Truckers Expect Record High Fuel Costs - Forbes.com

[tallcal101]

Hope your all doing well out there. I've been busy selling household goods transportation to a country that can't sell their homes so they can't move. Then when they can move,they can't pay for the cost because the fuel sur charge is to high. Meanwhile, our drivers are all pi$$ed off because the salesmen are not selling anything! It's a bit of a viscious circle

Thank God for the new Copper mine on the Zambian border with The Democratic Republic of the Congo (just returned 8 days ago). Spent 3 nights in Lusaka, Zambia and 3 nights in Lubumbashi,DRC. As well as 4 nights in Joburg,SA. DRC is the old Zaire,(remember the Rumble In The Jungle)? It's now an emerging democracy with lots of minerals,as well as a very delicate political situation. Lots of bad stuff has happened there with child soldiers and rapes and kidnappings etc. Most of the torubles are in the North East on the Rawanda border, in Kava Province.
Lubumbashi is the old Elizibethville,an English Colony town with beautiful streets (tree lined) and old colonial mansions. Many of the old homes are being renuvated by the mining companies for their mine managers.I'm moving the managers in from all over the world. It's a world class mine and top miners want to work on it. The Chinese are building a 1200 mile railroad to the nearest port to get the product out. They are heavely invested in the project. There will be 10,000 employees when the mine goes into production in 2 years (Phase 1). It's the highest grade copper in the world,as well as the deepest deposit estimated to produce for over 75 years. There's a high likley hood the gold deposits will be of a record prorportion as well.Copper and gold live together in various amounts.

Right now I'm thanking the MAN that I sold my trucks last year.I could not keep up with my fuel bill then,I have no idea what fleet ownrs are doing now. Not a friggin idea. I guess it's the old saying,"Want to make a million in trucking,start with 2 million".
I put all the records/paid bills etc for the trucks and drivers in a file cabinet after I paid everything off. Tax time brought it all out again.
Ofcourse,I had to send out the 1099's to the drivers,which was the only thing I've done having to do with the business since I got out. It re-opened some painful doors,and some very bad memories of a very difficult time. With this done,my final connection to the expedite business (other then getting under your skins) is complete.
A chapter closed so a new chapter could open
Book is coming along,looking for somebody to play me in the movie version. Any takers?
You need to be tall and closed minded(LOL).Female lead needs to be.......???

 

[nightcreacher]

You can blame the EPA for a lot of the problem with fuel prices.Also Wall Street isnt helping.Why did I pay the same price in Ohio as I did this morning in California? $4.099 Barstow Ca,same in Hubbard Oh.on monday.best price i found was $3.779 in Oklahoma City.

 

[nightcreacher]

A strike for fuel cost wont get you anything.If your not getting a sufficient fuel surcharge,then you better speak to your company.There is but one way to get the cost of fuel lowered,syop buying so much fuel.Slow down,you would be surprized what y ou will save.And this trip I just made to California,I didnt listen to my advise.I was in a hurry,42000 plus lbs,heavy cross wind and I ran 2700 miles in less than 48 hours,At one time my fuel mileage dropped to 3.97 mpg,when I arrived at destination,was 5.08,this is a truck that normally gets 7 mpg,Slow down,buy less fuel,if we all do this,believe me the price will drop.Another thing that would help,get our elected officials to vote in a win fall tax,thenn see how fast it drops.

 

[rdtrpn]

A strike for fuel cost wont get you anything.If your not getting a sufficient fuel surcharge,then you better speak to your company.There is but one way to get the cost of fuel lowered,syop buying so much fuel.Slow down,you would be surprized what y ou will save.And this trip I just made to California,I didnt listen to my advise.I was in a hurry,42000 plus lbs,heavy cross wind and I ran 2700 miles in less than 48 hours,At one time my fuel mileage dropped to 3.97 mpg,when I arrived at destination,was 5.08,this is a truck that normally gets 7 mpg,Slow down,buy less fuel,if we all do this,believe me the price will drop.Another thing that would help,get our elected officials to vote in a win fall tax,thenn see how fast it drops.

