Posted on 03/27/2008 7:40:11 PM PDT by KTM rider
What started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger.
Dan Little, the owner/operator of a livestock hauling company in Carrollton, Mo., estimated Tuesday that at least 1,000 other truckers from across the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1.
At issue is the rising cost of diesel fuel, which has reached or exceeded $4 per gallon in at least 17 states. But Little does not expect his strike to bring down the per-gallon price of gas, nor does he expect to have any effect on the oil companies.
“What I would personally like to see is our federal and state governments, until our economy recovers, suspend federal and state fuel taxes,” the 49-year-old said. “The second thing I’d like to see is an oversight committee for truck insurance, which is part of what’s taking us down.,
“Everything in the world is going up (in price), except for what we do. I lose money if I start my truck, and that truck is paid for — free and clear.”
Keith Deblieck, the owner of a trucking company out of Geneseo, Ill., said that, for many drivers, the time for a strike has come.
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“In no way, shape or form do truckers want to hurt this country. My whole deal on this thing is that I’m shutting down on April 1. Call it a strike, a shutdown or just flat-ass going broke.”
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“Our federal government is subsidizing railroads, airlines, banks and farmers,” he said. “Meanwhile, we’re being taxed to death.”
Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at qctimes.com ...
I like it, draw attention to an out out control government that overtaxes everything.
Air transport is as efficient as anything can be but only after the aircraft is cruising. Getting to altitude burns a fair amount, so the longer haul is possibly reasonable but short hops are a luxury. Ships are efficient but to slow to get there before the cargo is out of date or obsolete. Trains are efficient but don’t go to every supermarket.
Good response. Agreed that a full energy solution must be done and that includes drilling EVERYWHERE and NOW. Nuke plants are a big part of energy independence but de-regulating must occur. The President could declare an energy crisis and do this and nust be willing to take Congress to task by getting in front of the American people. Alternatives & domestic energy production (forget ethanol!) will work, but to avoid bankrupting the Middle Class this needs hundreds of billions in subsidies released by Treasury now.
Have you ever been an O/O? I doubt it. I was many years ago. I practically lived on the road all the time and that was when fuel was around $1.00- $1.25 or per gallon.
$2.500 a month truck payment plus vehicle, cargo insurance, plus fuel / road taxes, permit problems, plus oil changes every 10,000 miles which is usually once a month, plus tires, brakes, dealing with lying dispatchers, dealing with scheduling problems, traffic, idiot four wheelers, tolls, driving in conditions you’d be scared sh*tless to attempt, import / export BS, etc, etc, etc.
Your away from home so much your kid looks at you like you’re a stranger when you return home.
Long driving hours, loading / unloading. Paper work out the wazoo. Tyrannical DOT ( D ept O f T yranny) road checks, chicken coops, weight / bridge laws, over width / length problems, and on and on and on.
Lot lizards bothering you at truck stops when your trying to sleep. Thieves trying to rip you off. Delivering to places the cops are afraid to go to unless in force.
Rates haven’t gone up in years, but fuel prices going into the stratosphere.
Unless you know what it is like to go through this I suggest you refrain from shooting your mouth off about that which you know NOTHING about.
If that happens there is a simple solution. Just do what cops have been doing for years. Every driver gets the truckers equivalent of the blue flu on a certain day. Just drink an few belts of cough medicine and climb into the sleeper. According to DOT rules, one can't operate machinery while on medication or impaired in any form. While one is sick one is impaired.
And if they are not free to do so then the situation calls for a healthy dose of capitalism.
They should be working for those who pay them more. If the companies they work for are colluding to fix trucker pay then a strike is proper and good ole' fashioned capitalism.
Adam Smith would be cheering them on. Or more likely taking the companies to task.
No, they should purchase shares in oil royalty trusts or other oil related companies and hedge the price increase.
and yes I was an O/O 81-84 had a 48 state bedbug van 53% line haul out of which you might see maybe 25% after the agents get done nibbling your gonads off
then after truck payments, lumpers, layovers for three weeks in Atlanta(good lord) and short loads to Bozeman Montana Via San Diego you are left holding the bag. Stevens Van Lines in Michigan still owes me $5600, they tried to send me a bill for the same amount but when I sent my documents to the collection agency they dropped the case, yep, and I figured I better too, before I end up sleeping with Jimmy Hoffa...... hey no problem Mikey, I feel your pain.
One night in Missouri just outside of KC there was this mean az chicken coop that liked to write up big tickets like $10,000 for 100lbs over, there was a crowd at the 76 jabbering on the CB waiting for it to lock up. So I turned on my linear and anounced my intentions, I had a bad fuel switch that wouldn't let the truck start until I dumped all the air.
I tidied up my funny books and went out and dumped the clutch in sixth, stalled the rig right on top of the scale. Got on the CB channel 19, code word "Fox in the hen house, fox in the hen house". Smokey came out all steamed as I sat there spinning the motor, as a line backed up on the big road and a huge heard of trucks blew by at full speed . So yeah, got no idea what you are talking about, and about those few years truckin' I got more stories than the empire state building.... keep the shiny side up.
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