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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 1, 2008 0:07:47 GMT -5
OUR COMPANY JUST MOTH BALLED OUR FLEET OF BULKER TANKS AND TRACTORS. WE WILL DEPEND ON BROKERS FOR OUR BULK CEMENT NOW. WE'RE BEING TOLD THAT IT'S NOT FROM THE LACK OF BUSINESS AS MUCH AS IT IS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS. $4.89/ GAL. FOR DIESEL HERE AND IT'S GOING UP.  THEY'VE GONE AS FAR AS TO TAKE OUT ALL THE COFFEE MAKERS FROM ALL THE PLANTS CAUSE THEY SAY WE DRINK TOO MUCH COFFEE  . IMAGINE THAT! A TRUCK DRIVER DRINKING TOO MUCH COFFEE  . HQ GAVE THE DRIVERS THE CHOICE OF DRIVING A MIXER OR LAY-OFF. THE RUMOR IS THAT OUR HEALTH BENEFIT PREMIUMS ARE NEXT.  I BELIEVE THE WITCH HUNT IS JUST BEGINNING
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Post by BillyCement on Jun 1, 2008 5:56:52 GMT -5
They've cut back on our OT. We used to work every Saturday (except in the winter) but now they just bring in whatever number of drivers they need. I think it's going to get worse. Last week I saw diesel fuel in Upstate NY for $5.19 a gallon.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 1, 2008 10:35:01 GMT -5
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gant
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Post by gant on Jun 1, 2008 11:00:03 GMT -5
we are all shutting our trucks off when we get back in the yard now.. before we would let them run all day.. but now if it sits more than 10 minutes it has to be shut off.. but since its starting to get hot.. most of the guys just stop their drum to keep their air conditioners going..and saturday work we've always just brought in whoever we needed.. hell i get called off on days we dont have alot going on.. or have a 9am start time..we are working without a contract right now.. the company is wanting to take away our overtime after 8 and make it after 40 and wanting to give us 40 cents..and then take 16 cents out for health and welfare when they have given everyother plant $1 like its nothing.. they said they cant afford it because the economy is bad blah blah blah.. us stupid drivers have to pay for the expensive ass gas and everything else going up as well..
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Post by lafargeslave on Jun 1, 2008 13:54:55 GMT -5
yep big companies are shaking too. They cancelled the anual employee picnic, laid off 99% of the mechanics, laid off a fair number of the drivers at the country plants. turn truck off after 5 minutes. our company bought millions of dollars of fuel contracts at a lower fixed price which was a good idea, but we burned through it faster than they predicted. then of coarse we start seeing a surge in business yet we dont have enough drivers now so we are travelling like crazy to support other plants. saw some bills from the dump truck companies that bring in our materials, they just write in an 8% surcharge on the total of the bill. fun fun fun. compitition is getting hit hard too. we got an entire bridge from a competitor due to bad quality. several underway buildings went bankrupt and shut down but lucky for us the competitors where pouring those. one competitor lost 22 million last year.
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Post by Crazy Mudder Trucker on Jun 1, 2008 14:16:06 GMT -5
The only cut backs i have seen here is with maintenance. The mechanics have been scaled to 8 hours day since october of last year. They were working 10-12 hrs a day. With 900 mixers out on the road you'd figure that would be the 2nd to last place to cut. There are lots of down trucks, stuff that needs to be fixed that has'nt, but yet we're still hiring and it's slow. We're having a lot of drivers from the desert come down to the LA plants for work. It has to get worse before it can get better it was I'm told.
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Post by dwfnga on Jun 1, 2008 17:20:25 GMT -5
We are hanging tight been shutting down truck since last year when not in use. All our plants are pretty close to each other and we are right next to the quarry so our fuel bill isn't nuts yet, and we have been getting lot's of work because we can sell for less $79 a yrd 3000 res. mix. We have also had a couple subdivision go under and a couple more are on hold can't wait for what ever is causing this mess to blow over. Good luck to everybody.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 1, 2008 18:08:57 GMT -5
OUR MECHANICS ARE GETTING THE BONE HERE TOO. OUR PLANT MAINTENANCE IS NON-EXISTENT. NOTHING IS TOUCHED UNTIL IT BREAKS DOWN NOW. WE HAVEN'T HAD A RAISE IN FOUR YEARS, YET WE'VE CONSISTENTLY SHOWED A PROFIT EVERY YEAR. HQ SAYS WE'RE LUCKY TO BE WORKING.....GRRRRRRRRRR  . THEY'VE CLOSED PLANTS AND TRANSFERED THE GOOD DRIVERS TO OUR PLANT AND THEIR SO CALLED "undesirables" TO PLANTS ON THE OTHER END OF THE UNIVERSE. THEN THEY STARVE THEM OUT ON HOURS.
