We are all already aware of the issue + that supposedly the problem is lack of truckers, +/or longshoremen. In the case of the truckers, it seems that California has passed a law that ONLY union truckers can transport product from the ships, or even enter the dock areas. Also they have passed another bill that all trucks must be up to 2011 emission standards, effective TODAY. Well, independent truckers can't afford to buy a new engine. This is a transparent move from the left to try to get their way through false information (I.E.lack of products is because trucks just aren't running.) I + I think most everyone else are getting tired of being lied too, again + again. I have my own "Open Shop" + I have no use for the Unions. I will admit that in their inception that they were for the people, now that is not the case. Now it is all about how much they can gouge the public by bribing legislature to pass bills that will only cause more grief to the people while making them more money. Don't get me wrong if you think this sounds socialist; nothing could be farther from the truth. I am a firm believer in Capitalism + free enterprise. The left these days seem not to embrace these same theorys.

Addendum; it seems that quite a few of the cargo ships are going down the coast to Mexico to offload. Then the product can be shipped via truck from the south w/o involving the teamsters union. Of course the borders are open, right? Who wrote this G.D. play?!

Back in the mid 70's I was a long haul trucker.

Company I drove for had a yard in LA.

We hauled LOTs of loads there and had to drop
the trailers and let the union yard hands haul
them on to the docks, and incoming back.

Sounded screwed up back then. but, it really
worked better for us drivers and we could
drop, pickup and get the paperwork done and
be gone in about an hour or less most of the
time.

Worked that way in Tacoma, Seattle and Portland
too.

George

Hey, although I'm open shop + have no use for the unions I still admit that what ever works for the good of the country, then I'm all for it. It's just that what's happening now is not working + that is not to the benefit of the country.

Would transportation secy Pete Butieg(sp) being on paternity leave the last few months and with no yet appointed under secy to take his place have anything to do with it?

quote:

Originally posted by rolank:
Would transportation secy Pete Butieg(sp) being on paternity leave the last few months and with no yet appointed under secy to take his place have anything to do with it?

I had a 'supervisor' at a highly technical job spend most of his on duty time building his house and running his used car sales business. He collected the salary but was a name only employee who was a personal friend of the undersheriff at my agency. I imagine a similar thing occurs for gubment 'secretaries'.

Yeah. I designed a knife that was made overseas and they are all sitting off shore. Good bit of money for a one man shop tied up due to someone else's inefficiency.

You got that right, Brother!

This seems to be a uniquely American problem. Just got back from an eastern Mediterranean cruise. Called at 8 different ports in 3 countries, all busy container and bulk loading ports. There were NO ships anchored offshore waiting to unload. Ships that tied up by 8-9 AM were unloaded by 2-3 PM, reloaded before midnight and off again. Makes me wonder what’s happening on the west coast.

As I said, it's California passing the law that only allows union truckers to move the freight.

I gather California now has plans to start fining all the ships anchored offshore, even though it's through California's incompetence that they're sitting idle. I feel sure the shipping companies would far rather their expensive ships were promptly unloaded and back at sea earning more revenue.

All of this nonsense will result in even more inflation, but maybe that's the reason behind this cluster.

Biden is on tv right now pitching his 1.75 trillion infrastructure plan. One of his selling points is that it will create a lot of good paying UNION jobs. Since most workers here are not union members, what’s in it for them? More pandering in progress………

As I've stated I'm open shop + have no use for the unions although I will concede that their inception was a good thing for the working man at the time. But then they got greedy. I have a good friend who HAD to be in the union when he was an engineer for Santa Fe railroad. Before the Carter/ Reagen election in 1980, they were all told in union hall that they HAD to vote for Carter.

Buy American instead.

I agree with that. But I recall hearing on Paul Harvey years ago that one guy said he wanted to buy American but couldn't decide on a Ford made in Mexico or a VW made in Pennsylvania.

Last I heard Corvette is the ONLY American made car.
Even that has probably changed by now.

Does anyone know of a study that determined what a imported product would cost if manufactured in the US of A

American made products don't get stuck on a ship!

Did not American spend $14 trillion building Afghanistan infrastructure?

And not a penny for American infrastructure.

Blaming truckers for the mis management of the American economy by our corrupt Political elites just shows the elites sure know their minions.

Propaganda changes with the times, but stupidity and gullibility are a constant.

quote:

Did not American spend $14 trillion building Afghanistan infrastructure?

Just imagine if our govt quit nation building for the rest of the world and invested our money into our own country.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:

quote:

Did not American spend $14 trillion building Afghanistan infrastructure?

Just imagine if our govt quit nation building for the rest of the world and invested our money into our own country.

