Hello,
I have to tell you, with everything going on around the world this week, this blog can almost write itself. I went for the low-hanging fruit today, the “*%#!*!” Fuel prices. The fuel crisis is not new news to anyone over the age of sixteen, however, I don’t ever remember it being this bad.
Which brings us to truckers. They basically buy fuel for a living. How are they handling this? If they have monthly agreements with their customers, they are probably losing money in March of 2022.
The average price of Diesel in Florida is up to $4.99 a gallon ($6.00 in California) and expected to go up! As the logistics industry knows you can’t price these increases into the cost of freight immediately, so the industry is getting hammered. Some of the owner-operated truckers are spending over a $1,000.00 a week out of their own pockets, and most are losing money. Normally, the cost of fuel is just built into the price of goods. But lately, the volatility of fuel costs have made that impossible.
“Big fleets, small fleets, they all use diesel,” Bob Costello, chief economist for American Trucking Associations, told CBS News. “Nearly everything when we go to a store or buy it online, all of that comes on a truck. That means I think all of us, as consumers, can expect higher prices generally.”*
Some folks have resorted to thievery, as diesel thefts are running rampant in California and Texas. We will get through this, just like we did in the 1970’s and throughout our history. However, for most of us, the fuel crisis needs to GO AWAY!
By Tawny Gaines
*Excerpts from the NBC Channel 2 article “Florida Truckers stand to pay 100’s more… on raising fuel costs.” by Amanda Dukes
**Excerpts from the CBS article “Trucking companies feel the pain of Rising Diesel Prices” by Errol Barnett
