Trucks and Our Economy

It is sad and sad for me to think about the state of trucking and our economy. With almost every phone call I make or receive at work I hear about how almost every driver looks for work, tries to look after their truck, or wonders how they will pay their bills.

I had a very unfortunate conversation, again, this morning with one of my senders. 'Fuel is down,' he said, and 'because you are still putting up fuel surcharges, maybe that's why your rates are higher'. But our tariff is not higher than other trucking companies; Our tariffs are higher than companies with low transportation rates.

Companies that don't even have trucks and offer goods don't know what it costs to run a truck, they don't care either. They are still making commissions and paying bills, so why not keep going as it is now. In the process, however, it depresses the industry - it cannot grow and cannot help a failed economy.

Transporting trucks is probably one of the worst industries that I know of where tariffs have remained the same for years. In 1976 I transported steel at a price of around $ 1.35 to $ 1.50 per mile. In 1988 I was offered and ran around $ 1.50 per mile. In 2003 I sent a truck for about $ 1.50 per mile - just to stay competitive. Everything in our lives has increased in value with the exception of shipping rates. Thankfully, around that time the numbers began to increase because of the difficulty in finding trucks. Fuel and insurance costs have risen by around 140% and finally drivers dump truck hino realize that they are running less than they made and refuse to take cheap goods.

I witnessed when prices went up by around 35% and then operators started adding fuel surcharges. There is hope for trucks and our economy. Fast forward five years. Now with fuel coming back down and people spending less, trucking is one of the most vulnerable industries. Today with a failed economy, shippers and producers are doing everything to keep costs down and stay in business.

Enter the broker. Argue this if you want, but unless you have a truck, a trucking company and or pay bills to run a truck, consider a few facts:

· Today, diesel still runs an average of $ 2.31 per mile

· The cost of tires has doubled from only a few years ago

· Insurance rates increase by 140%

· The cost of living has increased significantly since the 70s.

If a driver runs tight at $ 1.98 per mile, keeping the deadhead down to less than 8% and loaded all the time, he may still only make about $ 25,000 a year. Does that sound like a lot is out there 24/7? The fact is I came with 32 years of experience, more than 1700 owner operators and I own and operate several trucks.

Where do brokers come with their rates? I've heard they offer shipping for less than a dollar a mile, less than what trucks produce. I used to say that drivers are good at what they do, but not always a good accountant. Some of them actually walk less than they make. They can stay in business if they stay on the road, sending money home to their wives and basically staying in their trucks. Now there is no money to send home and more drivers are losing their trucks.

Drivers cannot take goods that are priced less than what trucks make or we must enact laws that restrict people from offering goods for less than the minimum wage. We have to start arranging deliveries again, stop brokers and people from quoting and offering cheap goods - or we have to sit still and watch when some drivers take goods to keep moving, just to return money into their trucks, not into the economy, and then has no drive for our economy and there is nothing left to move things.

Even operators who should know better (because they have trucks) become intermediaries for shipping goods. People who find goods on the Internet must, at the very least, offer a burden that will pay the minimum wage to the driver. Once again, this charge is currently offered at a price less than what trucks make.