Diesel costs affect truckersBy Peter Hull (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Vacationers aren't the only motorists with gas pains. The nation's truckers, having seen the cost of diesel jump by 50 cents a gallon since mid-April alone, are seeing their profits evaporate because of all-time high fuel prices. The huge overhead is forcing independent drivers and large trucking firms alike to leave their rigs parked for days at a time — if they can afford it. It's a crazy Catch-22, trucking officials say. Owner-Operators spend thousands of dollars a week on fuel, while the sky-high prices are now the No. 1 expense of many larger haulers, outpacing payroll. "There's a lot of obstacles for a truck driver making a living right now," said Bill Campbell of the Port Truckers Association in Charleston. The nationwide average cost for a gallon of diesel is now $4.55, according to AAA. Twelve months ago, diesel was 60 percent cheaper at an average $2.80 a gallon. Most rigs, except for the latest models, average only 6 1/2 miles a gallon, Campbell said. It doesn't take long to burn hundreds of dollars. Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier. |
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This article has 1 comment(s)
Posted by Ted999 on May 24, 2008 at 8:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Truckers unite. The price of diesel fuel keeps going up. Travel is more expensive and airlines are adding a surcharge to cover fuel costs. Tourist operators are getting worried and with good reason. Eating out is also going to get more costly too. Food prices are going up because it costs money to produce and haul food to it''s destination. Food staples like wheat, rice and corn are getting expensive and fuel costs are partly to blame for this. It''s a vicious circle. Do the gas companies really think this will not come back to bite them. As public trust of oil companies continues to diminish, they may find they could be facing a strong consumer backlash. It''s true they hold the oil and gas but we hold the dollar and remember, it ain''t called the almighty dollar for nothing.
Oil companies sell gas and carmakers sell cars that use gas so it's a mutually beneficial situation for both of them. The solution is to stop buying new cars for a year until carmakers start building 100% electric or hydrogen powered cars, not hybrids. This would send a message to both the carmakers and oil companies that they understand. Sorry car makers but you brought this on yourself by not speeding up the conversion. No pain no gain. Problem solved. Visit our website and take our gas price poll at http://www.nbtv.ca
The results of the poll on NBTV indicate 76% of the public believe that the gas companies are fixing gas prices. 87% believe they are price gouging. 75% believe the gas companies and carmakers conspired to prolong our dependence on gas powered cars. 57% believe the gas companies and government conspired to keep the price higher than normal and sofar our new trust poll it shows that 85% of respondence DO NOT TRUST the oil companies. These are all the results up till now 11:34 pm Thursday May 22, 2008 You can check out the results yourself on www.nbtv.ca if you like.
Inflation took a big jump this month thanks mostly to gas prices. A study done for the US energy dept says oil prices will spiral upward some day and they predict when this happens all heck will break loose. read the hirsch report http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsch_repo...