Truck Strike Aftermath
Posted on Apr 09, 2008 - 5:29pm by Wayne Weisser in Trucking
Tired of hearing about the truck strike? Everitt did such a good job expressing my opinion anything I put up would have already been duplicated.
As I was looking around at some of the web sites that supported the strike, I came across this video. Dan Little is from US Cattle Haulers. He’s one of the organizers of the strike At least he’s an owner operator, unlike the guy at The American driver.com who failed as an owner operator and doesn’t drive or truck at all now, but he knows what’s best for trucking. And when he’s asking truckers to shut down, he still has a 9-5 job he can go back to.
Dan had this video link on his site as a good thing. He was on CNBC, but after he hung up, not such good news or support. The video shows Jim Kramar and another analyst talking to Dan and then after hanging up, basically saying owner operators have it tough, but trucking stocks are up and rail stocks are up and a shutdown by a few trucks isn’t going to do anything.
The last few minutes, the analyst from BB&T sums it up where he mentions truckers can’t get a raise in rates because of overcapacity.
I’m not even going to critique Dan on how he went all over the map about the reasons for the strike, from raising insurance rates, too many DOT regs and Iraq. I’m not going to mention about how they got some press time, but other than that? What good was it? Raise awarenesss? I doubt it, people already know gas is high and they already know truckers have it tough.
These guys had the same problem as every other fuel strike attempt. They were “striking” for fuel prices instead of the real problem. (If you don’t know by now, read some of the older posts on this site and not the shutdown sites.
If it wasn’t for the phone interview I could blame the media editing, since I was quoted in the Chicago Tribune and the part where this blog supports the strike, was not what I said, have you read this blog? But we did talk about the economy, overcapacity and repo’s.
The next video following this one talks about trucking and transportation also. Click on the picture to go to the video.
Finally, facts and numbers about the Mexican Truck Program
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to quote the piece in the tribune.
“a trucker’s blog where the buzz includes the need for a strike to force public solutions to their private agonies”
Technically I suppose that MIGHT be construed as accurate. They IMPLY that the “buzz” has been in favor of a strike. Actually the opposite is the case I believe.
Oh no. I must be wrong. Everyone KNOWS that the Main Stream Media have fact checkers, editors and a whole dedicated organization, slavishly devoted to finding and presenting the TRUTH.
My Bad.
A CALL TO FELLOW TRUCKERS
The Trucking Industry and truck drivers have always been one of the main elements of contemporary American culture and folklore. These manly guys, hard working and proud of their country and their work, were always American heroes. Even TV shows like Route 66, countless Hollywood movies, and books like “On the Road” showed professional trucker drivers as positive figures making up the fabric of American daily life.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) states that there were about 390,000 independent truckers in America (see http://www.landlinemag.com/Special_Reports/2008/042208_Trucking_takes_hit.htm ). There were ! In the first quarter of 2008, there are 42,000 fewer independent truckers. These 42,000 were destroyed by the continuously increasing price of fuel, primarily diesel. Calculate, just how few quarters it will take to destroy all of them ! What do these people have left to be proud of ? They worked hard all of their lives and now they have been discarded like a used pair of sneakers. And, don’t forget their work takes a lot more responsibility and qualifications than work at McDonalds. Also, these people paid tremendous taxes, and now after all this sacrifice they are thrown out on the street !
Maybe this doesn’t concern you because you have another type of business or are on a government job, but don’t forget, BECAUSE OF TRUCKERS’ ECONOMIC SACRIFICES THE PRICES OF GOODS IN STORES IS NOT RISING AS FAST AS THEY COULD BE ! BUT WHEN THE TRUCKING TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY IS RUINED AND THERE IS NO ONE LEFT TO DELIVER PRODUCTS, THEN WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE PRICE OF GOODS FOR EVERYONE ?
Everyone is talking about the economic crisis, but who has heard about a crisis with the oil companies ? Should their interests and ambitions be put above those of the American people and America itself ? Who in these companies, who are ruining the lives of working Americans, are suffering personally ? Think about this. And, don’t expect that the 350 truckers who drove to Washington, D.C. at their own expense, will solve your problems. At this critical moment for independent truckers, look what the OOIDA, nominally the representative organization for 162,226 members, is spending their time and resources on. Look on http://www.ooida.com and press the left bottom most banner which will take you to http://www.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Support/Truck_Convoy/default.htm, the organization of the World’s Largest Truck Convoy to raise money for the Special Olympics. To participate truckers SIMPLY DONATE A $100 ENTRY FEE ! Who is donating even $1 to help truckers who are going broke by the tens of thousands every quarter, not even their own organization ?!
At this very moment, not only 42,000 truckers went bankrupt but with their families, hundreds of thousand of people are affected and may be penniless. To add insult to injury, they don’t even qualify for food stamps and Medicaid because an owner-operator owns a truck and therefore does not qualify for this government aid, a system which was funded by their taxes for all the years they were able to make a living.
The message is DEPEND ONLY ON YOURSELVES ! UNFORTUNATELY, NO ONE OUT THERE IS GOING TO HELP YOU !
Not sure what you’re saying, but a strike isn’t the answer and taking the 7% profit from oil companies isn’t going to fix our energy problems or the economy.
Truckers and trucking companies were going out of business when the economy was booming and fuel was a lot cheaper. Small trucking companies go under all of the time.
What I’m trying to do here is show people that if they want to stay in trucking it’s going to be tough and you’ve got to be smarter than the guy passing you in the left lane. Either by lowering your expenses or by getting into a part of trucking that is doing better than what you’re doing now.
We even did a podcast to show o/o’s that they have other skills than just trucking if they want to think outside the box a little.
A strike for anything except for rates is not going to work. For too many reasons to list. And if you don’t think you can make it, you need to start planning now to do something else. It’s not going to get better until AT LEAST the election and probably longer.
Truckers may not survive, but trucking will always be here. The goal is to survive until the next upturn.
Is that guy just copying and pasting that stuff in blogs all over? It is the same call to help the needy you read everywhere else.
If truckers are held to such a high standard, why are they trying to make themselves look like beggars with the media? I’ve seen truckers on the down and out ever since I started in 1991. Usually, the same old stories: divorce, lease deals, drank the money away, bought brand new equipment for their first truck, etc.
I had a life-long friend that did a BUNCH wrong in his first truck, a brand new 379 Pete. He still could have made it if he could have taught his big-spender wife about business. I teamed the truck with him in an attempt to increase his revenue and I seen it all first hand. That truck was making money, but some folks have no idea how to handle a huge money that comes with owning a business. Great hard working guy, terrible businessman. There are many drivers like this. Should taxpayers bail these guys out? I don’t think so.
The way I see things, if you’re business is failing, get out of it. It’s that simple. Many good folks have failed at businesses, many times. Stop the whining and get the truck off of the road.
Did any of you ever consider that the US Military uses up so MUCH fuel that it is driving the US demand up because we are involved in Wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Department of Defense alone uses up MORE oil than a country with a population of 140 million people!
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/29925
The fact is the demand side of the oil equation is increased because of our operations in Iraq & Afghanistan in addition to our bustling economy.
If we eliminate these wars the demand side will come back down.
Also Speculators have entered the market in the ICE which trades in OIl Futures outside of our country where it is NOT REGULATED. We should end that type of trading in the oil markets. Once we do it is estimated 50-70 per barrel of the price will be eliminated.
We’re not going to eliminate the wars or military operations anytime soon. So the answer is still increase the SUPPLY. Can’t really control speculators in a foreign country either. Increasing the SUPPLY will take the fear factor out of the equation and bring the price down to reasonable levels for everyone.