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gant
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Post by gant on Jun 2, 2008 6:02:46 GMT -5
my company tells us in a meeting that the economy is bad and they cant give us a raise, but they have "confidentiality" papers signed to buy possibly 4 or 5 other companies out..
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Post by Mort on Jun 2, 2008 10:28:30 GMT -5
It hasn't gotten that bad up here yet. We've got a good fuel surcharge in our loads, so at least part of that is covered. We're a lot slower than we were last year, but that's to be expected. We're getting a bunch of new trucks to replace our old clunkers, so I'm thinking its not dire yet. I guess the only sign of the times is that they aren't replacing drivers that have quit recently, but we hired a bunch during winter, so we didn't need any in the first place.
Overall, I'm not worried. Hell, if I get laid off, at least I got a free CDL out of the deal. And there's always something else going on.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 2, 2008 20:59:47 GMT -5
IT'S ONLY MONDAY BUT THE SHIP SEEMS TO BE LISTING TO THE PORT SIDE A BIT MORE . IT APPEARS OUR BOYS DOWN AT THE RAIL YARD WILL ONLY WORK WHEN THERE'S RAIL CARS OF STONE COMING IN (which lately is only 3 days a week). IN THE PAST IT WAS NOTHING FOR THOSE NUT CASES TO PUT IN 65-70+ HRS A WEEK IN.
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Post by concretejoe on Jun 3, 2008 22:48:56 GMT -5
I think the whole scare about fuel costs is nonsense. I mean, figure it out. I usually use 35 gallons per day. Let's say fuel is $6/gallon. That's $210/day. I haul about 50 yards /day on average. That equals only $4.20/yard. The price of concrete has gone up more than that. I went through a class once where they figured out that the company was making just $1/yard profit. Yah, right. Call around. Get prices for materials. Figue it out. I was told once that the first 15 yards you deliver pay for your salary, the truck and the fuel for the week. Everything after that is profit. The companies are making bank, no matter what fuel prices do.
I do see things getting better only after the election. No matter who wins. Our economy is driven purely by the confidence of the consumers. A change in leadership will boost confidence. Will it be enough? I don't know. I honestly think we are headed for a depression.
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gant
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Post by gant on Jun 4, 2008 7:04:03 GMT -5
yeah our company says they arent making money.. blah blah blah.. fuel is killing them.. whenever fuel goes up they raise the price of the fuel surcharge..and they raise the haul charge.. we figured it up.. if we haul a 10 yard load the first 2 yards pays for the materials and everything and the last 8 yards on that load is profit..so they are making $700-800 profit per load..
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 4, 2008 19:55:26 GMT -5
MY TWO SONS WERE LAID-OFF INDEFINITELY TODAY ALONG WITH 4 MECHANICS AND SOME SALESMEN. TO TOP IT OFF THEY RAISED OUR HEALTH INSURANCE CO-PAY PREMIUM $30.00/WK. WHAT A CRAPPY DAY
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Post by oldsmith on Jun 5, 2008 18:48:54 GMT -5
We're not seeing any cutbacks at our plant. But who knows what the future holds. But sure we here the b*tch about fuel. I crunched the numbers today and with the fuel I used it came out to $1.87 per yard. That does not seem outrageous to me. But then you tack on the fuel surcharge which covered over half my fuel bill. Which would make it less than a $1 per yard. So I don't see what the big deal is ether.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 5, 2008 20:02:52 GMT -5
We're not seeing any cutbacks at our plant. But who knows what the future holds. But sure we here the b*tch about fuel. I crunched the numbers today and with the fuel I used it came out to $1.87 per yard. That does not seem outrageous to me. But then you tack on the fuel surcharge which covered over half my fuel bill. Which would make it less than a $1 per yard. So I don't see what the big deal is ether.  |
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Post by cfconcrete on Jun 6, 2008 21:00:38 GMT -5
Jeez, I'm sorry to hear your two boys got the axe.
