Real truckers say no to rail

*intermodal is NOT the enemy of trucking as rail hauls next to nothing in terms of volume of freight compared to trucks.
*intermodal will never be faster than trucks. Therefore...we are also their enemy.
*it provides a cheaper alternative to trucking. If they don't need that freight there for a few weeks...why rush it via expensive truck lanes?
*there is no such thing as cheap freight

why should a company pay you extra money for hiring on with them? Does the garbage man wait out by the garbage dumpster for you and offer you Oreo cookies when you put the garbage in the can? C...Come to think of it...I havent been rewarded for tying my shoes for years!
I like to think of sign-on bonuses as a bribe. "well...you apparently didn't want to work for us before...but if you work for us now...we will give you an extra five grand!"

 

The rail takes too long to ship. OTR will not be put out by it. Look how much fuel the rail burns. Ever hear of a hot rail load?

 

I understand your thought process. But it is severely flawed.

Much like the dispute we had in our local area years ago, with the new construction of a 100,000 watt flame thrower of a country music radio station.

My former employer owned 3 radio stations that were to be directly affected by this station. What did he do?

He contracted to install the tower and transmitter for them.

It's going to happen regardless of what you do or say. Will you make money? Or will you stick to your flawed principles?

 

Oddly enough, the local garbage company pays a sign on bonus and a regular bonus just for showing up to work on time. That's on top of $18.50 an hour and they're not union. Now if only my pride would allow me to take a job hauling garbage.

 

Well Im going to try my best to break this down because you aren't using punctuation...I don't know where one thought ends and another begins.

Rail wants OTR gone, just like OTR wants rail gone; it goes both ways. We also support laws as drivers that impact rail. I personally want them to pay the full taxes on the fuel they buy. They do what they can, in order to bring themselves business, just like we do the same. You can't really attack them for doing the very same thing we do to them.

What is your point with advertising? Its their goal to get business, MORE business. Nothing wrong with a company wanting to succeed. As far as prices, rail is cheaper than OTR. It also DOES take trucks off the road and clear up congestion to some extent. When you see a train full of 200 trailers going down their own seperate path...well thats 200 less trucks running. And then you see another train...another 200 less trucks. The fact is that they are simply a cheaper alternative to hauling freight. If it costs (lets just toss out a number) 30 cents a mile to haul a trailer on rail from coast to coast, why should a company pay 2 bucks a mile to haul it OTR...ESPECIALLY if it isn't a time sensitive load?

Well apparently you don't. It also seems to be very clear that you don't want business to have a choice on how their freight gets moved from point A to point B. Next time you say you are an American...put a little asterik next to that so that the sign says "Im an American...as long as I get everything I want...because Lord knows I don't want there to be competition for businesses out there. Who needs the Free Market? Yay Socialism!"

 

Intermodal is a partner to the trucking industry. It relies upon trucks to bring fully loaded trailers to the train yards and to deliver those same trailers when it gets to the final rail yard. This actually employs "2" truck drivers as well as several rail road workers which helps power our economy.

Sure Crash and Patt have lobbying groups to further their agenda. So do we. We have OOIDA and the ATA (although the ATA is more in line with shippers and large carriers than the small Independents).

I believe UPS, Schneider National, JB Hunt, and Swift (to name a few)would disagree. They have all increased their market shares and profits through utilizing the rails. They have also created new jobs which cater to casual drivers and folks that want to be home more often rather than living in a truck 1000 miles away from the people they care about.

I do not believe the "brokers" are utilizing the rails at all. Now had you said "logistics companies" are taking over the duties and responsibilities of shipping clerks and to reduce costs are putting freight on the rails, then I would have had to agree with that. Capitalism by its very nature is about competition and streamlining supply chains. Cutting costs where possible and improving profits for owners and shareholders.

Well, apparently you are an owner operator. That is good. That means you DO have the prerogative to choose what you haul, when you haul it, and where you want to haul a load to. This also means you have some responsibilities in regard to paying fuel taxes and road use taxes for each state you drive thru. Of course you may be leased on to a carrier that figures that out for you and might even pay it for you too.
As for standing up for ourselves... We provide a service to our employer and get paid for our time. We go home and enjoy our friends and families with the money we earned. We get to have a life while you get to work on your truck in your spare time and worry about freight rates.

It is true there are laws prohibiting Independents from organizing a strike. As for masses of drivers calling off sick or going fishing you might as well forget that. Each driver has his own finances to worry about. The majority of Americans live pay check to paycheck and therefore cannot afford to take any time off.

The bad thing about your idea is that based on the current economy we have TOO many drivers in the first place. Who do you think the boss man is going to fire for pissing off a regular customer? I think it will be the driver that called off sick or couldn't be bothered to do his job. As a matter of fact I bet the boss has a waiting list of qualified applicants ready, willing, and able to do the job for LESS money than the current employee is making.

Face it the old ways are dying out. The time of the solo owner operator running cross country is obsolete. Now we have large carriers that will put a team in a truck and run that 1 truck day and night to expedite freight. Relay teams also work but are more prone to missing scheduled swaps.

Solo owner ops are folding up every week. They simply cannot compete anymore. Heck carriers large and small are folding up as well because they have too many built in costs to their business models.

 

In terms of tons moved per gallon...the train wins by a long shot. Its the logistics that is standing in the way of trains taking over. There is not a rail spur into every town.

Intermodal is killing the long haul aspect of trucking...pretty soon loads over 800 or 900 miles will be nothing but a memory except for specialized freight. And those loads will be rare...most of them will be 400-600 mile loads.

Get ready to work your arse off...loading and unloading every day (wait...I already do that most of the time)