Happy New Year

It's that time again.  If I don't say much all year (during this Depression) atleast I'm checking in to wish you all the best.

I should have a new video testimonial showing several Truck Drivers using The Microphone Assistant.  They all love it.  Also showing the new model for slip-seat Drivers.  Hook & Go.

Still shooting and still editing

Have a Happy New Year,
TMAC

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Two truck drivers die as fuel protests spread across Europe

by Olivier ThibaultTue Jun 10, 4:49 PM ET
Two lorry drivers were killed on picket lines in Spain and Portugal on Tuesday as strikes by thousands of truckers over soaring fuel prices turned deadly.
Spanish police escorted petrol supply tankers into Barcelona on the second day of the stoppage that has caused food and fuel shortages and huge tailbacks on the Spanish-French border.
French railway workers began their own walkout, increasing the transport chaos.
A Portuguese driver was killed after he was hit by a truck as he manned a barricade filtering traffic near Alcanena, north of Lisbon.
A police spokesman quoted witnesses as saying the 52-year-old man climbed onto the side of a truck in a bid to stop it and fell off under the wheels, Lusa news agency reported.
Later Tuesday, a truck driver in Spain was run over and killed by a van as he manned a picket line outside a wholesale market in the southern city of Granada, police said.
Road haulage representatives suspended strike negotiations with the Spanish government following the incident.
Other trucks in Portugal and Spain have been stoned or had their windows smashed and tyres punctured for working during the national strikes.
A total of 15 people, most of them manning picket lines, were arrested in Spain Tuesday for disturbing public order, assault or threats, Spanish media said.
Tens of thousands of truckers are on strike or joining the protests to demand government help to offset the higher fuel costs.
Authorities in northern Spain ordered emergency measures after many petrol stations in the Catalonia region ran out of fuel.
"Twenty tanker trucks escorted by the regional police left an industrial zone this morning for Barcelona port to help supply and distribute to petrol stations in the region," a regional police spokesman told AFP.
Forty percent of petrol stations in Catalonia have run out of fuel, according to Manuel Amado, president of the Catalonia Federation of Service Stations.
Arrivals of fresh meat, fish and fruit in Madrid have come to a near halt, according to officials at the Mercamadrid market, Spain's biggest wholesale market. They said that fish would be in short supply from Thursday but stocks of other foods should last until the end of the week.
Automakers in Spain said most of the country's automobile plants, including those of Nissan, Mercedes Benz, Seat and Renault, have had to cut or halt production.
Auto plants are particularly vulnerable to a strike by hauliers, which provide them with spare parts.
Truckers stopped lorries from crossing the French-Spanish border and caused major tailbacks around major Spanish cities, including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
Spanish and French truckers staged pickets on either side of the frontier between the two countries. They blocked a bridge on the border at Bidassoa in the western Basque region and other main crossing points.
On the French side, service areas on motorways were packed with trucks from the border right back to Bordeaux, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) away.
Spain's second largest hauliers' union Fenadismer, which claims to represent 70,000 out of Spain's 380,000 truck drivers, launched an open-ended strike on Monday.
Talks Monday between the hauliers and the government ended in failure, Fenadismer said.
The Portuguese government said it hoped to have an agreement with its truckers by the end of the week.
A separate strike by workers at the French rail company, SNCF, severely hit rail traffic.
About half of intercity and local commuter trains were running along with about three quarters of TGV high speed trains from Paris to southwest France. Some express commuter lines into Paris were badly affected by the strike.
Spanish fisherman were keeping up their strike against fuel prices but most French trawlers have decided to go back to work after several weeks of blocking ports and access to oil refineries.

