Drivers 4 Drivers

Fellow Driver has fallen

Irishman — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:29:38 GMT

Trucker Burned in Fiery Mass. Highway Crash Dies

link to a story at foxnews.com: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343112,00.html

Irishman

Rally to DC

Irishman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:54:29 GMT

200+ will be driving to DC at morning rush hr
Irishman

MyFox Tampa Bay | Fox 13 News | WTVT

Irishman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:52:50 GMT

Look at the story that aired on my 6 o'clock news. Look for the video "Breaker Breaker we're broke"
Â http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/
Irishman

News links

Irishman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:15:06 GMT

Newslink | TV stations by state

Here's a great link. It'll let you go to every news cast in the nation. Hope you have plenty of time, lol
Â
Pat
Â
Â
http://www.newslink.org/stattele.html
Irishman

Protest videos

Irishman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:37:37 GMT

Truckers Protest Rising Gas, Diesel Prices - Pittsburgh News Story -WTAE Pittsburgh

Â http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/15691737/detail.html
Irishman

Spending Money can be emotional

Irishman — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:47:16 GMT

New Topic for discussion by Space Invader
Irishman

Shout outs

Irishman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:46:51 GMT

Hi Space Invader! It was a pleasure running with you. Your a good man
Irishman

PA protest

Irishman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:30:33 GMT

Truckers' protest
Thursday, March 20, 2008

Truckers from throughout the eastern U.S. plan to rally at 2 p.m. Saturday at a Dauphin County exit of Interstate 81 to protest high fuel prices.

Organizer Mark Kirsch, an independent trucker from Myerstown, Lebanon County, said he expects at least 500 trucks and perhaps as many as 2,000 people to attend the rally at the Hess, Wilco and Gables truck stops off Exit 77, Manada Hill.

Notices of the rally have been posted from Maine to Florida, Kirsch said.

The truckers also expect to schedule convoys to Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., he said. Kirsch also will address the proposal to sell the turnpike, which he opposes.

For more information, call Kirsch at 821-2013 or e-mail truckers2unite@yahoo.com.
Â
Â

Irishman

DieselBoss.com

Irishman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:19:33 GMT

Gentlemen,
Â
Â Â Â I have placed a link to you efforts at our fuel prices page here:Â http://www.dieselboss.com/fuel.htm .
Â
Thanks for your efforts and stand by for TRAFFIC increase.
Â
Best regards from Dieselboss.com
Â
- Don
Irishman

Truckers Strike

Irishman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:31:04 GMT

Here is the link again to find the video on the Georgia Truckers Strike
Coverage was by fox channel 24 in Georgia

Http://www.drivers4drivers.com/fuel.asp
Irishman

Stolen Truck / Trailer

Irishman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:29:08 GMT

Between midnight and 4:30am Wednesday March 19th in Van Buren AR. 2008 Peterbuilt 386 aerodynamic hood Indigo blue(dark blue) with wind deflector. The name on the door is "C&T Trucking" Truck # 922 with trailer # R35. Trailer is a reefer loaded with a quiet Thermo King unit. Trailer has damage where it had been backed into on 1 side that is fairly large that covers 2 panels. If you have any information call the Van Buren Police Dept at 479-474-1234. Please forward on to your carriers or anyone that could be on the lookout for this equipment and loaded trailer.

Irishman

* Email entry *

Irishman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:43:45 GMT

Here are more newslinks about the cost of fuel.

www.knoxnews.com]

[www.todaystrucking.com ]

[www.heraldtribune.com ]

[www.businesswire.com]

[www.centralohio.com]

[www.centralohio.com]

[www.thedailystar.com ]
Â

Irishman

Flyer on Protest

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:54:54 GMT

Someone was nice enough to make up a flyer "NOW IS THE TIME"

Here is the link
http://www.drivers4drivers.com/flyer01.jpg

Irishman

FEMA funds

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:55:00 GMT

ICF International Still has not given money to 56,000 home owner Victims of Katrina

It's been 2 1/2 years

BUT!! It's ok because that company was given money to distribute and they have been using the interest to report HUGE profits!

Outrageous!

Irishman

Swift Transport

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:48:07 GMT

So why did the FBI, ATF, DOT, INS, secret service, US Marshals and Tenn State Police raid the Memphis branch of Swift Transport back in February?

