Trucker Convoy in DC Seeks to Highlight Rising Diesel Prices

WASHINGTON—A convoy of truck drivers circled the National Mall in the nation’s capital on Oct. 1 as part of an annual event to draw awareness to the faces behind the industry that keeps America’s commerce moving. 

The rising cost of diesel—which reached average prices of more than $6 per gallon last month—the difficulties that those costs place on the big-rig operators, and the trickle-down effects that lead to higher prices at the grocery store were all top of mind at the event. 

The eighth annual “TenFour DC” event has been cast by some as a protest against unfair standards in the industry, but attendees told The Epoch Times that it was more of a “public education event” on the appreciation of trucking subculture, and “the do’s and don’ts of driving near an 80,000-pound rig.”

The drivers were friendly, and in good spirits; the twang of country music wafted across the unseasonably warm October sky on the mall, flanked by Capitol Hill at one end and the Washington Monument at the other.

“It’s a domino effect … and the trucker is not getting the money in between,” trucker Daniel Snow told The Epoch Times as he and his wife finished their lunch break. 

The increase in diesel prices—largely driven by the conflict in Iran—has hit truck drivers hard, especially if they operate independently.

Independent driver David Mitchell said it costs him about $1,400 to fill his 300-gallon tank. 

“Right, that comes out of my pocket because I own the business. Now that $1,400 worth of fuel will last me only three days, so I’m doing that twice a week,” he said.

“Six months ago, it was less than half of that.”

Snow said that uptick, along with the ever-rising cost of maintaining insurance, makes life hard for all operators, because the higher fuel costs have not been offset by an increase in pay—it’s often still about $3 a mile, he said.

That was a “good living” when gas was only $2 a gallon, he said. But now?   

“So if we’re not making a certain level of money, it cuts into what we can do. It cuts into our house payments, our car payments. You know, we have all those things, too, even though our life is on the road.”

Snow has crisscrossed the United States as a trucker for more than 46 years. For the first 43 of those, he was able to drive as an independent operator, but rising operational costs over the past few years made that logistically impossible. 

Fortunately, he said, he and his wife Phyllis—herself a trucker for the past 20 years—were able to hook up with Georgia’s Bennett family of truckers, and that has kept them on the road. He said that was the “best thing [they] could have done.”

Part of the annual rally’s purpose is to draw lawmakers’ attention to truckers’ concerns. President Donald Trump has taken notice, and suggested last month that he might halt diesel exports, creating more supply in the United States and driving down costs.

The president is still mulling the decision, he said on Sept. 30, because some members of his cabinet are worried that it might indirectly increase the costs of other goods. 

“I think we’re in a good place because oil prices are going to start to come down,” Trump said during an event at the Oval Office. “Tremendous oil is coming out of the Hormuz Strait.”