Truckers Shutdown

[goingunder]

ANSWER TO LITTLEBIT THE DATE FOR THE SHUT DOWN IS APRIL 1ST THRU APRIL 6TH....NATIONWIDE, GET THE WORD OUT........TELL EVERY DRIVER YOU KNOW AND THEN SOME...........TALK ABOUT IT IN THE TRUCKS STOPS, YELL IT OUT ON THE RADIO...EMAIL EVERYONE THAT HAS AN EMAIL ADDRESS....

[K J Dudley]

It's about time we strike, I been hoping for this for a while now. We o/o's need to stick together to the end. Topics of strike besides fuel costs, should be about Lumper fee's and detention along with a mandated fuel surcharge. I think were going to have a problem getting support from company drivers, they are afraid they'll lose there jobs. But they also need to realize this fuel cost is effecting food cost,utility costs along with many other items. SO LET'S STICK TOGETHER, AND SEE THIS THROUGH .A LITTLE HARDSHIP COULD REAP GREAT REWARDS. I think OOIDA could also exert a little more pressure on officials. Rather then just collect dues!!!!

[bellringer]

a hard day's work EARNS a hard day's PAY!!!

[GATOR 714]

I think if the company drivers only knew that there companies will be asking them to take pay cuts, they will see the strike from a different view.
A lot of the companies are telling the drivers they will take these pay cuts and there is nothing they can do about it. They will either have to get jobs elsewhere or they can join the strike with the O/O.
This strike is world wide now, not only are we striking but drivers from other countries are doing it as well, and we are all striking for the same reasons.
We are already backed into a corner, and we have ran out of options. So lets get this party started.

[FlatbedPete]

We are shutting down on April 1st. I think we can make an impact. For the ones who say it won't work, you are probably on your way out of business anyhow. It is time we take a stand. Without us even for a short time will hurt everyone. Then maybe we can get the whole country back on track. UNITED WE STAND - DIVIDED WE FALL

[C Hanes]

I agree, I think you have to stick together on these topics, when they order their product, why should we have to pay for them to unload it. They should have a certain amount of time to get you unloaded, and if they don't by that allotted time, they should have to pay $150.00 and hour. They seem to have all the time in the world when it comes to unloading, but the trucker is always stretched for time. Let's stick together guys until we see this thing though.
Everyone will benefit from it.
Be safe!

[BobbiJo]

ANYONE WHO WANTS A CHANGE!!! Visit www.truckers4change.com

[FED UP WITH OOIDA]

AS YOU CAN SEE OOIDA, WIMPS OUT AGAIN THEY CAN'T BACK A STRIKE!!!! YOU SEE IF WE STRIKE WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO PAY OUR DUES TO A DO NOTHING ORGANIZATION, PAY YOUR DUES BUT DON'T ASK US TO BACK YOU UP.EVERYTIME I EVER CALLED OOIDA AND ASK FOR HELP CONCERNING DIFFERENT LEASING PRACTICES OR PROBLEMS, THEY AWAYS HELPED BY SAYING HIRE A LAWYER, BIG HELP.? HAS JIM JOHNSON EVER BACKED US UP. NO,NO,NO, NOT IN THE 80's OR NOW. SO LET'S JUST KEEP PAYING REDICULOUS FUEL PRICES,OUTLANDISH TAX FREE LUMPER FEE'S, AND LET THE RECEIVERS USE US AS A WAREHOUSE FREE OF DETENTION CHARGES. ALONG WITH THE RIP OFF BROKERS, AND WE'LL ALL BE RICH! ALONG WITH OUR ILLUSTRIOUS GOVERNMENT WHO CAN MAKE ALL KINDS OF LABOR LAWS BUT NONE CONCERNING THE TRUCKDRIVER,UNLESS IT'S TO SHAFT HIM

[SADDLETRAMP]

OOIDA,YEA RITE! IT'S TIME WE LET THEM MAKE A DECENT LIVING,NOT ON OUR FEES.IT'S TIME TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT FOR THIS STRIKE BY PLACING A RED BANDANNA ON THE DRIVERS SIDE MIRROR OF OUR TRUCKS.EVEN IF YOU CAN'T SHUT DOWN,PLEASE SHOW SUPPORT.

