Truck Owners ANGRY and Scared Over Fuel Costs

I agree with you all on the something needs to be done now. I read some of the posts about setting a time for a strike a 4 or 5 months from now. I don't know about most of ya'll but I can't keep going that long. I shut my truck down yesterday. It has gotten to the point that once I put fuel in the truck and pay a few bills I have nothin left. I just put $2300.00 worth of tires on my truck two weeks ago. Now I don't know how I am goin to get them paid for. I was barely surviving with the truck, then I was breakin even, Now I'm goin in the hole. I drive a log truck, yes I know, slow, in the way log truck!!! Most of us log truck drivers in Ga are parking our trucks next week. We are really getting a good many people to come together with us on this. We have been having meetings all over Ga every Saturday. We are having a big one this Sat. in Macon, Ga. Trust me I feel your pain. But we just can't keep going the way we have. We have got to stand as one against the freight co, timber co, gas co, and the government.

 

After reading through these " STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE " threads... I gotta tell ya' that I have not laughed so hard in a long time.... Try to run a business properly and then who cares what fuel costs.....

 

i hope u'll enjoy a loaf of bread for $20 in a near future since u dont care how much fuel costs...we will just keep on passing FSC to customers...or better yet how would u like not have any bread at all in your local store?...people like you pissing me off!

 

Yep.... O/O's like me who know how to run a profitable business, even one in East County.....

 

Well this might be a little over the top but it would get the attention of the right people. The crew in our nations capitol!

We could get together and shutdown Washington, DC.
Take trucks right to the White House or shutdown 495 around Washington.
Figure the miles around circle by average length of trucks and it would take about 4600 - 5000 (more would be better)trucks to block the whole circle - all entrance and exit rammps. Nothing gets on or off. Just stagger trucks so they aren't end to end and they can backup or pull forward a little in case any emergency vehicles need to get thru.

Shut it down completely so no traffic can get in or out.
Now that would get the attention of everyone in the country and especially the population of our nations capitol and the crew up there.

Then when the media, police, FBI, CIA, National Guard and ??? all get there, we tell them we're on strike and not moving until something is done about fuel prices, drivers wages, fleece purchases, shippers, receivers and anything else that needs to be addressed with the trucking community.

What do you think the president, capitol hill and the rest of the politicians in the Washington area will do???

Of course first you have to get that many drivers to stand together and do it. Then they would have to be committed to the cause and not move no matter what.

Can you imagine the chaos and ??? this would cause. Traffic backed up all the way north, south, east and west for miles and miles and miles! No deliveries, no getting to work, no school, no whatever because traffics dead stopped.
Almost a guarantee that someone of some importance will come out to try and resolve the issue ASAP.

Well I can dream can't I?

 

well tell us your secret.. or are you just a flamer? How did you become depression proof?

 

Going on strike is probably not the best answer.
It might be a temp triumph but won't last long.
Expecting the government to do something for you is wasted time & hope.

GWB doesn't know you.
He knows PATT, CRASH etc.
He knows the ATA.
He knows the bigger trucking corp's.
He sees only how they can get the $/per mi.
He sees only that they are successfully negotiating FSC's.
He'll never understand or care why an O/O can't generally obtain a decent FSC.
The next imbecile in orifice won't either nor will his/her cronies.

O/O's make up the bulk of the industry.
Yet, with all those numbers no one takes you seriously.
The biggest reason for this is a lack of unification & a serious lack of representation.

Neither the Teamsters nor OOIDA are in a position to do anything to really help you.
Not enough drivers belong to either group to make a loud enough voice in WDC.
Neither group is in a position to effect policy changes..or they would have years ago.

The only group that does have the power to make/effect policy changes is the ATA & they are not your friend.

Although the companies within the ATA are diverse & competitors, they are colluding or "networking" (your choice of theme) to "gang up" & force you off the field. This is good business practice when you're on the winning side.

The ATA's backers represent only a handful of companies whose combined road assets are a fraction of the total numbers of trucks out there.

However small that fraction is, they have cohesion & thru focused, well funded leadership, they exert a fair amount of pressure to move government & other entities in the ATA's desired directions.

For you (collectively) to do anything to improve your standing in the trucking world, you'll have to fight fire with fire.

The ATA is a co-op (of sorts) beholding to its membership of major trucking players.

The only realistic way to making things better is to finally build yourselves a co-op.

Build your own not-for-profit co-op using either an established organization or find a way to start from scratch.

If you use an existing org, get behind it 100%.
There's no way to make it work without the numbers.
It doesn't matter if you don't care for every little nuance that org entails....just get behind it.
Then, register to vote in that org AND your federal & local elections.
Just having numbers in a private org is not scary enough to politicians.
Those politicians need to see voters within that org.

Once your co-op is in place, figure out who you want to speak, what you want to say, prioritize it & then just do it.

Do the small things first & gain credibility.

Thru your NFP co-op, create a means to buy fuel at discounts the same way the big corps do.
You should have lots of buying power with a million or two buyers.
While you're at it, create a load brokering service that charges a fair rate instead of the "usery" rates you get hit with now.
As your brokerage gains leverage, don't be bashful about adding in the FSC...& sending it to your carriers.
Don't worry if you loose a shipper or two because of the FSC.
You'll end up getting him back because you'll have the bulk of O/O's working for you.
The shipper will have to take a chance on cheap or one of the big carriers.
Either way you win because now you let someone else go broke hustling cheap.

It's your co-op.
Make it the way you want.

Unfortunatley, this is not something that can happen overnight & there will be losses in the industry.

Losses are probably not a bad thing.
There's a need for thinning of the herds every now & again.

 

It's not hard to run a profitable trucking biz in this climate. You just need to have a clue in how to run a business.... I have business skills, I rarely use a broker, I deal directly with shippers, I know how to negotiate a good rate, I know what my operation costs to the penny at any given moment, I run aero trucks, I keep my left door shut, I don't need to run for fuel money, I have seperate maintenence, tire, repair, and reserve funds, I have excellent credit....

The O/O's who are calling for a " STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE !!!! " do not have any of the above qualifications, and deserve to go down the drain...

 

There's always somebody better than i am!

 

So BD1, How long do you sit on your ### waiting for a load that meets your high standards?? Sometimes your better off running cheap #### to get where the good $$ are. You OBVIOUSLY have never picked up a load in the rockies. Cheyenne, Missoula, Spokane Etc. Very few decent loads outa those areas.
Oh and yeah, I am not an OTR driver. I am a foreman for a local construction company. We have pushed our hourly rate as far as possible. We have left a few jobs because the contractors wouldn't pay over 95 an hour and guess what?? Months later the jobs still sit un-hauled. No one else will haul them either! We are burning over 50$ an hour in fuel, Drivers wages and work comp = another $25 an hour. That leaves $20 an hour to pay for insurance, permits, maintenance and repairs or around $160-180 a day. Blow one tire and 2 days of profits are shot to hell. Were basically shut down on most projects until #1, fuel prices come down or #2 contractors decide to pay a higher rate. Logging companies are in the same pickle. If your making $$ your one of the VERY few but i personally think your blowing smoke up our rear passages. Even guys hauling A&E and oversize are struggling...............