Issues That Concern Us All....

• Today I heard on the Landline show that Senator Frank Lautenberg (D) New Jersey is pushing for Mandatory EOBR's.....And not just for habitual HOS violators, Every one of us who drives a rig....Other issues:

• NAFTA is reigning in unfair competition......

• CARB is causing companies to close their doors......

• Anti-Idling Laws that in any other profession would violate labor; Health and Safety laws....

• Parking problems.....Most times, If you haven't found one by sundown...good luck...especially in states like AZ, and CA.....
  

I would like to address these issues and offer my solutions for each one....


Mandatory EOBR's:

• I am for them if DOT makes it mandatory for everyone to include the Mexican trucks...
• Pass regulations where shippers and receivers would be responsible and required to get a trailer loaded or unloaded in 2 hours....No excuses....Anything over that time, the O/O or driver should be compensated for the wasted time, at a per hour rate....Yes I know there is "Detention Time", but does anyone ever receive "Detention Time"?.....Our "Time" is just as "valuable" as the shipper or receiver...
• The government must bear at least 50% of the costs involved with the purchase and installation of the EOBR's.....They are not cheap....They are a major cost to a "One Horse" O/O.....

NAFTA:

Fine...let's let them roll in under these conditions.....

• A Mexican driver must be able to read, write, and understand English at an 8th grade level...
• Brokers cannot use a Mexican O/O or driver if it displaces an American driver....Americans First!!!!
• Rate minimums should reflect half of the national average price of fuel at the pump....If fuel is say $3/g.....The minimum rate that anyone can run would be $1.50/m.....If a Mexican carrier is caught "Bottom Fishing"...they automatically lose their US Authority....No exceptions....The shippers and receivers can pass the extra costs to ship to their customers.....Why should the O/O "Take it in the shorts"?
• Require that the Mexican carriers pay the difference in price of fuels.....Right at the border.....We can mandate Mexican fuel be dyed say Orange.....They pay the difference at the border.... Remember back in 2008 when we were paying up to $5/g.....Mexican carriers were getting subsidized by their government and getting diesel for the equivalent of $2/g.....That is UNFAIR COMPETITION!!!!!

CARB:

Enforce CARB to the max.....I had to buy a brand new rig to be compliant....Let's do it.....Enforce your friggin' law California!!!!!

• Don't allow any exceptions....Make the NAFTA rigs run CARB compliant
• Do not allow the "bait and switch" that's occurring now at the ports...These "Bottom-Feeders" are now using CARB compliant rigs to haul loads out of the ports to a yard a few miles from the ports.....Then "NAFTA" type rigs are hooking up and then going down the road.....Last week I saw several Pre-'92 rigs hauling containers on the 10 headed east....Pre-'92's are supposed to be off the road according to CARB!!!!!
• Enforce your regs fairly CARB....Don't cherry-pick and just enforce the regs on the legal carriers!!!!

Anti-Idling:
Sure.....How about giving truck stops to include "Mom & Pops" tax credits and small business loans to install shore-power. The costs that drivers pay to use the power can be factored into the rate...just like fuel....

Parking: Open up the rest areas.....Make them a private-public run entity.

Today going W/B on the 40, I noticed the wide spots had "wind-rowed" crusher base to prevent trucks from parking....Good ##^%*^ going CAL-Trans.....
How about this:

Pass laws where towns must have truck parking if there are more than 100 trucks a day hauling in or hauling out freight....This can be funded by both the shippers and receivers.






Now many of you may think I have lost it by suggesting more government regulation of trucking......

Put it this way...trucking regulations do very little to assist the O/O's and the drivers.....

Shippers and receivers do as they please.....drag out the loading/unloading times.....Overload rigs just to get that "Last pallet" on the trailer......

Some brokers take more than their share of the margin...Some pay late and some don't pay......Try not paying for fuel and see what happens....

NAFTA carriers aren't watched as close by DOT........I can't tell you how many times I have been pulled in the coop and a NAFTA rig running with one head light blows on by......and DOT doesn't bat an eye.....

It's time that the regs run in our favor.....Those of us who run by the book!!!

 

I'm tired of fighting their friggin' rules.....
If we have to do "X"....fine...but ######.....it's more than just effing the O/O's.

Basically it's like our government mandates that we buy a teaspoon from them at $100K to excavate the Grand Canyon......
Meanwhile......they favor other segments of the industry........

 

The reason I would set minimum is to keep the bottom-feeders from setting a trend...

We always hear "Don't take cheap freight".....as long as there are bottom-feeders...there will be cheap freight.....

The whole purpose of NAFTA is to allow zero competition between the NAFTA trucks and the American trucks....nothing more.... In other words...American carriers can't compete with a NAFTA carrier who gets subsidized fuel and runs illegal...and runs for less than $1/m......


It is not price fixing if you can run at $1.50 but get the load in a two days, while "Joe" can do it for $1.65, but get it there in a day and a half......


I just don't want to see freight going the way of dump trucks.....Once the rates that were charged in the 80's at $45/h hit.......The dishonest brokers had enough bottom-feeders to keep it there.....

Buddy of mine said the rates climbed because of the honest brokers.....His rates are at $70/h... a long way from the $85/h he used to get back in '07......


The ironic thing is the bottom-feeders thought they were going to control the market by forcing the non-NAFTA rigs out.....Some of them are getting hosed.....There's flood control work going on for $70/h before the broker's 10%......But the bottom-feeding NAFTA drivers agreed to run for the bottom-feeding rates....and a contract is a contract.....

 

The problem is NAFTA is not the "Free Market".....It favors the Mexican trucks.

Why would OOIDA fight NAFTA?
Why would the CDTOA fight NAFTA?

Because they both know that the American O/O's can't compete with the Mexican carriers who will get a free pass on the HOS and CARB......

Maybe setting the rates is off base....but the other restrictions I mentioned for the NAFTA rigs should be enforced....Or.....Just don't let Mexican trucks past the DC's period.....

Don't let Mexican dump trucks run up here like they have been doing for at least 15 years that I know of......


We're up against the wall....We have to worry about "Man made global warming"....Do you think that Mexico gives a rats Az z about it???


Don't think so.....They want CARB regs and EOBR's on American rigs while they'll be exempt.......and laughing all the way to the bank while American O/O's go out of business......

 

I'm not shilling for OOIDA.....but they did make a point of not supporting NAFTA...

The CDTOA is the California Dump Truck Owners Association.... I used to be a member up until this year....Now the only group I belong to is Bronc's thread....