As fuel prices are getting higher and higher, people are opting to drive less and less. Here in Iowa, we have it “better” than the coasts but raising prices are still not ideal.

But imagine owning a fleet of semi-trucks!

Jeff Arens, the general manager for Schuster Trucking Company, told KLEM they run 450 trucks throughout the U.S. and Canada.

"With fuel prices making 15- to 20-cent jumps per day, some of these weeks, you end up pretty upside-down on your cost per mile on things," Arens said, "especially with a company like Schuster purchasing roughly 125- to 150,000 gallons a week, it can make a big impact at the end of the day.”

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And with the cost to ship items is on the rise, the price of the goods themselves are also impacted.

"It affects trucking not just in fuel, but the number of pieces on our equipment that are based on oil," Arens said. "There's the tires, the belts on the engine, the oil the engine's running on, any of the plastic that is on the equipment, even brake pads, and brake shoes are all oil-based products."

When the cost of diesel goes up, it’s the people that ultimately pay for it. One owner told WDBJ  in Virginia that when the price to ship goes up, the consumers are the ones that make up for it.

Back in Iowa, Arens told KLEM that the uncertainty of fuel prices makes it hard when planning contracts for faraway destinations.

"Looking at the West Coast where prices today reached over $6.50 a gallon for diesel, if you're running from Le Mars to California, that's a three-day run and with the prices changing almost hourly, you eat the difference on what you're not able to recoup right now," said Arens.

Shuster has been trying to make sure its trucks are aerodynamic to reduce the amount of fuel they need to run on the highways.

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