Well, America voted out the guy who was doing that. American's believe in meddling in other's affairs, and spending money on those poor disadvantaged and oppressed people abroad.

Just read a story about a woman, Joy Wiebe, a trucker, who died when her truck flipped off the embankment of an Alaskan highway

This mom lost her life driving one of America’s most dangerous roads

https://nypost.com/2021/10/30/...ost-dangerous-roads/

I decided to take a look at the stretch of the Dalton Highway, near Franklin Buffs, where she died in the fog. It is a dirt road!

https://www.google.com/maps/@6...3D100!7i13312!8i6656

American can spend trillions sending little girls to school in Afghanistan, but can’t pave our highways! What is wrong with this picture?

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
As I said, it's California passing the law that only allows union truckers to move the freight.

AB 5 gummed up the works, was written too broadly perhaps to disguise it as something other than a union promotion.

It ended up screwing up a number of freelance gigs, and the successor Proposition 22 clarified its intent but didn't entirely unscrew the screwed.

quote:

American can spend trillions sending little girls to school in Afghanistan, but can’t pave our highways! What is wrong with this picture?

100% agree. I can tell you that those of us who grow and raise most of the food for the nation and world have the least amount of 'support' and infrastructure. I have virtually no cell service and zero broadband. <--- Pretty basic stuff for the 21st Century. We won't count, I reckon, until people get hungry.

Speaking of which, someone argued with me when I said there are no starving Americans anymore. Their claim was that there are LOTS of people getting 'welfare' handouts. I have yet to see a thin person in a food bank line (most look very well fed) let alone a skeletal American walking around due to no access to food assistance.

Ann, you're so right there! On the farmer issue that reminds me of the one about the Farmer that won the lottery + when asked what he was going to do with all the money, he said, "Well, I guess I'll keep farming until it's all gone."

All those complaining about rich truckers, or similar arguments, ought to get out there and become a trucker and find out why the industry can't keep them: Low pay and long hours.

I know many don't read, so I cut these sections from a recent WSJ, and this still may be too long, but the trucker shortage is not from the number of drivers with licenses, it is just that millions of ex truckers left the business because of the abuse!



Where Are All the Truck Drivers? Shortage Adds to Delivery Delays

Wall Street Journal Nov 2021

Many drivers are paid by the mile, and typically don’t get paid for the first two hours spent waiting to load or unload cargo. Even after that window, drivers often don’t routinely seek compensation from carriers or freight brokers for that time because they seldom get it, according to a 2020 survey by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. Any pay for time spent waiting is generally less than what drivers would make when their wheels are rolling

Now, truckers who used to wait a few hours to pick up or unload cargo sometimes sit as long as 12 hours, said Daniel Faircloth, chief executive of Surge Transportation Group LLC, a Dallas-based carrier with 75 trucks

The surge of freight has left port truckers who make those short runs tired and burned out, she said. As of September, import volumes at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were 25% higher year-to-date compared with the same period in 2020

Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the industry, said that trucking’s hiring challenges largely stem from a labor model that churns through inexperienced drivers. “There is absolutely not a shortage of people licensed and trained to do that job,” Mr. Viscelli said. “The industry has burned so many of them that they left.

In California, more than 468,000 people hold Class A commercial driver’s licenses, allowing them to operate vehicles including heavy duty trucks and tractor-trailers, according to June data from the state’s department of motor vehicles. Mr. Viscelli estimated that less than half that number are working in jobs in the state requiring that license, and said nationally there are millions more people certified as commercial drivers than are currently working as truckers. “If we wanted to add capacity quickly,” he said, “the big question is how to get people to come back?

By the way, the job ruins your body. A man I know took a long haul job before COVID, used to tell me about the stress and hell he went through, and quit when he had a stroke!.

So, complainers, get out there, get your certificate, and see why the industry burns through drivers!

My friend for years, Harry finally bought his own truck + worked as long haul for several years. He loaned it to a buddy to make a run + he totaled it out. Fortune smiled as insurance paid off the truck + Harry's eyesight was failing, he got to retire (against his wishes) but it was all for the good. Slamfire, my point being was not the amount of the indy truckers willing to work but the Cal. laws refusing them the privilege. THAT is where the problem lies.

Who's claiming/complaining about 'rich' truck drivers?

The one exeption to that that I know of was in the early 80s 'Texas Crushed Stone' + 'Georgetown Railroad' both owned by the same man also owned all the land (about 14 miles) between !- 35 + HWY 183. He paid to put in HWY 1431 joining the 2 HWYs with the caveat that upon completion he would turn it over to the state of Texas but until then it was still private property, thus allowing truckers to work all the hours they wanted + any weights they wanted to haul. DPS couldn't touch them as long as they stayed on Sneed's property. Some of those guys made a killing.