HIGHLAND COUNTY, Ohio — Tom Pitzer owns Pitzer Trucking, an independent trucking company in Hillsboro, Ohio — and is getting concerned.
With a fleet of 5 trucks, he hauls deliveries to local farmers — and right now, gassing up just one of those trucks costs him nearly $1,000.
Gas prices are running nearly a dollar higher than they were a few weeks ago, and diesel is about a dollar more per gallon than gasoline.
Even drivers who don't use diesel could soon feel the impact at the store, Pitzer worries, if those higher fuel costs force farmers and retailers to raise their prices.
Pitzer said his trucks burn a lot of fuel.
"You can only figure around five miles a gallon," Pitzer said.
His wife, Jenny, manages the company's finances and is dealing with the sharp increase in diesel prices head-on.
"We just paid $906 for a fill-up," Jenny Pitzer said.
WATCH as a trucker shows how rising disel prices could soon impact consumer goods:
Prices starting to rise due to fuel costs
The spike has forced the couple to raise rates for some customers, because hauling their deliveries now costs significantly more. Quotes they gave based on earlier fuel prices no longer reflect reality.
"We did quotes basing it on $3.75 fuel. And now our fuel is like $4.53, and we've got to change those quotes," Jenny said.
Economist Babak Hefezi warned that the effects of the war on fuel prices and supply chains won't disappear quickly, even if the conflict ends.
"The damage that has been already done to the ports is not something where we can just stop the war and everything will be back to normal. It could be 12 to 16 months," Hefezi said.
But for now, small business owners like the Pitzers are growing increasingly concerned about how much they — and their customers — will have to pay.
As always, don't waste your money.
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