Trucking companies were hit hard this year in the first quarter, the numbers which have since rivaled the failures reported in 2000 and 2001, according to a report by Avondale Partners LLC. The report was written by trucking analyst Donald Broughton, and he reported that an estimated 42,000 trucks - 2.1 percent of the nation's over-the-road freight capacity - went out of business in the first three months of this year.

Broughton has blamed the continuing pressure of costs that is pushing trucking companies - and independent truckers - over the edge. With fuel surcharges not keeping up with the rising cost of fuel and increased licensing fees and insurance rates, truckers are finding it hard to balance the book. Broughton also said that these companies that were "teetering on failure" have since been pushed over the edge.

But the end result is the same: 935 companies went out of business in the first three months of 2008, and by the data it only counts trucking companies with five or more trucks. Compared to 2000-2001 (another rough patch in the trucking industry), truckers now - as opposed to then - have gone as far as refusing to pay surcharges, and some brokerages have collected it and failed to pass it along. "Many carriers were desperate enough to find loads that they forgot the lessons learned in 2000 and carried freight without collecting a fuel surcharge," says Broughton.

If this thread continues to climb, more and more trucking companies, like auto transporters, could be collapsing - which could mean the prices at your local convenience store won't be so convenient.