Posted on 03/24/2008 7:23:43 PM PDT by fishhound
KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio -- Today could be the day the trucks stop rolling.
Across the nation, on citizens band channels, independent truckers are talking about parking their rigs today and letting their countrymen know how much it needs them. If not today, some say, then one day next week, or the next, but with diesel fuel hovering near $4 a gallon, someday soon.
"They're desperate for someone to pay attention," said Glen "Jonesy" Jones, who hosts a daily, four-hour radio show for truckers on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Jones said the idea of a national trucking boycott gets almost constant discussion on his program, a sort of national CB chat where hundreds of truckers a day call in to express their opinions.
More often than not, he said, that topic is the cost of diesel.
"But it lacks organization," he said "These aren't the Teamster days; there's no Jimmy Hoffa."
Although he has heard today as one of the likely dates for a possible halt to all trucking by owner-operators -- drivers who own their own vehicles and contract for their services -- he's heard just as much talk about April 1 or April 3.
"A lot of them are losing their businesses, losing their homes," Jones said. "They're getting ready to hang it up."
Tavio Headley, an economist with the American Trucking Association, said there is no silver bullet for combating high fuel prices. The cost of crude oil, a growing market for diesel overseas and traditional supply and demand all affect prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...
Great. Immitate France.
Use less m’s.
Or fewer. Geez. At least the French know their own language, eh?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to get together and demand a higher rate of compensation?
Haven't they heard of passing the cost on to their customers? Or telling their brokers they have to have fuel surcharges?
I don’t know how thier business works.
I just know they move all of the food and things.
I heard one report yesterday that freight is increasingly being transported by rail.
I thought that as well but there has to be trucks at the end the rail trips, no?
They cannot raise prices because of the competition. Apparently, the large trucking firms hedged their fuel costs on the futures market, but the independents did not.
After some of them pack it in, and the futures contracts run out, then prices will rise.
Their customers are the ones who need freight hauled. From what I know of the industry, the truckers are told what they will be paid. If they don't like it, there is always another guy/gal with a rig who'll haul it.
Having any kind of contract negotiations is about as easy as nuking terrorists. Where do you aim?
I was driving commercial in the 90’s. There was ALWAYS grousing about truck strikes, how the indies were going to shut down the nation, etc. yadayada... It never happened.
“Haven’t they heard of passing the cost on to their customers? Or telling their brokers they have to have fuel surcharges?”
Well if they did that, they’d have to park their rigs. This way they.......well......park their rigs.
A fair number of them need to go out of business so the rest of them will have the pricing potential to make it profitable.
Every time I ship anything, whether it be by contract carrier or by UPS, FedEx, etc., there’s a fuel surcharge, and it gets bigger every day. I don’t like the cost of fuel these days either, but the costs are passed on to the customer.
bricks through windshields...the occasional pothsot...better put that "don't shoot, I'm going home" sign on the nose of your rig...UHaul rented everything they had...anybody else remember the last time this happened?
I’ve been in the trucking business over 30 years. We run about 250 trucks and subcontract with many more. Business has never been better for us and our subs. We do pass the increasing fuel costs to our customers. We pay our sub-haulers pretty well. Right now there is a real shortage of freight hauling capacity and I see no reason why people can’t pass on the fuel increases. Our subs certainly do.
btt
Truckers ‘going broke’ and maybe striking:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990502/posts
The above article from last night mentions some independent hauler out of MO that claims he has some 1,000 truckers set up to strike on Apr. 1.... I don’t know if this is an April Fools joke or maybe some are going to park the rigs for a day or two. Rolling or parked they lose money either way it seems to me. I know they are in a bind with fuel at $4+ gal.
Owner/Operators are screwed by the system. They have all the expenses out of pocket, but they also are paid by the mile dictated by other than someone concerned about their costs to operate.
They haven’t any choice in the matter other than to either strike out on their own which is difficult, or quit the business taking major loss on their investment.
They really cannot afford to strike especially at this time of year when freight is traditionally down.
Our deepest sympathies for these guys and gals and their families.
You do not haul produce do you? My family has been in the brokerage business for over 30 years and they have never seen it so bad, not even during Carter years.
Mostly Haz-Mat, but we backhaul a lot of misc. freight. Pretty much stay away from foods.
I support the Truckers. I hope this spreads to the common people. This government has failed us miserably by not drilling— by not building refineries, by taxing us on our fuel. DROP THE FEDERAL TAX!!!! This could get very ugly. In the mean time Congress is on Easter break. How much time did you get off? Congress gets a MONTH!!!!