[NonTrucker]

Stike on guys, I for one will not complain at any short term hassle for a long term solution. You all gotta feed a family and live like the rest of us, and it may suck for a short while...but the gas whore's are killing everyone...

So, shut em down and slow em down on the roads; until someone smells the coffee... Let another company in that's willing to drill, refine and sell...and I don't care if it's in the Gulf or Alaska...gitter done..

[starhauler]

As a company driver I do not fork the bucks out of my pocket at the fuel pumps for fuel! I do it every time I purchase a product, service, utility or look at the levies on the ballot wanting more taxes to pay for school bus fuel, police fuel, utility company fuel and the list goes on, WE ALL DO!
You might not see it yourself as well as through the eyes of your wife or son or daughter trying to make ends meet. I suggest you ask them what they have put back upon the shelf at the grocery store as being to high priced.
It does not matter if we can pass on to the consumer the cost of fuel. The bottom line is in today's economy we are at a point where if consumers can not buy a product we will have nothing to haul.
Ladies and gentlemen there can be a voluntary shut down on your part in order to try and get congress to come to reality. Face it when those in power being driven in limos pay $4,500 for a hour with a woman do you really think they care about a senior citizen trying to live on $15,000 a year?
A Michigan Congressman Dingy wants to impose a 50 cent tax per gallon on gasoline! Tell that to those commuting 100 miles a day because of the lack of jobs within their locality! What products will they cease to buy that we haul?
I will not get into our shipping delays, lack of parking, DOT waking us up and all the other hassles we face.
Bottom line if consumers can not buy products we haul we all are screwed!
Lastly slow down? Yes slow down from 65 mph to 55 mph you will get better fuel mileage! Let's see here 10 mile per hour is $4.00 a hour lost in wages if your getting .40 a mile, a ten hour driving period try $16.00 a day times say 5 days a week that's $80 a week times 50 weeks in a year $4000 a year in lost wages, I wonder if anyone thought about that?

[starhauler]

Please at least respect those the still imbrace the founding fathers vision of freedom. If you don't have the nerve to shut down at least try to run at night as to make a more visual impact of the lack of truck traffic on the roads during the day.

[Bruce]

I have been a small businessman just like you independent drivers for years and all I have seen the government do is pay no attention except to wall street and hughe corporations. I support your strike and I think its long overdue. We will all get tax increases with these idiots running for high office because they will bail out the fat cats again not caring about the average person. Its time to stop being slaves to people who don't give a damn and maybe americans will wake up if they don't have groceries. I am over being sorry its time Ameirca woke up to what is being done to its small businesspeople and that includes independent drivers. So guys and ladies do what you have to do its time for you all to stand together.

[SIR LANCELOT]

This affects all drivers,white,black,male,femal e,owner-op and company driver. Grow a set and shut'em down!!!!

[Greenhornet CT]

I support the shut-down and also belive we should do a slow down. If you go 55 mph you can save up to 30% of your fuel.The slow down will be more of pain on their back side than ours. With this disruption, the larger companies having idle workers. And large stores i.e. home improvement centers that are owned by numerous other companies like De Walt, Stanley, etc hate to see their profits go down because delays in the system. We are still working and getting paid for ajob we love to do. we have to sit for long hours anyways to get unloaded. And another thing to do also is to adress the truck stops. See how many trucks are there and times that by 250 gallon average. Truck stops make from 4-10 cents or more in profits per gallon. If they could reduce it by 1-3 cents it would help. Every penny counts. And if you live in the East with the tolls going up It is getting more difficult to make a profit.
Maybe one day we can have a roll reversile and hve the cars pay 33.00 to go over the GW and we pay 4.00 That would piss off a few people
Good Luck

