What can be done here?

There is a place around here that ships limestone. My company refuses to haul it because the rates aren't worth a ####. Everyone that does haul it complains about it not paying but they have to do something just to make ends meet. A guy I know pretty well that also has trucks said his driver went someone to dump and a guy down there asked if they were any better off since the shipping company increased the haul price $2/ton because of fuel. This company asked for an extra $2/ton but didn't give any of it to the trucks. The only thing I can think to do is to get everyone together and try to get everyone to sit until this company agrees to pay more to have it hauled. Everyone has that one company near them that will haul for anything just to get the work though.

I wish I could only get everyone to stick together and not move. One guy will have the logic "Well I can get more loads if all these other trucks are sitting" instead of "Well if I band together with these other guys, I can keep the same amount of trucks there and make better money for the same amount of fuel". Does anyone have any ideas??

This issue hardly affects me. I generally haul heavy equipment for the mines. It would be nice if hauling out of there were an option when work was slow occasionally but you're not making anything after you pay the driver and put fuel in the tank.

 

It's a shame. There are a good number of trucking outfits that all haul out of this place. Someone will come in complaining that they can't haul it for the current price and another company owner will say "Well if they can't haul it for that, let them go. I can cover it". Greed is a big problem with the trucking industry.

In my honest opinion, the biggest problem is the fuel prices. Fuel goes up, rates stay the same. Companies won't take money out of their own pockets to cover the escalating fuel costs so they take it from the drivers. Flat rates are now 20% instead of 25%. Companies are now wanting to pay MAYBE $0.36 per mile.

It would be nice to get as many trucking companies as we could (especially companies like Schneider who haul a lot for Wal-Mart) to not move for sayyyy... 3 days. This country would fall apart. There would be nothing left at the grocery stores. I'm saying rates would come up then. As previously stated though, you'll always have the greedy guy that has to go against everyone to try to get to that work. If they would just think about it for a minute and follow suit, all of us would benefit from it.