| I am suggesting that we all go with the anonymous
flyer and shut down the 28,29, and 30th or for the rest of the week for
that matter! A lot of truck drivers and citizens will be in DC on the
28th. The MOMENTUM will be strong! I believe that would be the best time
to show them we are not joking! I'm an independent documentary filmmaker and
organizer. In light of the perpetual war in Iraq a shutdown is
absolutely necessary. We need to stop the government at the wheels of
production! I support you in all of your efforts. Let me know how I can
help.
I have been thinking about the gas problem
a lot, so since the strike/sit out didn't help much. Instead of saying
not to buy gas or to park your trucks (which no one can really afford)
Why not force the gas stations to start a gas war? this can be done with
all drivers and not just truckers. Why not list a few gas stations to
not buy gas from. This will force them to lower there prices. If we do
this several times with several different stations they are going to
have no chose but to start gas wars in prices. and in order to get our
business back they will have to lower the prices.
I live in Ontario CA an I was wondering because the
fuel prices are just as high here to, can Canadian drivers get on board?
Reply: If anyone has friends or relatives living in Canada, or
you are a Canadian reading this, then by all means start forming
organizations in Canada and use this website or any other means of
communication to work together with the U.S. on this issue.
Someone told me that on fox news one of the analyst or
think tanks they had on there called all of the truckers that were on
strike blue collar terrorists... maybe since it's an election year we
should write someone in on the ballots that we can all agree on and not
vote for a single one of them. You know maybe someone like blue collar
that can maybe identify with the "blue collar terrorist"
I do think this [the shutdown] needs to be repeated...
only we need to set up dates - bridge the major holidays.
May 1 for Memorial Day. July 1 for Independence Day. Sept 1 for Labor
Day.
Set up events across the country. Include the general public. Everyone
who drives or owns a car , pickup , motorcycle should be involved.
I think the key to getting what we want is to have
more participation. I think it would be much easier to get widespread
solidarity if you made it easy for everyone to participate. My idea is
to have a shutdown for only one hour on May 1st at high noon on the
shoulder of any major highway. Anyone and everyone can participate in
this sort of shutdown and nobody has to worry about getting fired,
losing money etc. If you could get 80 to 90% of the trucks on the road
to pull to the shoulder and shutdown, it would get more attention than a
few hundred trucks driving to some destination or just parking in a
truck stop somewhere. ALSO, most drivers have cell phones so we could
use them to call the local media wherever you are and tell them there's
something going on because all the trucks are sitting on the side of the
road. We could make their switchboards go CRAZY with calls. Another idea
is the rolling billboard that the side of a truck is.. get some large
sheet paper and write your grievances in big letters and tape it to the
side of the truck. That way when the media helicopters go over (which
they will if we get enough participation) then our message will be
broadcast on every station coast to coast. I think the place to start is
to create solidarity. Once you get most truckers in on the deal and we
all see how many of us there really are, I think even the four wheelers
might join us because they're sick of these ridiculous fuel prices too.
After shutting down for 1 hour, make a promise that next time it will be
for 1 day and it will keep increasing until someone starts listening!
Anyway, that's my plan.
I want to address something that I feel some may be
overlooking. This is not just about Truckers, it's about everyone here
in this country that owns a vehicle! I support the truckers 100% as I
stated in my other posts. BUT, the truckers can't do this by themselves.
They need everyone's support and to get on board. If everyone on this
forum would spread the word, stop buying gas, write your congressman,
and your local news agencies that's a start. I would be for a rally on
Washington.
I live in Oregon where gas an diesel prices are
outrageous. and I support the strike... I think we should have a
national gas out day. where nobody buys gas, that will have a impact on
gas companies.
I want to make an impact; however, I can't do it on my
own.... I have an idea, please give me your opinion.
I suggested to other drivers in El Paso, Texas that we should boycott
(1) gas station a day. I believe it's impossible to boycott all gas
stations in one day. If possible & the word was spread thru all the
states, do you think if everyone did not buy gas from (1) particular gas
station one day & then another the next day, & another gas the day after
that.
I was talking with a guy that came up with a idea on a
way we might could help on getting the fuel price brought down without
striking and without shutting down. I dunno alot about this but what he
said seemed to make a little since. He stated that if everyone would
pick one company to stop buying fuel from all together that after a
while of not having any sales they would have to drop their price which
would in turn cause the other companies to have to drop their price to
be able to compete. this way we could all keep working by buying fuel
from a different company. I dunno if this would work but let me know
what you think.
I put signs in front of our office in support of the
truckers. I see where several non-truckers are asking what they can do.
You can call the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell them your
zip code and ask to speak to your senators. You will talk to one of
their aids. Tell them that you expect our elected officials to do
something about the high cost of fuel or you will remember their lack of
help in the next election. If you call and spread the word to your
friends and relatives, and then they call, when the switchboards are
jammed with angry voters, they will be forced to do something. It is up
to everyone, not just the truckers to make their voices heard.
I will Do Anything to Help this Cause That I Possibly
Can. I Feel that we need to start doing thing's to Raise Money to Help
this Cause, I Have A Terminal setting Empty Here in Lexington NC & I'm
willing to Help. What can I Do to Help? Can We Sale Patches for Coat's &
Jackets/ Stickers for windows & Bumpers, What Can we DO?
