The high cost of fuel...time to unite on a shutdown and do something about it.

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by codyschmidt, Aug 19, 2012.

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  1. SHC

    SHC Spoiled Rotten Brat O/O

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    Hop on the STRIKE TRUCK !!!!!

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  3. Mommas_money_maker

    Mommas_money_maker Road Train Member

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    aiwiron, you are on a roll today!! I think our strike should be during election time.
     
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  4. G/MAN

    G/MAN Road Train Member

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    If you want the trucking industry to shut down then you need to do what the Teamsters did back in the late 70's when they essentially shut the country down. They announced that they were going on strike and then proceeded to shoot at drivers who continued to work. They hung cinder blocks from over passes about the same level as the drivers windshield. A number were seriously injured. Many were fearful of running to to being injured or killed. Their actions didn't completely shut down the entire industry, but they were sufficiently successful to have a major impact. It wasn't long afterward that the government decided that the Teamsters had to go.

    The best way to shut down this industry is to stop the fuel trucks. Without fuel nobody moves. Four wheelers and 18 wheelers alike can't move without fuel. It would not take long for people to take notice. Of course, truckers would be considered the worst of the worst due to the inconvenience caused by their actions. That isn't likely to happen.

    Since there is little that individuals can do about the price of oil it is up to us as businessmen to deal with whatever conditions that we are presented. The last time fuel went up we had tens of thousands of owner operators and carriers that went out of business. Some speculated that the figure was in the six figures. When fuel peaked at over $5/gallon it was more than the market could bear and we went into a depression. Some prefer calling it a recession, but the trucking industry was in a depression. If trends continue we will repeat what happened in 2008. Things could even get worse. Preparation is the best way to deal with difficult economic situations.

    For some reason owner operators and carriers are reluctant to pass increased costs of doing business along to their customers. Shippers pass their increased costs along to their customers as do retailers and every other type of business enterprise. Truckers seem to resist passing those costs along to brokers and shippers. Other than using some of the tactics that I listed (and I am NOT recommending that you do) there is little that you can to to control or reduce the price of fuel. All you can do is pass your increased costs along to your customers.
     
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  5. Mommas_money_maker

    Mommas_money_maker Road Train Member

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    Very true G/man. I was thinking of a bigger strike. One that would bring every working person in this country together and protest it all and show them that we are not the sheep they think we are.
     
  6. aiwiron

    aiwiron Road Train Member

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    My fellow Americans

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  7. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    I am not a crook......
     
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  8. mamamullins

    mamamullins Medium Load Member

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    G/Man you are very correct. My father-n-law who was an owner operator for many many years until he retired was apart of that strike in the 70's, and he said you did not dare cross the line. His dispatcher begged him to start running, but he refused and said that taking a load across the line was not worth losing his life. He also said that companies were trying to bring in rookies to take these loads and drive, and my father-n-law said that he saw many get beat up for trying to cross the line.

    Things are different now then it was back then, because most drivers were owner operators with a hand full of company drivers. Most of the teamsters back then were owner/operators, but during the recession 2008 many owner/operators were forced out of business. It is still a trickle down affect for many out there. Companies will not increase the cost of linehaul rates, but many follow the DOE fuel prices that are set on a weekly basis which is passed on to the customer. The only problem becomes that if the customers continue to see an increase in their shipping costs, then they will find alternatives to getting their freight delivered. I think that is more scary then the price of diesel. No freight=no money to be made.

    My personal opinion, it is not the oil companies that we need to get our message across to, but it is the Senate and Congressman who have played the battled roles of seeing who has more power instead of being there to support the American people. If you want to protest....then maybe it's time we take back our government by having people with no political power alternatives to go in and take their places. Let's forget about who is a Republican, Democrat, Independant, or this so called Tea Party BS crap. You want America to succeed then bring the jobs back to USA, and start taxing these corporations who took all the jobs across the border so that they could pay Juanita and Jose cheaper. Correct the problems that put us in this position, and you will see America progress.:yes2557:
     
  9. Cowpie1

    Cowpie1 Road Train Member

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    Ya know... some of you need to remember tactics from the military if you served. You don't have to carpet bomb an entire nation to win a battle. You don't have to go on strike nationwide. All it takes is targeting two major cities, that no one will haul in or out of. New York City and Washington DC seem appropriate. Most OTR drivers don't want to go in there anyway. All it takes is 72 hrs of nothing going in to grind those cities to a halt. Meanwhile, everyone can haul freight to their hearts content around the rest of the country and claim plausible deniability in any strike effort.

    I am sure that won't be workable either, but it is sure a lot easier to do, and gets the message across as good as anything else could. But as has been stated, global demand sets the pricing, and the oil companies have little to say about it. It is the commodities market that sets the price. And one thing that is true, is that when the price is allowed to fluctuate, then everyone gets fuel. Price controls never work and create shortages of products. I suggest one reads a very good book on economics called Basic Economic, by Dr. Thomas Sowell. Very readable by even an 8th grader, yet show the interaction of how an economy works and the screwups that happen when politicians try to tinker with the system.

    But as far as the fuel going up, I side with others here. A good fuel surcharge, that is adjusted weekly, and operating the truck the most efficiently you can, and fuel cost is really a non issue. There is at a certain point, when you run the numbers, that fuel essentially becomes a zero cost and one can actually make a profit off the fuel surcharge the higher it goes. But there is always a down side. High fuel costs may not be a real factor to me and some others, and I don't worry about it for my operation, but we all know that those higher fuel costs will slow things down tremendously in the economy, and it really doesn't matter if one is getting a stellar fuel surcharge, if there is fewer shipments due to the high cost.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2012
  10. G/MAN

    G/MAN Road Train Member

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    I like that idea. Unfortunately, I don't think that people will put themselves out that much unless forced. They won't do anything unless there is something in it for themselves. People are getting more involved. Hopefully, the trend will continue and more will become active.
     
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  11. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    you'll never get the company drivers on board. so you can pretty much count them out for any type of strike.

    i'd be up for a strike against the govt and there idiot regs they've been imposing on us as of late.

    but you know. it's illegal to strike. and we all will be arrested and sued for billions of freight that went bad. like what happened to the canadians when they did there strike in the 90's.

    in other words. our backs are against the wall unless we want to go to prison.

    the majority of drivers don't care about anything but collecting a paycheck. and most are so INSANE that they embrace the box. and can't live without it. so basically a strike would be very small. with no support from the majority. and we will have accomplished nothing.

    just look at the posts that are mocking this thread. although, i'd have to agree with the higher fuel surcharge making more money.

    if you want to organize a strike. let's send out a electronic wave to actually stimulate the idiots that embrace the box becuase they can't do there own paperwork and have absolutely no desire to learn how.

    organize a strike against guv regulation. they want to mprove safety. then figure out a way to keep the veterans on the road and less rookies.

    cuz i can see a lot of flats switching over to vans or reefers. that might up the rates for flats. but defentily lowball the rates for vans.
     
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