Local trucking company feels impact of inflation

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Truck drivers might have to put in a little extra work for the country.

Semi-trucks are one of the few options available to move products in mass. Aside from planes and railroads, semi-trucks transport large quantities of every day 24/7. This week ironically enough is National Truck Driver Appreciation Week here in the U.S., and at the same time rail workers have been threatening to strike over their on-call, seven-day week work schedule.

Yesterday, the Biden Administration announced they negotiated a tentative deal with rail company unions to remedy their plight after 20 straight hours of planning. It is now up to union leaders involved to vote on the deal as they see fit.

Talking to local trucking company general manager Erdin Zukic, he told News 40 how over the past two years up till now have been full of ups and downs for the industry. At Taz Trucking, Zukic said they were not immune to worker shortage during the COVID pandemic. But due to COVID, there was a very sudden need for truck drivers which “pulled the industry out of the gutter” in his opinion due to regulations put on the industry pre-pandemic.

Now in 2022, the country faces high instances of inflation all around, especially gas.

Zukic said it’s been tough for them that from month to month, everything gets more and more expensive. Ordering things like shop supplies, parts for the trucks, trailers, etc. are really cutting into the bottom line.

Earlier this year, driver operators that work for Taz refused to go to the northeastern part of the country because fuel costs were abnormally high, and to that end, the 23-year-old manager said he couldn’t blame them, and tried to find other jobs further south, where diesel was cheaper.

Now amid the threat of a strike by rail workers, Zukic told News 40 that while it would immediately cause a boom in the trucking industry, overall it would hurt the American economy.

According to Zukic, there would not be enough drivers to handle such a huge influx of freight, and it would delay things such as “on time shipping”, turning America’s supply chain into more of a “you get it when you get it” kind of scenario as much of the country has already been experiencing.