Replying to a message of TOM WALKER to BOB ACKLEY:

 BA>> Not all OTR drivers are Teamsters.  AFAIK there's been a critical
 BA>> shortage of OTR drivers for the past several years, although in
 BA>> recent months it's probably been alleviated by the high diesel
 BA>> prices that are driving trucks o the road.

 TW> HOW so. Before we had a shortage of Drivers NOW we have a shortage of
 TW> TRUCKS. I don't see musy "Alleviation" in that.

At the Glenwood exit on I-29, about 24 miles from where I'm sitting, is a fenced
area of several acres that is covered with semi tractors, several hundred of them.
All used and apparently in serviceable condition.  There are at least two used semi
dealers in the Omaha metro area that each have a couple of dozen tractors
on their lots.

IMO, the problem is not so much a shortage of trucks as it is a shortage of money
available to put diesel in them.  It costs the better part of a grand to
fill one up, once.

Many if not most indy truckers don't use credit cards at truck stops; they pay cash,
and carry (or at least they used to carry) sufficient cash with them for the whole
run.  That can amount to three or four grand today, and I would be very nervous
carrying that amount of cash with me.

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