Letter to the Editor
Freight surcharges
Published Sunday, November 30, 2008
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To the editor:
I have an observation. I was wondering why, if fuel prices are going down, the local air carriers still are charging the huge increases in freight and passenger service. Freight from Fairbanks to our community is $2 a pound.
Now tell me why is there a mass exodus out of rural Alaska? Yes, the price of fuel, groceries, electricity, but most of the goods that have to come to the Bush, have to come by airplane. So where are the price cuts for those services if the price of fuel is half as much as it was in June?
Community Discussion
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Sisters! Brothers! we have as Indians and brothers, again! we believe we have love! God bless you all!
Pete
Skip the middle stations. Contact (e-mail) governor Palin's office and you will suredly get an answer of some sort..................
Let the stuff come down hill............
Why are the freight charges still high? Greed and because they can! When was the last time you saw the price come down on anything? Also, what are your options? They have "captive customers, sorry to say.
Just hope that the mail doesn't decide to close down small rural Alaska communities in order to save money.
I agree with Mr. Jerue. My family and I don't live in the bush anymore. But we used to. He is correct. Prices shoot up on everything with the price of shipping, and then they never come down when those costs ease. Greed? Probably. Captive customers? Most definately. But none of that makes it right, or OK.
I've a question along the same lines....now that the airlines are paying only half what they were a few short months ago, I wonder if they plan to repeal at least half of all their new charges for baggage and whatnot. 10 yrs ago I flew RT to Seattle for $180 bucks and everything aside from booze was free. Now I pay nearly $800 and half expect to get charged a quarter for so much as a kleenex.
I recently flew to Barrow and was shocked that the RT fare was $620 while a similar distance from Seattle was $99 RT. It real simple, lack of competition. In the lower 48 there are a dozen competitors while in Alaska we have one option. Are they making up for losses in the lower 48 by charging Alaskans more? You bet they are. It's the American way and we see it playing out from the airlines and refineries all the way down to the wood cutters who are now charging more for firewood than it would cost for heating oil.
the freight price must not be tied into the cost of aviation fuel cost in Fairbanks,cause the increases just seem do stay increase without dropping along like the fuel cost.
with the cost of freight it will be a little to give this season.and will have to keep our houses warm for the Holidays.
Cuz, all the freight companies are used to collecting the money.. Kinda hard to reduce prices, now. Just because fuel cost slowly go down, doesn't mean shipping costs should go down...lol
Maybe the Bush villages should stop padding the airlines wallets.......order your supplies, let them land and deliver, and then charge them a "take-off" fee. What goes around WILL eventually come around..Just find a way to stick it to THEM for a change!!!! Lets see how THEY like it. Yup, I live in Fairbanks but I am on your side!
There's ALOT of 'chiseling' going on, folks. How many businesses around here imposed "fuel surcharges" in the last couple of years, but have not removed them now that fuel prices have fallen? I won't name them, but I can think of a fuel oil distributor, a utility, a water deliverer, and a towing company all doing this. There are others I'm sure. And these are LOCAL businesses, not national chains. I'm thinking of deducting a "personal disgust fee" from some of my bills next month!
And how about this: anybody really checked out things they buy at the store lately? Cereal boxes have gotten so thin you can almost see through them. Some cans that used to be 16oz are now 15.25oz or some such nonsense. Seriously, who puts 15.25 oz of beans in can?! What'll they do next? Sneak into the Nat'l Institute of Standards and shave a little off the standard ounce? Anyways, Someone figures nobody else will notice that their soda bottle now sports a big plastic finger sticking up from the bottom of it. Hard to believe that plastic is actually cheaper by volume than an equal amount of water, bubbles and corn syrup, but I guess it is . . .
As for airlines, the fuel prices that were hurting them have fallen, but they won't drop any of the multiple sneaky fees they've imposed. What's next, a "Billing overcharge protection fee"?? Actually airline execs must be pretty smart: who else could convince so many people to actually PAY them to be tortured for hours in a flying fiberglass tube and then have their bags lost? Seriously, flight attendants, do you honestly EXPECT anyone to "enjoy their flight", or is that something you say just to 'twist the knife'? If so, at least you could wipe those pleasant smiles off your faces when you do it. . .
