Our letter..

IIronman

Well-Known Member
Just got done mailing letters to senators..I thought I would post a sample letter for you guys..this is just an idea..hope it will help somebody!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Senator XXXXX

My name is xxxxxx and I am an Owner-Operator Professional Semi Driver based out of xxxxxx . I am contacting you to inquire as to if you are aware of the difficult situation that many small businesses are going through at this time. I am very concerned/interested as to what you are doing or if there is anything being done regarding the burden of diesel fuel cost to us Independent truck drivers. This is a real crisis not only to our trucking industry, but to our entire nation. The everyday, blue-collar man is just barely surviving while the oil giants are making record profits. Don't get me wrong they, like anyone else, are entitled to making profits, but not at the expense and suffering of the small businessman and the average person.
The trucking industry needs to undergo many considerable changes, one of which is a discloser of the fuel surcharge paid by the customer to the broker/ company. The truck driver (owner operator) in many cases has no idea what the original pay for the load/haul or fuel surcharge is. This is very unfair and unjustified! Many brokers have no idea how expensive it is to keep a semi running by D.O.T. standards. One tire costs me over $300.00, and that's not including the taxes or labor! There need to be some laws or guidelines to curtail the greed of brokers. When a broker can take half of the original cost of the load, and ALL of the fuel surcharge that leaves very little, if any, for the driver who incurs all the cost. We want these fuel surcharges awarded IN FULL to the person who has to actually pay for the fuel. Is this not what the charges were intended for to begin with? It definitely was not created with the intentions of lining the pockets of brokers! This could be established by writing the charges paid (percent and amount) on the shipping bill.
Currently we are losing part of the surcharge, yet we have to pay higher prices in stores since the shipping charge is added to the goods. With fuel at $4.00 a gallon for diesel it takes $1,200 to $1,600.00 a week to keep my truck on the road. This makes it, to say the least, very difficult to support my family under these conditions!
Thank you for your time, and any input or support in these matters would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hay Ironman there must be away some of you guys out there could band together and become ur own brokers and beat the broker trap
 
I copied it, added a few lines of my own and sent it off everywhere I could find. Thanks so much Ironman for giving us a letter to start with and for allowing us to use it!
 

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