What $6.13 diesel actually means for a trucker, a landscaper and a plumber while gas falls under $4

The headline this week is that gas fell below $4 (our report). Read the Energy Information Administration's weekly fuel update, released Tuesday, and the other half of the picture appears. Regular gasoline averaged $3.995 on Monday, down 15.8 cents in a week and 93.9 cents above a year ago. On-highway diesel averaged $6.127, down 16.5 cents on the week but $2.29 above a year ago, which makes it about 60% higher. Gas is up roughly 31% on the year. Diesel is up almost twice that.

The number behind the number

Diesel's retail peak in EIA's weekly series was $6.529 on September 21. Monday's $6.127 is only 6.2% below it. Wholesale has moved much further: our chart of ultra-low-sulfur diesel futures shows them at about $4.14 a gallon, 21.3% below their September 15 peak. Retail prices fall slowly behind wholesale, so if futures hold, there is more relief still to come at the pump. If they rebound, you will not see most of it back.

The weekly retail series, in dollars a gallon: $6.352 (Oct. 26), $6.292 (Nov. 2), $6.127 (Nov. 9).

What it costs, by trade

All three examples below are Chronicle arithmetic on national averages. Your mileage, mpg and state will differ, and California and the West Coast pay far more than the national figure.

• An owner-operator trucker running 100,000 miles a year at 6.5 mpg burns about 15,385 gallons. At $6.127 that is $94,262. At last year's $3.837 it was $59,031. The gap is $35,231 a year, and it is the reason the cents-per-gallon slide this month barely registers: the 16.5-cent drop in the latest week is worth about $2,538 a year, or $49 a week, if it held.
• A landscaping crew with a diesel truck covering 20,000 miles at 12 mpg uses about 1,667 gallons. That is $10,212 a year at today's price, against $6,395 a year ago, about $3,817 more. For a lawn business whose season is ending, the bigger question is next spring's fuel line in a contract signed now.
• A plumber with a gasoline van driving 15,000 miles at 14 mpg uses about 1,071 gallons. The year-on-year increase of 93.9 cents is about $1,006 a year. The month's slide has already taken a chunk off that, and this is the owner who actually gets the relief headline.

The point is that "gas is under $4" is a story about the plumber. The trucker and the landscaper still pay a price near last month's.

Our own data

Diesel exposure is concentrated.

24,679 independent trucking and freight are listed on CheckThisBiz, a directory of 7,704,724 independent US businesses, including 2,868 in TX, 2,828 in CA, 1,916 in FL. Chains and franchises are excluded from that count, so these are the owner-operated businesses that actually apply for funding.

54,172 independent landscaping and lawn care, cleaning services are listed on CheckThisBiz, a directory of 7,704,724 independent US businesses, including 4,166 in CA, 4,061 in FL, 3,976 in TX. Chains and franchises are excluded from that count, so these are the owner-operated businesses that actually apply for funding.

Many of these operators cannot reprice a contract mid-term, which is why the fuel surcharge language in their agreements matters more than the pump price this week. Our trucking playbook covers the cost side.

What to do

• Diesel users: do not cut a surcharge yet. Retail diesel is still 60% above a year ago and the Federal Reserve is watching energy for signs of persistent inflation (our rate piece). If wholesale stays near $4, check in two or three weeks when the pump has caught up, then revisit.
• Gas users: a fuel surcharge you added in the spring is now more generous than your actual cost. Customers notice. Reset it to the pump before they ask.
• Everyone: the Federal Reserve's October Beige Book reported diesel surcharges showing up as contracts renew. If you are quoting winter or spring work now, put your fuel assumption in writing and tie it to a published index such as the EIA weekly diesel price, so that it moves in both directions.

The next EIA fuel update is due November 17.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (Nov. 10, 2026) and weekly diesel history; Yahoo Finance (ULSD futures chart); AAA and CNBC via earlier Chronicle reporting. Fuel costs per trade are Chronicle arithmetic with assumed mileage and mpg. This is market information, not investment advice.