Truck Owners ANGRY and Scared Over Fuel Costs

i am sure wiseone will look over this thread with great interest and decied accordingly on what a proper responce would be....as it is his site

that said i DO believe this is an industry wide situation, and gearjammer.....i already am and will continue to boycott CA as much as my dispatchers hate me for it

and yes i too believe the time for petitions and letters/calls to our elected officals is well since past, as those all take precious time, time we can no longer afford

truckers as a group are starting to come together, and as scary and intimidating as it is, it is well past due

now lets come up with a senciable plan of action here folks

shut down??? when and how and for what reasons??

how about a list of things that are ireversably broken and despritely need repair/ replacement?

things we as a group are willing to concede?

and if you couldnt tell i respond to multiple posts at once

 

I took a few minutes to step back and several conclusions hit me.

• This crisis affects everything that trucking touches

1. Truck stops- Drivers be will less apt to purchase the extras
2. Chrome shops-Less discretionary funds mean no extras in those establishments either.
3. Mechanic's shops-When times are tight drivers will find the time to work on the the mechanical needs they normally would pass on to a shop.
4. New truck manufacturers-Anyone see the Truck Paper lately? There are still plenty of brand new '08 rigs sitting the dealers' lots.
5. Same goes for trailers as well
6. What about the other things that truckers purchase like houses, cars, TV's; what about going out to a fancy dinner every now and then? Even your regular restaurant will miss you patronage. I'll bet drivers and their families will shop less at Wally World too.

When we suffer from high fuel prices it becomes a trickle down effect.

There is quite a bit a stake here folks. I mentioned that we should included the unions well, Hell, Trucking affects much more than us, our families. By us not in the position to make a profit, we'll shut down others without even blocking one freeway lane or blockading Washington D.C.

Think about that for a while. We're bigger and more important than we could have imagined. I think that congress should be reminded that when truckers suffer, everyone else is going to join the party.

Unhappy voters mean no Re-Election.

/just thought I'd add those morsels

 

Good points I started to write some ideas in this thread but thought it deserved a thread of its own I titled the thread;
What If There Is A Strike!!!

I am not sure how to add a link to it but I am sure you can find it.

I didn't want to get this thread off track but its all related and important!!!

 

While the cost of fuel is what is directly in a drivers face, is this the real problem? Yes, fuel cost are out of hand, just like the 70's. However, when fuel caps where inacted by President Carter the matter only got worse. I propose this thought.

If in fact you where recieving $0.25- $0.75 CPM more for all frieght you haul would $4.00/gal be that big a deal?

Personally I think our concentration should be placed on poor frieght rates NOT fuel prices. If there is to be a boycot then shouldn't it be about the pay scale? If a strike is to take place it should be about low shipping rates and skimming of FSC. This is actually something that big companies should be enacting. But, fear of loosing clients drives everyone to accept a load for less and less. If ALL frieght carriers said NO we will not carry it for that then manufacturers would have no choice but to increase the rate paid for shipping.

Major corporations ALL want something for nothing, that is why the 40hr work week and minimum wages were established. People like Carnigi (sp?)wanted workers to stay on duty for 16+ hrs/day and less than fair wages ($1.00/day).

Corporate greed is the driving force behind lower and lower CPM compounded by people willing to do it all for less than their neighbor. WE have created our own demise by undercutting our fellow small businessman. Now rates have been undercut so much that they cannot absorb a rise in the cost of doing business.

If EVERYONE refuses to haul a load for less than $x.xx cpm then fuel prices will no longer be the issue and government intervention will cease to be a topic of discussion.

Your customers can't stop using you and go to someone else if drivers A-Z all refuse to haul for less than $XXX CPM.

 

I just read on an energy website that trucks consume only 1/10th of crude oil. To my understanding more than just trucks need to strike for atleast 3 to 7 days to make it hurt where it counts. I know 4 wheelers don't like the fuel costs just as much as we do, they just don't feel it like us because there not buying 170 gallons a day.

 

This is a really good point, I think you bring a very important understanding to the table. I think everybody is overlooking this issue. For example: the brokers aren't being hurt by this or the shippers, in order for them to help with this matter and make them feel it is get them involved by not taking CHEAP FREIGHT. The broker is making the same amount if not more and the shipper isn't paying much more in rates and if they are the scum sucking brokers are not passing it on. We need to form a union or an agreement on a set rate that we all stick by. So that the brokers and shippers feel it when they aren't making money and freight isn't getting moved! Then they will be in the same boat as us, but this can only work if everyone (not a couple hundred, atleast 75% of the industry) sticks to the agreed freight rates!
JUST MY OPINION AND IDEAS