GOD BLESS THE TRUCKERS!! Good luck. Give them the hell they are giving us by their fiddling while Rome burns.
Only to a certain point. The contents of freight cars are loaded onto trucks eventually.
As the saying goes:
"If You've Got it,
A Truck Brought It"
“Right now there is a real shortage of freight hauling capacity and I see no reason why people can’t pass on the fuel increases. Our subs certainly do.”
I Think the story is probably one of too many folks buying too much truck and not being able to handle the debt. As in most things, those that were more prudent will stay in business.
I remember seeing trucks on fire.
“Mostly Haz-Mat, but we backhaul a lot of misc. freight. Pretty much stay away from foods.”
I am glad of that.
You obviously don’t use China style practices...Haz-Mat and food. LOL
How well,generally, do you do with volume purchases of feul as compared to individual truckers? I am curious if that gives you a grerat edge in price of feul or or any?
I have friends in manufacturing and they are always adding a delivery surcharge as these prices are going up.
Thanks.
ping
There is no real pat answer to that question because of our varied services. We have some ongoing work with established hauls and routes. We also do a lot of event work or multiple trip jobs. Our rates are all over the place too. Some jobs, we actually make more money running a sub rather thatn one of our own trucks.
Most of our subs have been with us for many years, so we pay them pretty good.
Raise Prices! If people need things shipped (and they do) they will pay it!
We do have volume contracts for over the road. We also have fuel tanks at our terminals (7 of them) which we fill out of our tankers with fuel bought in bulk, so yeah, we have a pretty good edge over the independents.
Given the new requirements for drivers of haz-mat loads, this is your competitive edge. Many OO’s don’t want to bother with the hassle of the new haz-mat regs.
BTW - wanna hear the funniest haz-mat load?
Hay without a tarp in a rainstorm. No, I’m not kidding.
Thanks.
There’s the additional issue that lots of folks don’t “get” — that the OO’s don’t schedule their own loads. They usually have their loads scheduled by a dispatcher, and the dispatcher often handles the fee-setting. If you want to charge more, the dispatcher simply gives the load to another guy who hasn’t raised his prices yet.
The central problem here is the way OO’s are getting their loads and bidding on the jobs. If they had a better way to develop a customer base, or they grew to a size where they had the ability to take or leave loads and still keep the trucks on the road due to their size, then they’d do better.
The smaller guys also can’t afford to hedge fuel costs. Hedging in the commodities markets is a job all by itself, requiring expertise and time to manage the hedge. The bigger trucking companies are well versed in hedging - guys like JB Hunt, Yellow, et al - they’ve got the edge on fuel due to hedges.
Do you buy your fuel off the rack and haul it to your terminals with your own rigs?
And if you do buy off the rack, what kind of price break do you get for buying at the rack as opposed to buying a trainload out of a local distributor?
Maybe instead of using their mouths to threaten a strike or a boycott. They could try using their brains and maybe driving at reasonable speeds saving great amounts of fuel. Of course this strange theory could apply to almost everyone on the road.
We typically save about $.15 or more than buying from a distributor who gets it at the same place and also has to haul it.
According to the local paper the truckers are blaming the costs on Big Oil not the Government. So they can protest until their lug nuts rust it won’t make a bit of difference if they don’t put the blame on the proper people.
I have read that the truckers want less taxation more than anything to help with their plight. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Good luck to them all.
Dittos.
The issue here is NOT the loads, or how they are awarded.
Diesel fuel is below gasoline in terms of fuel grades, but it is more expensive.
The reason: the NEW diesel - low sulfur diesel. It’s now the law of the land. It IS more expensive now than regular diesel was. On top of that, since fuel tax is a percentage, the feds earn more money as a result.
You want to blame someone? Blame a congressperson.
“A lot of them are losing their businesses, losing their homes,” Jones said. “They’re getting ready to hang it up.”
Don’t worry, Jorge the Mexican has the replacements ready and waiting at the border.
Wouldn't it make more sense to get together and demand more money from my grandmother? She'll be more likely to open her purse for me if we get together as a group and threaten to let the air out of her tires.
Carolyn
Diesel fuel contains more BTU's per gallon and therefore supplies more miles per gallon than gasoline. The EPA's new Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel added to the refining requirements of diesel a couple years ago.
Diesel fuel has more energy content (BTUs) per gallon so IMHO it’s not illogical that it be priced higher than gasoline.
yep.
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