All Tankers Please Shut Down

I just posted this on another forum (non trucking) , I did tell them about the trucking strike, many are supportive since they are independent business owners also. Plus I didn't want them to run out of TP.

BUT My question is, isn't diesel cheaper to refine than gas? If so why does it cost more. The solution is SIMPLE. We do need to raise our rates for trucking true, say to 1.50 a mile. One way to do this is don't take loads out that require you to take CHEAP return loads.

The second part is.... gas needs to cost more. If it takes more to refine it the ONLY reason it is less is supply and demand. The Oil companies know people can cut back on their driving. Trucks can't or can only so much to the point of not idling if they aren't going to freeze or roast. Oil companies KNOW that diesel is REQUIRED for business, not just semis but power units, diesel pickups, tractors, heavy machinery, etc. etc. So why does it cost more? IF the truth be known and the oil companies REALLY need their profits fine. Pass the cost onto the gallon of gas OR spread it equally between diesel and gas. Very simple, the price of diesel goes down, prices in the stores stay the same or raise slightly because of our shipping rates or so MFG will say that's why. The only thing that raises is gas. Fair and equal. Actually what the oil companies are doing with the huge increases in diesel is known as price gouging isn't it? When a gas stations price of fuel goes up they don't raise the cost of a cup of coffee or a coke to offset it, they raise the prices # the pumps. If my price of selling and shipping heavy items go up I raise the price of them, NOT the price of the light items. VERY SIMPLE

Of course I have a car that runs on gas and won't use it much but...................350,000 to 500,000 independent truck drivers will not be going broke which is what is happening now.

 

IF the tankers would shut down it would only take a day or two and something would be done. I agree.

 

I agree- the whole diesel costing more than gas when gas is cheaper to refine is complete BS.

Kind of like when gas was $1.00/gallon, and midgrade was 10 cents more than regular unleaded, and premium was 10 cents more than midgrade. If it was a percentage of the cost, why now when gas is 4x the price, isn't the difference 40% between grades?

 

diesel is higher because the taxes on diesel is higher. States see trucks as a "cash cow". 4 wheelers only take on 20-25 gallons and a truck takes on 200-300 gallons. Same goes for tolls on roads and bridges.Force trucks to run toll roads by making secondary roads a "no truck route".Bulldoze the truck stops and put parking restrictions all over so 3rd shift at the cop shop can spend the night writing high dollar tickets to trucks

 

Problem is most tanker drivers are company drivers and company drivers will be fired if they strike. Not everyone can afford to be fired with this economy the way it is. When you live paycheck to paycheck, you just have no choice but to work.

 

The reason diesel is high is because the fuel companies can charge it and we will have to pay it or else, and they know that.

Raise gasoline to $4.00 a gallon and people will find ways to cut down on driving and consumption. They have done that even at $3.00 per gallon. People are parking pickups and Suburbans and Toyota is selling vehicles wide open while American manufacturers with lower mpg vehicles are struggling big time.

Diesel is a different animal. It's the fuel that powers truck, trains, heavy equipment, electric generators, heats homes and much more. You can't trade in a Freightliner for Toyota and still haul an 80,000 pound trailer. You can't stop hauling the trailer because our goods manufacturing and processing has become much more centralized and where we once produced milk and eggs in Kentucky, we no longer do, they come from Alabama and Wisconsin and they have to be hauled in. Trains can't stop running because we've built power plants 1500 miles from the coal supplies because environmental regulations and political bull prohibited building the plants near the coal and shipping electricity over the grid which we are doing anyway at a much lesser cost than shipping a unit train of coal.

Diesel is also currently suffering from some of the same problems the medical industry has. Most people do not realize that Doctors visits have 4 or 5 different prices for the same service. There's the Medicare/Medicaid price they can collect that is sort of shoved down their throat by the government. The amount they collect for a Medicare/Medicaid patient doesn't cover the cost of the service so they make it up elsewhere. Then there's the price private insurers pay for a service, generally more than Medicare/Medicaid but pretty much on a break even margin. They accept these prices because they are contracturally bound to by the insurers, and even at break even, they are pay for some of the overhead. There's the price auto insurers pay on accidents. In this case, there are no pre-agreed on prices, and about all an auto insurer can do is argue about it and eventually pay it. These prices are much higher and make up the slack between the loss on Medicare/Medicaid, and a profit.

With diesel, you have large consumers pre-contracting prices. Consumers such as Utility Companies, Rail Roads, and large corporate trucking companies. They get their fuel on an agreed upon price for a period of time. Say there is a contract for $2.50/gallon and the price to make it goes to $3.00, someone has to make up the difference and by contract, the contractees aren't going to so you start seeing $4.00 at the pump for people without the ability to contract for fuel and it happens to be a large segment including independent truckers, Owner/Operators, farmers, loggers, workers with diesel pickups and equipment.

The thing is, the oil companies could raise diesel to $10/gallon and we'd all pay for it. As it is now, the corporate trucks getting the fuel discount are still charging fuel surcharges as if they were paying full price and they and the oil company are both making money off this scam. There's no incentive to lower prices.

Skip

 

The tax is the same in some states and not much different in others. In no way it justifies the .70 difference.

One chart is # http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/motor_fl.html

 

That's what I was trying to say Skip!! LOL. Put gas up to where it reflects the true cost of refining it and you will see $4.00 fuel maybe, but you will probably see diesel well below $3. Perhaps that is what we should be striking for plus an across the board rate of $1.50 to haul.

I have to quit and do ebay now, husband has been on strike for 2 1/2 weeks or whatever you want to call it, don't want to run because he's making .03 more per mile than our neighbor who started driving this year for someone else?

 

The tax has very little to do with it. Red fuel (off road diesel that is either not taxed or taxed less depending on the state) is right at the same price as regular diesel. It's gotten to the point that as high as fuel is, it isn't worth the cost to drive to get off road fuel to save 40 cents or less.

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