Trucker Strike

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speedyb-cc

speedyb
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San Marcos, TX
Is anyone honoring the strike this week? They're trying to bring fuel prices down. How do the oil companies justify higher prices for diesel than gas? Isn't diesel a much lower grade than gas?
Bruce
 
I have no idea why diesel got so much more expensive than gas seeing as how it isnt refined as much. I work for a pretty small tree care co in SC and we are paying about $4400 per week in on and off road diesel. It was half that 2 years ago when I started there! How can someone honor the strike? I would be interested.

Mike
 
It won't work, even if noone drives this week, next week they will use up twice as much to catch up. Your not hurting them any. The market sets the price, not the oil companies.
 
So if 1000's of companies don't get there deliveries and the refineries have 10,000,000 surplus gallons of fuel, that won't affect the market? If all the truckers got serious about this the economy would come to a halt, no economy no market.
 
Diesel is a lot easier to to refine than gas but the demand is much higher because the usage by the trucking industry is not discrectionary. So the oil companies raise the price on diesel because the trucking companies have the money and have to use it. I work for an auto hauling company with about 200 car carriers. We can't really shut down because we have contracts with 4 major manufacturers (yes-Chrysler is one of them) and if we don't haul them, somebody else will
It is so ironic that the oil companies cry about lack of refinery capacity and they can't afford to build new ones BUT they all have had record profits. Billions of dollars in profits!!
Ever hear of an oil company going belly up lately?
 
its simple, gas and oil are traded on the open market, also the chinese are buying a lot of diesel ,so they say for the countries expansion, its all a game of big money wanting more money and oil and gas should not be open trade market commodities.believe me, the saudis arent making the killing its its the greedy traders.they talk crap about refining cost and capabilities and watch this next hurricane season when 1 approaches how oil prices jumpp. thanks a lot to the traders and greedy oil cos........what goes around comes around,,,
 
speedy, when ya sendin payment for your prize on winning 360 hp torque and hp estimates? hhaahaaaha take care it shouldnt cost over 100 bux to send it these days with the hi fuel prices lol
 
Interestingly, in the old days, diesel was a byproduct of the refining process that they had a hard time getting rid of.
 
Much of that depends on what it is you're trucking ... We truck raw milk for a living, and if we parked for 4 days, we would be **** canned in a heart beat. In fact, we've only missed one day since 1949. We park, we're fired, and someone else will step in, in a NY minute. Aside from the huge trucking companies who can't keep drivers in the seat, there's way too much equipment around for the amount of loads to haul.

When trucking was de-regulated in the 80's by the Reagan administration, everyone and their brother jumped into the trucking business, and cut-throat each other to death.. That's what drove trucking rates so low for the independent trucker, and why it's so difficult to make a living in this business. No one has any cash reserves anymore, and only the well established truckers and trucking companies are able to pass the fuel surcharges along to customers. We all pay in the long run.

As far as diesel being more expensive now, (my last drop was over $4.00 a gallon) the only answer I ever get from my supplier is that it's because of all the new "low sulphur" regulations and the cost of removing the sulphur to make a cleaner burning fuel. That's why the newer engines don't puff out all that black smoke anymore.

You're correct in that if ALL the trucks parked, the country would come to a standstill, but it's been tried before, and it'll never work because not enough truckers can/or are able, to stand together.

There's a lot more I can rant and rave about, but I think I best step off my soap box for now.

Kenny
 
They say that the speculators/traders of oil are to blame for the rising cost of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. WELL WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK THOSE PEOPLE ARE WORKING FOR AND CUTTING THEM THEY'RE PAYCHECKS EVERY 2 WEEKS. COULD IT POSSIBLY BE THE OIL COMPANIES.

Terry
 
yellowdartdave said:
Diesel is a lot easier to to refine than gas but the demand is much higher because the usage by the trucking industry is not discrectionary. So the oil companies raise the price on diesel because the trucking companies have the money and have to use it. I work for an auto hauling company with about 200 car carriers. We can't really shut down because we have contracts with 4 major manufacturers (yes-Chrysler is one of them) and if we don't haul them, somebody else will
It is so ironic that the oil companies cry about lack of refinery capacity and they can't afford to build new ones BUT they all have had record profits. Billions of dollars in profits!!
Ever hear of an oil company going belly up lately?
Click to expand...
The oil companies want to build new refineries all around the country, but the LEFT WING whacko's won't let them. We haven't built a refinery in this country since the Carter administration!
They also want to drill off the coast of Florida, and in Alaska, but guess who won't allow it? Then, those same people blame the President for the high cost of oil!
Uninformed Envrionmentalist whacko's that bunch is.

George
 
'70_Duster_340 said:
Much of that depends on what it is you're trucking ... We truck raw milk for a living, and if we parked for 4 days, we would be **** canned in a heart beat. In fact, we've only missed one day since 1949. We park, we're fired, and someone else will step in, in a NY minute. Aside from the huge trucking companies who can't keep drivers in the seat, there's way too much equipment around for the amount of loads to haul.

When trucking was de-regulated in the 80's by the Reagan administration, everyone and their brother jumped into the trucking business, and cut-throat each other to death.. That's what drove trucking rates so low for the independent trucker, and why it's so difficult to make a living in this business. No one has any cash reserves anymore, and only the well established truckers and trucking companies are able to pass the fuel surcharges along to customers. We all pay in the long run.

