Why are the truck drivers so passive on gas prices? Diesel is more expensive than regular.

[spanone]

Remember in the seventies when the truckers were so pissed they would stop traffic on the highways?

today there is not a peep from the truckers.

[NightWatcher]

1. they see it as a cost of business

but there is a certain price for gas that above which it is no longer profitable for them to operate. They are getting real close to that price now. I dont know exactly what it is, but when they get close you will start to hear anecdotal stories of small time owner/operators having to park their rigs. That's when the costs of everyday items will go through the roof.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. That point will be reached when their per-mile operating costs exceed revenue.

When fuel gets so expensive that it costs more to move the truck from point A to point B than the freight is paying, trucks will stop moving or freight rates will go up.

Many companies have been charging a "Fuel Surcharge" since at least 2000 to offset these costs.

[TX-RAT]

9. They'll just raise their prices.

6 years ago a truck load cost me 750.00 to ship from here to Houston, now it's 1100.00.

[Purveyor]

2. Not around here it isn't. (diesel more expensive)

Diesel is currently selling for $2.789(cash price) vs. unleaded reg. gasoline that is selling for $3.129.

These are mid-michigan prices.

[NightWatcher]

3. that's weird, diesel is ten cents more than regular here

which makes no sense because diesel comes from the same crude as does regular unleaded, but it takes less refining steps that does unleaded.

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. It is all about the state tax...

some states tax diesel higher than gas and some don't.

Bear in mind than when you fill up your automobile, you are putting between 12 - 25 gallons of gas on-board. When an over the road tractor trailer driver fills up, he can be pumping as much as 150 - 250 gallons or more to fill up. I have driven trucks that had dual tanks as small as 60 gallons and duals as large as 150 gallons. Why the various states tax those large purchases differently is a mystery to me ( and probably most truckers, too).

[spanone]

11. Diesel is higher here in mid-Tenn.

[Howardx]

14. in socal

diesel $3.06
regular $3.40

[dweller]

17. In NC at the cheapest station prices

Reg: $2.84/g
Dsl: $2.64/g

at one time in the past year those price diffs were reversed, diesal was higher than gas.

dp

[panader0]

4. I am a building contractor and when it comes to rising prices

whether it is gas, or building materials, I pass the costs along to the customer. What else can you do?

[Beelzebud]

5. Their corporate masters would have them all fired.

And now that Mexicans can drive their trucks here without an American license or labor laws, they know they are best served by sitting down and shutting up.

[NightWatcher]

13. as soon as the US truckers have to park their rigs, the Mexican truckers will take over

and the US truckers will be looked at as "unwilling to do their jobs". The Mexicans will then "do the jobs that Americans are not willing to do" (ie dishwashers, gardeners, and such now). It's all a part of the SPP plan (the new American Union).

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. How will the Mexican truckers pay for fuel if its cost exceeds what is paid for the route?

Just because they work for cheap doesn't mean that they will work for negative income.

[NightWatcher]

20. the corporations that support them will foot the bill

in lieu of paying them a decent wage, they will supplement the drivers by covering the gas bill. Instead of paying them .44 cents a mile they will pay them .10 cents a mile and cover the gas bill. Plus, these companies will be saving tons since they use Mexican workers instead of American workers. It's all part of the outsourcing of America

[AllegroRondo]

7. diesel prices arent as volatile

because consumption tends to be more steady than gasoline.
but they are hurting, and many have to pass on the costs to consumers. prices on lots of things are going up.

[slackmaster]

10. Nice pun of a headline

Do you write for a newspaper by chance?

[slackmaster]

8. They have a captive clientele

Their only potential competition for SOME routes and products - Railroads, shipping, and air freight companies - are all subject to the same price increases.

They simply pass the price increases on to their customers, and there isn't jack shit they can do about it.

[magellan]

12. They want to keep their jobs?

It's rough out there, no time to be an unemployed trucker.

That said, I'll never forget the trucker who rolled his semi up beside me at a light a couple of years ago, yelled down, "Love your stickers!" and went on to complain about how Bush** was killing independent haulers with gas prices. That guy must be REALLY ticked off now. I hope he's still truckin'.

[AngryAmish]

16. This seems to be an appropriate response

Uh, Breaker One-Nine, this here's the Rubber Duck
You got a copy on me Pig-Pen? C'mon

Uh, yeah 10-4 Pig Pen, fer sure, fer sure
By golly it's clean clear to Flag-Town, C'mon

Uh, yeah, that's a big 10-4 Pig-Pen,
Yeah, we definitely got us the front door good buddy,
Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy

Was the dark of the moon, on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth, pullin' logs
Cabover Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We 'as headin' fer bear on I-One-Oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky-Town
I sez Pig-Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
An' I'm about to put the hammer on down

Cause we gotta little ol' convoy, rockin' through the night
Yeah we gotta little ol' convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on an' join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna git in our way
We're gonna roll this truckin' convoy, cross the USA
Convoy... Convoy...

