Seems that some people are calling for a trucker's strike to protest high fuel prices and/or pressure government to intervene in the hopes of providing relief.
I'm going to be blunt. These people are morons.
"Wait, wait, wait", you say, "that's not really fair to say. These people are just trying to earn a living!"
I repeat. These people are morons. The reason that any driver or company is going under in these economic times is the unwillingness to adapt to the current marketplace. See, we have a free market economy here, and as such, it's a consumer driven economy. That means that if your business is going into the shitter, THEN YOUR BUSINESS IS NOT IN DEMAND.
As a business owner, your function in life is to satisfy your customers in a profitable manner. You do not render services to customers for less than cost, and you do not keep offering services that are not in demand. You're trying to make money here.
"But what about the unscrupulous brokers? If I don't take their crap freight with no fuel surcharge, someone else will!"
So what? Let that someone else haul that freight and lose money on it.
For that matter, owner/operators and independent contractors need to learn to cut their expenditures, especially in fuel. Slow your ass down and quit idling so much. At $4.00/gallon at 1 gallon/hour of idle time for 10 hours, you're spending $40/night to idle that truck. How much pain are you willing to endure before you learn that lesson? Driving slower is even more of an impact. Saving 8 cents per mile over the course of 120,000 miles (about 1 year of driving) gives you an instant $10,000/year pay raise, with zero increase in revenue!!
Strike, my ass! How about I just come out and slap the stupid out of you? Or even better, keep putting forward that myth that speed = money, run yourself the fuck out of business, and leave more freight for the smart and business savvy drivers to haul.
You're not entitled to a profit in this country, and if you won't effectively manage your business, you don't deserve to earn a profit. Quit asking the government to reward your shortcomings as a businessperson.
7 comments:
Fantastic post !!!! Sadly the mouthbreathing morons who claim they are O/O's won't get it....
The only problem with your statements is that business' that need to move freight don't want to adjust to the rising cost of truck rates (As they adjust to fuel rates). They're still thinking that they can pay rates from six months ago.
So what then?
As a shipper of fresh produce I applaud the post that you have left and strongly disagree with the last post as I am in the mark everyday. My margins in truck has decreased by 20% or more. I am paying these prices to get our products to mark. It is the end users that are going to be the ones to strike when they are paying $5 for a head of lettuce.
Anonymous on 3/24/08 01:17PM:
So what then? The carriers and independents who will haul for losses will drive themselves out of business and the shippers and brokers will only be able to deal with those who will not haul at a loss.
After that, there will be fewer trucks competing for the same freight, meaning more favorable market conditions for carriers and independents.
It's the ongoing game of supply and demand in our economy. Too much supply and too little demand always drives some suppliers out of business.
Amen and amen! We operate in a free market economy based on supply and demand. Strikes or work slow downs or whatever you want to call them almost NEVER acheive what the strikers really want. All you have to do is look to the recent writers' strike or the Southern California grocery workers strike from a few years ago to see that.
Professional drivers are asking American citizens to participate in the "National Shut-Down"
This is an issue effecting all of us and we MUST take a stand NOW. Our government IS a major contributing factor in the outrageous price of fuel...we must take this action to get their attention. All other avenues has only fallen on deaf ears - our government is ignoring the will, and needs, of the American people.
www.theamericandriver.com/files/truckers2unite.html
www.uscattlehaulers.com
www.thetruckingindustry.net/strike.html
www.truckdriversunited.com/truck_stop_talk.htm
www.thetruckersvoice.net/
Silversurfer,
That's bullshit. If you can't adapt your business to work within the marketplace, then it's your destiny to fail. It's not the role of government to bail anyone out of their poor choices.
I resent the idea that people want my tax dollar spent on such nonsense.
Post a Comment