Truck drivers parking rigs as gas prices skyrocket across USA

Gas prices have surged in recent weeks surpassing $5 per gallon today for the first time ever, fuel savings company Gasbuddy announced Thursday.

As Americans stretch their budgets to fill up their tanks, the financial pain from diesel prices is no joke for the truck industry. 

Nationwide Americans are feeling the hit from the rising gas costs not only when filling up their personal vehicles, but because the escalating costs trickle down to goods and groceries as companies struggle to manage inflation. 

As a gallon of the fuel sets to a record $5.72 as of Wednesday some truck drivers in Houston were forced to park their rigs, WTHR reported this week.  

Drivers fueling up at a truck stop in east Houston said that even with the help of fuel-saving apps and a rewards program they are counting “every penny” because of the almost-daily rise in diesel price. 

And while some companies buy diesel fuel for the drivers, this is not the case with all. 

“It comes out of our profit. If you make $3,000, you’ve got to know $700 of that is coming out of your profit,” said truck driver Raymond Mayberry, who spends more than $700 worth of diesel fuel now to get from Houston to Atlanta for his deliveries.

“These customers,” said Mayberry to WTHR, of the people who hire him to haul goods across the country. “They want to pay you the same amount they paid you six, seven months ago. They can’t do it. And me, I’ll let my truck sit.”

He remembered how diesel prices were a mere $.99 when he started to drive his truck in 2003, but those days appear to have drifted into the pages of history. Fuel prices will continue to rise through the summer and when the hurricane season hits it could drive prices even higher, say analysts.

Gas prices have surged in recent weeks as U.S. gasoline inventories have fallen over 25 million barrels, fuel savings company Gasbuddy announced Thursday. Yet, costs ranged across different states. In California, drivers are paying an average of $6.40 per gallon

“U.S. refining capacity has fallen by some 1 million barrels per day over the last three years”, the report from Gasbuddy states, adding that the price of oil has also jumped due to escalations stemming from the Russian war on Ukraine.