It takes a ton of cash to run a truck these days. So much so that several truck driver's will voluntarily take their rigs off the road on April 1st in what has been billed as a trucker's strike. It is not an organized effort by a union but it appears to be more of a grass root effort of independent owner-operators that has picked up steam with Diesel prices well over $4.00 per gallon in many truck stops across America.
I hate to say it, but the way things are looking, the way goods are moved around this country might be in for a change. Can you say outsourcing? If these guys can't make a living as independent owner-operators, who's going to pick up the slack?
I'm no economist and I'm not really up on how the commercial freight business is run in America, but it seems that the logical solution is to pass the cost down the line. If I'm not mistaken, the reason many business hire independent owner-operators is because it's more cost-effective than buying a fleet of vehicles and paying to maintain and operate them. Pay up and pass it on. Yeah, prices will be higher... tough. That's the way shit goes.
The other alternative is the "o" word.
I don't have to belabor the point too much by pointing out that up the trail, profits and bottom lines and shareholders are somehow involved.
Trucker strikes and food riots always seem to be precursors to dystopia in futurist and science fiction scenarios.
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