JOEL ROSE, HOST:
If you thought gas was expensive, diesel fuel just hit its highest price ever. The nationwide cost of diesel at the pump is now up to $5.89 per gallon nationwide, according to AAA. NPR's Stephan Bisaha pulled up to a gas station in central Alabama to find out how drivers are feeling.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Diesel is now about $1.75 more expensive per gallon than regular gas. So why bother buying a diesel vehicle?
LEROY BISHOP: For the pulling power, so I can pull my cars.
BISAHA: Leroy Bishop is a car guy filling up at a Buc-ee's. In fact, he bought this diesel GMC truck so he could better haul his other vehicles to car shows.
BISHOP: It performs better on the highway pulling those vehicles.
BISAHA: Basically, if you got to move something heavy, you use diesel - trailers, commercial trucks, big RVs. Since the war with Iran started and cut off a portion of the world's oil supply, diesel has gone up more than $2 a gallon. So Bishop's driving the truck less, but it hasn't cramped his lifestyle too much.
BISHOP: No. It ain't killing me, but it ain't fun.
BISAHA: For some people, diesel is not about fun. It's work.
JOE SCIARROTTA: Diesel gives me the power to pull that 26-foot food truck. It's heavy. It's a heavy trailer.
BISAHA: Chef Joe Sciarrotta owns the Hey Bebe food truck.
SCIARROTTA: So we do loaded potatoes. We do Cajun. We do Italian. We try to be unique.
BISAHA: Sciarrotta says between diesel for hauling and gas for the trailer's generator, he spends $32,000 in a typical year.
What would it be this year, then?
SCIARROTTA: Probably going to be close to about 44.
BISAHA: It's a big jump.
SCIARROTTA: It's a big jump. Yeah, no doubt.
BISAHA: So then are you making up for that by having to raise prices on the food truck?
SCIARROTTA: A lot of people are raising prices. You can only get so much for jambalaya.
BISAHA: So he's trying to keep prices steady. That's not an option for everyone at the pump.
MICHELLE CORTER: We literally, in a few weeks, are having a price increase going into effect because of the price of diesel affecting us right now.
BISAHA: Michelle Corter is in a Ford 450 hauling a trailer full of shutters. The company she works for makes them.
CORTER: We do standard square shutters. We do cutout doors. We do arches.
BISAHA: So I guess, is it fair to say that diesel is making shutters more expensive?
CORTER: Yes, 100%.
BISAHA: It is not just shutters. Diesel is used to ship everything from mattresses to bananas, meaning more expensive diesel will be paid for by just about everyone. Stephan Bisaha, NPR News, Leeds, Alabama. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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