Trucker protest ends, tickets issued

"MeatWagon" that's the problem, the general public don't understand. These drivers out there drivin slow in the fast lanes and blocking traffic should be ticketed. If your goning to make them understand shut down and let their stores run out of groceries and stations run out of gas then they will understand what the truckin industry means to this country!!! I'm sorry these drivers out there doing things like that are'nt helping the cause! Their just making it harder for us that shut down to get our message across!!

 

10-4, guys.

 

Truckers protest high fuel prices; three cited for impeding traffic
4/1/08

 

Sheeple just living out their days in the Matrix.

 

We Must Shut Down And Stay Shut Down But Do It Safely. We Should Still Be Responsible...

 

I want to preface this by saying I do agree that fuel prices are outrageous and I have absolutely no idea what is involved in the day to day operation of an independent trucker. It's not my line of work and I don't expect you to be proficient in my line of work either.

Oil companies have been gouging everyone, not just the truckers, for many years now. What I don't understand is what you hope to accomplish by idling. I'm well aware of fuel prices, I have to purchase fuel myself. Granted, not nearly as much as a trucker but it still hits my wallet pretty hard. I'm currently out of work thanks to another strike I have no control over. That strike is about the UAW not taking a pay cut yet they (UAW) have forced one on me and my family (3 girls and I have custody of them all).

Here's what I don't understand about idle trucks... with the pinch I'm already feeling, how am I supposed to rally behind idle truckers wishing stores will "run out of groceries and stations run out of gas"? What effect will idle trucks have on big oil? Will that effect be nearly as costly as the effect idle trucks (and empty shelves) will have on those of us who are already struggling?

Don't get me wrong, I do believe you are being hit hard by the oil companies and something definitely needs to be done. I just don't think idle trucks are going to have the desired effect. I could be wrong.

Just my thoughts, I cannot control what you do even though what you do may force some hard decissions on my part.

 

I too have a family and while you may have to make a few hard decisions in the future over the high price of oil I and many other professional have been making these hard decisions for a few years, we have given up a lot to make sure that this country has what it needs, there is no one on here that wants to hurt you or anyone else but this has got to stop somewhere, unlike a lot of people I am not screaming about high fuel but am pizzed about rates that haven't changed in many years add the huge increase to the costs of doing business and a lot of us are working for almost nothing a lot of this is because of people looking the other way while business continues to make record profits a lot of them profits by sticking it to the drivers and owner operators
thrus me you couldn't get enough drivers to get together and do what you saw today and will see for the next few days unless it was critical out there

 

I have a great deal of respect for truckers, they are doing a job that takes a lot more commitment than the average factory/desk job. What I question is will the strike affect those it is intended to? Yes, a lot of people have set up and taken notice over the past couple days. But how long will truckers have to sit before our government crawls out of the oil companies pockets to do something about it?

I work for an auto parts supplier, specifically making parts for full size trucks and SUVs but the high gas prices haven't hit affected us at all. Prior to the axle strike, we were working 6 and 7 days a week to meet customer demand. While the general public may complain about high fuel prices, it isn't slowing them down on buying gas guzzlers.

As I said, I know very little about the trucking industry so I'm not familiar with any of the rates you talk about. I do agree that corporate America is making an obscene amount of money off the backs of hard working people. The problem seems to come back to the old Golden Rule... he who has the gold makes the rules.

What's at issue is, how do we change this together without bankrupting those hard working people in the process? I really wish I had the answer to that and I really wish idle trucks would help. Sadly, I don't think it will.

I read in another post that lower fuel prices will equal lower prices for goods transported by the trucking industry. The Big 3 demand a price reduction each year in their supplier contracts. Do you see that reduction at the car lots?

 

What doesn't the public understand? My guess is that the public is experiencing higher prices for the goods they buy, and it's being blamed on increased transportation costs. So it follows that the general population, not understanding the complexity and hierarchy of the transportation industry, assumes the truckers are charging more to haul freight -- hence, off-setting the higher fuel costs and keeping their profit margins the same.

 

The problem with this is a deep one and mirrors problems in other industries.

The fact is today there are more company trucks on the road than there were in the 70's when this last reared it's head. In the 70's the independents could make a huge difference. Today, I'm not so sure they can many a difference in many parts of the business, but they will in some aspects where companies tend not to get into the business of hauling certain types of loads.

What independents and O/O's that are left are the last of a breed that will not be around much longer if things don't change. At that point, we will all be at the mercy of what some corporation wants to charge us because there won't be the competition there is now. Additionally, there won't be the shipping options available today for smaller shippers not in the loop.

The prices aren't affecting the corporate trucks as bad. Why? Several reasons. For one, they have contracts with the fuel suppliers like the airlines do and are getting a lower, much lower, than posted rate plus kickbacks from Pilots, Flying J's. T/A's etc. That allows them to drive down the freight rates driving the independents and O/O's toward bankruptcy. Additionally, the corporates are getting fuel surcharges based on the posted prices, so they are in fact making money off this whole deal while the non corporate owners and other fuel users like farmers, loggers, construction people, etc are getting hit hard.

One of this countries only exports is farm products, mainly grains. This mess has driven the cost to produce it through the roof, and the Bio Fuel thing has driven the price up of corn and beans in this country. At double what the stuff can be sold for in Argentina and Australia, we are going to be up the proverbial creek export wise further increasing trade deficits making us a much worse debtor nation and increasing out dependence on imports. By the time this is said and done, we may be importing grain rather than exporting it.

One of the things that would help this cause is getting the other users involved. Farmers/Loggers/Construction etc. The problem with the Farmers which is a huge lobby is the grain farmers generally wag the tail of the dog. They aren't hurting, the livestock farmers, tobacco farmers, vegetable farmers and others not producing grains are. Tobacco brings about 50 cents less per pound here today than it did prior to the end of the tobacco program and Phillip Morris and others are planning to cut the contract payments this year even more.

Tis a nasty mess, and there are a lot of people looking to these guys (independent truckers) for some muscle to help put a stop to it.

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