For truckers hauling products across the state, those surges mean more pressure when filling up their tanks at the gas station. Todd Bates, president of the Mississippi Trucking Association, said fuel price surges won’t only impact trucking companies. Shoppers in stores buying products could start to see raised prices for goods to offset fuel costs.
“Diesel itself is involved in every product that you touch, so truckers are delivering those products, whether it's farm products, industrial products. As fuel goes up, truckers pass some of that cost along to who they're hauling it for,” Bates said. “And so, it becomes almost a hidden inflation or hidden tax, as those products get delivered, which eventually makes it to the consumer.”
Bates said the association has seen fuel spikes before, but never this high. For Mississippi trucker Johnny Butler, he said he’s managing, but it’s getting more difficult.
“When I first started driving, you could get a gallon of diesel, maybe 98, 97 cents a gallon. Right now, I'm finna fuel up, and I'm going to spend probably about $1,500,” Butler said. “It's hard. I mean, honestly, it is hard. But I mean we got to have it. They're not paying us, the rates really haven't went up very much, so we're getting by. We're getting by.”
