By Whit Wallace

American truckers. Photo credit: pxfuel.

It is yet again the holiday season. Richmonders storm Tom Leonard’s for a six-to-eight-pound turkey, and then again two weeks later for a Christmas tree. However, this year the holiday season may be different. According to CNN Business, artificial Christmas trees will be nearly 20% more expensive than in 2020 as a response to their sudden rise in demand. This rise in demand comes from the expectation that live Christmas trees will be harder to find during the holiday season. With hundreds of cargo ships clogged in Los Angeles and other ports around the country, importing or transporting millions of live Christmas trees is a far more problematic task than in previous years. Even if the ships clogged at the ports get unloaded, the supply chain will still struggle to right itself. The problems with transportation come from a looming shortage of truckers on the highway, along with other issues in the supply chain.

As we see every day on the freeways, truckers, the lifeblood of the American economy, drive 40-ton trucks filled with anything from food to clothing and sometimes even animals. Truckers usually transport 71% of all American goods from port cities to every corner of the country. A typical long-haul trucker may cross the country multiple times and drive 80,000 to 110,000 miles in a year. 

The Bay of Los Angeles on September 20, 2021. The number of backed-up ships waiting to unload in the port has grown since then. Photo credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Unfortunately, the pandemic hit the trucking industry hard, and as a result, the United States is currently 80,000 truckers short of pre-pandemic numbers. In addition, people must be 21 years old to obtain a trucker’s license, and many people begin pursuing careers at 18, leaving trucking a career option that is rarely considered. Even though truckers have a decent average salary of $73,000 per year, it is not always a career option for many young adults. CNN wrote that: “If nothing is done, the latest figures put the industry on track for a shortage of 160,000 drivers by 2030, and the need for 1,000,000 new drivers over the next ten years, as current drivers retire.” As the number of truckers drops, and shipping needs rise, the crisis of cross-country transportation will continue to get worse. 

Some solutions have been proposed, such as offering trucking companies lower diesel costs or allowing 18-year-olds to obtain trucking licenses. Over the past year, the price of gas has risen about $1.08 nationally, on average. Forbes wrote that “These rising prices have been fueled by inflation [of the dollar] and ‘anti-competitive practices’ according to an unnamed White House official.” 30% of all US dollars have been printed in the last year, making the value drop considerably, and raising prices for any product that is demanded in the US. These higher prices make it especially difficult to supply goods when they are extremely high in demand, like turkeys. 

The potential turkey shortage is yet again a result of transportation problems, in addition to extremely high demand. Even though many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, and with turkey every year, demand is unusually high this year in comparison to the amount supplied to local supermarkets and farmer markets. The Boston Globe wrote an article about a 5000 turkey farm in Massachusetts, and the owners have never run out of turkeys before thanksgiving. “This year, despite raising prices 10% to match grain costs … all turkeys were booked by November 8th.”

An empty turkey freezer in a supermarket in England, where the bird is popular for Christmas dinner. Photo credit: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

These problems are affecting everybody, even the most prepared of companies. Our very own Collegiate cafeteria is struggling to get the required amount of food each day to feed most of the upper and middle school students. Food Service Director Myra Edwards said in an interview, “our biggest problem is not enough drivers, not a shortage of goods.” This shortage has had no noticeable effect on our lunches yet, but it may be in the future. 

Lexington Independence, the company that provides our cafeteria with food, has also been having problems with delivery times, and the proper quantity of food. For example, just a few weeks ago students experienced the ever-popular chicken nugget day. Edwards had put in an order for 45 units of chicken nuggets; however, only 30 were delivered, and those 30 were just enough to provide lunch for the day. While everything is getting more expensive, Edwards noted that nothing had increased more in price for our cafeteria than the rubber gloves the staff use. “A pack of glove boxes used to be $28; however, now they cost anywhere from $90 to $120.” 

Rising demand and a lack of distribution capabilities by transportation companies, in addition to high inflation and gas prices, have led to the current situation we are dealing with today. As time goes on, the government and the private sector may be able to get this situation under control, but the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to resolve.

Featured image credit: flickr user Garnet.