I got it, that why i said about "apples". You didn't want to compare American wages and Mexican....did you?

 

Ah senoir i comprendey now!

 

IMO, comparing Europe to North America os not apples tp apples. Average length of haul has got to be waaaaaay, lower than here.

 

I meant cost and quality of living...not trucking.

 

Oh, OK.

But, measured as a percentage of income, I bet Europeans spend less money on fuel than we do...even with the higher prices.

Winter produce is picked in Leamington, ON and 9 hours later they are on shelves in Montreal, 500 miles away. This happens every day. I wonder if the Euros have to go so far for a tomato.

 

The reason some countries have cheaper diesel is because they can produce all of their own supply, and they also have state oil companies.

Look at it this way, the major oil companies profits are 8% of their income.

At 4.00 a gallon, take 8% off, that's their cost!

 

I was gonna laugh at you...but you are being serious..so I won't.

Just wondering...why did you post the price of fuel in Europe...but fail to post the taxes that are the largest portion of the cost of fuel in Europe??

Oil cost's the same, whether it is delivered in Europe or America. Refining cost's are close to the same, with the largest difference being taxes.

Taxes on a gallon of fuel in America run UNDER $1.00 per gallon. Based on the US dollar, taxes in most European countries are running at $4.35 per gallon and up.


As for the percentage of profit an oil company receives on a gallon of fuel...that is a well diluted mystery......for a reason.

 

The absurdly low price paid by consumers in places like Venezuela is due to government subsidies.

 

Gents... I feel I need to wade in here...

Up here, in Western Canada, we are paying an average of $1/litre of fuel, which is pretty close to $4/gallon. I live in Alberta, we produce more oil than Saudi Arabia, matter of fact we EXPORT a great deal of our oil to YOU!

What I can't figure out... you guys down there are paying roughly what we pay for fuel, but why are your rate so much lower?? I work for an LTL carrier that runs the North... As most of you know I run in the Arctic, & fuel is extremely high there. Now I have seen many of you bash lease operators, personally I don't really know what the difference is, we all own our trucks right? Well, except for theose poor guys on the company "never never" plans. Up here there are very few what I would term as independents. Why? Well, for one it is very hard to get an operating authority, & insurance rates are prohibitave if you have just one or two trucks... for instance, if I tried to get my own authority I would have a mirade of hoops to jump through(I have checked) & my insurance would nearly double.

The company I am leased onto treats me well, my fuel is capped at 1/3 of the posted price (FSC in a round about way) my insurance is based on the miles I run (and I run alot of them) about $800/month, the company pays for my plates & WCB, I have benefits & senority, and I get a safety bonus at the end of each year. I'm not sure I want to post my mileage rates, because I am not sure anyone will believe me, but, I suppose in the interest of full disclosure I will... My rates start at 1.30/mile for 5 axles, which I do about 5% of the time, and that is the rate I get if I have to bobtail somewhere, & it goes up to $1.70/mile for Rocky Mountain Doubles which I pull 95% of the time. I get the same rate whether I am loaded or empty. And being our HOS rules are slightly different I average about 16,000 miles/month. I have no complaints, we are busy...always.

So again I ask, what is wrong with being a lease operator? I have all the same responsibilities as the independents, but just a bit less of the headaches.

 

These stats are from 2004 for those that want to compare apples to apples.

Population:
UK 59,866,864
US 293,655,392

Land Area
UK 241,930 kilometers
US 9,158,960 kilometers

Average Miles Driven per capita
UK 7000
US 10,000

Car Ownership per 1000
UK 463
US 833

Average Miles per gallon (new car)
UK 37.83
US 24.6

The US has more vehicles per capita, more miles to travel to feed its masses, and has less fuel efficient vehicles. At 346 million gallons per day the US uses more fuel per day than the following countries combined:
Total fuel consumption per country (million gal/day)
Japan 41.8
China 35
Canada 27.6
Russia 24.1
Germany 24.1
Mexico 23.6
UK 18.7
Italy 14.5
Iran 14.1
Australia 13
France 11.3
Brazil 11.1
Saudi Arabia 10.7
Indonesia 1.1
Venezuela 9.5
India 7.4
Spain 7.4
Taiwan 7
S Africa 7
S Korea 6.7