called a regular customer to see if he had work but he is working for his family, he said i should work cheep to get some business so i related the out of town charge of $400- for twenty yards. my friend went to the same place to do five yards for $300- so i feel fine about the rates. so yesterday i did seven yards for $200- and put $40- into the truck for that job and $60- into my regular truck that was getting worked on because i had to left the pump at the job and had to go back to get it. so today after i burnt all the fuel in the car last weekend i put $60- in it. so instead of workin to pay for the pump iam working for fuel so that i can stay home. that makes for a tidy profit

 BigDog

The second you adjust your FSC and/or travel charges etc, there will be a competitor's salesman foaming at the mouth to pull the rug out from under you.  Sad but true.

It's like watching the airlines' fares get lower and lower, to the point that fuel prices will sink the company.  They have no one to blame but themselves...just like us...

fuel costs has already weeded out the weaker companies, along with a slowing res. market. You should be afraid of raising any prices for now. When work picks back up we should all raise our prices. There are a few BIG companies that are even feeling the sting of today's economy. Luckily the company I work for is staying fairly busy. Some companies are even willing to do a certain job in exchange for future work. So I am sure raising rates at this time is not a good call. Patience is the key word here. The building market will once again thrive. It might be a few yrs but it will. Fuel costs might plateau at its current rate but I doubt they will come down much. Oil guru's are too happy with their record profits to be considerate to the world.

Bri,

The sad part is that patience does not feed the dog. The word in the financial community seems to be that this slowdown is just getting started. There are still parts of the country that have not seen much ... yet.

People keep talking about "after the election" like that will change anything.

My group of corrupt politicians won't do any better than your group. This is the banks and markets taking advantage of 'holes' in the banking regulations. It will take time to iron its self out.

And oh, by the way, fuel is killing everyone.

You can go out of business slow or go fast. Or you could act like business men and stop giving away your services.

IMHO

survivors are companies with equip. paid for. When the machine goes out it makes money or breaks even. The slowdown will retreat eventually if the green ppl get their heads out of their butts and drill here we will evolve into an independent country. We the US need to be reliant on our own resources. We do have them but ppl are scared to utilize what we have. Now is the time to do what we can. The Arab ppl are laughing at the US. If we disregard the hippo ass ppl saying no to drilling we can once again thrive as a nation. I am sick and tired of ppl protesting about helping our nation be all green. When they pay 10 dollars a gallon for deisel fuel they would have a change of heart. Remeber most these ppl against finding our own resources are already rich and do not feel the effects of the fuel costs. Damnit US lets GIT-R-Done and step up to the plate---"I am not a smart man but I do know how to pump concrete."..........Famous qoute by the Late Danny "Big Daddy "White

Bri,

I zapped your last post because it was a personal attack. Please do not be upset.

We are all in this together. ;~)

Not mad Bob. But my ventinig was so TRUE and I earned the right to voice what happend.

The thing has been driving me crazy about this drilling debate -- everyone seems to assume that if we drill for oil in the US, that we will get the oil. And hence, we won't be dependent on foreign oil anymore. But we won't get anything, Exxon-Mobil will.

The oil that comes from that drilling will not be United States property (Republicans aren't suggesting we nationalize the oil companies, are they?). It will be the property of whichever oil company got the rights to that contract. They can then sell it to whoever they like -- and they will. They will sell it on the world market, so the Chinese will have just as much access to the oil that comes out of the coast of Florida as we will.

The Democrats have done a decent job of beating back the argument that this will effect prices in the short run, or even in the long run. But no one has addressed the point above. The Republicans make it seem like we won't be dependent on foreign oil -- and that prices will go down in the US -- if we have our own oil. But it won't be ours. And it will be sold on the world market, so its effect on global oil prices will be even smaller.

When we ask the question of whether there should be drilling off the coast of Florida or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should ask the question this way -- would you be comfortable with the Chinese or the Germans or Russians or the Saudis drilling on American land? Because for all intents and purposes, they will be.

Large multi-national firms like Exxon-Mobil are not US property. They sell to the world and their allegiance is to corporate profits. So, when they drill, they drill for the whole world, not just us. Some might find that heart-warming, but it certainly has nothing to do with the US having more oil or lower prices.

Above post by:

Cenk Uygur

Just think about it ;~)