Another wonderful week has passed and the price of diesel is skyrocketting! Getting out of control already and we haven't even made it to March yet - great.. Although I am not booked under a load, listening and watching things going on I thought it may be a good idea to fill up the truck. Boy am I glad I did! I found diesel at a Racetrac gas station here in town for $3.899 per gal so I filled up - I haven't checked this morning but last night it was $4.039. Even worse was that the day I filled up at the Racetrac, I dropped my trailer at the local Pilot - fuel there was ALREADY $4.179 (cash). Today I wouldn't be surprised if it's $4.50. What really disgusts me is the fact that these Pilot stations can charge 28 cents per gallon more for fuel and 50% - 90% more of a markup on everything else and nobody says anything.. Are you kidding? There is a reason for the term "Highway robbery" and I'm thinking they may have had Pilot, Petro, and TA in mind.
While reading an article about fuel prices and how they were soaring I stumbled across another article of interest - 5 Cheapest Places on Earth for Gas, or something like that. Anyway, they were from cheapest: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkmenistan, and Bahrain. In any of these countries you can expect to spend under 90 cents per gallon with Venezuela being in the 75 cent area. Seventy five cents?!? Hmm... and we are averaging $3.65 - although, I haven't checked that in about an hour so we may be higher now.. That's just short of 5 times higher than what they are paying in Venezuela. That's ridiculous..
How much oil do these countries really have for it to be that cheap? Now of the 5 countries that are the cheapest lets look at these a little closer: Venezuela (290 Billion barrells), is an Iranian ally. Turkmenistan (600 million barrells), was working with us on the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline until they backed out of negotiations possibly because the US wanted to dictate to them how to have a 'sucessful' democracy (pot calling the kettle black). Libya (46.4 Billion barrells),SHOULD be thankful we save them from their tyrannical leader, although they will probably become a nation of Muslim extremists. Saudi Arabia (161 Billion barrells) and Bahrain (125 million barrells) are our "allies". The estimate from Saudi Arabia was 267 Billion barrells but many have recently found that the Saudis have been overstating there reserves by as much as 40% which is where I came upo with 161 Billion barrells. The United States has 134 Billion barrells, not including shale. Look at these numbers and tell me that something is not seriously wrong... WE have MORE oil than 3 of the top five countries with the cheapest oil! Understandably we have many more consumers of oil than probably all of these countries combined, but I just don't understand why if we have 134 Billion barrells of oil why do we only access 21 Billion barrells? And more importantly why import so much if this is the case? The liberals and the EPA. Period. There is no reason to not to tap our natural resourses, everyone else is. Yes, oil is a fossill fuel and blah blah blah but saying that - everyone knows it's limited and there will be a point in the future when it is all gone, but should our entire country fall because of a turtle nest or a sandpiper?? You may think that's a little extreme to think the country is going to fall apart over gas but it will. Will you be able to move your truck with $6 or $7 per gallon diesel? Neither can the guys hauling your food or gas for that matter! Oh yea - and don't forget the DEF at another additional cost!!
What the moving industry absolutely cannot handle right now is $5 gal diesel, and guess what? We are almost there now. If we are to survive this summer in the moving industry the carriers and the drivers need to implement just a few things. First and foremost the carriers MUST RAISE RATES!! This can not be stated loudly enough. If your competitor wants to haul 70% discounts - let them!! They will not be in business!! First, if they have 70's and there are carriers out there with no discount or say 20 or 30% discounts, who do you think will have all the drivers? The good drivers at that... Owner operators will not be hauling junk when fuel is $6/gallon, if they do it'll take them maybe two months or less to go bankrupt. So I say - let them.. all of them - maybe it'll weed the morons out of our industry! Secondly, the fuel surcharge needs to be overhauled somehow because surely they will try to adjust the rate off what they pay us.. This needs to be corrected. A few years back, fuel surcharges were based off $1.00/gal, then it jumped to $2.50.. whats next? $5.00??