Hopfully they'll pick up some work somewhere since they have a CDL.
We're not seeing cutbacks, but they sure are pulling in a penny with the fuel surcharge & delivery charge. And if it's not a municipal or big contractor job, there's no overtime, at all.
No more 7ams to 10 pms.......
Drive Safe
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Post by mixedupdiesel on Jun 7, 2008 10:46:04 GMT -5
even though the heat index has been 105+ all week, as soon as we step out of the cab coming back from a load, the truck is to be shut off, they are damn serious about it too, gave a guy three days off for leaving his truck running for several hours with the drum stopped.
In theory... Say the average diesel engine in these trucks uses a gallon an hour just idling (which is about average, some use more, some use less) If you cut out 4 hours of idling, you save 4 gallons of diesel per day, which at 5 per gallon, is $20, multiply that by 25 trucks (the # at our plant) and you save $500 per day. We have almost 500 mixers system-wide, and most of our plants do under 100 yards per day right now, which = lots of idle time for those.
So using the same assumption, you multiply the $20 by oh i dunno, say 475 since i know it's close to 500 trucks, but not quite 500 trucks (not counting the tanker divison)
so $20 multiplied.. by 475 trucks equals $9500 per DAY, in fuel SAVED. OK, so let's go by the month now. 9500 times 30.. whoa... $285,000 This is money saved, not money spent, just by not idling a truck for 4 hours a day.
For sh*ts and giggles I'll do how much fuel the truck actually uses. I typically use 20-25 gallons a day (which is about 120 miles give or take) in my truck, which is a mack with the 375hp motor. OK. 22.5 gallons times $5 per gallon. OK $112.50 times 25 trucks 2,812.50
Now let's do the whole system on $5 per gallon fuel, using an average of 22.5 gallons.
Oh good lord 112.50 times 475= $53437.50 PER DAY! Per month? $53,437.50 times... 30. $1,603,125 wow. just wow. I'm afraid to think abot the whole year, but might as well do it.
$1,603,125 times 12..... $19,237,500 That's insane.
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Post by dwfnga on Jun 7, 2008 18:10:38 GMT -5
MIXEDUPDIESEL you almost made my head explode but I see what your saying like I said earlier we have been shuting our trucks down since last year but I guess it's not enough we still didn't get a pay raise this year and boy we need one for the same reason they want us to shut down the truck "fuel prices" Everybody enjoy the summer and hopeful thing will pick up.
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Post by concretejoe on Jun 7, 2008 21:54:52 GMT -5
Mixedup, how many yards per year does the company do? What's the break down on trucks? I understand what your saying and I'm all for saving money when at all possible, but I just don't see where it's crisis status. The companies have raised the price of concrete enough to more than cover the rising fuel costs. I just don't buy the whole "we've all got to sacrifice" thing. The companies aren't sacrificing and the big cheeses aren't sacrificing. Generally when they say "We" they mean you and me, not them.
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Post by BillyCement on Jun 7, 2008 23:23:32 GMT -5
Mixedup, how many yards per year does the company do? What's the break down on trucks? I understand what your saying and I'm all for saving money when at all possible, but I just don't see where it's crisis status. The companies have raised the price of concrete enough to more than cover the rising fuel costs. I just don't buy the whole "we've all got to sacrifice" thing. The companies aren't sacrificing and the big cheeses aren't sacrificing. Generally when they say "We" they mean you and me, not them. . |
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Post by lafargeslave on Jun 8, 2008 8:33:26 GMT -5
well here is a new twist. I had seen and read the memo on the wall about 2008 goals and it didnt register. they are shooting for significant cuts in operations cost. well they dropped a bomb on us last week. downtown we are no longer allowed to go to the recycler to dump leftover concrete. The company decided to no longer pay the bill. we have about 40 trucks down town. now we have to go about 15 miles north to dump on a plant that has a large property. as pay per load this takes us way out of the way, especially due to traffic on the return trip. any gas savings we may have had is gone now due to hauling waste. plus it hits service as trucks just disappear for an hour or two. drivers are bent enough that if they get stuck making a dump run they just fart around as long as possible to effectively take the truck out of service. they may have stopped paying the bills for the land fills as well. we had a safety boot program that was going to start up, the type that has the boot truck come to the plant and the company was going to have a direct account with the vendor, but that disappeared and so did the boot allowance it was supposed to replace. I understand not wasting money, but taking away the dump locations?
