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having me.
>> Filling up the gas tank

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in your car is increasingly
costly, but if you drive a

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truck, diesel fuel prices
have spiked sharply due to

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supply disruptions because
of the war in Iran, and are

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now at a record high above
$6 a gallon for all. The

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semis crisscrossing the
state, carrying the goods

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and products we consume,
sell and supply. The cost

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of diesel is a blow to
transport companies and

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likely to show up
downstream in the cost of

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things. We're joined now by
Dan Johnson, president of

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the Wisconsin Motor
Carriers Association, and

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thanks very much for being
here.

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>> Thank you for having me.
>> So what kind of a shock

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are these diesel prices
right now?

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like anybody else, we're
seeing the spike and it is

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a great concern to the
trucking industry. It's not

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that we haven't been
through this before, but

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this is clearly the highest
that it's been in record.

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So it's something that our
trucking companies, they're

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dealing with, they have to
absorb those costs in some

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fashion. They're trying to
mitigate as best as they

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possibly can. But yeah, it
is a cause for concern

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right now with those
trucking companies.

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>> What concerns do you
have that those prices will

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just keep breaking records?
>> Well, everybody has that

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concern. I mean, we like to
see things level off and

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hopefully dial back quite a
bit. But you know, who

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knows. I mean they just
have to plan and prepare.

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One thing with the trucking
industry is they're very

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resilient. We've seen price
spikes like this before

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back in 2022, when it got
near $6 per gallon for for

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diesel, they adjusted. They
overcame. Some of them did

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have to step out of the
industry because they

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couldn't handle the
expenses. And then there

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was a shift within the
trucking industry, and the

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prices came back down. But
now we're we're back to

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another unfortunate record
high. And they're dealing

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with it as best as they can
right now.

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>> Just for a sense of
understanding. What does it

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cost now to fill up the
tanks on a on a truck like

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this?
they did a study. The

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average cost per mile for a
truck. And we're talking

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about also the fuel and the
other expenses. It's about

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$2.32 per mile that it
costs them to, to run a

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truck down the road. So
anytime you add that when

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you add another dollar to
diesel prices, that's going

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to add another $0.14 per
mile to that, to that truck

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cost. So you expand that
out over thousands of miles.

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And we're talking about
hundreds of thousands of

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dollars that it's going to
cost per truck to run them

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either in the state or
across the country.

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>> So who bears the cost at
the start?

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>> Well, the trucking
company does they bear that

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cost. Now, they do have
some some agreements in

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place, perhaps with their
fuel distributors for

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discounts. But our smaller
fleets and the private

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carriers are probably at a
disadvantage because they

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to do that. And they're
probably going to be paying

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the retail cost for diesel
prices.

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>> How might we see the
downstream costs be

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affecting everything?
>> There's certainly the

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potential for consumers to
see increased costs for

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groceries and other items,
other necessities that they

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need. But, you know, it's
going to be up to the

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trucking company, the
wholesaler, the distributor

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and the retailer to make
decisions of their own, how

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much they potentially pass
along to the consumer.

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>> So I read on your
website that 95% of

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manufactured tonnage is
transported by trucks in

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Wisconsin. Are some
customers pulling back on

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orders or production
because of the cost?

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>> Now, it's very possible.
We haven't really seen any

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kind of hard data right now.
The economy is moving at a

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pretty good pace. So
there's a lot of things

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that are that have already
been set in motion. As I

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mentioned previously, you
know, the trucking

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companies, they don't have
the opportunity to stop.

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They have to keep moving
the freight. They have to

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keep moving the product to
market. So if there are

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orders in, they have to
keep moving that along the

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supply chain and get it to
its final destination.

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about this right now, the
cost of gasoline and the

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cost of of diesel, how does
it kind of highlight the

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work that members of your
association do every day?

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And we might take for
granted?

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>> Well, absolutely. We
have 3.5 million drivers

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out there crisscrossing the
nation, and they're

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bringing us everything.
Everything that you own,

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00:04:23,230 --> 00:04:25,766
everything that you have at
one point in time was

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00:04:25,832 --> 00:04:28,068
delivered by a truck, and
there's a man or a woman

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00:04:28,135 --> 00:04:30,804
behind that wheel who is
delivering those items from

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the producer to market. Or
here in Wisconsin, we're a

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big agriculture community.
From the farmer to the

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consumer. And what they do
every single day in all

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sorts of conditions,
whether it's weather, bad

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00:04:43,717 --> 00:04:46,253
traffic, distracted drivers,
construction zones,

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00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,422
everything that they have
to deal with every single

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day puts more pressure on
the work that they do. And

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we absolutely do take it
for granted. Unfortunately.

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And people really should
take time to appreciate

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what truck drivers are
doing out there to keep the

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economy moving, even in
light of rising diesel

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prices.
>> All right, Dan Johnson,

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thanks very much.
>> Thank you so much.

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Appreciate it.
>> In other news, the

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Wisconsin Supreme Court
heard arguments this week