I really wish there was a way to shut down the
fuel/gas tankers because if we can't buy fuel the we can't roll.
If truckers would shut down Washington, DC for 1 day .
that would show the government what trucking is all about. nothing in &
nothing out.
I think the state by state is a good idea, however
maybe all the trucks that can should pick a day for ALL of them the
drive downtown DC. If hundreds or thousands of trucks show up in DC at
once I'm sure that will wake up the government!!
You have my support!! I wish the whole country would
stand up and fight!! I would be willing to give up a few days of pay and
not commute to work to try to get this gas regulated
I've heard many suggestions for all drivers to do so,
including not buying fuel on certain days, etc. This will not work, as
the oil companies know we will just buy the next day.
The only viable option I've heard, is to stop buying fuel from one
company. The best choice is Exxon-Mobile, since they continue to brag
about their "record breaking" profits.
Reply: Remember that to do this, we have to identify all of the
stations that are getting diesel and gas from Exxon-Mobile. There are
only five companies now that own all of the oil refineries. Many
stations purchase their fuel from different suppliers, including
Exxon-Mobile, but aren't Exxon stations.
Stop all deliveries going out off refineries to gas
stations. This was done in Canada gas stations had no gas this seem to
be a better way than disrupting traffic
The unscrupulous brokers and agents out there are
stealing and cheating us out of our due. Drivers need to contact their
Congress People and Senators to push legislation to ensure we get our
due. The need to be prodded to pass laws taking oil off the free market
and regulate the price. They already regulate 90% of our industry, why
not something that would actually help us?
I think the brokers are a lot of the problems with
independent drivers not making any money. They get a good rate and try
to move for a cheap rate they are making $500 to $800 off some of their
loads. I think they should only be able to take 10% that would stop a
lot of this.
I am showing my respect and support by putting a sign
on my car ( that while this is going on is only driven 18 mls per day),
telling all who will read it to eat next month we have to support our
drivers not just today, but next yr and so on. If more people that are
not drivers would make signs for their vehicles or their front lawn to
show everyone we support y'all, might help some. Cant hurt. After all it
is not just y'alls future here nor is it just y'alls responsibility, it
is everyone's.
From: a freight forwarder. Truckers are targeting the
wrong people, All trucking companies charge a 20%-27% fuel surcharge
which the drivers are not seeing. Last I checked drivers are getting
2-5% fuel surcharge, which which covers a little more than the cost of a
coffee at a truck stop that's an additional +20% profit for the
companies and brokers.
From: Just A Friendly Broker. To ALL the truckers out
there, I salute you ALL for a job well done. If it weren't for ALL of
you, America and the world would not have food, clothing, furniture and
any other product. So again, I salute you ALL for a job well done.
As a broker, please DO NOT get upset with ALL the good paying brokers
out there. It is the brokers that want to keep all the money that is
causing lower rates for carriers.
Not only if the truckers stick together, but if ALL us brokers join
forces also and just say no to the shippers that want to pay cheap
rates, we would all benefit from it.
As opposed to boycotting fuel, would it be at all
helpful to start boycotting ancillary products that are sold at gas
stations and truck stops, such as soda, cigarettes, chewing gum, fast
food?
Those items are really where stations and travel stops make the biggest
amount of their profit, while fuel is almost a break-even for them.
Especially Diesel.
This is a way that not only you as a trucker can participate, but your
families could boycott as well.
As a consumer I have to purchase fuel to get to work, but I don't need
the pack of gum, cup of coffee or anything else my local Chevron or
Exxon has to sell, so I don't purchase it there in support of the
truckers. If truckers are not profiting, why should my local gas
station?
When the service stations and truck stops start losing money because
they are not making the profits they are used to, then maybe they will
put some pressure on the distributors of fuel, who can put pressure on
the gas companies. Sort of a hit them where they live theory.
Not sure it will work, but if so, everybody who purchases gasoline could
stand up for the Independent Trucker by refusing to help their local gas
station profit off the ancillary item sales.
I hope that makes sense. :)
We should also urge the government to increase the
production of oil shale to usable oil from the Green River Formation
located in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. With over 1.7 trillion barrels of
oil out there, it's time for us to tell OPEC to drop their prices to $10
a barrel or force them into bankruptcy by not buying their oil.
It takes 2-3 years to heat oil shale to a liquid state. This started on
a small scale in 2005. It needs to be increased so that we are no longer
dependent on OPEC.
Let's start digging in ANWAR. The impact in size of
this desolate iceberg is minimal. Compare it to taking a quarter and
placing it on the corner of a 12 foot by 20 foot area rug. I care about
the environment, as a farmer my livelihood depends on it. Four dollar
plus a gallon for diesel means 3 dollar a loaf of bread. It is that
simple. An old racing buddy is a geologist for Shell oil. A massive oil
shale is in the Colorado region. More than most middle eastern
countries! Am I the only one who is fed up?!
I have found a product... that uses used fryer oil,
without the time and hazardous chemicals of traditional biodiesel, you
use all the oil. We should encourage the restaurants you haul to to
save, or donate their used oil which would reduce what we use now in
petrodiesel. This process can be mixed on the spot, and put right into
the tank.
If you guys could coordinate it during the same time
frame nationwide the result would be spectacular. |