It is rumored that an illegal alien was involved in a multi fatality accident

Irishman

Flyer on Protest

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:06:16 GMT

Someone was nice enough to make up a flyer "NOW IS THE TIME"

.. I will post a link to this later today

Irishman

Companies Closing

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:24:44 GMT

Rush Trucking is also closing up
No additional Info at this time

Burley Wells is closing due to the rising Fuel costs
Irishman

Companies Closing

Irishman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:15:40 GMT

General delivery out of Fairmont

Heineman trucking out of port Clinton
After fighting bigger companies and trying to earn a profit for 25 yrs
They hauled beer

Pilgrims Pride - Chicken processing plants are closing in Siler City, NC Last week of May 800 employees and all the chicken farmers as well as all small carriers that have worked for them will be affected

They are also closing 6 Distribution Centers.
They list the rising cost of corn and chicken feed

ALSO:
Is something going on with US express? It is rumored that they are bringing trucks back empty
Irishman

Great Article

Irishman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:18:53 GMT

Thank You, AP. It's about time!
Posted by: pat_r (---.245.98.89.Dial1.SanJose1.Level3.net)
Date: March 01, 2008 11:46AM

Independent Truckers See End of the Road
Saturday March 1, 5:08 am ET
By Ellen Simon, AP Business Writer
AP Centerpiece: Truckers Fear Rising Costs, Stalled Freight Rates Will Run Them Off the Road

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.
ADVERTISEMENT

As the cost of diesel doubled over the last four years, his take-home pay has plummeted, from $50,000 to $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.

"If you can run all week without a flat tire, you're a little bit ahead, otherwise, you're basically just running to put the money right back into the fuel tank," said trucker Benjamin Stanley, 40, of Spotsylvania, Va. "Truckers are in the same spot farmers were in a few years back."

Reposessor Nassau Asset Management repossessed 110 percent more trucks in 2007 than it did in 2006, according to president Edward Castagna. And it's taking less time to pick up a truck, which he sees as a sign that there's less work to keep them on the road -- and out of his reposessors' reach.

"It used to take weeks, now it takes days or hours," he said.

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.

While independents struggle, the large public trucking companies seem to be on a different road. Their stocks have, for the most part, climbed since January.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and YRC Worldwide Inc., with more than 10,000 truck tractors each, buy everything from fuel to tractors in bulk. The big companies buy thousands of gallons of diesel at a time on the commodities market, then store at their depots; Griffith buys his at truck stop pumps, where prices increased 38 cents a gallon over two days last month.

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, Inc., revenue from brokered loads was $881.57 million in 2007, more than double what it was four 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.

Jim Gattoni, Landstar's chief financial officer, said payments were lower because volume was lower. Drivers carrying brokered loads from the company earn between 80 and 90 percent of the value of the freight they carry, he said, depending on the weight and complexity of the load.

"Our margin, at the end of the day, is seven percent," he said.

At brokerage sites like getloaded.com and internettruckstop.com, freight rates are where they were in 2002, said Roger Carpenter, a Binghamton, N.Y. trucker who hauls dairy and chickens. The middlemen behind the boards "are so competitive, they chop each other's rates up like hungry dogs trying to get a scrap of meat," he said.

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.

Jim Butts, vice president of transportation at C.H. Robinson, a company whose business includes brokering loads, said his company serves truckers well, acting as their sales and marketing arm and paying them even when shippers fail to pay.

"Not all these competitors are playing the same game and not all abide by the same rules," he 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, all of which must be recorded in a log book.

"People will say, 'Run harder,'" he said. "I can't run harder. You can't run beyond your log books."

Back on the CB, "someone will get on about trucking, someone will get on about the fuel prices, then everyone will start arguing and cussing." Listen to CB for an hour he said, "you'll feel the animosity, the hatred, the despair."

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."

who has the nerve

Irishman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:36:05 GMT

Who has the nerve
Posted by: LargeCarLonnie (---.dhcp.reno.nv.charter.com)
Date: March 11, 2008 05:41PM

make a date > everyone in seattle heads south to Los Angeles on I 5 at 35 MPH ALL THE WAY . People in the Bay going east I 80 35 MPH Los Angeles area east on 10 >> 35 MPH out of Las Vegas east on 40 > 35 mph with signs on the vans about fuel prices and rates . That will get the attention everyone just may be looking for. Loggers did it over the spotted owl issue years ago whatcha think

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: dUEFUSS (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: March 12, 2008 11:23AM

getatrucknow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lonnie, 2 things bring about a revelution.
>
> 1. When enough MEN, have decided they are willing
> to lose everything they have, for the common good
> of future generations.
>
> 2. When enough MEN have lost everything they have
> because of the system at hand and nobody seems to
> care, especially the political leaders.
>
> We are very close to the time when one of these
> two things will happen. It will be a very scary
> time when it does.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: Still Ms. PAZ (---.tcsn.qwest.net)
Date: March 11, 2008 06:27PM

What's the destination? Or is there no specific destination but a purpose -- to bring attention to the issue?

