Yeah... but NOT on the 15th! :roll:

We're trying to run those stinking Kmarties out of business.... I think! :lol:

 

I must say...aside from the bickering between Iron & Sheep (which is pretty funny in and of itself), it has been interesting, seeing what some folks know...and think.

In my opinion...this mine...not somebody else's.... If the AMERICAN public wants to force the OIL companies to lower prices, then the AMERICAN public needs to curb their appetite for OIL. Having spent 16 years, working directly for a Major Oil company, I can tell you first hand, one day boycott's do not affect gasoline prices...especially in a downward trend. If anything, the evening of said boycott, the "Pricing Manager" for each marketing area of the Oil Companies, would increase prices, to compensate for the loses, caused by a boycott. Why you ask? Simple. Oil Company presidents are about one thing, and one thing only....SHAREHOLDER VALUE.
The President's of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Sunoco, RoyalDutch Shell, BP, Marathon, Ashland...and on down the list, understand, that the folks whom work at Walmart, in their (Oil Company operated) Convenience stores, at the mall kiosks, and on down the list, do not buy shares in Oil companies. They are not concerned with the monetary position of any single individual, or group of individuals, in this country, or any other country on the globe for that matter, except THEIR SHAREHOLDERS. To increase shareholder value, those presidents are willing to risk the IRE of the American Public, because they understand, that in the end...the American Public, will continue to buy their products, will increase the fortunes of their company...and make them a nice bonus doing it.

As for fuel economy...speed... kills fuel economy.

My 2001 International, is equipped with a 435/450 HP Cat C-15, with a 13 speed Roadranger transmission and 3.55 differentials.

At 75 mph, 1650 rpm's and 13th gear pulling a flatbed full of pipe, my truck averages 5.2 miles per gallon. (using the cruise control)

At 70 mph, 1600 rpm's and 13th gear, pulling the same flatbed, with the same type load, on cruise control, my truck averages 5.7 miles per gallon.

At 65 mph, 1550 rpm's and 13th gear, the truck gets 6.8 mpg.

I've learned this, by trial and error..setting the cruise at those speeds..and paying close attention to gallons of fuel consumed.

Next week, I start pulling tanker. I will be doing the same thing, once I am out working. I will be adjusting my speeds, and writing down numbers, so as to understand, what will give me my best fuel consumption...so that I may make a better profit, on the margins.

In my 2002 Durango...that sucker hasn't met a gas-station it didn't like.

 

Orangetxguy said:

Sorry, man. I ain't buying it!

1) You said, yourself, that the companies are all about shareholder returns (which equate to more money in their bonus pockets!) You said they would "simply" adjust the price up to counter ANY decrease in gasoline purchases! (I believe this would also apply to general lowering of demand.)

2) From what I can tell, by far the majority of Americans have restricted usage about as far as they can. Those who can afford to buy gas guzzling SUV's and take "pleasure trips" are gonna continue to do so. Those who can't are getting raped.

3) Notwithstanding the total lack of foresight and planning by the oil companies to build/maintain refinineries in this country, we all know that they simply maintain SOMEWHAT of a consistent profit margin over the cost of CRUDE.

4) The problem is the unreasonable increases in the cost of crude, and the government's total LACK of concern over it. I believe, if they really wanted to, their are economic pressures they could put on at least SOME of the producing nations to return to a reasonable level of crude prices... say $35 BBL. It's NOT costing THEM any more to produce the crude.)

5) To say that Americans are at fault, and should adjust their lifestyles, is to basically say the "economic terrorsts" have won!

6) As for your example of your 13 speed, apparently it doesn't apply to my 10 speed. My rpm's dont drop when I slow down. They drop at a higher gear.... which I CAN'T RUN at slower speeds.

I'm not saying there Isn't some neglibible difference in my fuel consumption since the company limited our trucks, but I still use the SAME mpg figure to plan my trips.... and I don't see much difference, except that I worry alot more about getting the same number of miles out of a tank.

 

Personally, I think sheep boy is full of $h!t. It seems like he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In my experience it has always been that working hard keeps you from getting promotions. Almost every place I have worked, from Mcd's to krogers to the engineering firms that all the lazy people got the promotions. Here's why, why do they want to promote the hard worker to a new position and loose thier abilities on the floor or wherever when they can promote the lazy person. There are other reasons but that sums alot of it up.

