I drive about 2 hours each day commuting on I-75 with the truck traffic. Knowing what I do about speed and fuel consumption. (I know that my 2007 Malibu with a 3.5 gets 35mpg at 69 mph. When I go up to 75mph, I am down to 28mpg, 80mph.... 24mpg)
Every time a big rig passes me going maybe 75-80 in a 60mph truck zone, I know why their fuel costs are high. I am willing to wait one more day for the Amazon.com order. No problem. You guys go ahead and slow down a little.
Especially on glaze ice like last friday. Trucks going 80 mph on glaze ice, barely in control, made me think that they were dumb. No truck stop needed.

I leave the heat/air on at home when I'm there.
And when I'm in the truck I turn the key off whenever the truck isn't rolling. When the temp. gets below 65 or above 75 outside I turn the generator on.

Just took a look at the websites for the Star Ledger and the Asbury Park Press....not even a blip about this on either one yet.

Truckers need a new PR person. Making the rest of the drivers angry will not reduce their costs, nor will it garner them sympathy.

My F350 is parked - bought a 90 Acura to drive around to try to save up a little fuel money for boating season. There is no reason that diesel should be more than gasoline. It is still a byproduct, reguardless of the additives put in after the fact. You can't make gasoline, without producing diesel.

Yep,
Been doing that for years now, leave the F-350 in the driveway and buy old beater cars and drive them into the ground.
Dean

No srike here in Boston. i asked a driver at luch about an hour ago if he was on srtike abd he jusy laughed at me. And no he wasnt an illegal.

Not necesssarily a PR person. They need some 'logistics' (a word you see on about 50% of the trailers out there).
A strike might be effective if its target was one that dealt a consequence.
I would think a complete stop of deliveries of ALL goods to Washington DC i.e. food, liquor, jet fuel, paper goods, condoms, etc. for a few weeks might get some attention. Shut the place down.
Same goes for any deliveries to Wall Street where these prices are seemingly being fixed. Stop all the bottled water, breakfast bars, and toilet paper for about a month, and someone might take notice.....

Sticky issue:

A. Diesel fuel is overpriced because it is, in fact cheaper to produce than gasoline. Prices on it do rise in the winter because it is essentially the same blend as home heating oil and jet fuel, but the prices right now are clearly the result of gouging through speculation. There is a lack of refining capacity because the US Government, states and local municipalities have banded together to make constructing new ones anywhere almost impossible..... (Who to blame?- you- you elect your political nitwits).

B. Freight bills have a fuel surcharge which responsible companies add to the transportation rates. This has been compromised a bit lately because they are set every Monday based on D.O.T. reports available that day. Unfortunately, when diesel prices skyrocket .30 in the following 7 days the industry is always a week behind. Owner/operators ("indie's, gypsies, etc") have two courses of action:

1. Sign on with a reputable company who passes on most of those fuel surcharges to the truck. (These opportunities are drying up since O/O's are notorious for wanting "to be my own boss so nobody tells me what to do!"...... a quaint but misguided notion since we all answer to somebody) If you are trying to run a freight business, would you want to utilize somebody who refuses "to run east of the Hudson River"? These companies realize that they must survive and any work stoppage in this economy when the vast majority of company owned trucks are still running is akin to giving your business away.

or

2. Haul broker freight and rely on a parasite to "treat you fairly" (Another quaint but unrealistic notion in most cases).By giving the shipper a cheap, unprofitable alternative to asset based carriers, these brokers drive freight rates down on the backs of the O/O's who simply cannot negotiate from a position of strength in today's economy where in business bigger is better.

So


The solution is happening as we speak. The O/O's will stage a poorly organized "Nationwide Strike" for about the 6th time in the past 20 years ..... ( Remember the others?...no?...well this is just like them). After the "strike" some O/O's will hang it up for good and sell their trucks. Others, many of whom live from hand to mouth, will, as a result of this week's lost income, not be able to make this month's truck payment and will come out of the truck stop one day to find their trailer sitting and their tractor gone to the repo man. In the end this will drive the current overcapacity in the industry out of the market and allow the surviving trucking companies (some of them will go out of business as well) to earn a decent buck for a quality job.

Just my .02....but what do I know?

T2x

You might want to include yourself in that one. Last time I checked, New Jersey was not exactly what you might call "business friendly".

I always love that one.

Sure, I hear ya'. Since the westbound freight out of Long Island and New England is so prevalent and so high paying, why on earth would anyone NOT want to go out there?

This part I do agree with. Overcapacity is the main problem. Too many people with their hand in the cookie jar.

The money the typical shipper pays on a typical load, will likely be dispursed to about three people: 1st the brokerage company they use to find a truck, 2nd the company that the truck is leased onto and then finally the owner-driver of the truck who is actually paying the operating cost and doing the physical work of transporting the goods. By the time he gets paid, he actually is only receiving about 60% of the total freight charge.

If more shippers would deal directly with trucking companies (big and small) and not filter the work through a broker, the end result would be cheaper freight costs and the truck would receive more of the total bill. By eliminating the middle man, the shipper and the truck could split the difference and both be better off in the end.

There are many issues that are causing problems for the trucking industry right now. Brokers sitting at home with a stack of business cards, an internet connection and a fax machine, is just one of them.

. . . but what do I know.