Originally Posted by nathanbforrest45

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.