I idisagree Sheepdancer....these are US companies taking advantage of cheaper freight costs. So a company from Mass will now be able to bring freight in from Mexico at Mexican (not US) freight rates. And YES...this is different from Canadians in that the pay scale for Canadian drivers is more on a par with the US so there won't be a huge incentive for US companies to "run for the border" with Canada.

This will also fuel an increase in the Maquiladoras...ie the US companies that set up manufacturing operations just over the border to take advantage of cheap Mexican labor. NOW they will also benefit from having Mexican carriers (and drivers) haul the product anywhere in the US that they want to. Plus they will get backhaul privileges to take loads back to Near?) the border.

AND...they will increase International port facilities just over the border in Mexico because of the cheap dockworkers and now they can haul that offloaded freight anywhere in the US.

This will serve to eliminate US driver jobs and drive down rates.

I agree that if you are a driver and you are 100% running freight from wherever to the border, you probably are eventually going to have to look for something else in the industry to do. However, 99% of the freight in this country doesnt run to the border.
Ok lets look at this.....say out of the millions of drivers in this country 1% of those drivers consistantly run freight to the border. That 1% will probably need to move to another run in the industry. At the same time because companies using the mexican drivers to run freight to the border are showing a lot more profit, the pay for 99% will go up. HIGHER PROFITS ARE GOOD FOR EVERYONE WHO WORKS FOR A COMPANY.
Profits are the reason any of us have jobs anyway. Lack of profit is why people lose jobs.
You know when companies started using the rails more for border freight many drivers said the same things they are saying now. We at JB use the rails more than any other trucking company. It didnt cause us to cut jobs or cut pay. In fact it created MORE jobs. It created MORE PROFIT and that benefits EVERYONE including the drivers.

Here's the issue you don't understand since you are NOT a driver. A very large percentage of freight comes out of Laredo, El Paso and San Diego. There a several harbors in Mexico that are being expanded to route container traffic away from L.A., Seattle, etc.

The reasoning is it's cheaper for shippers to run those containers in Mexican harbors(workers earn a lot less) and then move that freight over Mexican rail and trucks.

Another problem is companies moving their manufacturing south too. So again they can produce products with cheap labor and now can move it anywhere in the U.S. with cheap drivers.

I don't think some people have put a whole lot of thought into just how much this will affect American drivers. You just believe what the government and big corporate America tells you.

SD, ask your OTR drivers how many times a month the go to Laredo or El Paso to pick up or drop off loads. I think you'll be surprised.

No offense Sheepdancer, but I doubt seriously if the "excess" profits derived from the 1%, will be passed in its entireity to the 99%. The company has the intial expense to recapture, then upper level stock options and bonuses. Then the everyday increases in benefits cost, insurance, maintanence, fuel etc., and count in for inflation, after, or IF, any of the 1% is left over, then that amount can be passed on to the 99%.
Granted it was many moons ago when I was a economics major, But I am having a difficult time understanding the new "globalism." This country has lost 3 MILLION manufacturing jobs since 2000. Please tell me how taking, say a 45K and year job with benefits, and shipping that job to another country, then having the taxpayer expense of retraining those displaced workers to have a 40K a year job with less benefits. Then take the 40K a year job, that is displaced again, retrain again, and now you have a 30K a year job with even less in benefits, how does this benefit the US economy overall?
Sorry, I degress, the the subject was, Mexicans. I think it is too early to tell overall, but I would venture a guess, that it doesn't look good long term for the American trucker trying to make a living. Or for new hires to enter the industry. But, if there are no Americans entering the industry, then corporations will say that they hire the Mexicans because no American will do the job. Wait, this is beginning to sound like a broken record.
My apologies, having trouble understanding again. Didn't mean to hijack the forum.

Losing manufacturing jobs isnt always a bad thing. In a tech age machines replace a lot of manual jobs of the past. Also manufacturing jobs are lost because there is no need any longer for what they are manufacuring. Example: Think about all the typewriter manufacurers who lost their jobs in the early 80s. I dont think anyone would argue that we should have done something to save the jobs of the poor typewriter manufacturers.
Which kind of segways into the other portion of your post. You say that this will hurt trucking "long term". How much longer do you think truck driving is going to be around? Its only been around for 100 or so years...do you honestly think it will be around in 100, 50, or 30 years.....
Im a technology buff, Im always reading and researching new technologies. Ive seen things that are only 10-15 years away that will make semi trucks hauling cross country pretty much obsolete. Personally, I believe that in 25-30 years you wont see a demand for OTR drivers at all. It will be replaced with something more high tech. Really when you think about it, if you were to have told typerwriter manufactures in 1970 that they would no longer be needed in 1985 because people would have computers in their homes, most of those people would have said that you were crazy.
Personally if I were a young person just starting out and looking at a life long carreer choice in truck driving, I would be watching the technology closely and perhaps constantly training myself for higher tech jobs.
I really feel that the days of someone being able to come into this industry and being a driver for 35-40 years is gone. One that same note, I dont think my sons will be able to follow in my footsteps either and be a great driver recruiter like their daddy... :lol:

Of course technology advances will always replace other ways of doing things. But generally speaking, it is a more "paced" evolution. But with high tech also comes high speed. Faster changes. If you are replacing those jobs with equal or greater paying jobs, then that is definately a good thing.
My reference was more to the "flight" of jobs out of our country, to overseas locations. This is done to simply to lower manufacturing costs. The jobs weren't lost to technology. But you would think also that prices would be lower also, especially considering the companies relocating are given tax breaks for the constuction of the new manufacturing plants in the foreign country, tax breaks for costs pertaining to the closing their American plants and liberal tariff structures to allow those very same products back in the US. Of course the biggie is maybe the taxation on corporate profits derived from foreign operations. You would think these companies could or would increase their measly dividends (if any) to their sharholders at least. But these days it seems most of the "excess" profits are eaten up at the top level of management thru stock options and generous "retirement" benefits.
But I am certain you are correct, you are far more knowledgable than I, maybe another good 5 years as a driver?

Mexico can't compete with China for cheap labor anymore. It took so long for NAFTA to be implemented that the cheap labor moved on.

PackRatTDI:
Your correct, the $1.00 per hour has lost out to the $.05 cents per hour!

You're just drooling over the prospects of recruiting 50,000 new drivers to work for $0.19 a mile for your master JB, you anti-American evil goat sucker!

ˇSolamente estás babeando mientras piensas en reclutando a 50.000 conductores nuevos para trabajar por $0,19 por milla para tu maestro JB, tu chupacabras antiestadounidense!

(Is this way past too far yet? I hope so, because I'm bored with this, Sheepdancer.)

I pretty much agree with Sheepdancer, the subject is being reintroduced and rehashed over and over on a daily basis.
Just keep your eyes open and hope for the best. Remember the elections are in 2008. You can make it a issue if you want.
Heres a article from newsmax.com . Copy and paste.

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/mex...mo_code=39A5-1