Ahem...
Since I work for the largest Truck company in the world, which sells the
most trucks in the US and in Europe (Daimler/Chrysler/MB/Freightliner), I
can say that business is very bad right now. Large fleets can afford to NOT
run trucks when gas prices are high, but the indies cannot. They have
families to feed. Right now the default rate (At least in the US) for indies
is so high, that loans on trucks are at at least 25% interest (compare that
to your own car loan but add 100K 125,000$ * .25=31,000$/yr). A truck can do
a million miles (Sorry.. Alberto) in a year. Trucks measure mileage in terms
of a fraction, typically 1.1-1.7 MPG (Sorry.. Alberto). If the Indie gets
1.5 MPG, and he travels 500,000 Miles per year, thats 333,333 gallons a
year. If the price of gas goes up two cents, that 66,000$ US extra costs a
year. Taxes do put hard working individuals out of business, and it can
happen real fast.
We have see a massive glut of used trucks on the market. That, along with
Fleets not running trucks, which means they do not need new trucks, we are
in a massive slump.
So what does this do to Daimler/Chrysler/MB/Freightliner. Freightliner made
30 Bil$ in 2000. We expect to lose a Billion this year.
So for every 2 cents that is raised in new taxes in fuel, the Gov't can
expect 66,000$ extra from Joe Trucker. If he defaults on his loan, he goes
on welfare or state assistance, his truck is repo'ed and thousands of
dollars lost from the resale, Freightliner does not sell a new truck, due to
the used truck being back in the market unsold and not in use. Trucks are
used for only a few years. If a truck sits in a lot for a year, this
impacts us worse.
Costs for shipping increase, with there being less indies willing to carry,
and fleets holding back. This affects everyone! Your costs go up for
everything.
Our profit margins are extremely slim, about 2-5%, or about 5,000$ per
150,000$ sold. We sell in volume to make our money. I had a friend in the
gasoline station business, and he typically made .5-1 cent per gallon.
Trickle-down economics come into play extensively in the Transportation
industry. Gas taxes are really bad for any country.
Compare this government tax press release(
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/1996/fhw2196.htm ) in 1996 regarding reducing the
Tax Burden reporting on the trucking industry. From this point on to about
mid 2000, was the most prosperous time for Freightliner. The president of
Freightliner believes that the truck manufacturing industry is a reliable
indicator for the common health of the national economy. He believes that we
see downturns first, and are the first to recover. Is it any coincidence
that as soon as the country (US) sees bountiful tax revenues, that the
economy starts to tank. The dot-coms cannot be blamed for the downturn. You
could however speculate that a high tax revenue has a negative impact to the
economy, despite the government regulation that is supposed to bolster trade
(like fixing highways).
As far as the statement about getting part of the tax refunds back is true,
but not as much as you would think
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/////ohim/hs98/tables/mf2.pdf. Only .42% (That's less
than 1%) was refunded from taxable gas.
Nerd From Hell