I'll tell my trucks they can join.

people don't know the drawing line which defines the difference. i highly doubt you do either. when someone tried to explain he only got 10 percent of the vote. so a revolution can't happen because it would only happen from the result instead of the cause.

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: duefuss (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: March 11, 2008 06:56PM

with all the speculation driving up fuel costs it would be a better idea to stay home one week and see if the supply above demand would bring down prices. that would put some hurts to the speculaters.

let me know if you get this put together so i can short oil. lol

there ya go stay home after shorting and make some easy cash.

1,2,3 __________

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: getatrucknow (---.central.biz.rr.com)
Date: March 11, 2008 07:40PM

Lonnie, if you want this to be effective, don't make it about rates and fuel. Make it about the entire politically corrupt system and the huge inflation all american families are facing right now. You can even add interest rates to the mix because, if anyone wanted to finance equipment right now, the banks aren't lending and equipment rates are horrible. Make the issue about jobs, mortage foreclosures, business closures and NAFTA. You will immediately have the public on your side. Make it about rising costs of food, electricity, and everything in general. And then when the media asks why your doing it, mention the high diesel cost as the start of all these problems. Then they might listen to the issues truckers have. Make it about everyone else's problems first and then you will have them agreeing with you about yours, instead of just saying your a pain in the azz for blocking the road.

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: getatrucknow (---.central.biz.rr.com)
Date: March 11, 2008 07:54PM

Lonnie, 2 things bring about a revolution.

1. When enough MEN, have decided they are willing to lose everything they have, for the common good of future generations.

2. When enough MEN have lost everything they have because of the system at hand and nobody seems to care, especially the political leaders.

We are very close to the time when one of these two things will happen. It will be a very scary time when it does.

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: Still Ms. PAZ (---.tcsn.qwest.net)
Date: March 12, 2008 02:37AM

My drivers know now they might encounter a string of publicity seeking truckers out there on the highways & by ways. I have been suggested they reduce their speed to that of the other trucks for safety & fuel savings.

I have really sensable, reasonable guys. When they hear the motor mouths on the CB screaming for a strike, a total shutdown or to converge on Washington, DC & all the State Capital Bldgs., they do inject a few words of reason & calm, and hear support from other quieter drivers.

Those calling for strike, total shutdown & not thinking beyond the nose of their own truck are in the minority.

The O/Os, small carriers & their drivers do want to take some action that is calm, reasonable, not against the law, not confrontational, will not alienate the general public and that might actually produce positive results along the lines suggested by GetATruck.

Lonnie, I think you've hit on something here!

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: LargeCarLonnie (---.dhcp.reno.nv.charter.com)
Date: March 12, 2008 09:36AM

I spoke with 43 people that are owner operators, big companys etc last night from Florida to New Jersey, Texas, to Chicago,Seattle to LA and EVERYONE of them agree it is a way to get the attention needed to address the issues at hand MOROVER , make sure the TRUCKS ARE LOADED 5 days from seattle to PHOENIX should be worth something . All that is neede is to get a jump start

Re: Who has the nerve
Posted by: getatrucknow (---.central.biz.rr.com)
Date: March 12, 2008 04:00PM

Okay, more slogans.....

Slowing Down to Save Our Economy

Protesting American Business Losses Due to High Diesel

My Job Will Be Lost in 30 Days, Will Yours???

$4.00 per gallon=American Jobs, is Yours Safe???

If High Diesel Prices Close Your Business, Will You Survive???

$4.00 per Gallon Diesel, Only Creates Jobs in Wash DC, All Others are Lost

Your Business Can't Afford to Ship at $4.00 Per Gallon, What Will They Do???

Drivers 4 Drivers

Fellow Driver has fallen

Rally to DC

MyFox Tampa Bay | Fox 13 News | WTVT

News links

Protest videos

Spending Money can be emotional

Shout outs

PA protest

DieselBoss.com

Truckers Strike

Stolen Truck / Trailer

*** Email entry ***

Flyer on Protest

FEMA funds

Swift Transport

Flyer on Protest

Companies Closing

Companies Closing

Great Article

who has the nerve

* Email entry *