Wheels of Justice

So you think fuel prices are high?

When are fuel prices ever going to stabilize? How can they stay so high for so long? Who in their right mind will continue to pay the high fuel prices? Stop it. Stop the whining.

You should be receiving a fuel surcharge. Just about everyone who does anything for me has added a fuel surcharge to their services, from the guy who cares for my lawn to the attorneys who have to drive to the courthouse.

If you own your own truck and you are not receiving a fuel surcharge, then something is wrong. You need to speak with the shipper or your carrier about the surcharge, because just about every shipper is now paying a surcharge or they are not getting their product on a truck. It’s simple. With the shortage of drivers and the high cost of diesel fuel, the shippers are willing to pay a surcharge to get their product to market. You might even be able to make more money with higher fuel than you did when fuel cost a lot less. It’s called supply and demand, coupled with the fact that carriers have been increasing their charges per mile.

The cost of fuel is very high and may eventually go higher. Every truck in the world is trying to purchase that gallon of fuel you need to make a living. If you owned an ocean tanker full of fuel, who would you sell it to? To the person who would pay you the most, I bet.

Keep in mind that China tried to purchase one of the USA’s largest oil companies, but that sale was denied. Castro in Cuba is now seeking to drill for oil in the ocean between Florida and Cuba where the agreed boundary is only 45 miles from U.S. soil. Venezuela and Bolivia have nationalized their national re-sources—which include their oil—and have kicked out the world’s oil producing companies or are requiring them to double or triple their payments to Venezuela and Bolivia. The Middle East is in a state of upheaval. China will have the same number of cars as the U.S. in 2030; and the world’s largest-known oil reserve is slowly being used up.

The cost of fuel will probably be an issue for the foreseeable future, at least until they develop alternative fuel sources that will compete with the cost and effectiveness of oil. That makes it your job to plan for higher fuel prices and find a way to make money off each increase in price. Should you fail to keep up, then you will be looking at giving up your truck.

Just to keep things in perspective, consider this: a barrel of Chanel No. 5 perfume would cost $1,397,760. That is a lot of money, but Chanel sure does smell good.

Jim C. Klepper is president of Interstate Trucker Ltd., an organization that provides legal defense protection to commercial drivers. Jim is a lawyer who focuses on transportation law and the trucking industry in particular. He works to answer your legal questions about trucking, and he holds his Commercial Drivers License.