http://delawareonline.com/article/20090323/BUSINESS/903230312/1003 This part I find particularly interesting....... Since my retirement in 2004, I've been spending quite a bit of time operating and dispatching my son-in-laws trucking business and why my interest in this part. last year, we saw a pretty good bump in food prices, first blamed on the price of oil which was legit and later by the high shipping costs, not legit. OK, let me explaine this somewhat. This time last year, diesel fuel $3.75/gal (which later maxed out at near $5 during summer) and we got as high as $4100 to haul produce out of central FL to metro NJ. I admit that it mega bucks in the trucking industry but these rates are set by the shippers and only last during the "hot" season for FL growers. But the trouble here is that with such good rates like that, there are very few loads, if any, inbound to FL. but with rates like last year, you could actually afford to deadhead back down and still make out very well. Now fast forward to this year right now, fuel is <$2/gal. and the best rate likely to be had right now is $1600 and most are in the $12-1300 range. This does not make for a very good wage at all and don't even think about deadheading down to reload because you'll be losing $$ then. So, what does that mean? Well, for us, we're going in the other direction this year. You can't run a rig for a buck a mile and stay in biz very long. Anyway, my whole point to all this is that compared to last year, rates were high, prices went up because of it and this year, shipping/fuel is waaaay down yet there has been little downward movement, if any, in prices. So much for the supply and demand theory. it doesn't always work out like that, according to "Hoyle".
