Secaucus Ice Cream Truck Owner: I Can't Find People To Work

SECAUCUS, NJ — Where is the Secaucus ice cream truck? It's a refrain being heard all around town this spring and among parents on Facebook: Where on earth is the Secaucus ice cream truck?

Well, Patch called Sergio Gonzalez, the owner of the Mister Softee franchise that services Secaucus, and he told us the truth: He cannot find people to drive the truck and sell the ice cream.

"I've been in business for years, many years, and I've never seen it like this before," said Gonzalez. "I need drivers. I cannot find people to work. I've posted ads in four different places and nobody gets back to me."

"Nobody wants to come back to work since 2019," he said. "I understand if still some people are afraid of COVID or whatever, but at some point, things have to get back to normal."

Gonzalez explained he services four towns total — Jersey City, Hoboken, Secaucus and Little Ferry — and because he can't find drivers, he has had to greatly scale back his routes in all of them.

"Now I'm only in Secaucus Monday and Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday or Thursday if my wife is able to do it," he said. "And we don't do the same route that we always did. We go to the parks (Schmidts Woods or Buchmuller) and then the pool and then hop around the streets. I'm trying to explain to all my customers that I had to scale back my routes so much. I feel so bad."

Gonzalez said he's asked his son, his wife and his cousin to fill in for him and help but, "they all have full-time other jobs. I don't know what to do."

Just this Tuesday, June 9, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing the United States had 9.3 million job openings at the end of April. This is the second month in a row that the labor market has seen a record number of open jobs.

The governors of some states, like North Dakota and Florida, are blaming the generous unemployment benefits initiated by Trump and extended by the Biden administration.

It was under the Trump administration that Americans began receiving $300 extra per week in unemployment in late 2020. But those padded benefits were extended under the American Rescue Plan, passed by President Biden and Congressional Democrats. (No Republicans in Congress voted for the American Rescue Plan.)

Starting this Saturday, workers in four Republican-led states, Alaska, Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi, will lose their federal unemployment benefits early; they are supposed to last until Labor Day.

"People don't tell me why they don't want to work; they just don't answer my ad," said Gonzalez. "I used to always be able to find workers. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this. It's a disaster."

He said he is in Secaucus on those days between 4 and 5:30 p.m.

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