This may have been a subject in past posts, i couldn't find it. My question is, how do they justify the price of diesel fuel and who is responsible for it's price at the pump? Years ago it was always half the price of gasoline, it all comes out of the same barrel and has to be cheaper to produce. I've heard a few theories on this, but never felt like i got the real answer.

It took the industry a long time to realize that they could get away with gouging us to death.... Diesel is a by-product of the manufacturing of Gasoline.... They actually used to just dump a lot of it out on the ground. But, as the trucking industry got away from gas engines....and now almost exclusively uses diesel.....the gasoline companies have us by the short hairs. And, they know us...... We'll get all puffed up..... Make some noise.... But, at the end of the day..... We'll go right on up to the Pilot, etc. and top off our tanks.....cryin' about it to each other....but doing nothing about it. They know we won't stick together for anything.

You cut off Cali.... take 200 trucks.....stack em' up 5 wide....5 deep across I-8, I-10, I-40, & I-80....right at the state line...both sides of the road....every time they haul one away....another fills in the gap.... get it on TV.... We could actually have a voice... Think about it....200 out of 4 million. What would be sooooo hard about that.

There is NO REASON diesel should be higher than gasoline. Period.

Also, the big companies don't care about the price of fuel.....they get the FSC....and most of them have fleet averages above 6mpg....they're making a fortune off the FSC. I know Con-way made MILLIONS last year because their trucks averaged somewhere between 6.5 and 7mpgs.

I hear ya on that one. I remember the shutdown a few years back, The o/o's for the most part tried stick together, but the guys in company trucks was threatened with being fired for taking part. No doubt the big companys are the ones who feel it the least, when in all reality they should be the ones making the biggest noise. Something got to give, rates are down and fuel is up.

Thinking back to the macroeconomics class I took in JuCo about 5 years ago-we discussed this subject. Even though it was only JuCo, the guy teaching the class was pretty sharp.

I think the term I'm looking for is "inelasticity of demand". In other words, the trucks and trains still have to roll. People still have to heat their homes. Crops still have to be harvested. This drives up, and keeps up, the price of fuel oil/diesel. People still buy it to get things heated/delivered/harvested almost no matter what the price.

Gasoline, on the other hand, has a more elastic demand. When the price of gas goes up, there is more opportunity for conservation. People can start carpooling, take fewer vacations, etc.

This is what I can remember; anyone else with a better explanation/understanding, feel free to chime in.

What you propose might just work...but....

The lower sulphur diesel IS more expensive to produce...less power per gallon and all the other detractors. Thank the EPA for all that. It's here, and it's not going to go away.....So.

Transportation IS the key to the lock here.

If EVERYBODY that is fed up with high prices of fuel...and I'm not going to exclude ANYBODY here would sign on to one simple boycot(in some cases it would be a forced boycot), our troubles would be on the way to resolution.

We know that the higher cost of fuel is the reason for, in some cases, a 25% or more increase in prices at our retailers. Not to mention it hits our pockets in the area of profits. Even if rates(freight) go up, it has to be made up elsewhere.....thus...higher prices.

We don't even have to convince all truckers to shut down and quit driving. Only a small percentage of drivers are needed to make this work.

The idea.....get the fuel tanker drivers to shut down and in a matter of just a few days...the entire country would feel the pressure. Think about it, with no fuel in the tanks at fuel stops, nothing could move.

We already know that...Without trucks...America stops. If we were to take it just one step farther than to just "Preach to the choir"

It wouldn't be long before the 4 wheelers...there's a lot more of them than us anyway...would be screaming at the top of their lungs for the government to do something. Maybe then...our voices could be heard.

Of course I'm forgetting "The Blue Ribbon Senate Investigative Committee" that would be convened to further investigate the matter.

__________________
Big Red



Freedom wasn't won with a registered gun.

Fuel is definitely the key....but, the problem is that if just the Tanker Yankers went out....the companies would quickly hire someone to fill the seats.....it'll take a blockade made up of drivers from all aspects of the trucking industry....and it has to be Cali.....no other place would make such a broad reaching impact.....shelves emptying....crops going bad....all in just a couple of days time.. Yeah, some of us might end up in jail...for a few days...but, it'd be worth it. Yeah....I said US.... I don't plan on being left out!!! Not ME!!

i'll take a load and park/stand beside ya there steve

this is gettin outragous