European Fuel Strike

Thousands of European truckers join fuel protests Mon Jun 9, 1:51 PM
ET
Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal on Monday
stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on
highways and blocking border crossings.
Huge tailbacks built up around major cities and on the French-Spanish
border as French fishermen in Mediterranean ports ended their
three-week strike over the spiralling cost of fuel.
Spain's second largest hauliers' union Fenadismer, which claims to
represent 70,000 out of Spain's 380,000 truck drivers, launched an
open-ended strike on Monday. It said it was "peaceful" but followed
"massively".
Talks Monday between the hauliers and the government ended in failure,
Fenadismer said.
"Fenadismer will maintain its national strike" as the government's
proposals were "insufficient", it said.
Trucks jammed several main highways including at the frontier with
France, according to traffic officials, who also reported massive
snarls in Madrid and Valencia.
A Spanish truckers' group calling itself the Platform for the Defence
of the Transport Sector, who say they speak for 50,000 truckers,
walked off the job last week. They have threatened to disrupt the
opening this weekend of the International Exposition in Zaragosa.
The conservative Spanish newspaper ABC said the aim of the strikers
was to block oil supplies from refineries and stocks at retail markets
this week.
Spanish media said the number of trucks at wholesale markets on Monday
were considerably lower than usual.
French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests
near the Spanish border and in the southwest.
Several trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic
at border posts, preventing trucks from crossing and causing a
tailback of some 10 kilometres (six miles) on both sides of the
border. Private cars were allowed through.
Protestors branded banners which read: "Trucker = Unemployed," and
"It's the end of our profession."
Some 200 trucks converged on the four main motorways leading into
Bordeaux Monday morning, causing 30 kilometers (20 miles) of tailbacks
in and around the city.
"We are demanding immediate measures" to counter the impact of high
fuel prices, said Jean-Pierre Morlin, president of the European
trucking organisation for the Aquitaine region.
Portugal's Transport Minister Mario Lino was to meet later Monday with
representatives of road transport associations in a bid to end the
strike by truckers who have threatened to "paralyze" the country.
According to police, trucks parked at petrol pumps were stoned
overnight or while they were on the road after the strike started at
midnight.
Many had their windscreens shattered.
The strikers also blocked entrances to several factories. According to
industry figures, there are some 40,000 truckers in Portugal serving
an estimated 5,000 firms.
However, French fishermen from Mediterranean ports on Monday ended a
three-week strike ahead of a key meeting of European fisheries
ministers.
"All of the fleets from the Mediterranean ports went back to work this
morning, but we remain very vigilant," said Ange Natoli, a
representative of the Mediterranean fishing fleets.
Fleets in the Channel ports of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and Dunkirk
last week called off their strike pending the talks.
Portuguese fishermen called off their five-day-old strike on
Wednesday.
However, their counterparts in Spain, home to Europe's largest fishing
fleet, maintained their "indefinite" stoppage launched May 30.
"Almost all the ports in Spain are on strike," said the head of the
Spanish Fisheries Confederation, Javier Garat.
EU fisheries ministers meet on June 23-24 tackle the fuel crisis.
Marine diesel prices have leapt by around 30 percent since the start
of 2008, triggering protests in European ports as well as warnings

Exxon-Mobile Boycott

Blogging the truckers' strike
Joe Powell: I spoke this afternoon with Sharon Donald with Pilot Oil , who said of their Travel Centers "Everything is business as usual today. Absolutely nothing is happening," regarding a strike by independent truckers." She added the only talk about the strike she has been aware of is the talk from media sources like the cable news networks.
And this: Some other sources I spoke with indicated to me they were being told to downplay any news and simply state there were more rumors than facts about the strike.
The Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier echoes the denial that a strike is taking place.
Still reports trickle in citing stoppages and delays from Chicago to Tampa though the number of those participating is very small.
Posted by Michael Silence on April 01, 2008 at 02:54 PM Share this post: Digg It! Add to del.icio.us Submit to Reddit Add to Netscape Technorati
Comments
"The Charleston newspaper The Post and Courier echoes the denial that a strike is taking place."
The major news networks are slow to move on this. Drivers need to shut down for at least a week to have any effect. I support the idea and hope to see a price drop soon.
Norm In NC
Posted by: Norm at April 1, 2008 10:30 PM
BOYCOTT EXXON MOBILE… AMERICANS CALL TO ARMSDo you Like these outrageously high gas and diesel prices?Do you have enough testicles to DO SOME THING ABOUT IT.
Or are you one of those people who gripe and complain, and then do NOTHING to change the problem?
You can help change America… So easy! Just do what I ask below, or any other things you might be able to do to further this cause.
I will be working night and day to see this thing through to the end on the net and elsewhere to get all Americans in All 50 states to BOYCOTT Exxon Mobile.
This is not personal against Exxon Mobile, but purely business.. Family business… as these high gasoline prices are effecting every America Family.
Exxon Mobile is The larges Oil Company in America.
Think about this, dwell upon it,EVERY AMERICAN NOT BUYING ANYTHING FROM ANY EXXON MOBILE STATIONS IN EVERY STATE!
You!, You who are reading this can copy this and paste it in blogs all over the net.You, who are reading this can copy this and send it to your friends,YOU who are reading this can STOP BUYING ANYTHING FROM EXXON MOBILE and watch the news, when they start crying and losing billions in revenues.YOU WHO ARE READING THIS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF YOU REALLY CARE.
http://www.doomedamerica.com
Everyone, copy this and post it any where you can.This is Doing NOTHING for me personally, other than helping me, and you to be able to afford a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk for our chilcren…
Come on, Call to arms… DO SOME THING! GET INVOLVED.
Posted by: justadad at April 2, 2008 12:48 AM
What? Do something? Are you kidding?
Our government should do nothing. The people should do nothing. This is about C A P I T A L I S M.
Isn't this what the Republican party is about? Keeping the government off the backs of nice people like those at the oil companies?
Isn't this what the people are for? To be nice comsumers who are willing to turn over our hard earned paychecks to business.
We must work harder and longer for less and less. We must pay more and more for less and less.
We must sacrifice so that businesses can make more profits next year than they made last year.
Duh.
Yes. We call it Capitalism. Thats how it works. So whats your problem.
This is what Silence has worked toward. This is what it is all about. Corporations are international now. If you think it was bad fighting American corporations lets see how you do with international corporations.
Remember Silence has been their cheerleader all along. He has always been a megaphone for buisness. Now we can see the real fruits of his labors. Hope he gets a peice of the action. It would be awful if he whored for nothing.
Posted by: Barbara at April 2, 2008 09:16 AM
Post a comment

