What exactly is the goal?

I get confused pretty easily these days...... So............ I still don't understand what needs to be " Fixed " ??????

Rates ???? Cost of fuel ??? This is Free Market Economy.....



Don't say the Mexican truckers either, because most of the Mexican trucking companies have pulled out of the pilot program.....

 

We (the U.S.) are not the only consumers of the world's supply of crude. One reason that the price has risen is due to the increased GLOBAL demand in rapidly developing countries like India and China. And guess what? The populations of those two countries alone dwarf the U.S. by almost 8 to 1. You can check for yourself at census.gov. These two countries might have been considered third world impoverished nations your freshman year.

So if the U.S. decreases their demand, perhaps the prices in other countries might benefit from a price reduction because of the increase in supply.

 

As I remember it, this thread started as a discussion of WHAT WAS WORTH STRIKING FOR.... maybe you forgot? My question has been and still is WHAT will your strike demand, HOW will it be accomplished.. State it clearly.. are you gonna make the price go down with government FORCE or magic potions?

Demand is going down, the first quarter of this year statistics are already in and can be found simply on the net.

42000 small trucking companies shut down and went out of business.. ( of course many of those trucks were simply turned into a different corporate structure (( leased for example)) and are still running). The repossession rate for class 8 trucks is again setting records just as it did in 2001 and probably to surpass those records. Lower amounts of available freight has lower amounts of trucks actually traveling on any given day.

NATSO ( National Association of Truck Stop Owners) claims fuel sales by gallonage is down 15 percent. The number of small truck stops going out of business is setting records also.

Air miles traveled by flight ( airplane miles not passenger miles) is down 20 percent (diesel is often affected as jet fuel shortages or overages affect refinery output of both fuels, converting from one to the other is possible with no maintenance or shut down simply a computerized change in the level of the output in the cracking tower.) With the recent massive flight cancellation fuel prices if based on supply and demand would have plummeted the same way they did when all planes were grounded after the 9-11 attacks.

Oil production is unchanged... refinery use rates are down 4 percent from last year same time.

IF the price of fuel was as freshmen economics students are told simply a matter of supply and demand, we would see the following.

More fuel in storage than last year ( true but not at the level the numbers suggest should be there, distillates on hand has been at a record high for almost a year) a downward spiral of price...

So a strike is not needed, to reduce fuel usage. The free market is doing that already and it is ( pardon my mentioning the obvious) NOT WORKING TO REDUCE PRICES.

Those people who do get loaded tend to be doing everything in their power to reduce fuel consumption. I took a quick walk through a truck stop parking lot in Mo a couple nights ago and found 55 trucks shut off, 5 trucks running APUs and 7 trucks Idling. This is a dramatic reduction in fuel use for driver comfort.

looking further at your explanation for why we should all strike...

The effort to EDUCATE owner operators to say NO and not haul cheap loads has been underway, If people refuse to learn how to conduct business are we who bothered to learn how to negotiate and demand decent rates supposed to shut down our businesses and turn our good paying loads away?

I have watched the protests and demands for shut down carefully and one facet comes out clearer and clearer. Many of the most vocal protesters and leaders are local haulers. They have one or a small number of customers and their rates are tied into one pricing structure.. THEY want me to cancel the loads I have contracted to run for many customers to do what demand that the local contractors pay them better? Demand the state of main allow them to load their trucks to 100,000 pounds so they can haul more logs with less trucks?

I by law pay the fuel taxes in each state for every mile I run, a lowering of fuel taxes will help me, BUT who voted in the politicians who decided to finance their light rail systems with onerous taxes on diesel fuel? I did not, I would vote out of office any politician who suggested such a scheme in my state. Am I now supposed to strike to demand that the will of the Pennsylvania votes be overturned.. I believe it is the duty of the Penn truckers to do that themselves... I will certainly protect them from abuse by my state, they will not be asked to come and help me do that!

So instead if supporting a strike are you now saying you support OOIDA and people like me who say DO not run your truck at a loss, demand a rate that pays a profit or sit and wait for one or buy your own fuel to move to one? Wow welcome to our point that a strike is the wrong action for the wrong reason at the wrong time... Glad to see you finally understand something about trucking I thought you were confused about!

 

So if demand has gone down, why hasn't costs? Answer: As long as people continue to willingly pay high costs, sellers will continue selling at higher costs. Fair? No. Realistic? ________ you fill in the blank.

 

fuel prices need to be lowered, and the taxes lifted, tolls cheaper. everything out there is way to high.
and we need to have a garnintee, that our gov. is not going to let the mexican drivers in here, that is what we need. take it or leave it, we can't make money or a living or even pay the grocery bills for our families on what we are getting. that is the blunt of it.

 

You mean you are willing to work for a loss? WHY don't YOU demand a better rate of pay?

 

Oh by the way, the only GUARENTEE you have about any of the topics you brought up is your ability to either convince your representitives to represent you, or run for and be elected to office yourself.

revolution is not the answer.

 

1. Raise your rates, or find other customers
2. Agree that fuel taxes should be lowered; I'm all for that!
3. Avoid toll roads
4. Investigate the Mexican Pilot Program. I think you'll find it is moot.

I find it humorous that many are saying fuel prices need to be lowered. Maybe the protests around DC are not where the effort should be focused. Protesting the oil companies seems to make more sense, after all it is their product and their business. A letter writing campaign may be in order. Maybe they'll give out coupons.

 

IN fact 4 weeks ago one entire province in China was rationing DIESEL to 40 liters per visit to the filling station. ( about 10 gallons). Imagine what that did to a distribution system in a communist peoples paradise...LOL (did I mention their prices are fixed by the government and they were completely out of gasoline most days).

Strangely enough after the numbers from NATSO came out showing 15 percent reduction in sales, and the refinery capacity was only lower by 4 percent, everyone expected distillates on hand to show a further sharp rise into record breaking levels...
( this did not happen millions of barrels of diesel and gasoline simply fell off the charts mysteriously... ( did I mention this second fuel crunch in less than a year in China ended about that time?)... HMMM...

Meanwhile the government is still buying hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to put into the strategic reserves for $42 a barrel and there are plenty of sellers willing to sell oil to the government for that price... ( sniff sniff what do I smell here?)