Mexican Trucks Safer Yet We Still Have 18-Wheeler Protectionism in Action

Baack · Oct 21, 2009

Over on Supply Excellence, Rachel Rutkoski has the scoop from a recent DOT safety report that found Mexican trucks crossing into the US were actually safer than US trucks (and drivers) operating within the country. Why does this matter? US protectionists have increasingly been attempting to build a case around restricting the movement of Mexican trucks to drive traffic to US companies. But hopefully this will put the kibosh on any safety arguments they can make.

According to the study and Rachel's write-up, "in 2008, 21.2% of inspections of Mexican trucks resulted in taking trucks out of service, while 21.8% of inspections of US trucks resulted in trucks being taken out of service. During those inspections, 1.2% of Mexican drivers were taken out of service, while 6.9% of US drivers were taken out of service." Of course this flies in the face of a Congressional move earlier this year "to end a Bush Administration sponsored test of long haul trucking between Mexico and the US" based on "safety concerns" of Mexican drivers and trucks.

Whenever protectionism like this rears its ugly head, everyone loses except a couple of parties -- the organizations whose jobs are being protected and the actual workers. The rest of us end up paying in higher prices for lesser quality products (e.g., in this case, Mexican fresh produce degrades by the hour the longer it sits). Such actions also fly in the face of lean and related JIT and VMI programs, as the added transfer time in certain cases requires companies to inventory additional materials state-side, further cutting into profit margins and driving up ultimate consumer costs. In fact, one could argue, protectionism in such lower-value activities such as trucking ultimately end up costing more US jobs as consumers will ultimately spend less, resulting in lower factory throughput, and as manufacturers discover the economics of the near-shore Mexican option with on-shore assembly no longer makes financial sense.
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http://www.spendmatters.com/index.c...-Still-Have-18Wheeler-Protectionism-in-Action

KenMx · Dec 26, 2009

thats really cool to know (Viva Mexico)

stranger · Dec 26, 2009

Whenever protectionism like this rears its ugly head, everyone loses except a couple of parties -- the organizations whose jobs are being protected and the actual workers....................and driving up ultimate consumer costs.
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I would rather pay a little more for my product, and have a job to be able to purchase the product, than to have slightly cheaper goods, and no job or money to buy said goods.

Viva la protectionism!!!

lowbudget · Dec 26, 2009

Pardon me? Maybe I'm not seeing the 3 "safer" mexican trucks, but I sure get to see hundreds of very unsafe and barely running mexican trucks.

RickG · Dec 26, 2009

stranger said: ↑

I would rather pay a little more for my product, and have a job to be able to purchase the product, than to have slightly cheaper goods, and no job or money to buy said goods.

Viva la protectionism!!!
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Navistar and Daimler think you should pay more for Mexican made trucks .

stranger · Dec 27, 2009

RickG said: ↑

Navistar and Daimler think you should pay more for Mexican made trucks .
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So does Chrysler, GM, and Ford.

groundpounder · Dec 27, 2009

lowbudget said: ↑

Pardon me? Maybe I'm not seeing the 3 "safer" mexican trucks, but I sure get to see hundreds of very unsafe and barely running mexican trucks.
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Laredo is filled with the barely running ones !!

GP

Jolsen · Jul 5, 2010

groundpounder said: ↑

Laredo is filled with the barely running ones !!

GP
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