Any changes since the trucking shutdowns started?

Mike

Well-Known Member
Going back to the April shutdown, the one that seemed to have the biggest interest, I didn't think we would see a majority of trucks shutdown. It was just too unorganized, and still is.

I did think that even without industry wide support, there could be enough over time to force some changes in the industry. I still think this.

That said, are any of you noticing any changes out there? Better freight rates? Truck Owners getting their fuel surcharge? A better understanding from the Nation as a whole as to just what drivers are going through?

This has been at least a 6 month effort to this point, dating back to December when there was a push for a January shutdown, so I am curious if anybody has begun to see results yet or not.
 
Think it's getting worse here in fl.
More and more o/o, parking.
I have noticed the large companies are dropping their pay scale, % and per mile.
And making co.driver's run total legal. which in return rhey r not making the miles or pay.
 
Going back to the April shutdown, the one that seemed to have the biggest interest, I didn't think we would see a majority of trucks shutdown. It was just too unorganized, and still is.

I did think that even without industry wide support, there could be enough over time to force some changes in the industry. I still think this.

That said, are any of you noticing any changes out there? Better freight rates? Truck Owners getting their fuel surcharge? A better understanding from the Nation as a whole as to just what drivers are going through?

This has been at least a 6 month effort to this point, dating back to December when there was a push for a January shutdown, so I am curious if anybody has begun to see results yet or not.

Maybe a six month effort for some Bullwinkle...No offense but
here are some posts made here at this forum from September 2007 !

Owner Operators Forum Now Open - Truckers Forum

OOIDA Call To Action - Mexican Truck Pilot Program - Truckers Forum

Cross Border Trucking Officially Approved - Truckers Forum


 
How effective is the strike at this point?

I've seen only one 30 second blip about the strike so far this morning.
Does anyone have a lead on how effective the strike has been up to now?
 
Maybe a six month effort for some Bullwinkle...No offense but
here are some posts made here at this forum from September 2007 !

Fully aware of that, so no offense taken, LOL.

I was merely referring to when the heavy shutdown talk began circulating.
 
:beep:I left the house this morning at about 8:00am in my pickup fully signed and postered and headed out to I-95. When I left home, truck traffic seemed about normal, and when I reached I-95 I found that truck traffic there, north & southbound, was normal also. In fact, maybe a little heavier than normal. I got on 95 and headed south. Got on the radio and started talking to and asking drivers why they hadn't shutdown and hadn't honored the NationWide Truckers & Citizens Strike that started May 5, yesterday. Every one of them told me that they knew nothing about a strike or shutdown. All some of them knew was that a small convoy went to DC and that was the end of it. They said no one ever mentioned a shutdown or strike after the April 1st failure. I continued all the way to Hardeeville SC before turning around and heading back home. Yeah, I burned alot of gas, and took alot of time, but I also learned a whole lot. All the way down, and all the way back, I talked to driver after driver both on the road and in truckstops, and each and every one of them told me that they had absolutely no idea that there was going to be a Shutdown/Strike anytime, let alone on May 5th. I told some of them that it was all over the computer, and that there were a bunch of us trying to get the word out to everyone. I was asked "How Many Computers Do You Think Are Being Used In These Trucks?" I was also told that whatever we're doing and whoever is supposed to be doing it, it ain't working. Half of these guys came from up north, where this whole thing was supposed to have been initiated, yet they hadn't heard a word about it. How the hell can we ever have a NationWide Shutdown/Strike, or a NationWide anything if we aren't getting the word out to people long before the damn thing is supposed to take place. People have to have the time to get prepared for something like this. I just got back home, and I have to tell you all that I feel like a true idiot. I really felt like an idiot telling all these thousands of trks flying up and down I-95 that the rest of the nation was on Strike......In all actuality,There are only a small chosen few of us on Strike. The biggest majority are shut down because the just can't afford to move anymore. They're flat broke. Someone really needs to step back and take a real long look at this thing.:wtf:
Ya'll try to have An Awesome Day....Mine has been nothing but disappointment.:banghead:
 
You make a great point. I personally think these shutdowns, all of them, have been scheduled too soon. The chances of a shutdown actually working is tough as it is, so you need to have a lot of time for planning and preparation before the actual date.

You need a uniform list of reasons for shutting down. You don't need several people preaching different reasons to different people.

