What exactly is the goal?

When I hear the media say it cost $1200 to fill up a big truck, the first thing I think of (from the perspective of the general public) is "well, yeah! look at the size of their fuel tanks!" Do you think the average non-trucking person understand what that REALLY means? Do they understand what the mpg is on these trucks?

This is a two part statement and and the suggestion of controlling rates wreaks of government regulation. No thanks.

On the other hand, why not focus on the amount of taxes that each and every truck pays, and there are MANY......HVUT, IRP, UCR, Ad Volarem, Property, Franchise, IFTA and fuel taxes. I'm sure there are others I did not list.

Um.........WOW is about all I can say on that one! My first thought was look back in our history and see what this closed-minded approach did to a certain segment of our society. Because they don't speak English they are responsible for overcrowding, unemployment and increases in crime rates?

You want to impact this "issue" then focus on ENFORCEMENT of existing laws. FMCSA has very specific rules in place today on minimum requirements for issuing a CDL.

The feds aren't controlling this one, the individual states are and driving around DC isn't going to change that.

I can't speak for any state but the one I live in, but there are both state and federal incentive programs to help in upgrading equipment. Keeping equipment past it's useful life, including it's useful tax life, makes no sense. Granted, I always buy used equipment and may have to step up to buy new in the future, but my rates reflect what I need to meet my business financial plan for today, tomorrow, next week and next year.

Bottom line is just like other here have said repeatedly: know your business, monitor your business plan, adjust as neccessary. Rinse. Repeat.

 

My bad. You did say because they were Mexican. I infered that they did not speak English.

 

The goals are simple :

Know your operating costs

Run your truck as a business

Don't depend on borkers and loadboards

Slow down

Provide excellent customer service

Deal w/shippers

Negotiate profitable rates and FSC ( w/o needing Gov't handouts )



Pretty simple and easy to obtain goals.....

 

Here is the crux of many of the arguments, and again only nebulous "we need" without this will be done by....

Let's go into this

Fuel prices need to be lowered... How are you expecting WHO to lower the prices?

The government does not set the prices unless there is a declaration of Martial Law. Is that what you want, some power wielding Fuhrer to post government edicts that oil companies can only charge a price set by the leader? Prices are a result of in fact FREE MARKET FORCES... those forces may be skewed by a massive influx of speculative investment in futures, but the government has no power over the commodities market as long as minimum standards of behavior are met... Looking into that massive investment for price fixing and profiteering will of course certainly find a few politicians backers with their hands in the cookie jar somewhere, but the massive amount of investment in futures has distorted the market even without crookedness and corruption, ( they simply add to the problem). You need to consider the sheer size of the futures investment.

The entire MERC investment in futures included about 30 billion dollars 2 short years ago, now it includes 150 billion.. Can you picture the upward pressure? The totality of merc oil contracts ( 60 90 and 120 day futures and derivatives) if actually delivered would consume all the oil production of the entire middle east for the next 3 years, obviously many of those contracts are paper only buy and sell never take delivery deals among fund speculators.

When the market allows people to write contracts nothing down based on the credit rating of the contractor, with no real limit, many corporate money managers will write as many contracts as they can find buyers for at WHAT EVER PRICE, the existence of COMMISSION to refill empty coffers is enough spur to make them careless with morality of over booking.
Any trucker knows the same effect, when a big company contracts for ALL of the loads for a shipper knowing they will have to broker out many of them due to inability to actually power those loads.

The price cannot be forced lower by a democratic limited power government, if you want the government to force prices down you will need to accept a real change in the structure of our government....will you accept a KING? Must it be a JUNTA? How about a peoples committee? How much power to enforce price lowering do you propose to give them, should the army shoot people who do not lower their prices and sell at a loss? Will 20 years prison terms and loss of their business to some government agency that will lower the price and sell until the business goes belly up be enough? Maybe you would close the Commodities market just because it is too successful as compared to the stock market and financial mortgage businesses all that money fled from? Maybe just edicts telling fund managers which companies funds, commodities they MUST invest in would help, your new LEADER could decide and make it happen using the power of the government the air force maybe bombing recalcitrant wall street investment houses?


Let's go on to rate setting, will you have the army decide which freight will be hauled at what price? Maybe having shippers arrested if they don't offer the mandated rate? ( maybe shot?)


Again I say sitting like a spoiled brat demanding that "they fix it" will not fix it... The problem is not that simple to fix. Clarify this point in a way an American can understand it, and we can then worry about the rest of your post...

How will you FIX it... HOW will you lower the price? How will you raise the rates?


DUH!

 

What individual responsibility and action? What are you an AMERICAN or somthing.....?

 

The "lower paid O/O" is USED to accepting lower wages.

Based on other comments in these forums, that seems to be the problem. Too many "lower paid O/O's" are hauling cheap freight....too cheap for them to make a living. If it's not working then figure out how to make it work or find something else to do. And asking one business to subsidize another business is not the answer.

The reality is there are a great number of O/O's who are doing just fine. The markets change, they adjust. The cost structures change, they adjust. The technologies change, they adapt. It is no different today than it has ever been in any business endeavor in this country throughout our history.

It's kind of like musical chairs; when there are fewer chairs, someone is out. Before answering machines, voice mail, and cell phones, the number of secretaries and receptionists were much greater than they are today. Before robots in the auto industry, there were many more workers employed. Before big combines and harvesters, there were more farmers. The list goes on and on.

 

Scary isn't it.....

and it works too !!!!