Truck drivers are feeling the financial pinch of record-high diesel fuel prices. Diesel fuel is sitting at $6.50 a gallon on average this week — and even higher in some states. The trucks that depend on that fuel deliver everything from construction materials to online deliveries to groceries.
With the vast majority of U.S. goods distributed by truck, it’s only a matter of time before consumers begin to feel the pinch, too, as truckers are forced to raise their fees.
“So if my regular rate to move freight is $1,000 and I have a 90% fuel surcharge, the cost has now moved from $1,000 to $1,900,” said Paul Enos, the CEO of the Nevada Truckers Association, where prices are higher than the national average.
“Whether it’s the beer you’re buying at a grocery store, the drink you’re getting in a casino, the groceries that you’re buying at the store, because of the increased cost to get that item there, that does have an impact on you and I when we’re buying those products,” Enos said.
Some truckers and trucking companies are able to pass on those costs to consumers, while others are working under existing contracts with fee caps.
“It is hurting our trucking companies, where that cost of fuel has now outpaced all of their other expenses,” Enos said.
In California, one gallon of diesel this week cost $8.42. Operators in neighboring Nevada and Arizona have begun efforts to decrease their dependence on California in the future by establishing new routes to connect to other less expensive states.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