As far as diesel being more expensive now, (my last drop was over $4.00 a gallon) the only answer I ever get from my supplier is that it's because of all the new "low sulphur" regulations and the cost of removing the sulphur to make a cleaner burning fuel. That's why the newer engines don't puff out all that black smoke anymore.

You're correct in that if ALL the trucks parked, the country would come to a standstill, but it's been tried before, and it'll never work because not enough truckers can/or are able, to stand together.

There's a lot more I can rant and rave about, but I think I best step off my soap box for now.

Kenny
Click to expand...

I agree with Kenny. I run a 70 unit dry van trucking company here on the West Coast, with 70% Owner-Operators. Most of of our customers would just bring in someone else in if we refused to take their loads. We'd have a better chance of this stunt being a success here in the 3rd or 4th quarter, not now from a customer retention stand point. But will it result in lower fuel prices? Absolutely not! That being said, I've made it very clear to my OO's, if you strike, you're fired. Period. No exceptions. Our Company trucks will not take part in this. Although the fuel prices are putting a dent in our margins, this isn't the way to solve the fuel price GOUGING the oil companies are allowed to get away with. A small portion of the trucks parking for a few days isn't going to change a thing, other than to stress shipper/carrier relations. Now, if HALF of the trucks in the good ol USA stopped running for a week, it might get some attention. But Kenny's last point is also dead on; none of us can and/or will stick together on this.
 
if the truckers do this it will only hurt the usa economy more than its already being hit, just thank God you have a job and are still making money as the cost of trucking most items comes down to the consumer, more rail lines would be a good start.
 
more rail lines is the answer - yeah right those under cutting bastards took almost all of our bulk freight going to chicago this week! they took it from us and another bulk hauling company here in town! thats going to hurt alot of truck drivers here in our community! i understand that the railroad can haul it cheeper than we can and that people have to look out for for their business too but when it hits right here at home like that it hurts. usually i know what i am doing for following mon. by thurs afternoon. this week i called in on thurs, fri and sat morning looking for a load and my dispatcher told me to get ahold of him mon morning and he would try to have something for me. its nice to have a long weekend like this every once and a while but it sure hurts the pay check. maybe thats what i get for choosing to be a dry bulk tank driver and not a van driver! oh, and by the way i fiiled up in erie pa this week almost 980 dollars worth glad im not payin for it! im sure that we all will eventually pay for it at the grocery store etc.
 
i wish all the big shot oil traders and companys like exxon valdese had to drink the crap until they all puked, i'd like to kick there !#* all the way from the alaskan pipeline to the oil fields in texas and the gulf, to the middle east and bury them in the sand with there heads stuck out of the sand and have a #%*!(poop) kicking contest, just my opinion.:spiderma:
 
Truckers strike ain't going to work. Not enough truckers will do it. Way to many of them that cant afford a week off. Way to many trucking company's that will fire them for sitting out for a week. Way to many people to take the the jobs. The people with goods to ship, will find a way to ship them, period.

Now if the average consumer refused to BUY anything shipped by truck for a few weeks, that might make a difference. I really doubt that would happen, not enough people would do it. I am sure that even here there are very few people that could go two weeks without going to the grocery store, for anything, or buying gas.

The only option would be a revolt, and I just don't think the American people have it in them anymore.


TopHat
 
Ron Spilman...I like the part about the railroads. We haul the Chrysler stuff out of the railhead in Petersburg (Richmond) Va. and you would not believe how what of that stuff looks like coming out of the cars.
And some people say that the R/Rs should haul everything and trucks should be banned. I even had a cop tell me that. I told him that was fine with me and you can go pick your new cruiser up at the closest Ford dealer that has a rail siding!
Rails are fine for a lot of bulk stuff or non-priority freight. We can have a car released to us in Jacksonville, Fl at 3 pm and it most likely it will be sitting at the Lexus dealer tomorrow afternoon....in Memphis.
 
70Duster440 said:
Interestingly, in the old days, diesel was a byproduct of the refining process that they had a hard time getting rid of.
Click to expand...

Along those lines, but a little off topic fact ... Back in the late 40's/early 50's, there was NO market for skimmed, or non-fat milk. My Grandfather used to tell me that in those days, 80 to 90% of the skim milk coming off the milk/cream separator, went directly down the drain--and found its' way to the Connecticut river... MY, how times have changed ?!?!?

Kenny
PS ... Don't entirely count the railroads out just yet.. They are doing everything in their power to try and re-gain a larger share of transportation revenues. Anyone who has money to hedge their bets might be wise to set up trucking terminals as close to rail lines as possible....Trucks will ALWAYS be needed, but a larger share of long distance freight moving is going to revert back to rail systems--so long as fuel costs remain a crippling issue.
 
As a just retired o/o, With 39 years, and 4 Million miles under my butt, i'm thankfull I made it. The Strike will not work, because you could have 1,000 truckers and not get 2 of them to agree on anything !!!!!!!!!! I did have a great time, and made good money but I worked my butt off! The new fuel is more costly to produce as low sulpher, and the trucks burn more of it because it is low sulpher, as mandated by the Goverment, and the tree huggers. I'm Done, Later,,,,,, John Lang, "HEMIHEAD"
 
I just heard about this on the local news. In West Virginia there are goiing to be 500+ truckers traveling from Flatwoods, WV to the capital of Charleston to circle the capital complex and blow their horns for an hour in protest. :bootysha:
 
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