Talked to a jr domo at the local Meijer (supermarket) yesterday. He said the biggest supply problem is in the transportation/trucking sector.
I know a guy who drives a trash truck for a local outfit (not Waste Mgmt or Republic) he says they can’t get certain parts to keep their all rigs on the road. Don’t know if that is affecting OTR also.
Lot of what the trash truck driver said is sort of correct.
Here is why the Independents quit.
The EPA regulations about DEF fluid. What happened is they said that the engines would run longer and are more effcient. They dont. After so many miles you have to change the exhaust filters and that is REALLY costly. The engines do NOT perform like they used to and last but a short while compared to the older mechanical injected engines. Besides that. The newer fuel rail systems are troublesome to say the least. You get any dirty fuel at all and it shuts down the engine.
It used to be you could run the same load with a 400 HP engine that they are now running with a 450 plus HP engine.
Everything is computer, when the computer detects something going to hell, everything comes to a screeching halt and aside the road you sit.
Tire are junk. Ever see the amount of caps spread on the highways these days?