You need unity. Before coming up with a date, discuss with others who have been very vocal and come up with a date that all can be in agreement with. With this shutdown, we had May 5th, and others complaining about that date being used because they were pushing a May 1st date. Same thing happened in April.

You need to be prepared for success
.
This one is very important. If you do all the work to create a successful shutdown, what plan is in place for when you got 100% attention from the government and the Country? There has to be a plan in place, and a speaker (leader) to represent these plans.
 
You make a great point. I personally think these shutdowns, all of them, have been scheduled too soon. The chances of a shutdown actually working is tough as it is, so you need to have a lot of time for planning and preparation before the actual date.

You need a uniform list of reasons for shutting down. You don't need several people preaching different reasons to different people.

You need unity. Before coming up with a date, discuss with others who have been very vocal and come up with a date that all can be in agreement with. With this shutdown, we had May 5th, and others complaining about that date being used because they were pushing a May 1st date. Same thing happened in April.

You need to be prepared for success.
This one is very important. If you do all the work to create a successful shutdown, what plan is in place for when you got 100% attention from the government and the Country? There has to be a plan in place, and a speaker (leader) to represent these plans.
I agree 100% Bull. This hit and miss organization is killing us all. There are those of us who have been parked since April, in hopes that once May 5th got here we would all finally get some relief. There are also those who got the word on May 5th and parked yesterday. Between the 2 there are quite a few people not making any money while the majority haven't got a clue what the hell is even going on. If that isn't a major case of "Pissing In The Wind" I don't know what is. The group from American Driver can all get their asses up on their shoulders if they want to with me, but in my opinion they majorlly dropped the damn ball on this and as a result there are a whole lot of people who have lost money and probably their business for absolutely nothing. And all they can say is "You have to bear with us"?. ....Sorry, YES I'M PISSED.......:paddle:
 
It seems to me it would be easier to just stop all deliveries to one city say dc
for a week than trying to shut down the total nation. then do the same for NYC the next week.
 
Where I am here in IN, the local farmers are moving around a little and the stone haulers are slowing down. Very little O/O running if at all any more. Talked to a buddy of mine who works the mills hauling slag and he has seen an average of about 5 trucks in and out of Mittel steel every couple of hours. Much less than the normal 30 to 40 trucks per hour
 
I talked to a few gravel haulers I know they are telling me that other trucks from other states are coming in cutting the rate (which is low enough)and hauling for less money
 
I have noticed something real strange. We use to have a good amount of truck traffic in front of my place. I am on a main road that is a bypass from Kankakee IL to US 421 on Indiana Route 10. I have noticed allot less truck traffic here. Now we have very very little truck traffic for a Saturday and absolutely none for a Sunday. I would guess at least 5 per hour Monday through Saturday and at least 3 per hour on Sunday. We now have only seen one modular home transported in the last two weeks. I would say on the high side about 2 stone haulers a day and about the same for grain haulers. I know we have thrown a wrench in the stone deal with what I recommended to contractors. Stone haulers get paid by the ton. When the weather is dry you have dry stone that is much lighter than wet stone. We are putting in a new parking lot for our shop, and will not accept wet stone, because I am not paying for water. Since I have been involved with many contractors moving machinery and material, they have woke up and smelled the coffee and wont accept a wet load either. Stone here for standard clay mix fine 53s is 6.50 per ton, the freight rate is the same or higher. It was more cost effective for us to purchase a backhoe and dump trailer to do our own work rather than pay a contractor to put in the parking lot. I was floored with a price to put in a new entrance to our place. The entry drive would be 50 feet wide and taper to 25 feet wide in the first 100 feet from the road. It would run 400 feet in and then open up to a lot that is 200 feet wide and 200 feet long. This little project with excavation and material was going to cost us over $80,000 for a gravel drive - BS. $15,000 for used 4X4 backhoe, $5500 for used dump trailer and $6500 for material. Throw in a $1000 for fuel. $28,000 and job is done. I can see now why no one is working, just using my method of flat rate for hauling - no one will pay my price. But I still got the job done for a 1/3 of the price and done in less than a week using my overpriced rate. So who is really making the profits. Shippers,Brokers and receivers. Not the drivers
 
Personally, the only change here is that my father had to quit his job as an o/o. Luckily, he was able to find a company to work for (started today), but it really shouldn't have to come to that.

I agree that I don't think the word has been able to spread properly. A lot of people are just unaware it's happening and those who do know are afraid to, you know?
 
Today was a big day here. Two trucks went by all day. Go figure the name of the one company was Knucklehead Trucking.
 
