answers.  In the 80's they had union voice...now the union won't back it.  The days of owner operators are coming to an end....VERY unfortunate for all of North America.
   The rules are stacked against drivers. DOT officers are allowed to work 100+ hours a week and then drive any where. A truck driver works 71 hours he/she is fined big money and made to sit where ever he/she happens to be pulled over.  Even if the house is 30 min away.
   I hung my driving saddle up 3 years ago and will never go back. logged 3,000,000+ miles in that time without an accident, but my insurance was raised 200% in 3 years...couldn't afford it any more.

I can agree with all of that but one thing. OO numbers will diminish in the future but Owner operators will never go away. Too many things that big companies won't do. I doubt you will ever see Scheinder or JB hauling grain out of the field. I doubt you will ever see them running Alaska out of the lower 48 either. The ones that will survive are the ones smart enough to run on their own authority and make their own market. 

My buddy is a prime example. People call him for stone, he gives them his price and once in a while you get one that says that Acme or R&J will deliver it for less, He tells them call Acme then. Yeah he hauls less. But he gets his price.

[ely]

in past history the government has always put a freeze on the price of fuel while this country was at war. why not now? i believe that we have to hit rock bottom before the economy will start to rebuild from the ground up. as fast as they are bankrupting the nation it should not be too long in the future.

[snowman]

Carter tried price controls, remember those gas lines? That doesn't work but maybe gov taking tax off diesel a while, especially for trucks would help.

[beenthere]

Carter tried price controls, remember those gas lines? That doesn't work but maybe gov taking tax off diesel a while, especially for trucks would help.

Get ready for more taxes, not less, if the political game being played out now is any indication of things to come.

As long as the demand for a fuel stays high, the prices will stay high, IMO.

[LEES WOODCO]

Florida DOT has taken the opportunity given by the high price of diesel to check for off-road diesel in over-the-road vehicles.   It's almost an excuse for them to go over the rest of the truck too.   If you are running red fuel on the road here, you get fines, penalties and then sent to the IRS where your audit schedules are made up for the next few years.  The intimidation, along with the fines, is enough to stop most of us from doing it. 

A couple of years ago, when we had diesel prices rising, they allowed the trucks to burn off-road fuel for a little while. I've not heard of this being offered now.  It's best to stay on the right side of the law even when they make it difficult to stay in business.

Here in NY state DOT must watch the newspapers for farm auctions because they are known to set up a check down the road and dip every diesel pickup truck passing.

[ely]

with all the billions of barrels of oil we have in the reserves you will never get me to believe the price is based on supply and demand.
all the prez has to do is open the oil reserves, then you would see the price go back to normal.

imo having the oil price over 100 dollars a barrel while the economy is in the crapper is very much akin to selling plywood @ 300 dollars a sheet.

[snowman]

Strategic oil reserves is for extreme situation not to ease fuel prices. If mideast blows up and the oil stops flowing for a while, you will be glad Bush resisted calls to dip into our emergency supply.

[crtreedude]

Correct, a reserve is to have a cushion in times of trouble. To use it now would be like a family having savings and dipping into it to make things more comfortable - and then wondering why they were in such desperate problems when they lost their job.

[Polly]

 8) 8)   lift the epa refinibg spec the fuel would get better and refining cost would go down on diesel as well as gas we could probly import from other countries at half the price if the emmision spec was lifted it ant going to happen to meny politicans getting their pockets fetthered  :( :( :( 8)

[DouginUtah]

The strategic petroleum reserve has a capacity of 727 MILLION barrels, and currently has 700 million barrels, two-thirds of which is heavy, sour crude. This is enough to supply our needs for about 57 days if our imports were cut off.

I don't know what normal is.  Except for a few seasonal blips, the price of gas/diesel will never be lower than it is now. My guess is that it will increase on average about 50¢ a gallon every year. It would be more except soon a lot of the demand will be destroyed by our inability to buy it.

:(

[Warbird]

 

[Gary_C]

If you are feeling pain at the pump, you are not alone. Our military in Iraq is paying more for fuel than we pay at home. And we are paying $10.3 billion per month to keep them there.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080403/D8VQ6N2O0.html

[ely]

i am going to go ahead and say the we as a country will be like that family that has fell on hard times, if the oil companies do not stop raveging the country for the almighty dollar.
some say this economy is based on gold
some say it is based on oil.
one thing for sure is when it cost the working majority more to drive to work each week than they are making we will not last much longer.

but hey look on the bright side, our 600 dollar tax break should be here next month and all will be better. :

[snowman]

If you use 100 gallons of gas a month and apply your 600 bucks to your gas bill that takes 50 cents a gallon off your gas price. Thats looking at the bright side.

[johncinquo]

Strategic oil reserves is for extreme situation not to ease fuel prices. If mideast blows up and the oil stops flowing for a while, you will be glad Bush resisted calls to dip into our emergency supply.

if the mideast blows up (gee we can all dream)  we just TAKE the oil, like we should have done already.  Oil hits $50 a barrel and we all go back to driving SUVs and pickup trucks.   Still trying to figure that one out, war over oil? war over tyranny? war over oppression? WMD?  

[Tom]

I don't find it difficult to find it a War against terror, even now.  It was never a war against Iraq, but rather a war to get rid of Sadam.  He was harboring terrorists and they have still infiltrated Iraq and made it their headquarters even after he was hanged.  Anything we do now is to bolster the Iraqi government and army to be able to do the job themselves.   I'm a believer in that.

[PawNature]

I just came from a meeting with the trucking company I work for a few minutes ago. They announced that they were closing 4 terminals. I work out of the Cincinnati terminal which will be closing, also closing are Concord, NC., Atlanta, GA., and Memphis. Fortunately thought as a road driver I will still have a job with them. All local driver and most of the regional drivers are gone.