Fuel has gone up significantly in the past few days and in a little over a week it's gone up close to 20 cents. Of course the fuel surcharge for the month is factored on the 15th.. Surprise surprise. This means for the next month you are getting a fuel surcharge that represents LAST months fuel prices! I called around the other day trying to find out where I was gonig to buy fuel and found out that many places update their fuel price EVERY 15 MINUTES! So as we are hauling on last months surcharge they can raise the price every fifteen minutes.. This doesn't make sense to me.. If you can put a Qualcomm or EROB on my truck to get 'real time' info why do you expect me to work at month old surcharge rates? I understand for billing purposes you can't update the fuel surchage every 15 minutes but daily is definitely not out of the question.. There are charts for daily fuel pricing so the industry can agree on which chart to use and figure these daily. It's not that difficult and everything is done by computer now so in all actuallity it's only a few keystrokes more. Your office personnel can do this in a few extra minutes which I'm sure they can find by shortening up their Angry Birds game. Of course many will laugh and say that this is impossible but I don't think it is and in the wonderful world of DP3 every contract is unique so why can't it be implemented? It can be - but drivers can't do it - carriers need to! God willing maybe someone can get the point across to the carriers before the rate go in for the next cycle!! If not - I hope they have a government subsidized cemetary to bury the moving industry because Lord knows anyone that actually works in this industry can't afford their own plot!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
2012 - The End of the World? Or just the moving industry?
Well 2012 is upon us now, sorry for not blogging in so long but I guess for the first time in my life I have been speechless. Literally. This industry has left me in awe.. How can so many not see the death of an industry right around the corner? In the fourth grade I received a 'I Can't Keep My Mouth Shut' Award. My mother for some reason thought it was a good thing to save - I guess she made the point. Well, here it is 2012 and never has the moving industry been in so much peril. Drivers, the backbone of the industry are leaving by the hundreds every month and there isn't anyone to fill those empty positions. For years guys 'jumped ship' from one company to another for various reasons - more home time, a little better percentage, whatever the reason they may have made a shift but now they aren't jumping ship - they are jumping overboard! Drivers are (finally) figuring out the grass probably isn't greener on the other side. There is one simple reason for that - just about EVERYONE has the same shitty rates. Over the past several years more and more carriers are worried about nothing but tonnage. Their profits are made by the high amount of tonnage they move. That's great for them. Only problem with that is that the drivers make the money for them and they have no care for costs to do the job. We are doing work today in 2012 that guys wouldn't have touched in 1995 when fuel was less than a dollar a gallon. What I still can't figure out is - How??
How can we, as businesspeople, continue to do the same work for ridiculously less money? Everything in the US revolves around the price of oil. EVERYTHING, except of course, the cost of getting your most precious household items moved. How can that be? When oil goes up so does the price of everything else. Not only is fuel more expensive but your oil change, the food you buy, the clothes you wear, the help you hire, the motel you sleep in, everything. Heck, even tolls have been skyrocketing out of control. Yet, our rates go down. The reason the carriers think they're doing so great is they have no overhead and no fluctuating costs. On paper they are thriving. Realistically I think they may be in for quite a surprise.
It is only February and the military has already suspended the 70% rule for SIT. This is good for the drivers but one has to stop and think why? Why, in the middle of the winter, did they suspend the rule? I'm not 100% sure, but my guess would be because they can't get the junk moved. What?!? There's a red flag right there - it's wintertime and you can't get tonnage moved? It should be obvious to SOMEONE that in all the days of the moving industry winter is notoriously slow - now you can't get guys to move it. Think about it, it's scary. The shortage of qualified drivers is unthinkable. When drivers leave this industry they certainly aren't returning and carrier's need to act now before it's too late. I've been hearing ridiculous stories of "drivers" coming in to warehouses to pick up junk tonnage that have NO IDEA what they are doing. Drivers loading 13000 off the dock, taking two days to do it! Everything was out on the dock the first morning, the driver loaded some of it, then left the rest outside overnight and then the following day loaded the rest finishing at 5:00pm. Another bozo with any empty trailer came in to RI with 13500 from San Diego and left a 4000 pound overflow! These are obviously not furniture guys but they are driving trucks that have your name on them Mr Carrier! Is this really the guys you want representing you? If you're not careful it will be the ONLY guys you'll have left. Many of my friends are leaving this industry and the ones who aren't are either parked for the winter or refusing to go on the road unless it's clearly a decent linehaul. I have done maybe 3 trips since October. That's ridiculous. But why would I want to go out on the road and spend money to make peanuts?? Another driver I know has a moving trailer parked at home and is running a flatbed! Just so he can make some money - the dispatcher doesn't even know. But can you blame a man for trying to feed his family?? Unfortunately these problems will probably only get worse...
