With cost of diesel fuel continuing to rise, some Colorado companies reaching a "tipping point"

By September 18, 2026 / 8:56 PM MDT / CBS Colorado Add CBS News on Google The prices at the pump are adding to the higher costs for many families. Now the average for diesel has reached a new high in Colorado. AAA says the price of diesel is now at $6.12 per gallon, and that is affecting trucking companies.

"All of a sudden, you've gone from a place where you may have been somewhere around at one point, like $1,800 to do 300 gallons, you know, now you're looking at over $3,000 to do this," said Greg Fulton, the president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association. He says diesel prices, increased insurance premiums and the decreased demand for shipping thanks to tariffs are enough to drive some companies out of business. "It's a tipping point for some companies, small ones particularly, and we're seeing even some mid-sized ones have to, you know, have closed their doors," said Fulton.

He says larger companies can absorb the costs better until they can recover their losses when their fuel price surcharge kicks in, but he says when that happens, consumers will see it in higher prices. "We have to pass on those costs. And when we're passing them on to or in terms of like the shippers, the people shipping to the customers or whatever on this, it makes its way into our food prices, makes it all the way into all of the other elements that our homes and our businesses," said Fulton.

Food Bank of the Rockies is also feeling the costs of higher fuel prices. Not only have they seen more financially strained people turn to them for help, but they have 45 trucks that take food to northern Colorado and Wyoming. They say thanks to higher freight costs and higher fuel prices they are spending an additional $50,000 a month.

Fulton says companies are figuring out ways to save on fuel prices. Things like making their trucks more aerodynamic, putting regulators on their trucks so they drive slower and use less diesel. "Some provide incentives to those drivers that if they hit these, you know, miles per gallon," said Fulton.

Prices for all sorts of products rising in Colorado as the cost of diesel fuel rises 02:37 Prices for all sorts of products rising in Colorado as the cost of diesel fuel rises (02:37)

Source: CBS News