fuel prices

why dont you here much complaning. The companies in my area dont want to raise there rates. We have companies wanting to pay less now then when fuel was a dollar a gallon. The ones that have raised there rates is no where in the ball park. The fuel surcharge is a joke. What is the national average? I guess the companies get ritcher while we go farther in the hole. Example coal in our area has almost doubled in price we get a doller more a ton to haul it.

I know what you mean. From all the people I have talked to across the country, this part of Georgia is the lowest paid in the country for dump truck drivers and for owners of dump trucks.Contractors here get paid what owner/operators in other parts of the country get paid. They want us to work for nothing. Now fuel is $4 and over. If you can find work you cannot afford to put fuel in the truck to run it. If our house was not paid for we would be living in the car. Major trucking companies here are laying off drivers. The state/feds will not open any new work in our area.

One of our problems in my area is that we have one prety good sized broker here that has about 50 or 60 trucks leased to him and he will haul it for nothing. It realy does not matter to him if the owner operators make a living or not. He makes the same as he did ten years ago. They make phone calls right checks and bill the customers.

The same goes here in Georgia. They have run our prices in the ground. We can't afford fuel. The broker's live in a brand new $250,000 home, 2 new cars in the drive, new boat out back. Tell me who makes the money. We scrape change to but a $5gal milk, $4gal fuel. Owners are being used to make the broker's rich.

tammy in Hinesville, Georgia said: The same goes here in Georgia. They have run our prices in the ground. We can't afford fuel. The broker's live in a brand new $250,000 home, 2 new cars in the drive, new boat out back. Tell me who makes the money. We scrape change to but a $5gal milk, $4gal fuel. Owners are being used to make the broker's rich.

Sorry to say it...can't blame the brokers...We as truck drivers, accepted the way they do business a very long time ago..I used to haul trash from NYC to Va. for $2.10 a mile while fuel was .89 a gal. we all know where that went..drivers started cutting each others throats thinking they were doimg something good(competition) and the brokers took advantage of it and now all we can do is complain...You want to blame somebody...Blame the people that taught us to drive 25 years ago....

Well, we have worked our super 10 wheeler at a rate of $70/hr when it was really slow. Usually we get between $90-95/hr. I have raised our super 10 wheeler price to a certain company because of fuel costs to $80/hr. It was tough to do for him, but if a company wants you to drive for them, they will accomodate you in more ways than you think. But just don't push it. You don't want that now, do ya?

$70/hr in this area is a far off dream. This part of Georgia is the lowest paid in the nation for all jobs, not just truck driving. Drivers do not make but about $13/hr. So you know they are not going to pay owners $70. Good thing you can say is they cannot cut anyone's throat, There is no work to get. How do you change the pay scale that was set 25 years ago if there is no work? There is plenty of work "going to start". No one can seem to get the permits or funding released.

tammy in Hinesville, Georgia said: $70/hr in this area is a far off dream. This part of Georgia is the lowest paid in the nation for all jobs, not just truck driving. Drivers do not make but about $13/hr. So you know they are not going to pay owners $70. Good thing you can say is they cannot cut anyone's throat, There is no work to get. How do you change the pay scale that was set 25 years ago if there is no work? There is plenty of work "going to start". No one can seem to get the permits or funding released.

Yeah, same here. "There is a lot of work" going to start too. Thing is, one of our brokers, she outbids the big trucking companies, forcing every other company to not bid on jobs anymore because the rates are ridiculously low. There are more and more of these people popping up everywhere. stealing these big brokers/trucking companies jobs and paying us practically nothing. Now, in Georgia, how do you own a truck, pay for fuel, pay insurance, pay utilities, pay for food, and only make $13/hr? Is that for people who work for a company or for those who own their own trucks? MY god, that is just lower than low. I would pick up another job that pays less and wouldn't have to deal with truck repairs, fuel, and insurance. Ridiculous!!!

Fuel prices here in San Diego, CA are above $4.00/gallon. The cheapest I've seen is at $4.139/gal. That's at a Shell station. But at Shell, the diesel fuel is watered down. So we go to a different place which is the next cheapest after Shell... $4.199/gal. Huh, imagine that!

I believe the freight compensation format needs to be revamped.

Currently companies and drivers are paid mileage, fuel surcharge, and incidental charges; depending on contract.

The system should be changed to pay loading time (Actual), route mileage (Actual), unloading time (Actual), and incidental (Tarp fees, lumper fees, holdover, storage, etc). These are negotiable item amounts. Each companies bid would be different.

There should be a fuel charge based on the current average fuel cost in route between pick up and delivery points. These fuel costs are not a negotiable item. Fuel cost what it cost and the same amount would be figured for ALL carriers.

The combination of the two equal the bid amount.

Customers could save money if they get drivers loaded and unloaded in a quick efficient manner. Shippers, such as General Mills in Martel Ohio, that often keep drivers sitting for 6 hours before allowing them to bump the dock and then take another 3 hours to load them (Those delays cause HOS/legal operation problems) would pay a much higher rate due to their abuse of the carrier's / driver's time.

In addition, drivers would be properly compensated for miles driven - Routed miles. Not practical, household goods movers, etc, mileage calculations. A driver that drives 403 miles would get paid for 403 miles. Under the current program using a "Household goods movers" calculation a that same driver may only get paid for 360 miles completing the very same run. The time and effort to drive that 43 miles is not free to the driver, nor is the wear and tear on the equipment free, and the trucks will not roll without burning fuel. All miles need to be paid for.

The system as it is now allows for corruption by shippers and receivers as well as carriers. It also puts cash strapped drivers in a financial need to find ways around hours of service safety guidelines. A starving driver WILL run three log books if they need to make up time or money lost because of abuse toward them.