Trucking During Inflation and High Diesel Prices

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a tanker truck
Diesel fuel in short supply

I’ve been on the road these last few days, spending about hours in the car, including ten on three different Interstates as we headed south and back again through much of Virginia and parts of Tennessee and West Virginia. I’m exhausted, so forgive me if today’s post is a short one.

Based on comments I had heard online, I expected there to be fewer trucks on the road, but that wasn’t the case. From what I observed, there was still quite a bit of truck traffic. We saw plenty of trucks, from tandem trailers from XPO and Yellow to flatbeds and trucks from Fedex. There were many long haul truckers and some local trucks in cabs without sleepers. There were big companies I recognized as well as owner operators on the road. We saw wide loads, trucks hauling lumber, trucks hauling pipes, trucks with placards hauling liquid chemicals, and car haulers loaded with Toyotas. There were also plenty of flatbeds and a lowboy or two carrying industrial equipment or large tarped loads. About the only thing noticeably absent was trucks hailing powerboats.

There were also a good number of people towing campers or driving RVs. I’m willing to admit this volume may have been down, but traveling on a weekday could account for that.

In any case, I am happy to report that I did not notice any lack of commerce on our nation’s highways. Diesel is close to $6, and the lowest we saw gasoline was $4.56. If highway traffic is an indicator, than that recession may be a ways off yet.

I gotta get some sleep. You guys stay safe, and I’ll be back tomorrow with a normal post.