http://www.truckersroad.org/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/16/For those of you who are currently an O/O or are thinking about becoming one.<br> MODERATOR: JuciefruitnoneFri, 06 Jun 2008 04:04:05 GMTFri, 06 Jun 2008 04:04:05 GMT10http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssFusionBB 2.3 (www.fusionbb.com)http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45727/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45727/
This also included a recent photo op where International selected 3 Owner Operators who participated in their Stand Alone sessions to drive one of their new LoneStar trucks for a week....

If you want to see some cool truck photos...check out www.flickr.com/photos/26425007@N04

Hope the link works for you....

The Lonestar truck is a really attractive semi--lots of chrome for sure...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:14:09 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45719/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45719/
With the sky high fuel prices and low freight rates --he just sat for 2 weeks waiting for a decent paying load out of NYC/New Jersey area... He pulls a mover type fan -- specialty pad wrap freight... His home is in Vegas, NV...

He estimated with diesel fuel at a National average of $ 4.50 per gallon....the fuel cost alone are 82 cents per mile if you average 5.5 mpg and 69 cents per mile if you average 6.5 mpg..

Some of his owner operator friends have parked their paid for trucks and are now working as company drivers again...or sold their trucks recently...

At least the used truck market is half decent with the demand for good used trucks in the overseas market...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:45:05 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45696/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45696/
The report came from a local Chicago TV station warning truckers and motorists about recent increase in fuel thefts.... for a Owner Operator this could get expensive in a hurry....$ 4 per gallon lost...

We have locking fuel caps on our trucks....most of them work... and some of trucks are parked in secure areas.... behind fences and locked gates... but others are parked in the open...mostly in rural locations here in Oklahoma...

If I were a thief...I would at least steal fuel from a company driver's truck rather than a Owner Operator....but apparently thieves look for easy access vs selectiing their targets by whether the truck is a company owned truck or an Owner Operator... I do not imagine any company drivers would be stealing fuel for their trucks... unless they fall in the "stupid" category... or their company is about to go broke and they can not pay their fuel bills...

I understand a locking gas cap costs about $35 to $ 80....some are better than others as far as working in cold WX and keeping dirt out of them so they will open...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Sat, 10 May 2008 14:19:39 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45679/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45679/
The bill is call the TRUCC Act --- Truthful Reliable Understanding of Consumer Costs Act...

A ridiculous name for an act related to Truck Fuel Surcharges in my opinion....but I am in favor of brokers snd trucking companies not skimming profits off of fuel surcharges collected and not passed on to the person buying the fuel...

It is amazing what laws are necessary now days to ensure people get what is due them in business dealings...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:31:06 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45647/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45647/
I am not convinced much of a shutdown will occur, but company drivers could help the issue by a slowdown for many drivers.... It is recommended trucks still forced to run -- run at 45 mph... it would help increase the visibility of the trucker's strike with the public...

This could be interesting....like one guy said it won't be long I will not have one truck left to drive anyway as an owner operator that used to have 12 cattle hauling trucks...

I am wondering what the Teamster's Union is telling their members to do this time around??

Dutchman 1 ]]>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:55:53 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45635/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45635/
The article also mentioned that Conway Freight out of Ann Arbor Michigan was slowing their LTL trucks down from 65 to 62 mph.... to help save several $$ Million dollars with their 8,200 truck fleet...

I have not noticed many semi-trucks running slower, but I run local and a lot of back country roads as a rule.... not much interstate driving for us in Oklhoma as crude oil haulers... Since we are governed at 60 mph for fuel economy already... we almost get our truck doors blown off when we venture out on the interstates...

The article mentioned the average price for diesel is close or over $4 per gallon in 24 states in the USA now...

It also mentioned that some trucking firms are getting more time on a typical load to allow for a slower transit time... Good idea...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:18:14 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45629/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45629/
Ted recently did a ride along with a group of CNN reporters in his truck to discuss the state of trucking and the impact of high priced diesel on his business....

He mentioned that he recently hauled a military load where he was given a copy of the freight bills -- the broker and he made the same profit on the load after fuel expenses were deducted... In many cases it is not so easy to discern what the customer paid to ship the load...

He also mentioned he is now taking loads for new customers in order to try and improve his profit margin....so he can make more than what it takes to operate his truck...he would also like to earn $$ for his efforts... not just make a truck payment and cover his truck expenses...

Finally, he mentioned if things to do not improve this year...he will give it up rather than run his truck for "free" labor on his part... There is apparently some talk of a "slow down" among Owner Operators to draw attention to their dire situation....but he said that he has not intentionally deliverd any of his loads late to date ...and will probably not do so in the future...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:18:24 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45612/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45612/
Recently on I-84 at Exit 2 near Danbury CT ... Diesel was posted at $ 4.29 per gallon.... Yikes another good reason not to run the Northeast part of the USA again...

I filled up my crude oil truck in Ponca City about 6 blocks from the Conoco-Phillips refinery and Diesel was $ 3.70 per gallon.... $ 270 total for 73 gals of fuel.... We only have a single tank on our trucks...120 gal capacity... works well for local hauling...

The Landline article also mentioned an appropriate fuel surcharge now would be about
53 cents per mile.... Hope you Owner Operators are getting a decent fuel surcharge of late...
Price of diesel in Oklahoma jumped about 60 cents per gallon in the past 3 weeks or so...

Dutchman 1 ]]>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:49:12 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45602/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45602/
Truckers fear crash is coming
Stagnant freight rates and rising costs hitting them hard

By Ellen Simon - ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: 03/01/08 7:08 AM

Associated Press

While Robert Griffith’s diesel fuel costs have risen, his take-home pay has plummeted from $50,000 to just $11,000. Trucker Robert Griffith is on the road three weeks out of four, pulling oversize loads like crane booms, railroad ties and air conditioning ducts. One of his biggest worries: How he’ll find the money to buy his daughter a prom dress.

