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Truckers protesting gas prices

Indianapolis, Nov. 1 – A lone truck horn in the pitch of night strikes a chord of hope, fear and mutual discontent all in the same moment.

“Hopefully we can get a lot more people out here and get our point across,” says truck driver Joe Edwards.

The point is found amidst the paralyzed wheels of parked trucks along I-465 that will remain driverless for 72 hours. “Right now the way fuel is, it costs me 43 cents a mile just for fuel alone, and when you’re handling freight $1 a mile, it cuts way into it.”

If they can get a few drivers to “strike” high fuel prices, why not do something constructive and strike cheap freight rates? Truckers shouldn’t get this press time for a strike. They should not take cheap freight at $1 a mile. That’s not a strike. I don’t have my own authority or my own trailer and I get more than $1 a mile (incl fsg). It may be me and I probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but when expenses rise shouldn’t you either cut other expenses or increase your income?
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Originally posted 2004-11-05 04:00:00.

I got my truck worked on yesterday and today. Minor stuff, but since I had the time I decided to see if I could get them taken care of. A warning light on my dashboard came on. According to the book it’s not major, but needs looked at. I also started hearing a whistling noise from my engine brake when it’s on. And I needed the front end looked at because my steer tires are wearing funny.

The light is a wiring harness. $1500. The ABS that it says has a problem is okay. I’ll put black tape over the light. $0.01. The engine brake noise was a gasket they say they fixed. And the alignment guy doesn’t come in till midnight. That night I call them from my motel room and give them the number and remind them I need this in the morning and why it’s there and to call me no matter what time about any problem found. 6am, no call. I call them and it’s on the alignment rack. They call later and say it’s ready.

I’m driving down the interstate, put the engine brake on and the same noise is still there. Same noise, same symptom, same. I go back and say the problem is still there. The mechanic gets in and we go around the block. He doesn’t hear anything. I hear it. It’s pretty loud. I can’t believe he can’t hear it. He gets his boss to get in and ride. He doesn’t hear it and whatever I’m hearing is normal. They may have found a bad gasket, but the symptoms the one mechanic was telling me would be caused by the bad gasket, I wasn’t having.

I feel totally setup. I saw the service manager talk to the mechanic outside the office. They may or my not have fixed something. Oh yeah, they didn’t find anything wrong with the front end. I find that really hard to believe. I’m thinking it got late and they didn’t even look at it.

I hate it when I feel ripped off from a service place (Volvo/ Mack in Kansas City, MO) I usually try and wait till I’m home to get any service. That way I’m not in a hurry and they can take their time and hopefully fix it right. I kind of trust the Volvo in Vegas. I hope I’m building some kind of relationship with them. They at least know I live there, so it’s not a problem to bring something back when it’s not right.

When I get back the truck goes in and before anything happens I grab a mechanic and we drive around the block. If what I hear isn’t normal, I’ve got the worse letter ready to go to KC as soon as I find the right person to send it too. And a copy goes to the corporate office.

Happy Birthday to me. Nice present.

Originally posted 2008-05-22 20:36:48.

From Slashdot

Slashdot | By Road and Rail?

CygnusXII writes “Now this is a novel approach to Dual Mode Transportation. This is an interesting and refreshing approach, that could revolutionize the transportation industry. BladeRunner Dual Mode Transport, or see the main web page. The innovative vehicle will run on road as well as rail. It is as applicable to freight as to passenger transport. Branch-line infrastructure costs could be at least halved because signalling and points could be largely, if not totally, made redundant.”

The picture shows passengers but the article says it would be good for freight too. The vehicle can travel by rail or road. Instead of one long train, there will be trucks on rails too? Truck cross country on rail, jump off the rail for in-town. Can you imagine all the trucks trying to drive on the railroad? Talk about congestion! I think this may need to go back to the drawing board.

Originally posted 2008-10-31 03:30:00.

I thought I’d respond to this comment here, since it was left in a really old post and I haven’t bitched about the EPA for awhile.

I was wondering if anyone out there had opinions, good or bad on the
new EPA friendly trucks being sold – specifically Peterbilt.

