Trucker couple reports from the road amid COVID-19 shutdowns, urge people not to 'hoard' grocery items

Coronavirus pandemic putting a strain on the trucking industry

Truck drivers Ed and Tracy Zimmerman say hoarding at grocery stores is stressing the supply chain.

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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is putting a strain on the trucking industry.

Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with host Steve Doocy, truck drivers Ed and Tracy Zimmerman – husband and wife – said Friday that the biggest hurdle thus far was providing for panicked buyers.

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"There is plenty of food in the supply chain," said Ed. "It just takes time to get from the plant to the warehouse to the grocery store. And, when people buy extra and hoard it up, that puts an abnormal stress on the chain and then things have to double up and it takes a little time to catch up with everything."

Tracy said that in the past few days when they go to their customers, they have been asked to fill out a questionnaire asking if they had been sick or had a temperature and where they have been driving.

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"And then we just hand them our paperwork and go back and wait in our trucks and they'll call us when they are done," she added. "There is a little bit of a longer wait now because there are so many trucks bringing products into the warehouses. But, overall, I think it's going really good. It's a lot better than it was the first couple of days of the shutdown."

Ed told Doocy that one of the problems the couple is running into is finding food on the road because a lot of the chain stores won't let drivers walk up to the drive-thru windows.

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However, according to Ed, a lot of "mom and pop" local restaurants are putting up signs saying, "you are welcome to walk up and call us ahead of time and we'll even bring the food to your truck."

"There are several police departments throughout several states that are helping truck drivers find safe places to park, restroom facilities, and they're even taking the driver to get food or bringing food to them," Tracy chimed in. "So that's really nice that the community is really stepping up to help the truck drivers."