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http://www.heavydutytrucking.com/2005/01/index.asp202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

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That is a big collection of opinion and spin. Bookmarking it, thanks.

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Timothy J Begle

http://roundtable.truck.net/viiewt.php?t=47804&...r=asc&start=0
25 years of driving and totally ignorant about the industry
Even told me the teamsters fired me.The guy had no clue that the teamsters don't employee the drivers.
If a driver starts off a sentance with just walk away 99% chance the person is a total idiot.
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I found this paragh from the Werner article revealing:

These self-made trucking moguls built their businesses pounding every penny out of cheap, unregulated freight. It's their heritage, their life experience and they got very good at it. No wonder when they became the dominate carriers, they continued pounding wages down to an all-time low.

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It had three basic premises:
One: Lower freight costs. The proponents of de-reg wanted to lower the corporate freight cost. It is now around 7 to 10 % of an items cost. The INDUSTRIAL TRAFFIC LEAGUE was the lobbyist for this. The ITL represented all the major shippers.
TWO: Energy efficiency - There were horror stories of partially loaded trucks having to go miles out of the way to travel through "gateways" and then return empty. In the aftermath of the seventies oil crises, this seemed an huge waste of expensive and scarce oil resources.
Deregulation would allow trucks to go directly to their destinations loaded and return loaded. It was supposed to reduce the numbers of trucks on the roads.
THREE: The third reason was unspoken but there none the less. Bust the TEAMSTERS union. The Teamsters had, by the 1960's and 70's, become a corrupt organization linked to organized crime. The Democrats, although overall supporters of and by organized labour, were out to shut them down as a source of crime and money laundering. Bobby Kennedy had made his name warring with the teamsters. He had only been dead about 10 years abnd his influence still felt. This gave Carter the reasoning, along with fuel savings to support the deregulation movement.
The strangest part was the support by Mike Parkhurst of Overdrive Magazine. He thought it would get more money into the hands of the truckers and away from the carriers. Unfortunately...he was wrong.

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The problem is that it's history now. And in fairness, those who thought it would put more money in more pockets were right -- for a while. No one was seriously projecting the long-term evolution they were unleashing. Deregulation was a gold mine for many drivers and owners alike, and created huge new markets and driving opportunities as shipping by truck became significently more cost-effecient. It allowed large maufacturers and suppliers to create regional distribution centers and roving assemply lines. The ability to move product around the country quickly and effeciently changed the way America conducts business, and it created virtually unlimited opportunities for trucking entrepreneurs. If anyone was predicting the result 25-30 years later, I doubt those making a killing in this new unregulated candy store, cared very much at the time.

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Over all it is a pretty good reading. Many do not know what dereg brought or changed.
Myself, I think it is a good thing for folks to understand before they get into trucking. They will hear it every day on the CB. Before reg we made money.
I take it most of these folk that say that are STILL leased onto carriers. They have no clue they can compete now.
I have talked to drivers in 2004. They have trucked for over 20 years. That say they could not get a ICC not a MC but a ICC because the lanes were locked down.
Seems we have some drivers out there that do not know how to run a competitive bis.
There are still guys trip leasing with there own MC!202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

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Not quite. I think this sentence would be correct if you said:
"The Teamsters had, by the 1960's and 70's, become a corrupt organization run by organized crime. "
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In some areas they still very much are. Like in construction, cement, demo, scrap and garbage hauling.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

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I started driving in 1968. Mostly I worked for a company that only ran the 11 western states. I did drive for Little Aurdy for a short time in the early 70s.
The company I worked mostly for had a few Owner operators. They were pretty much limited to running only in California. We had to have a contract with the shipper for the Owner Operators to haul the freight.
There is some good about deregulation, but as far as I am concerned it is ALL bad.
I did own a truck when deregulation came in.....in the first year my revenue per mile dropped $.25 a mile.
About the same time, came in the Canadian Free Trade, that just added to the down fall of the trucking industry.
I remember back in the "good ol days" if I brought home less than $1000 a week my wife accused me of playing around on the road.
Thanks Daytrader for the article. It just raises my blood pressure. I have lived just too long.
Last month I did not renew my CDL. I am no longer a truck driver.....or is it like being a Marine.....once a trucker always a trucker? I will buy coffee at the TA or Petro