As the cost of diesel fuel doubled over the last four years, his take-home pay has plummeted, from $50,000 to just $11,000 last year. He’s literally burning money; he spent $64,000 on diesel in the last eight months. Since he canceled his satellite radio, he’s on citizens band radio constantly (handle: Instigator) talking about what needs to change so truckers like him can survive.

“I had to learn to live totally different,” said Griffith, 41, of Lebanon, Tenn.

No more $150 family outings to Shogun sushi. No more weekly washes for his Western Star 4900 EX truck. No more health insurance for him and his family.

“It hurts,” he said. “I’m a man who’s trying to make a living for my family and I’m not succeeding.”

Trucking’s owner-operators, the self-employed drivers who haul everything from Hummers to hay, are suffering. Many say they’re running on the edge of bankruptcy, about to disappear unless they get help. While a wave of trucking failures now might be invisible to consumers, when the economy rebounds, it would push up shipping rates, helping increase prices.

The housing downturn and decreased consumer spending have cut into loads; the extra trucking capacity is pushing down freight rates. Diesel prices, which are always higher in the winter, have hit such highs that Truckinginfo.com runs ads for thief-stopping fuel-tank locks.

Reposessor Nassau Asset Management repossessed 110 percent more trucks in 2007 than it did in 2006, according to president Edward Castagna.

Industries that depend on independent truckers, like logging, are starting to suffer. Maine Gov. John Baldacci declared a civil emergency at the end of November, speeding fuel tax reimbursements for logging truck operators and asking the Department of Transportation to identify roads that could tolerate logging-truck weight, allowing truckers to take more direct routes and save fuel.

About nine percent of the nation’s 3.4 million truck drivers are independent owner-operators, according to the Department of Labor. Without the independents, trucking will turn into a group of “regional and national oligopolies” that would send shipping prices higher when the economy improves, said John Saldanha, who teaches logistics at Ohio State University.

A Baird & Co. research report said the one positive note is the likelihood of more bankruptcies could eventually push freight rates up for the survivors.

Truckers, who felt unappreciated in the best of times, say they feel even more marginalized now.

Rumors of a nationwide truck strike are a nearly annual occurrence — but this year an effort in January generated more talk than usual on MySpace and the Sirius Satellite Radio show “Freewheelin.’”

“If you eat it, drink it, wear it . . . sit on it, if it is anything other than the air you breathe, an American truck driver made it possible!” wrote trucker Joe Misilewich of Norwich, New York in an e-mail. “Don’t forget it! Without truckers, America is nothing!”

Nanette Jenkins Rudd, 40, a third-generation trucker based in Mapleton, Ill., kept her five trucks off the road the week of the strike.

“I pray that this strike is successful, so that we only have to stop rolling for a week — and not forever,” she said.

Like other truckers, she’s hoping for government help. “The government stepped in and helped the farmers when they were in trouble,” she said. “Why? Because the farmers feed America, the farmers put food on the table. But who do you think delivers that food?”

Truckers say they want caps on diesel prices, or tax credits for truckers, as well as increased regulation for the middlemen who broker truck loads.

Independent truckers are increasingly dependent on freight brokers, middlemen who match shippers with drivers one load at a time, taking a cut for themselves. At one of the country’s largest brokers, Landstar System, revenue from brokered loads was $525.9 million in 2006, double what it was two years before. But the company said it paid less for transportation in fiscal 2007, while its revenue per load was nearly flat at $1,612.

A spokesman for Landstar could not be reached, despite repeated requests.

Truckers complain that the brokerage system is unregulated and lacks transparency: They know what they’re getting paid, but they don’t know what the shippers are paying the brokers. They say they’re also forbidden from showing the shippers their contracts. Many independents have a story about a shipper’s shock after finding out what the trucker was being paid.

A load traveling 800 miles that cost a shipper nearly $3,000 to send may pay the trucker $1,000, out of which the trucker would pay all expenses including fuel and insurance.

“It’s truly highway robbery,” Misilewich said.

Griffith, who’s been driving a truck for 20 years, stopped working with brokers six months ago and started hauling specialized loads, which pay $2 or $3 a mile more than standard — not that it’s helping.

Three-quarters of his pay is going to fuel and maintenance, up from half in the past. And how much work he can cram in is regulated, with the number of hours he can drive capped by federal regulations at 11 a day.

Griffith longs for the old Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who led truckers in their most powerful — and profitable — years. Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and was declared presumed dead in 1982.

“We need to band together instead of fight each other and somebody needs to help us do that,” he said. “I wish Jimmy Hoffa were still around.” ]]>Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:29:02 GMThttp://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45529/http://www.truckersroad.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/45529/
They came up with Top 7 items that distinguish Successful Owner Operators....those making about $70,000+ after expenses:

1. They keep detailed records ...they know their operating costs and income on a monthly basis --not just for the year...

2. They work for a Percentage of the Gross.

3. They own their trailer.

4. They own a APU.

5. They do regular oil analysis of their engines...

6. They buy new equipment ...avoid breakdowns and major repair work is covered by warranties.

7. They maintain a sizeable savings account for emergencies or unplanned expenses...

Finally, according to this Overdrive Survey:

These Owner Operators are usually leased with a carrier or trucking company rather than running under their own authority. They have been an Owner Operator for about 20+ yrs and are in their early 50s....

They work for the some of the Best companies in trucking and only with People they trust to be honest in their dealings... brokers, dispatchers, etc...

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