Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — On March 16, the price of diesel nationwide averaged $3.984, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. Friday, it averaged $4.019, a mere 2 cents a gallon higher.

But multiply it by the 120,000 miles the American Trucking Association reports truckers average a year, and that 2 cents represents an additional $2,400 a year in fuel costs. That’s if the price doesn’t go up any further.

Last week, owner-operator Tom Bark of Apple Valley reported paying as much as $4.77 a gallon. Phil Wheeler of Wheeler Transport in Fredericktown has been luckier.

“The highest fuel I have ever seen is maybe $4.20,” he said. “No doubt in some small towns, a mom and pop station that doesn’t service trucks might charge that much, but I’ve never seen it that high at a truck stop.”

Speaking with the News from Arizona, Wheeler said the truck stop across from where he was sitting was charging $3.97. Nevertheless, he said, fuel is easily one of the highest costs incurred by truckers.

“On this particular trip I’m on right now — Ohio to Florida, out to California via I-10, up to Las Vegas and back down to Los Angeles — I’ve filled up five times since I left Ohio. I’ve spent approximately $4,300, $4,400. That’s just raw fuel. I’ll have to fill up a minimum of two to three more times before getting home, which will be about another $2,300,” he said.

Wheeler, who is an auto transporter, recalls when his father used to run from Ohio to Las Vegas or California.

“He’d leave with $1,000 in his pocket, run all the way out west, stay in motel rooms, spend a day or two in Vegas, run all the way back home, eat out, plus fuel, and come back with $200 or $300 in his pocket,” said Wheeler.

Those days are gone.

Transportation companies are allowed to charge a fuel surcharge when there is a spike in fuel prices. The surcharge is paid by the company that has the freight to be shipped. Although the surcharge helps, it also ultimately increases the cost of the product.

“It’s a vicious circle,” said Wheeler. “It’s costing more to get that gallon of milk to the grocery store. If there’s a fuel surcharge, Kroger pays more. At the end of the day, the customer will end up paying more for the product.”

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA, said that too often, that money does not trickle down to the person actually paying the higher fuel costs.

As an independent driver, Wheeler said he doesn’t get a fuel surcharge. Rather, he looks at each load, determines his cost, and tells the customer what he needs to make the run.

“At the end of the day, there has to be a profit,” he said.

Chad Beachler, vice president of Beachler Trucking Inc. in Loudonville, has nine trucks, all owner operated. He passes the amount received from the fuel surcharge on to his drivers. He agrees fuel is now the highest component of trucking costs.

“They’re going up every day,” he said. “And we have not seen the worst of it. Wait until June, in the high heat.

“It’s just to the point now where it’s survival. Those who have one or two trucks aren’t going to be able to survive,” he said.

Beachler, who carries temperature-controlled freight, said much of the problem began with deregulation in the 1970s and ’80s. The Interstate Commerce Commission, which was abolished in 1995, used to regulate the trucking industry, and set a standard rate per mile. With deregulation came freight brokers, who act as middlemen between companies that have freight to ship, and truckers who haul the freight. The broker quotes a rate to the shipper, then takes a percentage of that rate. The broker then quotes the reduced rate to the trucker. Beachler said the broker takes a cut, while leaving the trucking company to do most of the work.

“We obviously need brokers,” said Beachler. “As trucking companies, we can’t handle all of the freight. But they need to get in the game.

“There needs to be some solidarity in the trucking industry,” he added.

In a March 20 article in Land Line Magazine, the online magazine for OOIDA, trucker Ted Gennick of Marietta, Ga., said that right now, brokered loads are being offered at such a cheap price, he doesn’t understand how some truckers who take those loads are able to stay in business.

“We had three loads we were negotiating on and in the middle of negotiations, they’re like, ‘It’s covered — someone took it,’ right when we’re trying to get higher prices,” Gennick is quoted as saying. “Why would someone take the load if they can’t make any money on it?”

Wheeler and Beachler recall the protest and unrest when the cost of fuel skyrocketed in the ’70s and ’80s. Neither understands the lack of public response to the current high prices.

“In the ’80s, people went nuts,” said Wheeler. “There was something about it every night on TV.”

“You watch the evening news, and there’s nothing about fuel prices,” said Beachler, whose father in 1974 went to Congress with the late Sen. Howard Metzenbaum to talk about the problems at the time. “There has to be a breaking point.”

Beachler also doesn’t understand why the oil industry has not upgraded its facilities since the 1950s.

“We have an abundance of oil in this country,” he said. “They have not built the refineries to make the fuel to keep the price down.”

As far as solutions, Gennick advocates government legislation as the way to change the business practices of brokers. The OOIDA’s Spencer advises truckers to be more selective of their loads.

“Freight that doesn’t pay enough should be left at the dock,” he said. “Truckers must regain the ability to set their own rates back from the brokers, carriers and shippers. ...”

Wheeler had an even simpler solution.

“Somebody’s got to figure out why the fuel’s so high,” he said.

Ah, but the devil’s in the details.