First, Peterbilt doesn’t make engines. And second I really don’t have any references on this one. This is my opinion from what I’ve read during the last couple of years.

The 2002 rules, were the first big change, but the bugs seem to be worked out, mostly. It seemed like Cummins and Volvo (engines) had the best luck with their technology out of the gate. Caterpillar sounded like they had problems during their first development. And the others I don’t really remember.

For 2007, it’s newer technology, but the same basic concept. That’s why there was a big pre-buy because no one wanted to be the guinea pigs for new technology. The same thing happened in 2001 and will happen again in 2009 to avoid the new rules in 2010. I was at a truck stop watching a brand new Volvo 880 being hooked up to a wrecker, I had to ask the guy what was up. It’s his second engine, it’s a lemon, etc… he was not a happy camper. The 880 first came out in 2007. I’m sure Volvo and every engine manufacturer tested and re-tested their motors, but with deadlines involved…

The new rules have made the engines bigger, heavier, hotter and more inefficient. Because everything is so much hotter, radiators and cooling systems have to be bigger. Which means more weight, more fuel IN-efficient, more expensive. The 2007 rules added $10,000 just to the motors.

With fuel hitting $3.00 a gallon or more this year, it would have been better to spend all that R&D on fuel efficiency instead of unrealistic emission numbers and deadlines setup by the government.

I don’t think you could find anyone in the industry with anything good to say about the new EPA friendly trucks being sold.

Originally posted 2007-05-08 20:50:41.

ATA Conducting Hours-of-Service Survey

This decision, which has not yet gone into effect, will likely result in a renewed rulemaking process by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and could result in a transition back to the old HOS rules during this process.

To avoid unintended safety consequences and unnecessary costs to the trucking industry that could result from a transition back to the old rules, ATA will be urging the court to issue a “stay” of its decision. If granted, a “stay” would allow the new rules to remain in effect for a limited period of time during FMCSA’s rulemaking process.

The information requested in this survey will enable ATA to more effectively demonstrate to the court potential safety and cost implications of transitioning back to the old HOS rules.

Between this survey and whatever else the government and ATA has up their sleeves will prevent another “rule making process” and we can get back to driving and be done with this nonsense.

Originally posted 2008-11-22 01:00:00.

Besides the other posts, here and here, now we have the American Trucking Association’s two cents. This only confirms that the ATA is absolutely worthless.

Critics bash Mexican truck decision
Business groups have wanted the border opened to avoid middleman costs of transferring goods from Mexican to U.S. trucks.

The American Trucking Associations said it supports the program, but wants to make sure that U.S. and Mexican truck companies are held to the same standards.

“We also are waiting to see that when US carriers are allowed to travel into Mexico that the regulatory and permitting process that U.S. carriers undergo is fair and transparent,” the ATA said in a statement.

Let’s bury our heads in the sand when it comes to the violence and vandalism that is already occurring.

And of course Public Citizen has to keep itself in the spotlight somehow -

Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said inspections will be
meaningless because the trucks won’t have black boxes that record how
long a driver has been behind the wheel.

“They have no way of telling how many hours these truck drivers have
been driving before they get to the U.S., let alone when they get
here,” Claybrook said.

She may have a point, but black boxes aren’t the answer.

And check this out – You’ll have to click on the title to go see the picture,

VDARE.com: Blog Articles ? Mexico Battle Lines — There and Here.

This photo looks like something straight from Baghdad, but it’s actually just across the border in Tijuana. The Mexican government has stationed military checkpoints on the edge of town so the army can check for serious weapons (RPGs are popular)
and other signs of criminal activity. As well it should, since more
than 300 people were murdered last year in the city. Many Mexican
police are on the payroll of the drug cartels, so el Presidente Calderon’s only hope of rescuing his country from total crime anarchy has been to send in the troops to various hot spots.

Not only is tourism down, but kidnapping for ransom is up, and many well heeled Tjuanans are “moving” north to San Diego. At least the worsening crime wave is swell news for the armor-plating shops.

Who in their right mind would go there to work/drive a truck or do anything?

Originally posted 2007-02-27 08:05:00.