When I was working at Mcd's, Kroger and putting myself through collage, I watched them promote a guy to management who couldn't even run the grill properly, refused to clean the fry vats and when he worked assembly lossed more product on the table or floor than on the sandwiches. yet there were 4 or 5 other people there, including myself who could run the entire kitchen by ourselves.

I worked in the construction engineering field for around 10 years as a CAD draftsmen as well as an electrical design engineer. I worked my butt off to do the best possible job and was told by many a engineer that I was one of the best in the industry, yet do you want to know what it got me, it got me a job that paid me $18 an hour only working 15 hours a week. When I applied to about 20 companies only about 8 called back. Of those 8, 3 told me I was over-qualified and the rest offered me $12 hr or less. I was making that right out of collage.

Maybe it's personel pride but sheep boy sounds like he's nothing more than a yes man. Personally I wouldn't clean shit off the bathroom walls if I worked at wally world. NOw if I needed a job and the only job was cleaning shit off walls then you bet your ass I would take it but I otherwise no, I don't think so. And personelly, if I owned my own comapany and I was looking for a new manager the last person I would promote would be a yes man. I want people who can think for themselves, not a kiss ass. Oh yeah, sheep boy since you are willing to clean shit off walls, I know of a few truck stops that could use your help.

Now in some respects I do not blame anyone for my hardships, but in other respects I do. Remember the saying the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer"? Well that is as true today as it was yesterday. I have worked hard all my life and it has gotten me know where. I have come to relise that this is where I am supposed to be. It sucks but oh well. I am not a meterialistic person like sheep boy, I don't have cable, or a PDA or whatever else he listed, and I don't need any of that stuff. The only thing I have, that I do not need is the internet.

When I am on the road all I eat is cold cut sandwiches, twice a day. Maybe once a week I will eat a hot meal. Why, becouse I cannot afford it. I do what I do to survive. I have tried my hardest to make it but this is the best I could do. And this is with a collage education, a hardworking attitude and the will to succede. Do I blame the politicians? Yes, sometimes. Do I blame my employers? Yes, sometimes. Do I blame Americans? Yes for letting it get to the point where we have moved away from community and towords this mega corporation mentality. I also blame it on everyone having to have all those materialistic things. And yes I also blame myself for not falling into line with everyone else, and not really neading a lot of money to survive.

Now to the fuel prices. I think they are outragous. All's it's doing is making big oil richer and your average joe poorer. Like sheep boy said buy stock in big oil and you won't care either. It's that exact mentality that has ruined this country. I refuse to buy stock in an industry that I morally cannot support. I stand by my morals and ethics and would rather eat out of garbage cans than be like J.B. sheep boy.

He seems like nothing more than a yuppy, spoiled little give me, give me, I want, I want little child. Has to have all the latest toys and gadjets to fill some missing void in his life. I again will say it is people like him that has destroyed this once great country and made it nothing more than one big giant wally world.

Thank you sheep boy for your suggestions on how to be like you, but I would rather be poor. You keep working for one of the trucking industries biggest contributers to it's downfall and I will keep working on helping the littleman succeed. It's a tough and dirty war but in the end the little man will prevail.

Sorry to be so rude, I am just tired of people like you.

Oh and by the way, I ran from Joplin, mo to Springfield, Oh this week with 45,000 lbs in my 2000 volvo with a cummins 435 and got 6.1 mpg (not the greatest) but it was doing 75 mph. I have found that fuel mileage has a lot to do with how you drive not just speed, rpm and wind resistance.

 

I'm not going to address number 1. That's your opinion..as I have mine.

As for numbers 2 & 5; I'm going to lump them together here, as they are basicly the same area.
I'm not going to argue the fact that the "Poor" are hit hardest by high energy costs. Everyone knows full well that the are.
As for the SUV and 4X4 driver's. Why are there so many 4-wheel drive vehicles, in areas where they serve no usefull purpose? They are only a show of the mighty $$$$, and consume far to much gasoline, given their usefulness. Here where I live, you can drive by any of the plants in this area, and see more than a few Hummers, 4X4 Dually's, and other large SUV's, parked not only in company employee parking areas, but in contract employee parking as well. In this area, few "Road" 4x4's, go "Off-road". The same is true in California, Oregon, Washington...and other areas. So...those folks are "Part" of the problem. Their toys directly affect the Poor in this country.

