What On Earth Are We Doing With All This Over Regulation in the Transportation Sector?
Not long ago, I was talking with a contractor that had a business
at one of the ports in California. His company is not a large company,
actually it's a rather small one, but it does have Specialty Equipment
allowing them to move freight around the harbor and the port, including
giant forklifts that can pick up a cargo container. The amount of
incessant overregulation has cost him millions of dollars over the
years, and just when he has everything he needs to do the job and stay
within the bounds of the rules, new regulations are put forth.
This starts the process all over again, and therefore he has to sell the equipment the company has, and buy new equipment even though he is still depreciating and paying off the old equipment which may only be a few years old. Perhaps you've read out in California how the Los Angeles area ports are under new mandates to help clean up the air. They've come up with all kinds of brilliant solutions, but the solutions cost a tremendous amount of money. You might think that it is worth it to clean up the air, and for the most part I understand your thinking there, and it's not that I am not an environmentalist, but I am a realist.
If they have to cease operations, buy a new piece of equipment, and have it ready and operating by the time these laws go into effect, they have no choice but to pass those costs onto their customers. Those customers charge their customers, and this increases the price to ship all the goods into the stores. Therefore it is almost like a wholesale tax on everything you buy that comes from foreign shores. Yes, there are economies of scale, and so it's just a little bit of money for each item you might purchase, perhaps even negligible, but remember he's only one company. What about all the other companies in the supply chain - it is cumulative.
What about all the independent truck drivers who were forced to buy brand-new trucks with brand-new engines so they can comply with the new standards required for them to drive into the port and pick up a cargo container and drive it out again? The unions want all the cargo to be driven out of the port by a unionized trucking company. Therefore they lobbied to put forth more rules and restrictions to put the little guy out of business, those owner operators who can't afford to buy a new truck every other year, as the rules and regulations for emissions tighten lose their livelihoods and we all have to pay more money. Please consider all this and think on it.
This starts the process all over again, and therefore he has to sell the equipment the company has, and buy new equipment even though he is still depreciating and paying off the old equipment which may only be a few years old. Perhaps you've read out in California how the Los Angeles area ports are under new mandates to help clean up the air. They've come up with all kinds of brilliant solutions, but the solutions cost a tremendous amount of money. You might think that it is worth it to clean up the air, and for the most part I understand your thinking there, and it's not that I am not an environmentalist, but I am a realist.
If they have to cease operations, buy a new piece of equipment, and have it ready and operating by the time these laws go into effect, they have no choice but to pass those costs onto their customers. Those customers charge their customers, and this increases the price to ship all the goods into the stores. Therefore it is almost like a wholesale tax on everything you buy that comes from foreign shores. Yes, there are economies of scale, and so it's just a little bit of money for each item you might purchase, perhaps even negligible, but remember he's only one company. What about all the other companies in the supply chain - it is cumulative.
What about all the independent truck drivers who were forced to buy brand-new trucks with brand-new engines so they can comply with the new standards required for them to drive into the port and pick up a cargo container and drive it out again? The unions want all the cargo to be driven out of the port by a unionized trucking company. Therefore they lobbied to put forth more rules and restrictions to put the little guy out of business, those owner operators who can't afford to buy a new truck every other year, as the rules and regulations for emissions tighten lose their livelihoods and we all have to pay more money. Please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Trucking Topics. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net
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