Some port truckers shut down in Oakland to protest fuel prices, surcharges
Some truckers who haul containers in and out of the Port of Oakland shut down this week to protest the fact that their pay has not gone up enough to counter punishing fuel costs. Diesel has been about $4.57 per gallon in California’s Bay area this week.
Protest organizer Ajit Singh Gill has been traveling back and forth from the Port of Oakland and the Lathrop and Stockton rail yards to meet with truckers who have shut down because they can’t afford to fill up their trucks. Some are left with only $54 a day – after paying for fuel – to cover operating expenses and their wages.
“We really don’t consider this a shutdown. It’s just that these drivers can’t afford to drive anymore,” Gill said. “People should understand that they are not making enough money to pay for their trucks, their insurance and everything else they need.”
Gill told Land Line on Thursday, May 8, that some drivers are hauling loads from Stockton to Gilroy for a flat rate of $210 per round-trip, plus a $24 fuel surcharge. With fuel costs running them around $180 per trip, Gill said they are left with just $54 per round trip. Because of traffic and wait times at weigh scales and at docks, he said these truckers are only able to make one round-trip a day.
Some drivers on the West Coast are paying as much as $1,500 each week for fuel, according to one source Land Line spoke to on Thursday, May 8.
“These guys have no other choice but to park their trucks right now,” said the source, who spoke to Land Line on the condition of anonymity. “As the cost of fuel continues to escalate, these guys with older trucks that are only getting about 4 mpg aren’t getting the fuel surcharge they need to keep them going.”
Gill said companies at the Port of Oakland have not held up their end of an agreement they made with port truckers four years ago. That agreement calls for them to pay the truckers 5 percent of their fuel costs above $2 per gallon, he said. He said that while motor carriers’ customers are paying fuel surcharges, that money isn’t being passed along to the drivers buying the fuel.
“This is not a strike that’s getting out of hand. We gave two weeks’ written notice to the companies and brokers that truckers are working for,” Gill said. “Some of the companies responded, but some didn’t respond to the notice at all.”
Port of Oakland Spokesperson Marilyn Sandifur confirmed that as many as 150 truckers were at the port protesting high fuel prices Monday through Wednesday, but said there were only “sporadic demonstrations by truckers” at the port when she spoke to Land Line on Thursday, May 8.
Gill said that decrease in protesters at the port is because truckers began meeting elsewhere after being ticketed for parking their cars at the port.
“The Oakland Police Department is on the scene because the port area is really not a good place for pedestrian access, as you can imagine,” Sandifur said. “The port is not a safe place for people to protest so the police are out there to ensure the safety of the protestors as well as ensure the safety of everyone that’s moving through the port. And then they’re there to make sure that commerce keeps flowing.”
She said she couldn’t estimate what kind of economic disruption the protests have caused at the Port of Oakland this week.
“There’s really no way for us to estimate at this point,” Sandifur said. “We know there’s been some impact, but we really don’t have an idea if it’s a minimal impact or a larger impact.”
Tensions on the rise
One protester described the scene at the Port of Oakland as being under “martial law.” Sandifur said that wasn’t the case at all.
“There isn’t an area set up for protests; this area is set up for train, truck and cargo movement,” she said. “But their right of free speech has been protected, and the Oakland Police are there to see to it. As long as they obey the rules, no one is going to ask them to leave.”
Sandifur said she did see one of the flyers that read, “Subject: Rate adjustment due to high diesel prices,” which was being handed out by truckers at the port.
“Things are definitely difficult for people whose livelihoods depend on the cost of fuel,” she said. “I think what we are looking at is a nationwide issue not a local issue. The elected officials really need to be examining this.”
Oakland Police Department spokesman Roland Holmgren said there have been a few incidents involving protestors at the Port of Oakland, but that overall things have been relatively quiet there.
“There was one arrest for someone who threw a rock and broke a windshield of a truck, and there have been two reports of vandalism,” he said.
Holmgren said he has heard varying statistics on the number of protestors, with as many as 200 protestors reported at one time at the Port of Oakland earlier in the week.
Gill said some companies have come out to negotiate with truckers. He said he was hopeful the protest would be over in the next day or two.
“We are only asking for companies to give us what they agreed to pay us four years ago,” he said. “If you calculate how much it costs to own and operate a truck, there’s no way we can make it on what they are paying us.”
– By Clarissa Kell-Holland, staff writer
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