I've been giving this some thought. Wolv, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
First, who is my competition? At the most, I'd have to limit that to anybody within one hundred miles of my location. That's "at the most". Beyond that, and there's not much chance the dispatcher would send me to chase the run anyway UNLESS IT MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE. Otherwise, somebody closer is more likely to get the run and I wouldn't be considered since I'm too far away.
Practically: the outfit I'm driving for at the moment has five vans, counting both CVs and Sprinters in that mix. I'm not in direct competition with the Sprinters since they can carry stuff that I can't. Further, we're in a rotation, so when I clean up from a run I go to the bottom of the list of drivers who are available and come up as loads come in. No direct competition there, really, either.
As far as helping another driver: Wolv, if you had been in position, would it have hurt you that bad to help them? Really? Are you as incredibly selfish as you're portraying yourself? As it is, you weren't in a position to do anything except reply to this thread. Neither was I as it happens, at the time this was going down I was near Richmond, VA. So, I couldn't help-- and in no conceivable way could they be considered "competition" to what I was doing or was likely to do. A quick look at the map shows several hundred miles between Richmond, VA and Bismark, AR--- so, how could they "compete" for any load I was likely to get??? In truth, neither you nor I had a horse in that race beyond offering preventive suggestions so that "next time" doesn't happen.
About the portable containers: I don't recommend carrying gasoline like this all the time. However, when someone asks you for help and it's within your reasonable ability to help, carrying a couple of gallons in an approved container for a few miles probably wouldn't put you out that much. Gas cans aren't that expensive that I would be that worried about the price-- and as far as explosion in case of an accident I usually have much more gas than that in the van's fuel tank. Think there's no chance that would rupture in a bad enough accident?
In the case we have in the OP, anybody who could have helped would have had to be in one of the stations Turtle mentioned. Remember we're talking a two-hour time window, after that the station they were at would open and they could buy gas there. That's probably what ended up happening unless somebody else helped them.
First, who is my competition? At the most, I'd have to limit that to anybody within one hundred miles of my location. That's "at the most". Beyond that, and there's not much chance the dispatcher would send me to chase the run anyway UNLESS IT MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE. Otherwise, somebody closer is more likely to get the run and I wouldn't be considered since I'm too far away.
Practically: the outfit I'm driving for at the moment has five vans, counting both CVs and Sprinters in that mix. I'm not in direct competition with the Sprinters since they can carry stuff that I can't. Further, we're in a rotation, so when I clean up from a run I go to the bottom of the list of drivers who are available and come up as loads come in. No direct competition there, really, either.
As far as helping another driver: Wolv, if you had been in position, would it have hurt you that bad to help them? Really? Are you as incredibly selfish as you're portraying yourself? As it is, you weren't in a position to do anything except reply to this thread. Neither was I as it happens, at the time this was going down I was near Richmond, VA. So, I couldn't help-- and in no conceivable way could they be considered "competition" to what I was doing or was likely to do. A quick look at the map shows several hundred miles between Richmond, VA and Bismark, AR--- so, how could they "compete" for any load I was likely to get??? In truth, neither you nor I had a horse in that race beyond offering preventive suggestions so that "next time" doesn't happen.
About the portable containers: I don't recommend carrying gasoline like this all the time. However, when someone asks you for help and it's within your reasonable ability to help, carrying a couple of gallons in an approved container for a few miles probably wouldn't put you out that much. Gas cans aren't that expensive that I would be that worried about the price-- and as far as explosion in case of an accident I usually have much more gas than that in the van's fuel tank. Think there's no chance that would rupture in a bad enough accident?
In the case we have in the OP, anybody who could have helped would have had to be in one of the stations Turtle mentioned. Remember we're talking a two-hour time window, after that the station they were at would open and they could buy gas there. That's probably what ended up happening unless somebody else helped them.
