Rising Fuel Prices

This poll is to see how many business minded people we have out there.

1. How many of you accounted for the rising cost of fuel in your Budget this year.

What budget?

But seriously, fuel costs arent the only issue........insurance keeps going up as well.

I am raising my prices slightly this year to compensate.

I agree with Mike, auto, and liability insurance keep going up even with no claims. Fuel is a small percentabe of costs. Advertising is up, mail so far has not been affected, but the spring has just started.
I will be raising prices a small percentage to compensate for the upswing in costs and to achieve a better cash cushion during the lean winter months.

$20 per every billable hour is budgeted toward operating expenses (not overhead fixed expenses) and this covers the increases in fuel so its not noticeable.

Lets not forget health insurance.........mine went up 11% this year

Along with the fuel and insurance increases, I'm also seeing increases on some equipment & part prices (Shur-flo pumps, General pumps, etc.) along with banking fees.

A business should evaluate overhead and expenses at least once per year to see how your profits may be impacted. I prefer to check twice a year or any time I see a price increase that is large or applies to items that are used a lot on projects.

i think the increases are bs... my pump went up from 265.00 to 356.00.. ridiculous

Fuel Controls everything, Its funny how our President has not even commented on this subject. Why not open our reserves ? Why not show the world we will not bow down to OPEC's demands. Why have they slowed production ?

We purchase almost 80% of our crude from overseas. Why ? When we have access to oil plus some for 50 plus years just here in the U.S.

It is all B.S. and there is nothing we can do about it but complain. We are stuck and they have us by the ba**s.

It is running us on an average of $60.00 per day for fuel in the trucks as well as Pressure Washers. It is ridiculous.

Fuel controls all prices on everything down to the underware you are wearin. It all gets delivered somehow. We are now considering a Fuel Surcharge due to the increases on our commercial accounts (ONLY) we will probably just increase our price per foot to recover for residential.

Somebody stop the pain.....

I would stay away from the fuel surcharge. it will be back down before you know it.

Gas here in NE PA and southern NY is 1.74 -- 1.90 Depending on where you are. How about you?
Rumors of gas being 2.00 or more per gallon this summer?
What a load!

Today, prices at the cheapest (BJ'S) wholesale club is at $1.64. This is only for members. Non members are paying $1.74.

Lets everyone stop paying taxes for 1 week and you will see change. We need a revalation to hit our Congress/President. Stop paying for these idiots and their special interest buddies and say no, by not paying taxes for 1 week.

This will wake them up......

So fuel has gone up. Adjusted for inflation its still less than in 1950. (adjusted cost then was $1.80.) that was in the good old days right? If I remember, cars got under 12mpg on avg.

I agree that we should be using US oil. Thank the democrats in the senate that we cant. Oh yeah, their environmental lobby buddies too. Dont just blame Bush. Clinton opened up the reserve for several billion gallons before he left office, the net effect was about $.04 per gallon, until it was shut off again. then the prices still went up and we had to fill up the reserve again, With, I might add your taxes!
Gas prices will go down again, if not we will survive.

Lastly, the price of bread has been going up steadily since before the rise in fuel prices even started.

Yeah, but, I dont buy a loaf of bread (EVERYDAY) and I do not buy 36 loafs at a time. Big difference in my book. Lets see, Loaf of Bread $2.00 three times a week = $6.00 per week. 1 truck filled up at least 3 times a week = $216.00 per week @ $2.00 per gallon.

Now all you guys talkin about inflation/years gone by etc..... are just talkin to be talkin. It does not equate. PERIOD

Chapman, this is not against you by no means but everybody seems to have the same answers when it comes to fuel. They all say well (bread, butters, milk, water, jeans etc..... has had a higher inflation rate over the last 30 years. (BIG DEAL) You do not purchase these items every single day and with the volume that you do with fuel. (That is the difference)

Also, this is not a democrat vs. republican thing, besides they all just gave themselved a nice little pay increase with your tax dollar. Not to mention the $540 billion dollar deficit we are facing.

I will say it again people. (WAKE UP AND TAKE YOUR COUNTRY BACK)

Ponder this statement......dwell on it for awhile....

"These (today) are the Good Ole days"

Think not....wait 2 years and look back...

I don't feel good about it either but it's time to start being CONSERVATIVE again.

How stupid of us to get complacent (including buying so many SUV's) when we were already in this situation once before 15-20 years ago. It was bound to happen again.
We just never learn do we! The average vehicle MPG has dropped over the past 10 years instead of increasing.
Every time WE do something stupid, we look for the government to fix it. This is all industry and consumer driven - stop blaming the government!

Europe and other continents have been paying over $3 per gallon for well over 10 years.

The best way to drive prices down is to conserve as much as possible (be it business or personal consumption). You MUST find ways to conserve:
If and when possible take a car when doing your estimates (leave the truck at home); Take the car when picking up supplies that are not truck sized, or get the supplies while you are out picking up other things; It's time again to car pool; Plan each trip we make; Combine trips where possible; Use the most gas efficient vehicle whenever possible; Take the SUV and truck keys away from the kids; Start buying/using methane and other source driven vehicles.

An increase of $0.25 per gallon is $16.75 if you are using 67 gallons per day.
- That's 1000 miles at 15mpg.
- At 250 miles per job it's a $4.19 per job increase.

Surely you can absorb some and pass some on.

I increased my prices to account for the increases I will incur from the oil companies.

Our gas yesterday went from 1.53 to 1.78 overnight. Really pisses me off to no end. Esp. when there is just as much oil today as there was when I was paying .28 cents a gallon.

Reed

AMEN TO THAT REEDSTER....

hmmm

lucky you are not here is 2.25 for unleaded.

Our trucks only get about 5 mpg.

We have been running at $.30 per mile for quite some time. At current prices here in Central Illinois our cost per mile is $.42.

When you raise prices based on fuel how much will you increase your rates? How much as a percent of revenue do you spend for fuel?

If I drive 75 miles, and do six stops, should I charge each customer 1/6th of $9?

Dave Olson

I try to raise my prices 5-10% per year to cover the rising cost of doing business and hopefully have my profit margin increase along the way also.

Of course there are some great customers of mine that I haven't raised there prices at all in the last few years. These customers are my gold mine because they paid me well when I first took them on and I was slower then compared to today.

Then of course my commercial accounts where the prices have been locked in for the last few years. If I try to raise these prices I will most likely lose these accounts.