TransportFool

Here is a recent pro union comment:

P. Wazluski Says:

I am Union and glad to be for over 20 years, I dont Always agree with the front office but I agree with the sharing the wealth and making me and my family’s life a little nicer. If it wasn’t for the teamsters everybody would br running for .10 cents a mile and/or $8.00 an hour! Now you can believe that or not, but teamsters keeping the rates up has helped EVERYBODY!!!. I’m sure there will be some say “I wouldn’t run for less than BLAH BLAH BLAH” I heard it a thousand times, from all types of truck drivers, but without teamsters you couldn’t refuse a load for better pay!!.. the beginning scenes from “Hoffa” sure do tell alot, where Danny Devito (without the union) has to take a load and drive all nite to deliver and back with little or no sleep or he was FIRED!!!! C’mon, that was for real not just movie hype!!!!! are you kidding me, thats ridiculous, but true!!!! My grandfather drove when there were no interstates and no union, my uncle was with Yellow Freight(ret.) and my dads with UPS(retiring soon) and now me with 20 yrs. in.. Im sorry but I like the union and what stands for, besides my Granpa said it Best 60 yrs ago,
“There are lot of guys driving trucks out there, But very few Truckers !!!! now that was 60 yrs ago, imagine what we are dealing with today!!!! I dont like what the world is looking like right now, but I dont want to be insanely rich, I just want to go fishin with my kids and not have to take out a loan to do it!!!!!! Im sorry so long winded…..

I drove carhaulers for years but always non-union and it has been my observation that the union trucks haul more one-way freight than the non-union guys. I always thought that it was because they were less likely to let a guy sit around waiting for a load when he was on the clock. I was paid on commission so I was willing to sit tight and hope that we could secure a load back home that might almost double my pay for the trip. I think that in this era of expensive fuel everybody needs to be as efficient as possible and running 50% empty miles is not good!

This just in from The Sand Mountain Reporter:

By George Jones
The Reporter

Alaplex Trucking Inc. on U.S. 431 South reported the attempted theft of diesel fuel from an 18-wheel car-hauler parked in the company’s parking area.

A Sardis City police officer on routine patrol noticed two men acting suspiciously around one of the trucks.

As the officer approached, the two male subjects ran from the truck, where the officer noticed a gas can with a protruding rubber hose next to the truck’s tank with diesel fuel pouring onto the ground.

One suspect stopped at the officer’s command. When asked what he was doing the near the truck, the first suspect – identified as Andrew Murray Hamilton, 31, of 2212 Pumpkin Center Road, Fort Payne – said he was urinating.

Hamilton was placed in the officer’s patrol unit, then the officer confronted the other suspect – identified as Brannon Lee Knight, 25, of 330 County Road 49, Cedar Bluff – whom he found sitting on a car-hauler attached to a white Chevrolet truck determined to belong to Hamilton.

Two Boaz officers arrived to assist the Sardis City officer, and during questioning Hamilton told officers he and Knight were just driving around and stopped at the Alaplex lot to relieve themselves.

During this time, they decided to take some diesel fuel from the truck.

Officers found several more gas cans, chains and bolt cutters in Hamilton’s truck.

Hamilton told officers the car-hauler he had attached to his truck was there because he had used it earlier to haul hay and had not removed it.

The officers felt there was sufficient evidence to charge the pair with third-degree theft of property.

Sardis City police Chief James Harp was notified of the incident and he agreed they should be placed under arrest and taken to the Etowah County Correctional Facility.

I went to link the Alaplex name to their web site and can find none! My data-base is listing them with 127 trucks and the government site lists 122 so it surprises me that a company of that size has no web-site.

This transporter has geared up to haul the 3-wheel ZAP Zebra. He had to not only build a third ramp but also adapt to tie-down tabs with a round hole that won’t accept T or R hooks. He enjoys the fuel economy he gets grossing out at only 40,000lbs LOADED! He reports that one of his customers called him within a couple of hours of the delivery to tell him they had sold five of them already and would need another shipment. They aren’t fast enough for highway use but they are affordable enough for people to buy one to put in the garage next to the SUV. They can run all of their errands with NO gas

Chainsdraging Says:

Carhauling maybe a thing of the Past. New Cars might delivered in cardboard boxes in the future

Some assembly required

Dave says:

With the optional remote control feature you can drop your child at school without leaving the house!

As unbelievable as it may seem according to MSN Money it is possible to buy compressed natural gas for alternative fuel as low as 64 cents per gallon in Utah! Even at the Calif. prices of $2.50 per gallon most of you could swing a decent profit when competing with diesel rigs

Sterling has a press release announcing their new Natural Gas-Powered truck. It is powered by a Cummins Westport ISL G that is LNG or CNG capable. I’m only seeing horsepower ratings to 320 but they have a statement on their site that says the Westport LNG system is available with 400 and 450 horsepower ratings and up to 1,750 lb-ft torque.

A question that has been asked a lot lately is the title of a post on Fisher Shipping’s Blog and it made me think of this picture

The question was

WHAT ARE THE TRUCKERS GOING TO DO?

This guy may not be moving a lot of cars and he’s probably not going to break any speed records but its 99% profit! No fuel, No insurance, Just bicycle tires!

This is an AP story from the TIMES LEADER. My thought was that legitimate truckers who want to buy fuel with the cash discount are now out there carrying as much cash as a lot of drug dealers.

Police confiscate $274K from vehicles on car hauler on I-80

(AP)

State police say they have seized more than $274,000 in cash that was hidden in two vehicles on a car hauler they stopped on I-80 in Venango County.

Police say they became suspicious of two men in the cab of the car hauler and conducted a search. They say they found the money stashed in bundles inside two of six vehicles on the car hauler.

It’s unclear whether police arrested the men.

Police say an investigation is under way.

04-01-08 According to Penlive.com the investigation has turned up more money bringing the total to $474,000. Even at these prices that will fill the tank a couple times!

I just read (it is on TV too) in the news where they have started exports on the same ships landing cars at the ports. The problem is they are shipping out used 3axle tractors so the same equipment can’t practically drop and reload. Maybe it is a step in the right direction. You know the ships like not having to dead-head to another port to reload. I’m sure the fuel costs are hitting them hard too.

Yahoo news just ran an article on the effect the high fuel prices are having on the independent trucker and I think that the effect is virtually the same for small family companies. I hear it all the time as I visit the smaller auto transporters that are feeling the squeeze. Flying j has diesel listed on their website costing $3.879 a gallon

I’m not sure at this point if it is good for my business or not. I install computer programs and one of the effects of this economy is that people tighten their belt and don’t spend on anything that is not absolutely necessary to try and make it through the tough times. That means that a set-up fee of $500 to $1000 that in the past would have been no big deal can squash or at least delay a set-up. The flip side of the coin is that in this economy everyone is looking for maximum efficiency and so some are realizing that the technology available can decrease stops and empty miles as well as decrease waste caused by missed exits and inaccurate routing so some see the computer as a tool to help them through this tough time. My big question is which effect will be stronger?

Saab pros has posted their rates including what the fuel surcharge will be at different fuel prices on their web site. We may see an upsurge of this type of pricing in the future.

I wonder if they ever imagined they might have to add another tier above $4.50 a gallon.