John/Pete,
In reality I think it was a little more complicated than that.
Western Trunk Lines or another one of the West of Chicago
Tariff Bureaus was trying to make a point. They felt that
they were being bound to fixed or higher rates because of
entrenched trucking opposition. They felt that they could
not establish any rate that would attract more business
because it would get shot down in the hearing process.
They published the Yak Fat tariff just to make a point.
The trucking associations jumped right in and challenged
the tariff on the grounds that it was anticompetitive and
did not reflect the true cost of service and thus perpetrated
a rebate which was illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act and the Interstate Commerce Act. The trucking industry
acknowledged that there was no actual or potential movement
of that commodity but they used the logic that if the rate stood
it could be used as a precedent for a rate on something that
really did move.
I sure hope that everyone understands that without the
Staggers Act there would be very little traffic this far down
the line. With the completion of the Interstate Highway
System there just plain would not have been any way to
compete on the basis of published tariffs.
Even the coal business was a gamble under the tariff
system as the BN found out with San Antonio. In addition
to having to pay all that money back they never got the
business back. About two trains a day come down the
MKT/UP through Burleson.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: <PSHedgpeth@a...>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 06 November, 2002 20:57
Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] Some more "new" old stuff
> John
>
> I knew that you would know about the Yak Fat thing....
>
> RE: OPerating dept vs traffic dept. I too harbored the same concept.
>
> One of my former bosses at the RI started as a yard clerk and Oklahoma
> City..he told me that on his first day on the job...the old chief clerk
said,
> "Now the first thing you've got to know......"if that traffic department
> calls up....don't tell em nothin".
>
> Pete
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