It''s causing everything from delayed Amazon orders to more expensive groceries
There's a reason your Amazon orders are taking longer to arrive and retailers are charging you more for your usual selections.
There's a critical shortage of truck drivers in the US right now, and it's only getting worse.
The US was short some 36,500 drivers in 2016, according to a 2017 report by the American Trucking Association (ATA). The shortage was projected to bloom to 174,000 by 2026 if current trends hold, according to the report.
Nearly 900,000 drivers will need to be hired in the next decade in order to keep up with demand, according to the ATA report.
As a result, the cost for retailers to move goods is "among the highest rates we've ever seen," Mark Montague, senior industry pricing analyst at DAT Solutions, told Business Insider.
It cost retailers up to 30% more to ship something via truck in April than it did last year, according to DAT. Amazon's own shipping costs jumped by 38% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2018, though its sales increased by only 18%.
"If retailers want to keep goods on schedule, they either have to be buying premium transportation or they have to wait longer," Montague told Business Insider.
Amazon cited those increased shipping costs as the reason for boosting the price of a Prime membership in April, Business Insider's Akin Oyedele reported.
"The value of Prime to customers has never been greater," Brian Olsavsky, CFO of Amazon, said in a quarterly earnings call. "And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs."
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