[redbug]

The problem here is not high fuel prices per se as it is the effects of inflation coming on just as Peak Oil is playing crack-the-whip with fuel prices. Real wages are flat (or decreasing, most often) while the cost of everything, fuel especially, continues to increase. Thank you, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan, for bringing back stagflation. Like we didn't get enough of it the last time around.:(

Like it or not, the American way of life (as we know it now) is highly leveraged around profligate fuel consumption. All you train fanatics out there (I'm one of them too BTW) please note that tracks and spurs do /not/ extend to every gas station, supermarket, convenience store, or other point of purchase. Everything gets hauled by truck for those final miles. Without trucks, nothing gets delivered to the stores. Many gas stations take one or more truckload fuel deliveries per day.

I totally support the idea of a strike even though it's going to adversely effect the pricing and availability of store-bought goods of all kinds. Considering how important trucking is to the functioning of the US economy, the government would be well-advised to find some way to subsidize the fuel costs for freight trucking. They already subsidize the cost of fuel for farmers, railroads, and airlines ~ the last of which enjoys prices below $2/gallon, the last I heard. So what's more important to the eCONomy, letting HS kids get low-rate fares to Ft Lauderdale for spring break, or delivering the bread to the stores?

[Greenhornet CT]

Tiffany Wlazlowski of the American Trucking Association told the Santa Maria Times projections are for trucking industry fuel costs in 2008 to reach $135 billion, up $22 billion in just one year.

Does anyone have deep pockets like that?

[Caveman]

The issue here runs deeper than simply petitioning the Government to artificially lower prices. The best we can do(and I think we should) is suspend taxation for fuel, which should help a little. Any more than that, and all you will get is cheap fuel prices, but no fuel will be available.
The real problem here is the emerging markets in Asia, mostly China, purchasing record amounts of oil. Oil is sold as a commodity, and the price is being dictated by speculators and increased demand. China can buy this commodity because of it's ongoing record trade with the USA. The BEST way to get oil prices lower is to lower the buying power of China by not purchasing Chinese goods. Our jobs are going overseas and anyone that buys Chinese products is facilitating in your own country's economic demise, as well as supporting a brutal communist regime bent on destroying it's primary benefactor.
Instead of petitioning the Government for a band aid, why doesn't everyone petition the Government to eradicate the cancer?
I for one, am tired of seeing my bottom line taxed to support generations of able bodied people not willing to work, as well as supporting those illegal aliens with no right to be here, let alone claiming a right to MY production.
If all the taxes that we pay for entitlement programs was not stolen from us, paying for fuel wouldn't be breaking us.

[redbug]

Caveman, nice points and good morning.

Perhaps the process you're referring to above is globalism? As a business arrangement, globalism has been pushed mercilessly by the last couple presidential administrations. It's a great thing for business owners wanting to increase their own revenues by offshoring as much of their production as possible, preferably to places with no minimum wages, no healthcare costs, and no labor unions.

It's been a disaster however for this country. As long as globalism continues, expect to see things get worse, not better. Mercifully, Peak Oil will put an end to cheap transportation. The world's going to be a much bigger place once Wal*Mart has no 12,000-mile long supply line for all the frying pans, underpants, and plastic salad shooters it gets from China.

The systematic dismantling of the US manufacturing economy began decades ago, probably even before Kennedy first set butt in the oval office. It will take a lot to bring it back. Are people willing?

[Dustycloud]

FlatbedPete wrote:

We are shutting down on April 1st. I think we can make an impact. For the ones who say it won't work, you are probably on your way out of business anyhow. It is time we take a stand. Without us even for a short time will hurt everyone. Then maybe we can get the whole country back on track. UNITED WE STAND - DIVIDED WE FALL

Pete - the only way that you can get company drivers to support this is to encourage them to drive 45 mph. If they refuse to drive, they WILL be replaced!