Originally Posted by Johnny99

Schneider Transport was union before deregulation. Then Schneider National came along. As the Transport drivers quit or retired they were never replaced. Today once in a great while you will still see a Schneider Transport truck. CRST had a meat hauling division that was union way back when. When I worked for them in the mid 80's there were only a handfull of drivers left.

Originally Posted by Johnny99

In my opinion it was better for a driver before deregulation. Deregulation opened it up for the non union truckload carriers. Before deregulation it was pretty much a level playing field because the freight rates were regulated by the ICC. Rates had to be filed with the Interstate Commerce Commision. If a company wanted authority to run somewhere they had to petition the ICC for operating authority in the area they wanted to go to. It was a long process and the LTL carriers had a lot of places they were allowed to run and other carriers had to stay out of. If a carrier had a load going to an area they didn't have authority for they had to "interline" it with a carrier who did. Basically deregulation made it possible for the trucking company to go where they wanted to and charge what they wanted to charge, with a minimum of red tape. Thats when all the rate cutting got started. We also got 53 ft trailers, 102 wide trailers, and 80,000 # gross weight nationwide. Deregulation was great for the truckload industry, but the drivers didn't gain anything from it, that I can see. The DOT rules and regs stayed the same. Union companies started going out of business because they couldn't compete with the truckload carriers. In 1980 a lot of the truckload carriers were only paying 17 to 22 cents per mile. 90% of the company trucks out there were short wheelbase cab overs with no power steering, small engines{anyone remember the shiny 290's} and no A/C. After deregulation the drivers didn't make any more money, a lot of union drivers were forced to take lesser paying OTR jobs, after the union co.'s went out of business. JB, Swifty, Werner, the list is long, got where they are today because of deregulation. And they are all major players on these forums about bad company's to work for. Some will say deregulation was good, some will say its bad. I think it was bad for the drivers, but thats my opinion.

Originally Posted by mannmk7

Just what I suspected. Deregulation has done it again. Deregulation and lack of oversight have brought on the subprime credit crisis as well. Our own government and corporations are killing us in the name of deregulation.

Originally Posted by walleye

Ziggy, What do you have against drivers try to make a living wage???
Why are you so he77 bent on convincing everybody to work for the boss mans table scraps????

Originally Posted by ziggystyles

Or not. I know you wont reply, but Im bored...

Obviously...

Its interesting however when it is pointed out that when the industry was deregulated, the industry was able to compete...something you seem against. Trucking companies with a large network were able to offer competitive and lower rates for moving freight. Instead of paying regulated union rates that were apparently much higher (otherwise they wouldnt have dropped like a rock)...the freight rates were lowered to a level where they could compete with other trucking companies.

Seems to me your idea of competition is a swing of the pendulum that eliminated good paying jobs in an industry that was doing well at that point. Deregulation allowed some companies to grow that couldn't before. As they grew, the profits went into corporate salaries at the drivers expense... thus the slave labor conditions in existence for new drivers today, and a system that allows these companies to force out experienced drivers and just keep rotating in newbies, who essentially work for free.

The companies that needed high rates to survive...they couldn't compete. While I know you dont like competition and all...it is huge for business.

While some companies were driven out that couldn't compete, others were artificially boosted by allowing for the conditions that exist today... underpaid, inexperienced, overworked drivers working for companies that in many cases have them locked into contracts to pay for schooling, and the schooling itself also a joke. Again... it is the driver who paid for this with lower wages and poorer conditions.

Case in point. Every trucking company has a set rate they need to make at bare minimum to break even. They know that for X job or route or region, they need X cents per mile to break even. that rate includes:
wages, fuel, truck and trailer, insurances...etc. Depending on various other items, that rate can go up or down. They charge what they need, PLUS extra for profit. Sort of like contracters and how they subcontract out and such and add in an extra 10-15% for profit. Same with the trucking industry.

With the carriers that couldnt compete...their costs were too high. They couldnt lower their wages for drivers along with the 20 other benefits they felt they needed and such. Since they couldnt compete...they went out of business.

Again, the elimination of good jobs and fair wages, replaced by what exists today... in the form of driver mills.

When companies are able to use their buying power, their size and other factors to produce a lower end all priced product...its better for the customer and encourages other companies to compete.

And when you think about it...if you aren't for competition, you seem to be FOR monopolies, where there is no competition and costs can go through the roof.

Odd that one company pretty much controls this industry... and small and independent contractors/drivers and companies, are disappearing because they can afford to work for free.

While you claim to be for competition, in-fact, what has happened is the opposite. The pendulum has merely swung to the other extreme. Again, at the cost wages to drivers, the loss of owner operators, and the inability of
companies to compete with unregulated driver mills like the ones that are all written about on here... the ones you seem to be a lobbyist for.

And I dont want the governent sticking their nose in other industries either. Once again you brought up the subprime stuff. Its not the governments fault for the housing situation...but the corporations that set their own internal requirements for mortgage loans. Companies should be free to set their own requirements for loans and suffer the consequences. unfortunately, the Feds went out and bought the housing market up, which means the government is in control of the industry. I feel that was a very bad decision. The housing market should suffer its consequences, not be bought out by the gov for its stupidity. If you bought a home without proof of anything and it was a ARM mortgage, and you can't afford it when it adjusts, then you should go into foreclosure, period.

Of course, I have this whacked out opinion of being responsible for your choices...And also being against communism. But alas...

Originally Posted by inthewindaz