Number 3; In the 80's and through the 90's, numerous refineries were dismantled nationwide, as part of the "Enviromental" appeasement process. It hasn't hurt the balance sheets of the Oil companies, for the simple reason that, when you can not manufacture enough product to meet demand, and the product you manufacture is vital to the prople whom use that product, where is the insentive to build more manufacturing capacity, when increased prices, due to demand, make you more profit? The very fact that you can not produce enough product, is a windfall too you. The only reason there are still refineries in Southern California and the Bay Area, is the population of those areas, and the lack of pipelines from east of the Rockies, into those areas. That is the only reason the "Enviromental" lobby hasn't had them closed down, that and most "Enviromentalist's" live in those areas..and want gasoline for their BMW's.
As for the consistancy of an oil company's profit margin..that is a "shell game" of major proportions.

Number4; The cost of crude..rather, the price of a barrel of crude, is directly related to supply and demand.
For the last 20 years, China has been building Railroad projects, Airports, and Highways, throughout the country. 20 years ago, few if any Chinese "Citizens" owned a car. Their primary mode of transportation was bicycle. Today, most Chinese huoseholds own a car, travel through out their provinces, just as Americans do, and they have cell phones and computers, just as Americans do. So...that means that China must have to buy crude oil...just as Amerca does.

In the early 80's, the Chinese Oil Ministry set out to expand oil production in China. SineOpec, their national Oil Company, even sent groups of people to the US, to observe drilling, work-over, and production methods, so as to begin that expansion. Around the time of the Teinamin (sp)Square massacre, that expansion was curtailed, and China began buying their crude on the open market, from the Middle East and from Russia.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles.
So...China affects the cost of our crude.

Someone will make the arguement that there is plenty of crude in Alaska. Yes and No. Yes..there are plentiful reserves in Alaska. But...How does it get from Alaska to the Gulf Coast or the east Coast, to the refineries? It is a long haul around South America, and the tankers that could haul it across the Panama Canal are to small. Will the Enviro-lobby allow more pipelines to be built, to carry crude across the country coast to coast? NO.

Maybe Woodey Harrelson is right...we need to make clothes out of hemp, not polyester. That would save oil. So would using cloth bags for shopping for groceries, instead of plastic bags. I don't see America giving up the use of plastic...do you?

The next big shock to our wallets, will be the "Alternative Fuels" push. DuPont and BP are working together right now, to make fuel out of plants..mainly soy beans and corn.

As for number 6; That was my truck pulling a flatbed. Each truck is spec'd a specific way. Each driver can and should figure out the way to attain that trucks best fuel mileage.

 

Wow, so much fun stuff here from jmilici....where do I start.


Well, I was raised in a very successful family, but I wouldnt call that being born with a silver spoon. What my parents gave me growing up was not money. They gave me the knowlege on how to be self supporting. They drilled into me that I am responsible for my successes and failures. They taught me how to work hard, and with hard work I would be rewarded.


That has to be the dumbest statement ever made on this board. Let me read it again to make sure I read it right......lazy people get promoted.....BWahahahahaha. Do you know what is really funny? You actually believe that.

Perhaps this is one of the many reasons you DONT own a company.
If you want to call doing what it takes to succeed being a "yes man", oh well. I have no problem doing anything my employers ask me to do. If today in the office my VP made an announcement saying that we have important customers coming in, the bathrooms are a mess and we cant find the cleaning girl. I would be the first to volenteer. Doing things like this is why i stand out in a company of 30,000. Doing things like this is why In a big company im not a number and even all the way up to the top of the corporation, they know who I am. And this is the reason if I ever get tired of recruiting, I can transfer to just about any position I want in corporate.


You say you dont blame anyone but then you go ahead and start blaming. Funny!
Do you know why the stay rich and the poor stay poor? CHOICES. The rich get richer because they keep making the same great choices that made them rich. The poor stay poor because they keep making the same stupid choices that made them poor. A good definition of insanity should be "Doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result"
As long as your OK eating out of garbage cans, THAT IS YOUR CHOICE. Personally, I choose to live differently.