What happens when, yes I'm saying when, fuel is over $5.00/gallon EVERYWHERE?? They are already predicting gas to be over $4.25/gal by early April so fuel will certainly be $5.00 easy. Drviers can't afford fuel now. Drivers can't afford repairs, tires, heck I've met some drivers who couldn't afford to eat! No BS - a guy was eating crackers and cheese on a Tuesday and his carrier/agent wouldn't send him any money until that Friday.. If it was me, their trailer would have been dropped in the Gulf of Mexico but that's me. I truly hope that someone in these offices have some sort of plan for when fuel goes thruogh the roof because it IS going to happen and soon. An Isrealli strike on Iran or an interuption of oil through the Strait of Hormuz will pole vault oil prices over the top and this industry nor this country is ready for this. If they can't move tonnage now how will it happen when it costs more in fuel than the linehaul?? Any drivers that are still left out here need to take this to the offices where you are at and try to drive these points home. They just don't get it or they just don't care. Figure it out and decide if that's who you want to make rich because that's all your doing! Take a stand household drivers who know what you are doing! WE ARE THE 1% in this industry! Except in this model the 1% is broke.... til next time
How can we, as businesspeople, continue to do the same work for ridiculously less money? Everything in the US revolves around the price of oil. EVERYTHING, except of course, the cost of getting your most precious household items moved. How can that be? When oil goes up so does the price of everything else. Not only is fuel more expensive but your oil change, the food you buy, the clothes you wear, the help you hire, the motel you sleep in, everything. Heck, even tolls have been skyrocketing out of control. Yet, our rates go down. The reason the carriers think they're doing so great is they have no overhead and no fluctuating costs. On paper they are thriving. Realistically I think they may be in for quite a surprise.
It is only February and the military has already suspended the 70% rule for SIT. This is good for the drivers but one has to stop and think why? Why, in the middle of the winter, did they suspend the rule? I'm not 100% sure, but my guess would be because they can't get the junk moved. What?!? There's a red flag right there - it's wintertime and you can't get tonnage moved? It should be obvious to SOMEONE that in all the days of the moving industry winter is notoriously slow - now you can't get guys to move it. Think about it, it's scary. The shortage of qualified drivers is unthinkable. When drivers leave this industry they certainly aren't returning and carrier's need to act now before it's too late. I've been hearing ridiculous stories of "drivers" coming in to warehouses to pick up junk tonnage that have NO IDEA what they are doing. Drivers loading 13000 off the dock, taking two days to do it! Everything was out on the dock the first morning, the driver loaded some of it, then left the rest outside overnight and then the following day loaded the rest finishing at 5:00pm. Another bozo with any empty trailer came in to RI with 13500 from San Diego and left a 4000 pound overflow! These are obviously not furniture guys but they are driving trucks that have your name on them Mr Carrier! Is this really the guys you want representing you? If you're not careful it will be the ONLY guys you'll have left. Many of my friends are leaving this industry and the ones who aren't are either parked for the winter or refusing to go on the road unless it's clearly a decent linehaul. I have done maybe 3 trips since October. That's ridiculous. But why would I want to go out on the road and spend money to make peanuts?? Another driver I know has a moving trailer parked at home and is running a flatbed! Just so he can make some money - the dispatcher doesn't even know. But can you blame a man for trying to feed his family?? Unfortunately these problems will probably only get worse...
What happens when, yes I'm saying when, fuel is over $5.00/gallon EVERYWHERE?? They are already predicting gas to be over $4.25/gal by early April so fuel will certainly be $5.00 easy. Drviers can't afford fuel now. Drivers can't afford repairs, tires, heck I've met some drivers who couldn't afford to eat! No BS - a guy was eating crackers and cheese on a Tuesday and his carrier/agent wouldn't send him any money until that Friday.. If it was me, their trailer would have been dropped in the Gulf of Mexico but that's me. I truly hope that someone in these offices have some sort of plan for when fuel goes thruogh the roof because it IS going to happen and soon. An Isrealli strike on Iran or an interuption of oil through the Strait of Hormuz will pole vault oil prices over the top and this industry nor this country is ready for this. If they can't move tonnage now how will it happen when it costs more in fuel than the linehaul?? Any drivers that are still left out here need to take this to the offices where you are at and try to drive these points home. They just don't get it or they just don't care. Figure it out and decide if that's who you want to make rich because that's all your doing! Take a stand household drivers who know what you are doing! WE ARE THE 1% in this industry! Except in this model the 1% is broke.... til next time
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