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When do we finally say, “ENOUGH” my heavens I cannot believe there hasn’t been a nationwide truckers strike over the rising cost of fuel and everything. There is no damn way we are all making it out there. Your truck payments are going right into your fuel tanks. You sit down and figure it and you will see I am right.

Our fuel bill has increased $1300 to $1600 a week on each truck. Sometimes it’s less only because there is no freight going the long distance so we use less fuel. We use less, but the price isn’t less. That is insane! Our truck payments are $1400 for one truck, $1619.00 for another, $1125.00 for the third truck, the other two aren't as high, and all those payments are going right into the fuel tanks.

I get up every day checking in on the news for the big announcement that there is a "NATIONWIDE TRUCKER STRIKE". I can’t say we can afford it, but by damn it can’t hurt us anymore then it is. Many drivers are only weeks away from losing their trucks because of the high price of fuel. And we all have a responsibility to watch out for one another. Our trucking brothers and sisters need us to take a stand for them.

What is wrong with all of us? The old timers would have never, never let it get this far. They would have stopped this nation right in its tracks. They stood up when fuel was going to hit $1.00. We are worth an increase in wages and a decrease in fuel prices. The government has not listened to a word we’ve shared about any of our hardships. Why because we, "KEEP ON TRUCKING"! I’m sure in the back of their little minds they think to themselves that we don’t make enough to sustain ourselves through a strike. But we are strong willed and our families, equipment, reputations mean the world to us and we will do anything to protect them in any way that we can. Even if we have to live on soup and eggs for a while.

Unfortunately everyone would have to suffer if a strike happened, but it’s the price that one pays to have what he or she needs. They have no clue how important we all are. They just think they can continue taking and taking from all of us drivers and the sad part is, we all sit back and let them do it. I am beyond having any sympathy for anyone anymore. Where were they when we were getting our knees kicked out from under us? Oh that’s right! They were all out there talking negatives about us and putting us down by talking about a industry they know very little, if anything at all about.

Don’t you all think it’s about time to say, “ENOUGH”? What are you getting in return? You are getting nothing. The goods keep moving and the people keep taking and we truckers take it in the neck. We are abused, harassed, mistreated in every way of the word, "MISTREATED".

I personally think there is no better time then the present time to knock this country to its knees. Yes, it will be tough and hard on all of us, but damn it they don’t care about us. They think we are thriving and making it and we are not! Now is the time to show them just how important all those big trucks on the road are that they all bitch about and mistreat.

Think about it. The holidays are just around the corner; this nation would panic if the products were not available to them. The nations fuel and gas supply could build it’s self back up if no one were able to purchase either. I mean come on how much will it hurt the average citizens if gas and fuel weren’t accessible? After all no one is going to be able to afford it anyway, which means they won’t be buying it.

The young ones don’t understand what all the ranting is about. They have no ideal what the truckers have lost over the years. They think everything that happens and goes on out there is just part of the industry and process. The older timers know this is not how it was or should be. It is not our responsibility or the smoker’s responsibility to take care of the whole nation. If they think it is then we better be getting one hell of a tax break this year and every year afterwards.

It’s not going to take a hand full to get the message out there. It’s going to take all truckers, company, independents, Teamsters and everyone.

This administration has knocked our knees out from under us all. Don’t you think it’s about time we all made our presence known and our voices heard that we’ve HAD ENOUGH?

What are you going to do? Sit there and wait until you’ve lost everything you’ve worked your ass off to have? Wait until your family is cold and hungry? And then you’ll wanna fight and you won’t have any fight left in you to fight. They’ve slowly taken away our dignity and they are going to destroy our reputations if we don’t stand up and fight back.

Yes, you can share your input with me. I would prefer if you shared them in the blogs with others so they can share in the debate also. Leave your thoughts in the blog so we can all take part.

I wrote the above in Nov. 2007. Did I not tell you that we better prepare for what was to come? Well here we are. And driver's are still trucking instead of standing up for themselves. We thought $3.59 was bad. HA! Can't tell me you haven't seen the billboards and fuel pumps. It's almost $1.00 higher then it was when I first wrote about covering our asses.

Now the freight isn't there either. What freight is there is mostly broker freight and it's not even enough to cover the fuel about 97% of the time. Brokers refuse to pay a fuel surcharge. So we haul it for nothing. The only one making money are the brokers.

I can't begin to tell you how many drivers have lost their trucks. How many have had to hang it up. The dreams they had and all the hard work they put into it, down the drain. It breaks my heart. And if something don't give I'm here to tell you, we'll probably be right behind them. We can't survive on this.

When a load pays $700.00 and the truck drinks $800.00. You know you’ve already taken a loss. When the back haul only pays $400.00 and you are already in the hole for $100.00 because of the outbound freight and $800 fuel. You’ve made no profit even though it looks like you made a $300.00 profit, but you have to pay the driver, the tolls. You’ve made nothing. This goes on and on and on. Each and every day.

We sat this week doing the books because our account has depleted. We are officially broke. Wiped out. I sat and cried when we ran the numbers. I get teary-eyed right now thinking about it because everything we worked so damn hard for might slip right through our fingers. Who’s protecting us? There is not one government official stepping up for the trucker and his/her family. Not one of them has stepped up to defend us or help us. Sure they are working on helping those people caught up in this housing mess (we are too), and what sucks is we could lose everything. Our trucks, our jobs, our home, our good credit and reputation, for paying everything on time and being great customers. No I’m not bragging. That is the facts. I’ve never been one to splurge on fancy things. I’ve always put our bills first, and pleasures last. I was able to set aside a nice amount to feel secure should anything ever go wrong. Well what I thought was enough don’t even come close to what we actually needed. We are depleted.

The life of an Owner Operator ….. Or a poor man …. Pretty soon, jobless and homeless if it continues. Betcha bankruptcies will be through the roof this year!!!!!!

I think we should STRIKE! Can’t hurt anymore then it’s already hurting. Hell we aren’t even making anything. We’re just (in the words of Eddie Rabbit), “Driving Our Life Away” for NOTHING!

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