Anyone can slow down and save mpg's. I would Love to have the opportunity to slow down and save mpg's with a lower sane fuel price. Why not have the lower fuel price along with our own discipline to drive around 60 to save mpg's. I mean, the damn prices have risen 60 cents in the last 2-3 weeks. Insane price gouging! I would like to see it go down to 1.99 - 2.49 or so yea right. Thats about where i think it should be now if you consider normal pricing increases with inflation over the last 20 years. Not the egregous price gouging we're experiencing. A competitive fuel surcharge? Well, that will only satisfy the drivers wallet, not the economy. Write congress, slow down and diminish idling. You all can keep the trucks off and be cold or hot for an extra 30 minutes during the day or night when your already awake and not trying to sleep. If we all did that we may save enough money a week to buy lunch and dinner all next week. Dessert anyone?!

 

[LDB]

At one time my fuel mileage dropped to 3.97 mpg,when I arrived at destination,was 5.08,this is a truck that normally gets 7 mpg.

WOW, if that's not a clear indicator of the need to slow down I don't know what is. Over $1 per mile for fuel. Thanks for posting that. Maybe it will be valuable to someone.

 

[nobb4u]

I have been amazed at how close the prices have become does anyone remember when there would be a .30 cent or more difference between MO and IL, OK and CA, NY and NJ? And i am talking about when fuel was in the $1.00 and $1.50 range.
As an example lets say fuel is 1.00 in NJ and it is 1.50 in NY a differance of 30%
So now if fuel is 4.35 in NY it should be $2.87 in NJ. So why are the prices so close together.

 

[nightcreacher]

Every state has a different tax on fuel,but now almost all the states have close to the same price at the pump,is this gauging?how about for instance,Flying J Lamar pa is 2 cents higher than Flying J at Brookville Pa,100 miles apart.Fuel on I 95 is more expensive than fuel on I 85,just in Ohio,fuel on I 70 cost more than fuel on I 71.Pilot fuel is higher than everyone,even after discount.Prics on I 71 Lodi area.are the highest in Ohio.I really dont care if fuel goes to 50 bucks a gallon as long as I get my fuel sur charge,but what is going on is wrong,and until our government puts a winfall tax on the oil industry,nothing is going to happen.Wish i could run my business and not have to put any of my money back into it.Oh well,I dont drive my car much,cant afford it,no surcharge on gas.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Speed limit minus 5...my slogan...of course where applicable....run a trip last night averaged 26.1 mpg...with FSC I had a $19.00 surplus to put towards any unpaid DH....and THATS why I am not whinning about the prices....as long as my carriers FSC keeps up.

www.airtab.com - The smart way to cut the cost of your highway fuel costs

 

[jaymarquis1]

I drove for 10 years and I just cant do it any more. fuel is out of control of course not being in the truck any more I can say yes I support the strike but botom line is as drives we are the support system of this country and with a support system gone it crumbles. I sell the best APU on the market Comfort Master. look at it if you want to off set your fuel costs. so even though im not in the truck im still in the industry and what really pisses me off is you always hear of big oil but what the hell is the deal with the government getting 50 cents or more per gallon bet your butt thats more than "big oil"

 

[spudhead911]

I was watching a news channel last night, and the broadcaster said that the price of crude oil dropped due to U.S. consumers buying less fuel at the pumps. He said the drop in consumers purchasing less fuel was a direct result of the increased fuel prices. He also said that the oil copmanies were afraid that if consumers kept up this trend their profits would go down. The answer for the oil companies was to reduce the price per barrel of crude oil THAT THEY SELL TO THEMSELVES. They did this because they are afraid they have reached the price threshold that the American people are willing to pay for fuel.

It is time for all of us to realize that it isn't OPEC, but the oil companies that lease the oil fields in the Mid East that is the cause of the high prices. The oil companies lease the wells, then sell the crude to themselves. They then sell it to the refineries, which is themselves, they then sell the refined product, you guessed it, to themselves. This has been going on for years. Big oil raised the price because they could. Nobody was there to stop them. Our government can step in, but won't. The oil companies, and big business now run the country, thanks to the spineless people we put into office to represent us, and to serve our best interests. Instead they bowed to the almighty dollar that the oil companies and big business gave them.

I believe it's time we took back this country from these snakes. A start would be to limit terms of office for all goverment officials to two terms. If that doesn't work, maybe we need another American Revolution. Just my opinion.

 

[dean07]

i say we block every bridge and border crossing, who cares what the public think of us, i am so sick and tired when people say the public will b against us, so what, do you want lower fuel prices or do you want to pay higher prices and have the public like you, what the hell are ya thinkin when you say something so STUPID!