About truckers and gas prices?

Question

i dont know of any strikes i thought it happened around washington too.if there are any truckers on line how are you doing?with gas prices.alot of ppl think it be great for us to strike but we make the world go around we are the deliverers and it is a hard life out there you dont see family ,and all the regulations now make it hard you pound the payment harder than anyone in a normal job ,i dont know how owner opperators are doing it it sucks what is happening .i will say thank you truckers i know what it is like i have ran with my husband .hes a trucker and times like this it hard and scary to think noone can make it we had to go back to trucking there is no money 9-5 10.oo and hr

Answer 1

I was a trucker for 11 yrs,hung up my keys in 2004,had enough of this country and the way it craps on truckers,not to mention the bad trucking companies how bad they treat their drivers,cops constantly breathing down your neck,shippers and receivers doing all kinds of illegal garbage and getting away with it.Loved driving a big rig,but dont like the industry.The fuel prices have forced many owner ops to park their rigs,it's the media that isnt reporting on this,and cheap mexicans and people from india are now driving big rigs in this country because they can pay them so much cheaper than our own drivers.

Answer 2

Most owner-operators I know are either parked, or struggling.  The ones doing *alright* are the guys whose rigs are paid for, and who do a good deal of their mechanical work themselves.  Being able to do most repairs and do your own maintenance makes a HUGE difference, especially now when every dollar counts.  

There was a time when owner/ops could make a living hauling dry freight.  Heck, there was a time when refrigerated freight paid DARN good money.  Now, all the big companies haul those things and have driven the rates down to where there just isn't any money in it, for the little guy.  The big companies buy fuel and equipment in bulk and can afford to haul loads for a penny per mile profit!  The o/o just can't compete with that.  

There are still some niche markets the big companies won't touch- such as hauling ammo & munitions and top secret government loads, being leased on with Landstar or R&R Carriers or some such company.  Pays upwards of $3.50 per mile and you're pulling their trailer so THEY carry the cargo insurance.  Hauling oversize still pays pretty well.  Most of the o/o in these niche areas, are still doing alright....but not everyone can meet the qualifications they require to haul that stuff!  

My husband and I want to be owner/ops one day but this is not the time.....The economy cycles and things are bound to get better, we've been through periods of ridiculously high fuel prices and runaway inflation before, and it always DOES come back down.  It's only a matter of time.  Right now we're remaining company drivers; still making a good steady paycheck, just hoping the small company we work for will stay in business!

I do hope there is NOT a strike in the US....as it'll just serve to impose even more government regulation and restriction on this industry.  It's not like the auto workers striking, or the Commercial Fish Gutter's Local  #109 striking....trucking is the backbone of every single industry in this country.  With the bill Bush recently signed giving him the authority to declare martial law in a national emergency....if there were a total, industry-wide trucker strike that impacted the whole country....you KNOW that's what he'd do!  

The government knows how vital trucking is to this country, and downright anarchy would set in within 2 days of a total trucking shutdown.  They won't let it happen, and will use whatever means necessary to keep the supply lines open....it'd be ugly.  And like any other time of "emergency" in this country, panic would set in and gas prices would go UP!  Remember the gas price gouging after 9/11?  A strike would only make matters worse, IMO.