March 31, 2008
By Chris Bone
A few thousand truckers striking indefinitely Tuesday won't likely have an immediate impact on consumers' daily lives, but this initial sign of discontent over sky-rocketing diesel costs could eventually motivate more than just a handful of the nation's chief transporters to kill their engines.
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| Photo: Luis Reyes of F. Trucking in Oxnard, California, fills up his truck at Plaza Gas and Diesel at the Garlic Farm Truck Stop and Travel Center Friday afternoon. Reyes paid $637.31 for 164 gallons. (Lora Schraft, Staff Photographer) |
Three years ago, diesel fuel averaged $2.21 per gallon across the country. Now it costs about $4.12 in California and more than $4 in half the states, according to the Energy Information Administration and AAA. Beyond this, many truckers who have to pay out of pocket for their fuel have trouble collecting reimbursements from the companies they work for or contract with because that means raising surcharges on deliveries, which ultimately falls on an already-wary consumer.
