Hey folks, been awhile since my last note letting folks know what was happening in the trucking business.
Well it’s not all bad. As most of you know the fuel price is slowly coming down, although not as fast as it went up, but still much better than it was. The drop, which is not as much as gas prices, still has a substantial effect on the bottom line. From a high of $4.89 per gallon to today’s current price of about $3.50, it is certainly a big savings when the average over the road truck will burn between 5-600 gallons a week. That’s the good news.
Now here is some of the not so pleasant news and a lot of the reason you will not see prices on commodities come down any time soon. Cost of operations skyrocketed as the price of fuel went out of sight, tires and parts to keep these rigs on the road increased nearly 50 percent as it takes oil to produce both rubber and steel.
As inventories had to be replaced prices skyrocketed due to oil increases. Now, one year later, after dealing with all the increases of doing business, the stock market crashes and takes with it any ideas people may have had of trying to increase their business. Not much building going on; the lumber business in Maine alone is off drastically. Has anyone been to a big box store, Lowes or Home Depot lately? Like a small ghost town when I was there recently! Folks, it’s not just here in Maine either. We have trucks traveling all over the eastern half of the country and the story is the same everywhere. No money, no work!
That all being said, let me fill you in on some the political stink that’s in the air. First, isn’t it nice that our Maine turnpike authority can just raise rates, 23 percent in fact, because they don’t have enough money to meet expenses? I feel their pain, believe me, but do you suppose they ever heard of cutting back on expenses? Maybe, just maybe, they could do without quite so many people standing on a shovel watching one man work. Or maybe they could stop riding up and down the turnpike plowing water 10 hours after the snow has passed and turned to rain. Oops, I forgot, that’s all overtime and we can’t cut that.
Or maybe, just maybe, turnpike officials could have their next cocktail party out in one of the luxury garages that they fix equipment in rather than at the Inn by the Bay for $4-5000, or cut out the trip to Italy to check out the European roads for twenty odd thousand bucks. It’s not a lot but $10,000 here and $10,000 there and pretty soon you’re talking real money! Seems to me like maybe we need to look at the budget of the turnpike a little closer before we just roll over and enjoy their 23 percent increase in tolls.
To put it in perspective, from Portland to York in an 18-wheeler will cost 80 cents a mile or $36 to go 44 miles, in tolls and road taxes. If that’s not enough, trucks can only use two out of the three lanes available; that’s two thirds, for full price! How’s that fair? Does one think that any of these hikes in cost will have a bearing on what goods will cost down the road a ways?
The Coalition to Lower Fuel Prices, which we formed last winter to help educate people on the ever escalating fuel cost has been asked to sit on a task force that is overseeing the fine structure here in Maine as it pertains to trucks. It is fairly common knowledge in the trucking business that we in Maine have one of the highest fine structures for violations in the country.
One of our members who runs a six axle truck, permitted for 100,000 lbs., was cited for being over weight by 2500 lbs. in Maine, and the fine was almost $900 dollars. Two weeks later he was stopped in New Hampshire and his permit had expired for 100,000 weight and they automatically go back to federal limit of 80,000 lbs, this made him over weight by almost 20,000 lbs., almost ten times as much as Maine: fine, 300 bucks! One might say just the cost of doing business. I would say “just one more thing that makes Maine anti-business!”
Well enough of the ranting, Our coalition has found a lot of work to do to improve the trucking climate in the state, and the dialogue that was developed last winter and spring with the Governor and legislature surely will be beneficial in dealing with all the politics involved.
I thank all of those who have supported us. Your words of encouragement were priceless in our battle with state and federal officials. Till next time, God bless and keep on truckin’!
(Larry Sidelinger of Damariscotta owns an operates Yankee Pride Transport.)
