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Old 05-19-2008, 01:52 PM
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nathanbforrest45 nathanbforrest45 is offline
Machiavelli Incarnate
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: mountains of East TN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by patriot2342001 View Post
New more fuel efficient vehicles and alternative forms of energy will come, but what is interesting is that it might be too late. How will poor and lower middle class people afford them? They that need them most. The transition will be rocky if we don't get on this soon. And since the USA uses the most it will be hurt the most.

You mentioned the nationalization of the oil industry, which would be bad, but how long could politicians hold off on demands to subsidize gas prices? Subsidizing trucking will come first but I can't believe that regular gas will be far behind

Let me tell you a dirty little secret of the trucking industry. Most owner operators utilize the services of a broker. The broker will post a load and tell how much he is willing to pay, the owner operator will then accept the load if he wants it. For the purposes of this discussion lets say the broker charges the shipper $1.50 per mile plus a 49% fuel surcharge. A run from Baltimore Maryland to Chicago Ill will cost the shipper $1050.00 linehaul plus $514.40 fuel surcharge. The average diesel tractor gets 6 mph so at current prices the trucker will pay $482.97 for fuel. The broker who uses no fuel will pay the driver $1.10 per mile or $770.00 and maybe half of the fuel surcharge if the driver is lucky. What needs to happen is there needs to be a law that requires brokers to give the drivers all of the fuel surcharge and then only charge what the fuel actually cost. That would lower rates 10 to 15% immediately.
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