Truckers

Whinging again, I see.

What makes them so special? If the costs of doing business in my
industry rise, we have to cut our costs elsewhere or pass them onto
our customers. Why shouldn't haulage firms have to do this?

And saying that foreign firms can undercut them is a non-argument,
IMO. We have to compete with foreign outsourcing companies
undercutting us to the tune of about 90% on a daily rate. Can't see
the IT industry begging the government to lower tax, we just make sure
we can do it better.

 

The main problem as I see it, is that many owner-operators are/were
taking home only about £300 per week, and a rise of about £250 in the
weekly cost of filling the tank is a killer blow for many of them.
The larger companies with a bit of muscle will be able to ride it out
and negotiate increased charges, but the small guys are fucked up the
arse, again.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Which is why they all put a fuel escalator clause in their contracts.
Well. all the smart ones, anyway.

 

The main problem as I see it is that the number of goods-miles
travelled by road needs to be reduced, which in turn means fewer
lorries and drivers. I don't know how this can be managed other than
by market forces such as rising fuel costs.

 

What I don't understand is at work we have a manager who gets really
annoyed that folks would rather join a phone/video conference than sit
in the traffic for 2 hours to visit face-to-face.

 

There are financial products to protect one's rear (or company rear)
against unforeseen increase or decrease of commodity prices. Airlines
buy them by the truckload. However, when nothings happens, the big
companies don't give a hoot but the small truck owner would feel ripped
off. The same is also true of agricultural products, btw, and not also
not used by the farmers, for about the same reasons.

 

No sensible rebuttal to offer?

As it happens there is already a growing trend to buy local produce,
which I assume is only the thin edge of the wedge. As fuel costs
become prohibitive so manufacturers and suppliers will redesign their
working methods to involve less transport.

 

I thought they already did.

 

Don't be so dense. It's a business, and like any other business if
the cost of performing it is more than you're charging for it then you
either charge more or lower your costs. Expecting someone else to
lower your costs for you is a bit cheeky.

And anyway, suppose the government had a sudden fit of generosity and
removed all tax from fuel. The fuel is still going to go up in price
and in a couple of years, they'd be back where they are now. And
there'd be nothing to cut off it.

They should buy cheaper trucks, lower wages, be more efficient in
their route planning, I dunno what else, I don't work in that
industry. But there are always ways of cutting costs.

And if you can't, then you don't stay in business. Dead simple.
Businesses are not charities.

The industry sector doesn't matter. A business is a business and if
they can't make money, then they don't stay in business. Simple.

 

<sigh>
as our mainline rail network is close to capacity that would mean a
shrinking economy.

What we need is a huge increase and a subsequently much larger economy.
About the only underused potential capacity is costal shipping, if you
moved some industry sectors to the coast.

Not a problem as long as the freight moves at night, load sizes are
optimised/consolidated and point to point routing is used, along with
efficient engines and particulate traps.

Some of the long haul railfreight capacity does need huge works. Pretty
much all container traffic from/to Northern England, Scotland, NI and
Wales up and down the main trunk routes should be moving by rail/sea.
Use the M6/M74 and A1 and this is patently not happening.

 

Oi Monz want to buy a couple of 40 tonners with me?

 

Transport sector, local and long haul, has needed effective regulation
for a long long long time. It has never recieved it. A proper operator
licencing scheme. Covering all things from driving standards to truck
maintenance to financial viability and customer service.

 

What pisses me off about the protest (and I got stuck behind the inbreds
on the M4 today) is that they have been asking the public to join their
protests and looking for the support of the general public, but are
willing to sell us all down the river by accepting an 'essential users
rebate' whilst the rest of us carry on paying full whack.

 

Acceptable shrinkage IMHO.

WE don't NEED anything of the sort, however much you might wish it..

 

Thats all very well for a retired accountant with a pension. It's no
fucking use for anyone of working age, particularly those under 30. You
grow and develop or you die in this business world.

OTOH the population of the UK is about 150% of where I would like to see
it so as you were.

 

Good lord. Is it?

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

That's my understanding as well. I think the problem is trains of very
different speeds trying to share the same track. However, I'm sure an
expert will be along shortly to put us right!

 

The simple solution to over population of GB is to seperate the
rubbish from the rest.

We could start by giving them their own parliaments so they're the
only ones that can vote on matters concerning their country and then
let them stand on their own two feet without any subsidies from the
rest of the us and without any right to vote on things that don't
affect *their country*.

Sound ideal? It would be if the cunts didn't want the best of both
fucking worlds and expect to be allowed to vote on external affairs
and receive subsidies from other countries.

 

He did that some weeks ago.

 

That's a bit of a false economy though, isn't it.

That's clearly already happening for owner/operators.