Diesel remains near the $4 per gallon mark   

The real question is what is the differential between the retail and wholesale price of fuel? This "margin" is critical. I think right now you will find the price carriers are actually paying is substantially less than the DOE number listed above.

Why don't we as an industry stop publishing "DOE" when we know it is disconnected from the real price and start publishing the "average purchase cost" as acquired through COMDATA or OPIS? That is the number I care about.

Thanks for an excellent comment. It is certainly true that the DOE diesel index does not represent what carriers actually pay for the reasons you mention and because of significant regional differences. I believe the DOE does have value though for a couple of reasons. First it is consistent and readily available. Second, most fuels surcharge mechanisms still rely on the DOE index, not because of its absolute accuracy but because it relatively accurately measures changes over time which is what the surcharge is meant to cover. A number of companies have changed the surcharge mechanism either by switching to a different index or raising the base or other methods. This is best done during a full bid process. Carriers are not getting rich off the fuel surcharges. Margins are still relatively thin. While it may make sense to shift money between linehual and fuel, I don’t think it is reasonable to think that profit-challenged carriers can survive on less money. In the end, the marketplace sets the price. If you don’t pay enough, you don’t get the truck. If you pay too much, your own company loses its competitive position.