The Price of Diesel

I found a very interesting article on Yahoo News and decided to not let it get away since it's a very well written insight to whats happening in the American Trucking Industry these days.

The Owner Operators' are taking some Big Hits. Bad Hits. I think all you Drivers ought to get together and straight out refuse to haul loads of Toilet Paper. Let'em use Newspapers or whatever they can find. No Hauling Toilet paper and see if a 200 Million pissed Citizens or so can help bring some pressures on The Powers That Be by giving their Senators and Congressmen something to do besides debate about all their debating societies different views on what it is they should debate about next time they have a debating session to debate something.

I'm going to try and include as much of the article I was referring to that was on the web on March 2nd, 2008. It's a very sad affair. Here's to Jimmy Hoffa.

By ELLEN SIMON, AP Business WriterSat Mar 1, 5:07 AM ET

Trucker Robert Griffith is on the road three weeks out of four, pulling oversize loads like crane booms, railroad ties and air conditioning ducts. One of his biggest worries: How he'll find the money to buy his daughter a prom dress.
As the cost of diesel doubled over the last four years, his take-home pay has plummeted, from $50,000 to $11,000 last year. He's literally burning money; he spent $64,000 on diesel in the last eight months. Since he canceled his satellite radio, he's on citizens band radio constantly (handle: Instigator) talking about what needs to change so truckers like him can survive.
"I had to learn to live totally different," said Griffith, 41, of Lebanon, Tenn.
No more $150 family outings to Shogun sushi. No more weekly washes for his Western Star 4900 EX truck. No more health insurance for him and his family.
"It hurts," he said. "I'm a man who's trying to make a living for my family and I'm not succeeding."
Trucking's owner-operators, the self-employed drivers who haul everything from Hummers to hay, are suffering. Many say they're running on the edge of bankruptcy, about to disappear unless they get help. While a wave of trucking failures now might be invisible to consumers, when the economy rebounds, it would push up shipping rates, helping increase prices.
The housing downturn and decreased consumer spending have cut into loads; the extra trucking capacity is pushing down freight rates. Diesel prices, which are always higher in the winter, have hit such highs that Truckinginfo.com runs ads for thief-stopping fuel-tank locks.
"If you can run all week without a flat tire, you're a little bit ahead, otherwise, you're basically just running to put the money right back into the fuel tank," said trucker Benjamin Stanley, 40, of Spotsylvania, Va. "Truckers are in the same spot farmers were in a few years back."
Reposessor Nassau Asset Management repossessed 110 percent more trucks in 2007 than it did in 2006, according to president Edward Castagna. And it's taking less time to pick up a truck, which he sees as a sign that there's less work to keep them on the road — and out of his reposessors' reach.
"It used to take weeks, now it takes days or hours," he said.
Industries that depend on independent truckers, like logging, are starting to suffer. Maine Gov. John Baldacci declared a civil emergency at the end of November, speeding fuel tax reimbursements for logging truck operators and asking the Department of Transportation to identify roads that could tolerate logging-truck weight, allowing truckers to take more direct routes and save fuel.
About nine percent of the nation's 3.4 million truck drivers are independent owner-operators, according to the Department of Labor. Without the independents, trucking will turn into a group of "regional and national oligopolies" that would send shipping prices higher when the economy improves, said John Saldanha, who teaches logistics at Ohio State University.
A Baird & Co. research report said the one positive note is the likelihood of more bankruptcies could eventually push freight rates up for the survivors.
Truckers, who felt unappreciated in the best of times, say they feel even more marginalized now.
Rumors of a nationwide truck strike are a nearly annual occurrence — but this year an effort in January generated more talk than usual on MySpace and the Sirius Satellite Radio show "Freewheelin.'"
"If you eat it, drink it, wear it ... sit on it, if it is anything other than the air you breathe, an American truck driver made it possible!" wrote trucker Joe Misilewich of Norwich, New York in an e-mail. "Don't forget it! Without truckers, America is nothing!"
Nanette Jenkins Rudd, 40, a third-generation trucker based in Mapleton, Ill., kept her five trucks off the road the week of the strike.
