Gas Prices: When Do You Complain?

[TLyttle]

The fact that everyone wants their stuff TODAY is where the freight hit is coming from. Shipping by rail is 1/10th the price, bu no one is going to wait for their stuff. So now it comes by truck, longhaul, by guys who are driving for below minimum hourly wage... unless they are on, shall we say, "other imports". Sure, it is faster, but since diesel became popular, the price will be what the market will bear, and the hell with ruining the country.

Europe has an elaborate and efficient rail system for both freight and passengers, and we are stuck in our cars... Ah, well, GM etc are making good money on their truck sales, and all is well in North America!

[why?]

Originally Posted by TLyttle

The fact that everyone wants their stuff TODAY is where the freight hit is coming from. Shipping by rail is 1/10th the price, bu no one is going to wait for their stuff. So now it comes by truck, longhaul, by guys who are driving for below minimum hourly wage... unless they are on, shall we say, "other imports". Sure, it is faster, but since diesel became popular, the price will be what the market will bear, and the hell with ruining the country.

Europe has an elaborate and efficient rail system for both freight and passengers, and we are stuck in our cars... Ah, well, GM etc are making good money on their truck sales, and all is well in North America!

Um, this is USA, not europe. There isn't a real rail station within 2 or 300 miles of where I live, probably more. And then it is passenger only. Rail is far too expensive to lay down in the USA. There is simply too much land. So yes, the cost of shipping by rail is cheap, the cost of laying it down is not.