Truckers fuming over high fuel prices (From Evening Sun, PA)

With the price of diesel fuel in the $2-per-gallon range, consumers will soon feel the heat.

LINK TO FULL STORY

Saturday, February 12, 2000 Brian Crouse, a driver for H.M. Kelly Trucking Inc. of New Oxford, fuels his rig at the company's diesel pump. With diesel prices soaring, the trucking industry is left wondering how to keep up with the increases. H.M. Kelly trucks hold around 150 gallons of fuel, with diesel as high as $2 a gallon in some areas.

Truckers fuming over high fuel prices With the price of diesel fuel in the $2-per-gallon range, consumers will soon feel the heat.

By JIM HALE Evening Sun Reporter

Skyrocketing diesel fuel prices threaten the local and national economies, according to Hanover area trucking company officials.

Fuel prices, now in the $2 per gallon range, are "going to drive inflation," predicted Glenn Longstreth, president of L&H Trucking Co. Inc., 860 Gitts Run Road, Hanover.

Practically every product in the nation - from lettuce to laptop computers - moves by truck at some point, and trucking companies have little choice but to raise their rates to reflect prices at the pump.

"Ultimately, that's going to get passed on to the consumer," said Longstreth, whose company operates 100 trucks east of the Mississippi River. "It can really affect us all."

This area's economy is at special risk because "Hanover's a trucking town," said Denny Stem, president of Stem Trucking Inc., 39 Ram Drive, Hanover.

Trucking "is a large industry in Hanover and one of the larger employers," Stem said, and increased transportation costs are bad news for another key employer, the area's manufacturing sector.

"We're paying double what we did for fuel a year ago," Stem said.

"It was cheaper during the Gulf War," agreed Tony Robinson, operations manager at H.M. Kelly Inc., Brickyard Road, New Oxford, which operates 23 trucks in a 400-mile radius of Hanover. "We have never seen fuel where it's at right now."

That dramatic spike in fuel prices drastically affects the bottom line, said Stem, estimating increased costs of $5,000 to $6,000 per week for his fleet of 20 trucks, which deliver grocery-related products across the nation east of the Mississippi.

It's to the point where drivers "feel guilty about putting fuel in," he said.

Kelly's rates are based on fuel at about $1.13 per gallon, Robinson said, but bulk rate fuel is about $2.09 in this area.

Yet, Stem said, shippers will only agree to pay surcharges based on the national average price of about $1.47 per gallon.

Trucking companies are "losing money by working," Stem said. "There's not a trucking company in the Northeast right now making money."

Smaller companies are "getting forced into a survival situation," Longstreth said.

"This summer could be too late for some of them," Stem added. "Hanover needs trucking. We need to get this under control now."

While trucking companies are bleeding, Robinson said, "somebody's making a pile of money."

He and Longstreth pointed fingers at oil producers in the Middle East, who have reduced production to drive up prices. However, the two men agreed, the cutback doesn't explain why prices range from $1.30 in some parts of the South to nearly $3 in New England.

"I'd like to see something done as far as the oil companies go," Longstreth said, calling for government investigation.

"It doesn't seem like enough people are asking questions," Robinson agreed.

None of the trucking company officials believed that home-heating needs have caused enough of an oil shortage to explain the price hike.

"It hasn't been a killer winter," Longstreth said, and Robinson noted that gasoline prices haven't gone through the roof.

"I believe there is a shortage, Stem said, "but I believe some people are taking advantage of that shortage."

Stem blamed a combination of the Middle East cutback and a generally mild winter that lulled suppliers into failing to stockpile enough fuel oil to handle the recent cold snap.

"I believe a little bit of supply and demand" is involved, he said.

However, Stem said, trucking organizations are still pushing legislators to take two steps: Eliminate state fuel taxes temporarily and release some strategic oil reserves to push down prices.

Whatever its cause or cure may be, Robinson warned that the big rise in fuel prices could cause an even bigger plunge in the economy.

"The economy's good," he said, "but it's going to put a hurtin' on it."

) 2000 MediaNews Group, Inc. and The Evening Sun.

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-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 12, 2000

Answers

"Shippers will only agree to pay surcharges based on the national average price of about $1.47 per gallon". This is nonsense. Shippers depend on truckers, and truckers must make a profit. They must be allowed to pass on their increased costs just as the airlines and UPS have. There's a shortage of truckers now and we as a nation cannot afford to lose any due to the cost of fuel.

-- John (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 12, 2000.

Very good point John.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 12, 2000.

first of all drivers always bitch about making money, ALWAYS EVEN WHEN THEY ARE MAKING MORE THAN ENOUGH,

second of all, like i said some months ago, this is good . I have been in local and reginal trucking for 14years.. we have needed a way to increase the rates for a while.. ever since de-regulation things have gotten tight.. its the salesmen and the owners that have been losing %%'s for the last few years. the drivers have been WELL TAKEN care of....if you don't make your drivers money they leave to go where they can make money..Because of the tight employment market we have been held hostage by our contractors and or the competition's willingness to make less toward the bottom line..(i.e. the salesmen and the owners/mgrs).

things have been ugly for years. nobody wants to work as hard as we use to have to , and they want twice the $$$ and less hours and cleaner frieght(no lifting)....it crazy .....but that is not my point.

my point is how do you tell a client that you are raising your rates without raising a service level? you guessed it...gas prices........its beyond our control..... not to say that all the trucking company owners and salesmen are fixing gas prices that would be so stupid(REALLY STUPID, like chemtrails) .. but good luck shines on those that are prepared...i just recently changed to the software side of the trucking buisness,,we have implmented untold numbers rate increasesin the last few weeeks with fuel cost as the reason. But if fuel is the reason for the increase then why are so many of my clients paying out to the driver only half or 1/3 of the increase to the contractors. my point.

inflation has not gone away its gone underground..

P.S. for all you anal spelling a**holes out there. i must say that your spending alot of time on nothing. I live the life big house, fast car, great looking wife and children, great job, college grduate , well respected by my peers....and couldn'y spell my way out of paper bag without the majical F7 key. so just remember, most likley while you are spending your time looking at my grammatical and spelling mistakes, i am sitting back enjoying the sunset from the deck off of the master bedroom of my million dollar house not even worrying about how many times i misspelled something in one of these go nowhere message boards.. there are two words that i'm thinking of....one starts with the letter f and the other starts with the letter y.and they can come your way anytime you want

-- someone (sway4@yahoo.com), February 13, 2000.

to sway4 @yahoo.com\you r a legend in your own mind!!!!!!

-- harry huges (dadydo56@hotmail.com), February 13, 2000.

wouldn't have it any other way.

-- someone (sway4@yahoo.com), February 13, 2000.

An independant trucker friend I have here isn't laughing about his increased costs, right now. He has to log sleep time while unloading his own freight to meet his budget...if he pays someone to do the unloading, he doesn't make enough on his loads, and he has to keep the turn-around time as short as possible.

I do agree that sleepy truckers shouldn't be on the road endangering lives. But then I also wonder, why are doctors allowed to practice medicine for three days in a row, and more, occasionally totally without sleep? During times of non-emergency? I wonder how many malpractice errors result from a doctor who's been up too long!

Maybe a little consistency would be in order. Either allow truckers to use their own judgement as to when their ability to function is impaired (like doctors do), or set some kind of "sleep" rule for everyone any field in which one habitually holds the lives of others in his hands. No more than 36 hours on duty with no sleep, perhaps?

-- S. Kohl (kohl@hcpd.com), February 14, 2000.

Go, sway$!!!! My kinda poster.

>'<

oops. that's sway4

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-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 15, 2000.