RSSIt's a big pinch at the pump
Gas prices have been rising for two weeks, and small businesses are feeling the strainYakima Herald-Republic
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Fuel costs have so cut profits that he no longer maintains lawn sprinklers free of charge.
"I've been doing this for about 20 years," Stevens said. "This is the first year that I've had to go to charging them."
Stevens isn't alone. On Tuesday, for the 15th day in a row, gas prices rose nationwide, and small businesses from taxis to farms are bending under the weight.
Locally, a gallon of regular gas now averages $3.69, while diesel is $4.45. Some businesses are eating the cost for as long as possible; others have already raised prices.
And after sitting still through years of rising gas prices, there's evidence that some Yakima Valley residents are starting to adjust their habits. Demand for vanpools and some forms of public transit is up.
When Jon Briggs started driving for Ande's Taxi of Yakima three years ago, a day's worth of gas cost $15. That's now $25 a day.
"That adds up quick," Briggs said.
The maximum allowable fare set by the city has increased, but not enough to keep pace, he said.
"It's taking a good chunk out of what's made during the day."
Stevens, owner of Stevens Landscaping, said he's lost money because of fuel increases. A job at a Grandview medical center set to start today will cost about $1,000 more than when he bid on the project last fall.
"I probably figured it would be $3 a gallon and not $4.50 a gallon (for diesel)," Stevens said.
The extra $1,000 takes a significant chunk from a $15,000 contract, he said.
The Yakima Valley's largest industry, agriculture, is hardly immune. Energy is the biggest and fastest-growing cost of production, said Gary Joiner of the Washington Farm Bureau.
"From diesel to petroleum-based agricultural fertilizers and chemicals, energy costs are the highest right now," he said.
While commodity prices are at record highs, the share of the food dollar returned to farmers remains stagnant at about 20 percent, he said.
Last year, the Legislature gave agriculture a break on business and occupation taxes for diesel purchases, which Joiner said turned out to be "incredible timing."
"That has helped the Washington farmer survive the cost of diesel right now," he said. "No way did anyone have the idea we'd be looking at the price levels we are now."
Meanwhile, gas distributors aren't seeing any benefit from charging more for their product. They are paying more to suppliers while seeing demand from cash-strapped customers decrease, said Tony Christensen, vice president of R.E. Powell Distributing in Grandview.
"There's really no positives for us," he said. "Higher prices for us, as a distributor, increases our expense. ... And collections becomes a more difficult issue."
The problems have spread beyond private industry and are affecting social services, such as Yakima County's Meals on Wheels program.
Two years ago the program's monthly fuel bill was less than $500, said its director, Jerry Baldoz. Now it's approaching $900, and is expected to reach $1,000 by summer's end. He and his staff are trying to figure out a plan to keep up services.
"We haven't closed any meal sites or discontinued any deliveries, but if gasoline continues rising, we're going to have to consider that," Baldoz said.
This isn't the first time a spike in fuel costs has cut into the service. Two years ago, the program delivered hot meals daily to individual homes. But as gas prices climbed, volunteers dropped off, Baldoz said. Now it delivers once a week to its 175 home-delivery clients, leaving seven days' worth of frozen meals.
Individuals seem to be changing their behavior, too, something analysts say is new to this most recent round of fuel cost surges. Previous conventional wisdom held that Americans would keep driving as pump prices inched up, but that's no longer the case, said Janet Ray, a Bellevue-based spokeswoman for AAA.
"We can safely say we are at a point where consumers are making some decisions based on gas prices," she said.
Locally, for example, People for People is seeing an increased demand for its shuttle services, CEO Madelyn Carlson said.
Last March, the agency provided 3,100 rides on its Yakima-Prosser route. That number jumped to nearly 4,000 last month. And ridership to White Swan has increased from 546 trips last fall to 2,200 last month.
"We expected it to level off but it hasn't happened yet," Carlson said.
Gary Pira is a planner with Yakima Transit who also drives a vanpool from Sunnyside to Yakima every workday. It's full. So are the city's other 19 vans running between Yakima and the Tri-Cities, including Hanford. But people are clamoring to join a vanpool.
"The phone has been ringing off the hook," he said.
He actually started the vanpool from Sunnyside for his own commute. There are 12 other riders.
"I've saved $3,000 in one year and I got rid of one car," Pira said.
* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com; Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.
