America depends on trucks.
OTR (over the road) truckers are the number one way we move goods inside this nation, followed by rail freight, then more distantly by ship or barge, and even more distantly by air.
Many "big rig" or "18 wheeler" truckers are affiliated with major trucking company's like, Schnider National Lease (whom I almost went to work for, but got talked out of), and J.B. Hunt, Swift, loads of others.
But, many more truckers work as independents...they buy their own trucks, fuel, state permits, etc., out of their own pockets. And these men and women, are really starting to go under with the high cost of diesel fuel.
Truckers that were making $40,000 to $90,000 a year a short while ago, are now making as little as $20,000 to $40,000 a year, and showing either no profit or huge losses. Some truckers aren't even making $20,000, but are basically going bankrupt just trying to pay for diesel fuel.
New York state is notorious for its high taxes. Gas (petrol) in neighbouring New England states averages as much as 10 to 15 cents less a gallon, only because of lower taxes placed on that fuel.
(Which is why I often drove to my school in Vermont, from my home in the Adirondacks on a low tank of gas--so I could gas up in Vermont and save 10 cents on every dollar of fuel I pumped.)
Anyway, truckers were fed up with working hard and not having anything to show for it (oh boo-hoo, welcome to the low-wages club boys, have a ball.)
So, the truckers convoyed to my birthplace of Albany, NY, to march on the state capital building.
