Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Trucker Strike

Well its started! The Independent truckers are going to take a few days off.
They are stutting down their rigs in protest of the outrageous Fuel prices,
and who can blame them. Certainly not me, its just too bad that we cant all do it.
Everybody has to drive somewhere. We have to go to work, to school, to the grocery store, to the Doctor. There are so many places we have to go all the time.
Unless you live in a apartment in town a block away from everything, you have to have a car. Its sad really, What we have to have to get by these days.
Im not really old, but I can remember when going to Walmart was a MONTHLY treat. Now some people do it 3-4 times a week. The closest Walmart to me is 25 miles away, I dont go often, but there was a time when I thought nothing of loading up and going to Walmart just to pick up some non-essential item that I wanted right then. Now I hardly leave the house.
I dont have a job right now so I cant keep the roads hot, But I really have no desire to go anywhere. I guess you could say Im doing MY part in the strike process by staying home. I have to go to some of Sluggers ballgames, but I am averaging about $20 a week on gas in my SUV. Some times less depending on where the game is. DQ spends about $70 a week keeping the roads hot, but really most of it is going to school and work. Slugger spends about $25, going to school and ball practice.
Its amazing to think that when I had a Job I was driving 65 miles round trip to work and then I was spending about $100 a week on gas, and I was just going to work and back.
Now if I was still there I think it would be closer to $150 a week. I dont know whether to be happy Im not working or concerned cause Im not.
The place I worked was not one I chose, rather I was transfered there from another store and it was only supposed to be for a year. Well that turned into to a permenant transfer, (against my wishes) and I finally left. But if I had of stayed on I think I would of had to bought a car cheaper on gas.
But I have gotton off subject, This trucker strike could be a good thing or a bad thing. It could really go either way. I think its the little people who are getting hurt the most by the gas prices and the little people will be hurt by truckers not buying their gas. Of course the independent truckers really cant afford to shut their trucks down for long, but they cant afford to pay these prices either.
So I guess if they shut down for a week, Maybe it will make a big enough impact to be worth it. But they have done it before and it only worked for a little while.
Sad thing is, the trucking companies are not participating in this strike, so its up to the little guys to pull this off. So all we can do is wait and see what kind of effect this will have.
Tune in for more updates.

1 comment:

Daphne said...

I'm hoping it will have a good effect. But Just like your point, people Have to have gasoline/fuel, so the oil companies are more than likely not gonna change. They know we will still come back and get gas. Nobody is walking as far as we have to travel nowadays.