Running A Truck
I had several interesting conversations with people last weekend. It was my niece’s birthday party. One of her grandfathers used to work for the railroad and was telling me about how the business is changing with computerized locomotives and new and varied customer demands. One of the interesting things he brought up was the cost of diesel to run the engines. He has noticed that the cost of diesel has been running considerably higher that the cost of gasoline. If you drive by any filling station that carries both gasoline and diesel, you will notice $0.60 or more per gallon difference between the two fuels. Up until the hurricanes of last year, the difference was no where that much. This led to some interesting speculation on why that was.
Gasoline has come down considerably from the elevated and painfully priced fuel of the hurricane disaster days. Diesel fuel prices have remained relatively high in comparison. Most of the country uses automobiles that burn gasoline as their fuel source. However, most of the freight in this country is shipped by either semi-truck or railcar. We all know that businesses are not in the habit of changing their contracts for goods unless it is time to negotiate. However, the freight companies have something called a fuel surcharge that they tack onto the cost of what they haul. That means that the increased cost of their fuel is a hidden cost to most businesses. The buying public thinks they are getting a deal by saving on the cost of gas but by the oil companies passing on the costs in diesel, those costs are resulting in higher prices for everyday goods.
It appears that the oil companies have found a way to change their image as gougers of the American people by passing their costs into the costs of transporting goods. That means that the raw materials that goes into products goes up, the cost to ship to customers goes up, the cost to import and disperse that product throughout the nation increases. This is done to give the illusion that they are saving the American public from being gouged at the pump. So we pay less for gas and think we are getting a deal but more money comes out of our wallet and we can blame the stores or manufacturers. It is one giant shell game that big oil has managed to hide in the shadow and hope that no one notices how they are still making the big money but casting the blame elsewhere. I don’t mind making a profit; I would just appreciate a little honesty in how they produce those profits.
Icool
Cobb
Gasoline has come down considerably from the elevated and painfully priced fuel of the hurricane disaster days. Diesel fuel prices have remained relatively high in comparison. Most of the country uses automobiles that burn gasoline as their fuel source. However, most of the freight in this country is shipped by either semi-truck or railcar. We all know that businesses are not in the habit of changing their contracts for goods unless it is time to negotiate. However, the freight companies have something called a fuel surcharge that they tack onto the cost of what they haul. That means that the increased cost of their fuel is a hidden cost to most businesses. The buying public thinks they are getting a deal by saving on the cost of gas but by the oil companies passing on the costs in diesel, those costs are resulting in higher prices for everyday goods.
It appears that the oil companies have found a way to change their image as gougers of the American people by passing their costs into the costs of transporting goods. That means that the raw materials that goes into products goes up, the cost to ship to customers goes up, the cost to import and disperse that product throughout the nation increases. This is done to give the illusion that they are saving the American public from being gouged at the pump. So we pay less for gas and think we are getting a deal but more money comes out of our wallet and we can blame the stores or manufacturers. It is one giant shell game that big oil has managed to hide in the shadow and hope that no one notices how they are still making the big money but casting the blame elsewhere. I don’t mind making a profit; I would just appreciate a little honesty in how they produce those profits.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
10:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home