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Already happened and I don't think it was very successful...
I think it was a lot of independent owner/operators that had a loosely organized 1 day strike. The trucking unions/federations did not endorse it and no major trucking companies that I know of were on the news involved in the "strike". They showed a lot of trucks down at the docks that normally haul the shipping containers. Instead they just parked there. Others drove real slow and tied up traffic on major arteries in a few cities. They were cited by police for this. I do not think the strike had much of an impact either. I did see on the news it scared some companies into cancelling/rescheduling deliveries and refusing to let some drivers pick up a load for fear it may be sabotaged or stolen. The next day it was business as usual. I feel for these guys. I cannot imagine how some of these guys can make a living at the rate they earn per mile when diesel is so high. Even if they earn a high mileage rate its still an up hill battle. Here in NE Florida after dipping a bit a week and a half ago, diesel jumped 20 cents in one day from Wed to Thurs in my surrounding towns. Its up around 4.29 currently.
Samrai309, you pretty much have it in a nutshell. The biggest problem is that owner/operators are not organized into any meaningful way. There is a trade association (Owner Operator Independent Driver Association or OOIDA) that represents truck drivers in Washington & the state capitals. However, only 160,000 (out of over 3 million) of us CDL-holders belong. And that's a shame. FWIW, my personal opinion is that any sort of strike is really the wrong way to go about this. We need the public on our side and "strikes" or other tactics like slowing traffic work against us. It has always been an uphill battle to get drivers to write letters and call their elected officials And even register to vote. So the only trucking interests that politicians usually hear from are the large shippers, trucking company executives, and "safety" groups who have an entirely different agenda than the men and women who "put the rubber to the road".
I believe that deregulation has enabled far too many people to get into the trucking business that have no business sense. And that has made it pretty much a "shipper's market". Excess capacity=low freight rates. That's not the whole story, though. High fuel costs, cost of equipment and services and many onerous trucking regulations have made the job more difficult for everybody from the one-truck owner operator to even the large truckload carriers. (if you're looking for a good used truck, it's a "buyer's market" right now...)
Good luck to anyone planning on getting in the trucking biz with the price of fuel and low mileage rates. i would not advise any one to buy a truck now.the consumer will pay the ultimate price at the store. as the prices have been rapidly rising for the last 8 months. something got to give soon.
I used to own my own, key on the words "used to". I was driving through the last strike and it got ugly but even then there were OO's still runing. Starters and batteries thrown off bridges, shots fired etc. I don't know what it'll take to get people to get together and shut the key off, unfortunately I don't think anything can. Doesn't help that we're now allowing foreign trucks in the country who'll run for almost nothing (or should I say "nada")...
Watch the evening news on Monday, April 28th!!! A trucker based in PA has gotten other groups of truckers involved and even did all the legal stuff like get permits, etc. They will come from a truck stop in PA and convoy down to D.C. Unsure of the total number of truckers coming but it sounds like enough to get some media attention. Fuel prices affect us all and if America's truckers can no longer make a profit, the whole country is doomed...
That is the stupidest thing ever. Fuel demand in the US has been going down not up. The only reason the price of fuel is rising is because the USD has been tanking for quite some time. That means imports are more expensive to us (ie. oil). The reason the dollar is tanking is because the GOVERNMENT has been over printing it for quite some time now.
Oh yea and for all those truckers who think striking is going to work good luck. I am sure there are plenty of people who will gladly drive a truck to make a living. It isn't like it requires any special skills.
That is the stupidest thing ever. Fuel demand in the US has been going down not up. The only reason the price of fuel is rising is because the USD has been tanking for quite some time. That means imports are more expensive to us (ie. oil). The reason the dollar is tanking is because the GOVERNMENT has been over printing it for quite some time now.
Oh yea and for all those truckers who think striking is going to work good luck. I am sure there are plenty of people who will gladly drive a truck to make a living. It isn't like it requires any special skills.
Excuse me if I take offense... If it wasn't for those underskilled truckers you wouldn't be typing on that computer posting insulting remarks.
While I agree that "some" driving jobs don't require a whole bunch of skill and that "some" drivers are not that bright (just like any profession) nowdays those are not the norm. I used to haul things that would kill me and a whole bunch of people around me if I made the slightest mistake or didn't know a whole bunch about how chemicals react and how to move them in the proper manner and we aren't even talking fuel yet, that's a whole different ball game.
I also used to own my truck and can tell you it's not as easy at it may seem nor does it pay very well for the most part. When I was an O/O in a typical month I'd make about 20k and out of that I'd walk away after paying all the assorted bills with about 3k. Sound good? Well that 3k was for being on the road 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and hours of paperwork, risk to my life from other ignorant drivers etc. so you figure out how much per hour I was getting. When fuel goes up it takes a bite out of what the haulers make since they can't always pass it on and it comes to the point that it's not worth doing anymore. If those people with "no special skills" stop doing what they do then you and others will stop eating,drinking and wearing clothes since NOTHING you touch gets to you without them.
As it is there is a shortage of drivers and projected to get worse which drives up costs so just think what'll happen if the rest of those so called skill challenged people go off the road and people can no longer get basic items...
Even a never noticed janitor is missed when you go to the bathroom and there's no paper or soap right????
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fuel prices
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