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gant
Junior Member
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Post by gant on Jun 8, 2008 9:04:31 GMT -5
my company complains about fuel and everything, but every white hat "management" has a company car that they take home and drive wherever they want..
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Post by mixedupdiesel on Jun 8, 2008 11:13:10 GMT -5
All I was doing was putting the figures to the average amount of fuel we would use (I may be way off) I won't trying to back up what the companies are saying, but what I am trying to say is.
Here's the thing, at our company, over the winter we typically did 500-600 yards at our plant, fuel was right at $3.00 per gallon at the time, and now, that it's summertime, the "busy time" the economy sucks, all the big jobs are done, and there really isn't anything else being built. Friday, we had130 yards, and monday we have about 150. If they bring all of us in, and the trucks idle all day, taking 1 or 2 loads per truck, that is alot of fuel wasted that otherwise could have been saved. That's what I'm saying. This affects companies like Billycement works for more than it will big corporations like the company I work for. Granted, we're still family owned, and the owners (the chandlers) come through and see how things are going once or so a month.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 10, 2008 21:18:20 GMT -5
HQ PUT THE KA-BOSCH ON OUR QUALITY CONTROL DEPT. NOW QC BOYS ARE HOURLY AND THEY GOTTA LEAVE THEIR PICK UP TRUCKS AT THE QC SHOP INSTEAD OF DRIVING THEM HOME, WHICH WAS PART OF THEIR SALARY DEAL.... DRIVERS ARE BEING LET GO FOR (so they say) INSURANCE REASONS. OVER 4 POINTS AND YER HISTORY BABY!
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Tom
Junior Member
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Post by Tom on Jun 11, 2008 15:19:19 GMT -5
Interesting reading boys, it’s not that bad here………Yet.
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Post by concretejoe on Jun 12, 2008 19:22:40 GMT -5
Interesting reading boys, it’s not that bad here………Yet. How volatile has the fuel market been there? Are you seeing the massive percentage increases that we are? |
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Post by concretejoe on Jun 12, 2008 19:28:46 GMT -5
Mixedup,
I wasn't getting down on you. It's cool to sit back and figure costs like that. For fun, figure how much it costs the company a year to spend an extra 5 minutes washing down every load. I understand what you are saying. When yardage goes down, that is when you really need to mind your p's & q's. Because as Leaddog said that is when the witch hunt begins.
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Post by LEAD DOG on Jun 16, 2008 20:34:26 GMT -5
HQ STARVED TWO MORE DRIVERS INTO QUITTING TODAY . RANDOM DRUG TESTS FIRED TWO ALSO. A MAIN OFFICE SECRETARY AND A ORDER ENTRY GUY WAS ALSO LET GO FRIDAY . FROM 310 DRIVERS WE'RE DOWN TO 127. RUMOR HAS IT THAT ANYONE WITH TEN YEARS SENIORITY OR LESS WILL BE NEXT IF WORK DOESN'T PICK UP..... SO FAR IT ISN'T
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Post by cfconcrete on Jun 16, 2008 21:54:51 GMT -5
Jeez, it's that bad huh?
They have not let anyone go yet, but work is slower, the residental work is almost zero.
And there is no OT at all lately.
I've never seen it this bad either, not in 30 years.
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THEY'VE GONE AS FAR AS TO TAKE OUT ALL THE COFFEE MAKERS FROM ALL THE PLANTS CAUSE THEY SAY WE DRINK TOO MUCH COFFEE 
. IMAGINE THAT! A TRUCK DRIVER DRINKING TOO MUCH COFFEE 
. HQ GAVE THE DRIVERS THE CHOICE OF DRIVING A MIXER OR LAY-OFF. THE RUMOR IS THAT OUR HEALTH BENEFIT PREMIUMS ARE NEXT. 
I BELIEVE THE WITCH HUNT IS JUST BEGINNING 
! JEEPERS MR. WILSON 
. THEY'VE CLOSED PLANTS AND TRANSFERED THE GOOD DRIVERS TO OUR PLANT AND THEIR SO CALLED "undesirables" TO PLANTS ON THE OTHER END OF THE UNIVERSE. THEN THEY STARVE THEM OUT ON HOURS.