My life has nothing to do with "GIVE ME" it has to do with "I EARN". I dont expect anything given to me. Yes, i love my toys and gadgets.
Do you know what the greatest right is in this country that our forefathers gave us? THE RIGHT TO PERSUE HAPPINESS. It doesnt say the right to be GIVEN happiness. You are OWED NOTHING in this country except your freedom to make choices. You are NOT owed a job, you EARN a job. You are not owed more pay...if you want more pay, you can EARN IT.


I dont want you to be like me, I want you to keep being you.

At least you admit that its a choice.



What downfall is that again? I see more trucks on the road than ever. Many trucking companies are turning a great profit. My JB hunt stock has been doing great. What downfall? You said you are a truck driver but cant afford anything. I know and talk to 1000s of drivers who are doing well in this industry, why arent you? Are they just better workers than you? Oh wait, I forgot about your theory.....those must be the LAZY drivers who are making all the money.





This is just WAY too good to pass up. How exactly are you helping the little man succeed. You dont have cable, how are you helping the little guy who instals cable. You dont go out to eat, how are you helping the little guy who waits tables? You dont buy toys and gadgets. How are you helping the truck driver who delievers those toys and gadgets.
Better yet, What advice would you give a little guy asking for financial advice? Because from what I get from your post it would be:

jmilici's plan for financial success.
1. Dont work hard, the lazy are the ones who get promoted and get raises.
2. Dont do anything your boss asks you to do, no one likes a "yes man"
3. Dont invest in successful companies, Investing is for morons.
4. You can live on two sandwhiches a day, dont set goals for something nice you might want to buy in the future.
Man, I tell you, that is some great advice for the "little guy". You should write a book. Let me ask you.....How is that working in your own life?
[/quote]

 

Actually SD that other guy is RIGHT I myself have seen it time after time were the people that KISSED THE BOSSES ASS were the ones that got promoted or were the ones kept those that refused were shown the door. (EDITED) I saw it happen at Millis transfer a few times we had one driver could not get anywere on time YET he was a TRAINER and got a new truck every year because he was always kissing ass. Yet another driver with 1.4 million accident free was always in a trade truck got crap loads and miles why he told (EDITED) where to go and how to get there he refused to play politics.

 

Once more as a friendly reminder, keep names out of your postings. This is a public message board and easily printed up. Being angry is one thing...specifically mentioning names can get you slapped with a libel suit and CAD doesn't wish to be involved in that. Thanks.

 

From Msnbc website:


I guess everyone in China bought their first automobile since Jan 5th of 2004, when prices were at about $33 bbl.

 

GH...msnbc is a great news organization, but they do not give all the information...heck...do news groups even give 50% of pertainent information?

Look at these numbers, from this site; http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/topworldtables3_4.html

Top World Oil Consumers, 2005*

Country Total Oil Consumption** (million barrels per day)

1) United States 20.7

2) China 6.9

3) Japan 5.4

4) Russia 2.8

5) Germany 2.6

6) India 2.6

7) Canada 2.3

8) Brazil 2.2

9) South Korea 2.2

10) Mexico 2.1

11) France 2.0

12) Saudi Arabia 2.0

**Table includes all countries that consumed 2 million bbl/d or more in 2005.

Top World Oil Net Importers, 2005*

Country Net Oil Imports (million barrels per day)

1) United States 12.4

2) Japan 5.2

3) China 3.1

4) Germany 2.4

5) South Korea 2.2

6) France 1.9

7) India 1.7

8) Italy 1.6

9) Spain 1.6

10) Taiwan 1.0

*Table includes all countries that imported at least 1 million bbl/d in 2005.

And..more information; I'm not cutting this table, just take a look at it, and see where various countries are, comparative to the United States. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb1110.html

To look at all the information, here is the main site;
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_top.asp

I've said it before. I worked for a Major Oil Company. No...I wasn't an executive..just a truckdriver, but the executives were always coming to town, to explain to us lowly drivers, "Why prices do what they do".

I also worked for a Major Oilwell Service Company. In 1983 I had the opportunity to travel to 2 countries. Portugal, to spend 3 weeks on an offshore platform, training operators on new equipment, and to Shanghia China, to spend 6 weeks, training operators there, on well servicing equipment. I could have gone to Inia in 1988..but I left that "Service" company, to go to work for that "Major".

No...the Chinese people didn't buy their cars in 2004. However, each year China uses more and more "Oil", and they get it from the same sources we do.