OK, I'm out of rant. But if you work at my power company, please be expecting my bill for two years worth of 'stamp and envelop fees'. Oh, and by the way, your bill is overdue so I'm afraid I'm gonna have to trash your credit rating. Please bend over and enjoy your flight.
Buy a plane, learn to fly it, move your own crap. Do you know what accounts for half the weight shipped to the bush, Anyone?
Pop.
Gouging pure and simple... If you want to brush it over with Political Correctness the thieves call it "wilderness tax" so it isn't seen for what it really is. LOL
If the native corporations were smart they would see this as an opportunity, not a disaster. This is an opportunity for the native corporations to come togeather form their own small airlines and operate at break even. This could also be an opportunity for very large procurement of fuel and the forming of their own barging business. I have only lived in the interior, but it looks like a situation that can be solved from within, instead of being victims.
Pretty good idea, Hairbrain!
.
Yeah, good idea, Hairbrain.
There is still a lot of gouging at the pump. Check out Nenana and Glenallen's prices. No reason for that. Same "held captive" mentality. I also agree that prices in the store haven't kept up with the cheaper gas prices. Some fuel surcharges are to give independant truckers an assist, as the contracts they're hauling for were agreed upon when the fuel prices were low, and they'd go under.
THEN you'd see some price jumps when the big companies took over and monopolized.
The bush is lucky to have the service in the first place and the fuel is a very minor part of the cost to operate aircraft. Every village has a public funded airport as well.
Beside, it's all free anyway so what does it matter what the published price is?
It takes a dedicated $25 million dollar aircraft to service Barrow and a permanent crew whereas the aircraft in the route system going to SEA have much more utility. It has nothing to do with competition because any carrier can fly to Barrow. Again, Barrow is lucky to even have the frequency of service that they do.
Wow! Ignorance IS bliss!!
What you folks fail to realise is that the price of gasoline doesn't have a darned thing to do with the fuel surcharge we're seeing at the moment as the planes and delivery semi-tractor trailers DON'T... I repeat.... DON'T run on regular unleaded gasoline!
Planes run on jet fuel and the tractors on diesel! The prices for both are still outrageously high and will be for some time to come... ergo, fuel surcharges!
The price for a gallon of diesel is still well above $4/gallon. This means that, although the cost of our regular unleaded fuel has dropped to a more comfortable level, getting the fuel we need to power jets and semis, up here, remains high....
Btw, you can thank Flint Hills for this, too! The cost to produce jet fuel and diesel is cheaper than gasoline, but they'd like you to believe the opposite. So, until Flint Hills comes clean about production costs.... we're not going to see these surcharges disappear anytime soon!
Pahoa, what you fail to realize is that the airlines are smarter than all us Alaskans. They buy their jet fuel at the Seattle price even though it is made locally. They are buying their expensive jet fuel today for $1.80 a gallon. See the chart at http://www.fairbanksgas.com/#pricechart if you don't believe me.
It is not about cost to produce, but rather how much the duopoly can raise prices without causing the state to enact new laws and regulation. Judging by the comments at the last legislative hearing they can raise prices a lot more before our legislature wakes up.
roadtrip:
Could it be your buddy, the devil's brew?
dog
Frontier is the worst. 2 weeks ago I flew to Kotz area and back, excess baggage charge alone, one way for 220 pounds was $670. I need it for my work so it can't go freight. Roadtrip is right, you should see what is on the planes into the villages SODA SODA SODA. The rural economy would improve overnight if folks switched to plain old water. The rates went up fast year, but have not gone down at all.
like someone said if you don't like the rates and think you can do better get a airplane and go into buisness. just rember the post office takes a lot of freight north even concrete blocks for a cheap price but in these ecomomic times i bet that will change.
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