diesel costs – Diesel prices in Illinois and the Chicago area have hit an all-time high less than three months after the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in February, squeezing truckers, farmers and local operators. One Loop food truck owner says higher fuel costs have alread
Good morning, Chicago.
At 5:30 a.m., Ricardo Guerrero pulls up to the Loop and does what he’s been doing every day—running his three food trucks and keeping the line moving. But lately, that early routine has come with a new kind of pressure: the cost of getting there.
Diesel fuel prices in Illinois and the Chicago area have hit an all-time high less than three months after the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in February. While consumers can sometimes cut back on gasoline, experts say diesel is harder to sidestep. Diesel powers large parts of the U.S. economy—trains to tractors. and trucks to the logistics that move goods—so the jump in diesel costs tends to ripple outward into higher costs for consumers.
Guerrero’s business is a vivid example of that ripple. He said the growing price of diesel fuel. and even gasoline. has forced him to spend hundreds of dollars more per week just to keep serving food in the Loop. Since the war began. he has raised his trucks’ food prices by about 10%. but he doesn’t want to increase prices further.
The strain isn’t limited to one neighborhood block or one type of work. Experts say diesel is woven into transportation. shipping. farming and logistics. which means the record-breaking prices don’t stay confined to pumps. They move through the system—into deliveries, into schedules, and ultimately into what people pay at the counter.
In the background of these household impacts. the change has already happened quickly enough to feel personal to operators like Guerrero. whose menu is not just an expression of taste but also an equation: fuel costs. labor. rent. and the price he can charge without losing customers. He raised prices once since February. Now he’s watching the numbers again, worried that the next increase could be harder to avoid than the last.
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