Fuel prices and the writers strike

[cheri1122]

The price of fuel in other countries is irrelevant: we live & work in America. We ought to be concerned with our own government first, and most.
The greed of "big oil" is condoned by the current administration, many of whom have a vested interest in the profits.
The price of oil is influenced as much, if not more than, by the attitude of Wall Street, as by supply & demand - a ludicrous state of affairs, IMO.
Even if a 'strike' were possible, it would have as many negative effects as positive, if there were any positive effects at all. Neither the politicians, nor the public, would have much sympathy - most of them don't have a lot of respect for us as it is
Terry is absolutely correct in his portrayal of the fuel surcharge. But: there being no law to demand that 100% of the FS go to those who pay for the fuel, you can bet that some of it does not. An O/O can of course, demand to see the prices paid to the carrier on each load, but an O/O who does not trust his carrier is one who will be looking for another, in short order.
The increase in fuel prices is just one of many factors that affect our profit margins - and again, Terry is right: it's the price of freight that has not kept pace with reality. There doesn't seem much hope of changing that, however, with the constant supply of new drivers available, and the threat of an even greater influx, from Mexico.
The consumption of fuel, though, is one of the few areas in which the driver has the power to change the status quo. If every driver who pays for their fuel refused to waste it by driving above 55 mph, (particularly in this area, where speed of delivery is prized) it would make a powerful statement indeed.

 

[greg334]

So you are saying it's more of an aggressive enviroment here? I guess considering the U.S is only abit over 200 years old compared to the rest of the world. We have alot of growing pains yet....We are still in our infancy. We are still evolving. Wonder what we'll be like in a 1,000 years?

Yes we have an aggressive economy but age of the economy has nothing to do with it. In comparison to France, they have had several changes in government, going from a monarchy to something of an unrepresented republic. Germany went from a splintered country made up of many different semi-autonomous states that had differing laws and forms of government in reality to a republic to a dictatorship to a ‘democracy’. But now both countries are governed by EU rules that have been formed to insure equality between the member states.

I also have to make sure that you understand we didn’t have 200 years of a monarch in this country, we never had to pledge to a person or a government but we pledge to our country – big big difference when you study European history.

The other thing that you may be over looking here is that we have had a culture in the form of Can-do. I mean we have not been a defeatist country, we have never depended on outside to solve our problems and we still have a strong economy in comparison to other countries. We have not regulated and should not regulate markets which has allowed us to prosper but with things that people don’t just get, we end up with an administration that is now completely out of touch with the real needs of the country and this administration will be replaced with the same type of people come next year. Take this ‘stimulus package’ everyone is praising, I think it is they absolute worst thing that can be done for the country right now. We don’t need a ‘give back’ we need change in how congress does things and I don’t mean the Obama change. When you know how the system works and know that the biggest obstacle to our country is the tax system, giving back makes things worst in the long run.



AND I agree with OVM's statement about the carrier adjusting the price of the load to offset the FSC. Like Terry said I should have been getting $1.5 a mile average but in reality I was getting $1.03 average and my low end was $ .94 a mile with FSC. Where did the money go if the customer was to pay the right amount?

 

[buckeyewildman]

ovm fighting in a war has nothing to do with oil prices i said it gives us the right to be spoiled

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Buckeye...I can live with that!

Greg..The direction the country is going now...Whats the future at this rate? Casting your vote seems not to get attention, protests, call-ins seem to have no ears. Whats it going to take to change or put the "We The People" back into this country. Are we going to have to have another "Tea Party" ?

 

[nightcreacher]

I'm not aware of any expedite carriers that do not provide a fuel surcharge to its leased owner/operators. If some of y'all DO NOT recieve any surcharge, then your comments about the high cost of fuel is germane to your bottom line. If you DO receive a surcharge, that is in conformance with Federal Government standards, then your comments about the high cost of fuel are misplaced. Unless, of course, you are refering mainly to the cost of idling and APU operation.

The Government's FSC guidelines suggest an addition to tariffs that offset the price of diesel fuel costing above $1.25. In a perfect expediting world, you would recieve your share of the run money plus the FSC. For example, a 9 mile per gallon straight truck would burn 100 gallons on a 900 mile trip. Today's average cost of diesel fuel is $3.27 so the trip in a typical D truck would use $327 worth of fuel. A fair FSC would be $3.27 - $1.25 = $2.02 x 100 = $202. This $202 FSC would be equal to 22.4 cents per mile. The driver would effectively be paying only $1.25 per gallon. If the cost of diesel goes to $5.00, the driver would get 41.7 cents per mile and the driver would still effectively be paying only $1.25 per gallon.

A typical non-specialty D truck expediter should average about $1.50 per loaded mile. Add the 22.4 cents to that and you have your $1.70+ per loaded mile.

Therefore I submit that the issue with a FSC paying industry is not so much the ever increasing cost of fuel but the ever declining run revenue. From what I see in EO comments and run offers from our own carrier, FSC'c are blended into the total run revenue so we don't mentally separate the two line items. We watch the prices on the fuel pumps rise so we equate our profit loss with fuel costs when the real devil is in the discounted freight.

The fsc at fed ex ground is based on $1.25,but ours is figured at $1.20,ive seen you post this before,but if you check its $1.20