I’ve been reading different stories about the price of fuel and what it’s costing the trucking industry. Then I got to thinking about why it’s costing the truckers so much and I’ve come up with this. It has nothing to do with the oil producing nations, or the oil companies. It has to do with how we run our businesses. Some may disagree with me, but after 27+ years I know service has everything to do with making a profit or closing the doors.
Trucking is based on service, short sweet and simple, so if you provide excellent service then your customer’s will pay the fuel surcharge. Sure they’ll grumble but the bottom line is if they want to stay in business and meet their customers demands and fill the orders then they have to move the loads. Some may get angry and go to another company that offers to haul it for a cheaper price, but as we all know we get what we pay for. Service is ALL the trucking industry has to offer, and we have to provide the best service in order to justify our rates and the fuel surcharges.
The problem as I see it is the companies have either been keeping either part or the entire fuel surcharge or not asking for one because they know that they haven’t provided the service that would give them a legitimate reason backed up by facts to ask and receive one.
If they are getting paid the fuel surcharge they aren’t passing it in full on to the truckers. Which leads me to this question, why aren’t the truckers looking at the companies books to see what they were actually paid?
By law truckers have the right to see what the customers are billed on each load that they have transported even one foot. The laws on leasing states that anyone that is leased to a company has the right to see the books and invoices that were sent to and paid by the shipper during regular business hours.
If the trucking companies were paid a fuel surcharge as a part of the payment of any load then the trucker should have been paid for it. Why aren’t the truckers asking the shippers themselves if they are paying a fuel surcharge and how much? I doubt seriously that the shippers are going to be happy about being charged for something that isn’t getting to the people that it’s intended for. Why aren’t the truckers filing charges when they see that the companies are being paid the fuel surcharge and they aren’t?
Unless it’s written in the lease specifically, that the fuel surcharge won’t be passed on in full then the trucker are supposed to be paid at least a percentage of the fuel surcharge. Of course anyone that agrees to a lease that has that in it should be out of business.
I guess the best way to put it is that if you don’t know what your lease says, get it out and read it. Have the guts to ask to see the books and supporting documentation on each load that you’ve hauled. Chances are that if you find one load that you haven’t been paid correctly for then it’s almost a sure thing you haven’t been paid correctly for more than that load and more than likely it’s not just you that hasn’t been paid correctly.
Tags: Truckers Fuel Leases Expenses
