Tempting fate.

[newmercman]

55mph might just happen, Obama has signed a law into effect that mandates a mininum mpg figure for new trucks, there’s another round of emission regs coming too and it all comes from the great man’s desk.

He has effectively killed the classic truck, the 389 and W900 will be no more, they judt can’t get the mpg required

Now think about this, who gets the benefit from this?

It isn’t the transport industry, the likes of Swift, Schneider, JB Hunt and the rest charge their rate and add a fuel surcharge based on their fleet average which is around 6mpg (US) this brings the price of fuel down to $1.25 per gallon.

The switched on operator has realised that with current high fuel prices it is possible to get all your fuel paid by the customer, if you get good mpg, if you get really good mpg you can even get paid to put free fuel in the tanks.

Under the current system it doesn’t matter what the price of fuel is, as long as you get 6mpg, the rate is the same and the cost of operating a truck is constant, except for breakdowns, big companies buy new trucks and run them until the warranty expires, so even that doesn’t have a big impact.

Now all of a sudden, those new warrantied trucks get 8mpg because the government says they have too, the fuel surcharge is adjusted accordingly and transport costs to the mega corporations are lowered overnight, the cost to the customer remains the same and the conglomerates make even more money.

Some of that money will filter down to the people in Washington that passed the laws, at least in the form of campaign donations, maybe a place on the board of directors, maybe into offshore accounts. Nobody will be any the wiser, they control the media too, so it will not be plastered all over the news.

The rich and powerful will get richer and more powerful, it’s the way it’s always been, it’s the way it always will be.

[carryfast]

The idea that big business is a large contributor to the government’s decision making system in America has always been the case.The difference in this case is that they seem to have made a massive change from the more liberal,flexible regime,in relation to road transport regulation,that could be taken for granted there over the years ( and which was also inevitably therefore reflected in the Canadian system too ) ,to one which seems to be very closely tied to the EU control freak outlook regards same.It’s no surprise that it’s got Obama’s grubby paw prints all over it being that it’s wideley accepted that the zb is probably the most dictatorial ■■■■■■,who doesn’t like the red neck way,for obvious reasons,who’s ever been put into a position of power there.

I’ve got my suspicions that all of this isn’t just leading to the end of the old classic US truck as we know it but also the end of the idea of the classic long haul trucking regime that those trucks were built to operate under as we know/knew it. Which will obviously have a knock on effect in regard to those Canadian operations which run across the border resulting in many of those drivers probably wanting to stay on Canadian domestic work instead thereby creating a distortion in the labour market for drivers.‘Until’ that is the Canadian government inevitably decides to follow a similar path in imposing a similar type regime on it’s domestic operations.Which is why if it was me I’d be thinking about getting out at some point and certainly not thinking about jumping out of the frying pan here into the fire over there.At least that is unless the ATA starts to come to it’s senses in opposing everything which Obama stands for in relation to his obvious control freak regulations on the industry.Which I can foresee happening probably when it’s all too late after the industry suddenly wakes up to the fact that saving fuel and complying with draconian hours regs,at the expense of having to leave loads sitting on the loading docks,which means that they won’t be earning the money to save on fuel anyway,is just a false economy.Which is why until now things have worked just fine over there ‘until’ Obama got into power and seems to be succeeding where Nixon etc failed.

[kr79]

The long haul trucking will be no problem allow Mexico freedom to run in the states and they will be 3 up in the cab for a pittance.
Look at how many big German and Dutch outfits motors run motors registered in the old eastern block country’s.
The rich get richer and the rest of us get screwed.

[robinhood_1984]

What shocks me isn’t the current state of affairs but the fact that Mexicans aren’t already allowed a free run North of the border and even up to and within Canada. Driving a truck over here once you forget your British/European ways and adopt to the North American way is a piece of pi55 that almost anybody could do if they they felt so inclined and as such a Mexican can and will do things just as well (or as badly) as the average North American and will do it for a darn sight less.

[carryfast]

kr79:
The long haul trucking will be no problem allow Mexico freedom to run in the states and they will be 3 up in the cab for a pittance.
Look at how many big German and Dutch outfits motors run motors registered in the old eastern block country’s.
The rich get richer and the rest of us get screwed.

Assuming that multi manning using cheap Mexican labour would get around the hours regs issues,and an increasingly tightening speed regime where the old 55 mph limit ( eventually ) gets re established,by compensating for slower speeds and parked up trucks by keeping them moving using more drivers.It sounds logical from the point of view of the big fleets by providing the advantages of lower fuel consumption and no chance for small operations to compete.

It would be interesting to find out what sort of exact hours regs regime would apply in that case compared to a single manned wagon and how many extra miles that would equate to for a big fleet operation over the course of a year.