Gas Prices

As a company truck driver, I've got a rather uniquely selfish spin on gasoline prices. Let me explain.

I'm only home a few days a month to drive my own personal vehicles. Therefore, I'm not burning much gasoline. When I put gas in my pickup or motorcycle, I ignore the pump prices. I'm not making a point to run to Wal-mart to save .03 cents per gallon. It's a waste of my time and effort. So from a personal standpoint, the price at the pump I have to pay is irrelevant. I'm buying and consuming more many gallons of soda each month than I do gallons of gasoline.

The trucking company I drive for is certainly directly impacted by high diesel fuel prices, which can be bad for them. Some companies will be driven out of business directly due to increased fuel prices. On the other hand, our country literally DEPENDS on the trucks to keep rolling to deliver goods and services. If the company I drive for goes out of business, there will be plenty of driving jobs available to take their place as long as our country is still a functioning country. It becomes an issue of company management. If the people in charge failed to manage things properly, it would force me to change jobs, but I'll still have a job, regardless. Over-the-road trucking is a job that many people refuse to do even in bad economies.

Even so, there's an even more selfish way for me to look at high gas prices. When the gas prices are driven higher, it tends to cut back on traffic on the highways. Normally by summer many of the nation's Interstate highways are clogged with air-headed vacation drivers that I have to share the road with. With increased prices, it forces a decrease in traffic, which actually makes my job easier. How's that for a selfish way of looking at high gas prices?

The sad fact is that there are more clueless people with drivers licenses than you can shake a stick at. Anything to get them off the roads is a positive development. I'm not against people driving, but there are far too many people who simply don't seem to have a clue about basic physics when it comes to vehicles.