"I pray that this strike is successful, so that we only have to stop rolling for a week — and not forever," she said.
Like other truckers, she's hoping for government help. "The government stepped in and helped the farmers when they were in trouble," she said. "Why? Because the farmers feed America, the farmers put food on the table. But who do you think delivers that food?"
Truckers say they want caps on diesel prices, or tax credits for truckers, as well as increased regulation for the middlemen who broker truck loads.
While independents struggle, the large public trucking companies seem to be on a different road. Their stocks have, for the most part, climbed since January.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and YRC Worldwide Inc., with more than 10,000 truck tractors each, buy everything from fuel to tractors in bulk. The big companies buy thousands of gallons of diesel at a time on the commodities market, then store at their depots; Griffith buys his at truck stop pumps, where prices increased 38 cents a gallon over two days last month.
Independent truckers are increasingly dependent on freight brokers, middlemen who match shippers with drivers one load at a time, taking a cut for themselves. At one of the country's largest brokers, Landstar System, Inc., revenue from brokered loads was $881.57 million in 2007, more than double what it was four years before. But the company said it paid less for transportation in fiscal 2007, while its revenue per load was nearly flat at $1,612.
Jim Gattoni, Landstar's chief financial officer, said payments were lower because volume was lower. Drivers carrying brokered loads from the company earn between 80 and 90 percent of the value of the freight they carry, he said, depending on the weight and complexity of the load.
"Our margin, at the end of the day, is seven percent," he said.
At brokerage sites like getloaded.com and internettruckstop.com, freight rates are where they were in 2002, said Roger Carpenter, a Binghamton, N.Y. trucker who hauls dairy and chickens. The middlemen behind the boards "are so competitive, they chop each other's rates up like hungry dogs trying to get a scrap of meat," he said.
Truckers complain that the brokerage system is unregulated and lacks transparency: They know what they're getting paid, but they don't know what the shippers are paying the brokers. They say they're also forbidden from showing the shippers their contracts. Many independents have a story about a shipper's shock after finding out what the trucker was being paid.
A load traveling 800 miles that cost a shipper nearly $3,000 to send may pay the trucker $1,000, out of which the trucker would pay all expenses including fuel and insurance.
"It's truly highway robbery," Misilewich said.
Jim Butts, vice president of transportation at C.H. Robinson, a company whose business includes brokering loads, said his company serves truckers well, acting as their sales and marketing arm and paying them even when shippers fail to pay.
"Not all these competitors are playing the same game and not all abide by the same rules," he said.
Griffith, who's been driving a truck for 20 years, stopped working with brokers six months ago and started hauling specialized loads, which pay $2 or $3 a mile more than standard.
Not that it's helping.
Three-quarters of his pay is going to fuel and maintenance, up from half in the past. And how much work he can cram in is regulated, with the number of hours he can drive capped by federal regulations at 11 a day, all of which must be recorded in a log book.
"People will say, 'Run harder,'" he said. "I can't run harder. You can't run beyond your log books."
Back on the CB, "someone will get on about trucking, someone will get on about the fuel prices, then everyone will start arguing and cussing." Listen to CB for an hour he said, "you'll feel the animosity, the hatred, the despair."
Griffith longs for the old Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who led truckers in their most powerful — and profitable — years. Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and was declared presumed dead in 1982.
"We need to band together instead of fight each other and somebody needs to help us do that," he said. "I wish Jimmy Hoffa were still around."

The Roadking 56 & The Microphone Assistant

To All Truck Drivers: Happy New Years 2008

I wanted to get this out there that for the month of January, or while supplies last you can find The Microphone Assistant packaged with the new 50th Anniversay Edition of The Roadking 56.

In essence we are giving You a Free retractable Microphone hanger to hang on to that beautiful new Roadking. Can't think of a Safer way to hang it.

Have a Safe trip while your having a Great Year.

Baron