In order to keep their trucks full and moving, independent truckers and small trucking companies often carry loads arranged by others who work as middlemen between shippers and truckers (or the independent owner-operator acts as an independent contractor with a trucking company).  Independents and small trucking companies in Wisconsin have told me that there are occasions where a fuel surcharge is added on the bill paid by the shipper - but this surcharge is sometime not passed on to the truckers who actually have to buy the fuel.

In normal circumstances this seems patently unfair, but in this day of $4.00-plus per gallon diesel fuel,  it is unconscionable that a fuel surcharge is being assessed but not passed on to the one actually paying the fuel bill.  I have been told by one of my constituents, who is an independent trucker facing bankruptcy, that this inequity contributed to his financial problems.  It’s not right, which is I why on April 30 I introduced H.R. 5934, the Trust in Reliable Understanding of Consumer Costs (TRUCC) Act, to make sure that fuel surcharges are passed on to serve their advertised purpose.

The trucking industry is made up primarily of small businesses, and there are also 325,000 independent owner-operators who collectively operate 525,000 trucks in the United States.  They are crucial to our economic vitality in delivering goods across the country, but are facing ever-increasing challenges in terms of regulation and costs.  The TRUCC Act is the least we can do to send the message and be clear that they should not be deprived of the payments they deserve.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Politics, Economy/Budget, Energy/Environment .