Uh, breaker Pig-Pen, this here's The Duck
Uh, you wanna back off them hogs
10-4, 'bout five mile or so, 10-roger
Them hogs is gittin' in-tense up here

By the time we got into Tulsa-Town
We had eighty-five trucks in all
But they's a road block up on the clover leaf
An' them bears 'as wall to wall
Yeah them smokies 'as thick as bugs on a bumper
They even had a bear-in-the-air
I sez callin' all trucks, this here's The Duck
We about to go a huntin' bear

Cause we gotta great big convoy, rockin' through the night
Yeah we gotta great big convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on an' join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna git in our way
We're gonna roll this truckin' convoy, cross the USA
Convoy... Convoy...

Uh, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that Pig-Pen?
Uh, negatory Pig-Pen, yer still too close
Yeah, them hogs is startin' close up my sinuses
Mercy sakes, you better back off another ten

Well we rolled up interstate fourty-four
Like a rocket sled on rails
We tore up all a our swindle sheets
An' left 'em settin' on the scales
By the time we hit that Chi-Town
Them bears was a gittin' smart
They'd brought up some reinforcements
From the Illinois National Guard
There 'as armored cars, and tanks, and Jeeps
An' rigs of every size
Yeah them chicken coops 'as full a bears
An' choppers filled the skies
Well we shot the line, an' we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
And eleven long-haired friends of Jesus
In a chartreusse microbus

Hey Sod Buster, listen
You wanna put that microbus in behind the suicide jockey?
Yeah, he's haulin dynamite
He needs all the help he can git

Well we laid a strip fer the Jersey Shore
An' prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge 'as lined with bears
But I didn't have a doggone dime
I sez Pig-Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
We just ain't a gonna pay no toll
So we crashed the gate doin' ninety-eight
I sez, let them truckers roll, 10-4

Cause we gotta mighty convoy, rockin' through the night
Yeah we gotta mighty convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on an' join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna git in our way
We're gonna roll this truckin' convoy, cross the USA
Convoy... Convoy...

Uh, 10-4 Pig-Pen, what's yer 20?
Omaha?!
Well they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer sure
Well mercy sakes alive good buddy
We gonna back on outta here
So keep the bugs off yer glass
An' the bears off yer... tail
We gonna catch ya on the flip-flop
This here's the Rubber Duck on the side
We gone
Bye, Bye...

[ReadTomPaine]

21. Groovy!

;)

[peacetalksforall]

18. What's it really about? Look to the lawyers? She switched lawyers for some reason?

It's not the act. It's not the scandal of just sex. It's the idea that the payment for services came from lobbyists - isn't it? And hypocrisy - especially any leaders who use their five minutes on quiet House or Senate mornings to moralize. Or work for moralizers

About the lawyers - Has this been covered on another DU thread. List given to ABC and big expectations. Changed lawyers and the word was ABC was going to name two. Nothing. New lawyers had Madame ask for voluntary witnesses. Maybe we're in legal limbo land.

Where is Brian Ross - he was there, but was he missing in the weak story they finally came up with.

[jdadd]

22. HUH?

[peacetalksforall]

23. I'm saying the entire issue died with three things - she changed

lawyers, ABC did not deliver what was 'rumored' to be delivered, the lobbyists are in this.

The lawyers told her not to divulge - she reversed her strategy and asked for voluntary witnesses for her trial.

ABC said? they were going to name names, then someone said they were going to name two, and they named none (no additional names).

What is interesting about all of this is the 'club' - she got the business through a set-up by lobbyists? (with Abramoff people involved?) and it was with the investigation into the lobbyists that this all got 'outed'.

Someone asked the reason this faded from the headlines - there are multiple. overlapping reasons. Somoene got through to someone or the new lawyers are doing their best to protect her? Or?

[NightWatcher]

25. me thinks you are posting on the wrong subject?

this is an Oil Outrage Thread

[peacetalksforall]

26. Never mind!

[earth mom]

24. Because they've already passed that cost onto you and I.

Look how much prices have gone up on EVERYTHING. :grr:

[3waygeek]

27. Not here in Atlanta...

most stations that have diesel have it at $2.79, whereas regular is $2.89.