Now that gas prices are going through the stratosphere, do any of you have plans to adjust your rates to compensate for the added expense?
A lot of my service work involves driving. Last week a trip to Palm Springs logged 250+ mi. in a day (company truck, thank goodness).
I just filled my personal pickup to the tune of $65.00 ($2.16 a gallon). Ouch.
It went up about 5¢ the following day.

How much are you paying?
...S

After having converted currencies and to gallons I came up with $4.90/gal. Little wonder air travel is cheaper than car travel these days... Obviously gasoline is cheaper on your side of the Atlantic. *envy*

I charge mileage, to and from the job site for service work. Right now its .40 cents/mile but soon to be .45/mile. other companies that do similar work are getting 52 cents/mile.
1.739 for a gallon of reg but soon to be over 2.00 without a doubt. As soon as summer travel hits the oil companies will have another excuse, refinerys down, pipelines under repair, whatever they need to get it up some more.
The shortsightedness of our gov't to not have a coherent energy policy has made me angry for years, if the economy is growing it won't be if energy costs continue to rise.

1.61 in collar counties to 1.89 for reg. unlded closer to Chicago-I heard it's over 2.00 downtown- I'll wait n' see- it's been this high before, but as C-H sez,it could be worse so I'm not beachin' yet- .

[This message has been edited by chi spark (edited 03-04-2004).]

This is a very sore point with British drivers!

Pump price at my nearest gas station is 74.9 pence per liter for unleaded. At the current exchange rate, that's $5.16 per gallon American. It's a fraction cheaper at the supermarket station in the city (about $5.05), but higher at small village stations (up to approx. $5.60 in some places).

At least in Continental Europe diesel is quite a bit cheaper than gasoline, but here in the U.K. they're about the same price.

P.S. When I left central Nebraska in 1996 I was paying around $1.10 per gallon.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-04-2004).]

Give it up and go DIESEL.

I have not seen the price change even $0.01 in the last 6 months at all when I got my Diesel. The oil companies play games with the gasoline price every day. Every holiday the price of gasoline goes up. Every time something happens in the Middel East the price shoots up right away as if that gasoline was made the night before in Irac.

Most places around my Chicago Suburbs are $1.69 a gallon. Some more some less but I found it never changes.

My 12,000 GVW diesel step van in the winter gets about 13 MPG. My 93 E-150 with the 6 cylinder got less than that. I got a bigger truck and spend less every week on fuel.

I am looking at my prices to cover the increase in copper wire and EMT. I got a warning letter from the supply house about this. I seen at the stores 1/2" EMT went from $1.09 to $1.50. #12 Stranded went from $17 to $28 a roll.

This is where it could hurt because I use more pipe and wire than fuel.

Tom

Apparently all(alot of) steel is going to China to feed their housing, building and manufacturing booms. I heard scrap steel was going for 100 dollars a ton in Maine.

Have you seen the price of scrap copper?
It's at $1.00 a pound for bare/bright, and .90 for unstripped....

Our prices are adjusted according to the price of Cu, Fe, etc.
Yeah, Cu's gone up a bunch
That's why it's a good idea to make your estimates valid for 30 days.
This can be a Big problem on long term jobs, as most contracts don't give you an adjustable "wiggle factor".

Paul,
I know you guys have paid exorbitant prices for a long time. (Isn't that why you have the "mini" and 2 story busses?) I feel for you, believe me.
I can, though, remember filling up my Studebaker with 23¢ a gallon "Chevron Custom Supreme", at 101+octane.
For less than $10, I could take a date to the movies and if it didn't work out, still had 3/4 of a tank of gas (for another date).
Bought a '69 Corvette-435hp 427ci (7 ltr.)-5mi to the gallon if driven carefully, (but it was like a rocket ship)

Dang, how things have changed, I guess I really am an old geezer...S

OK, here in NJ (Northern end) reg unleaded ranges $ 1.55 - $ 1.75 gal, with premium grade about .15 to .20 higher.

Filled the Tahoe 3/03/2004; 16.1 gal, $ 26.00, at $ 1.619 gal.

Diesel is in the $ 1.60 range, the 'off' brands are a few cents cheaper for gas and diesel. (Ford F700 & E-350 Powerstroke)

A few weeks back, reg unleaded was $ 1.39 (EXXON/Mobil) and then it worked up.

BTW, we have 'full serve' here in NJ, it's against the law to pump your own, and we are one of a few states that still are this way.

Electure, to answer your question, when it hits $2.00 gal, I'll pass a fuel surcharge onto some accounts.

John

[This message has been edited by HotLine1 (edited 03-04-2004).]

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the cheapest regular unleaded I saw today was 2.03 and diesel was 1.93. Most reg. unleaded is about 2.20 and diesel 1.99.

the gas in los angeles is $2.25 per galon and we are expecting to pay more in the nex month....crazy.....

To the California Guys:

Is your gas 'self-serve'????

The last pitch I heard to convert to self serve here in NJ was "gas will be "cheaper"!
Now, I guess that's a big lie!

John

I was driving outside of Washington DC about a week ago, and the gas prices at an Exxon station was $2.10 per gallon. The most I have ever seen in Maryland. The gas station is located in Potomac.
~Nick Ogden

Pauluk and Active1 raise an interesting point regarding diesel. The diesel is cheaper than gasoline, currently at $4/gal in Sweden. In addition you get better milage compared to gasoline. A passenger car like the VW Passat has a mileage of about 40 mpg (combined cycle) compared to about 30 mpg for the gasoline version. The drawbacks include higher vehicle prices and (in Sweden) a higher vehicle tax.

As I understand it, diesel cars will be indirectly outlawed in the US, starting with California.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 03-05-2004).]

I have not herd anything about new diesel cars banned in the US. I can't speek for California.

I think US consumers don't want diesel cars. There was a lot of problems with the diesel car engines in the late 70's early 80's. GM took an Olsmobile engine and converted it to run diesel. It was not strong enough so it died. They also used cheep inection pumps made by Stanadyne (you might reconize the name from there line of urinals).

They also say diesels don't last as well under short around town driveng because they don't ever warm up.

For cars they are noisy too.

For a diesel new truck it costs an extra $5-10K.

Tom

Paid $1.85/gal for self-serve today.
Long Island, NY

Bill

One other drawback with diesel is that many of us who service/troubleshoot our own gasoline engines don't have the facilities to deal with high-pressure injectors and the other diesel equipment.

By far the majority of gas stations here have been self-serve only for years. It's only the little village places where you might still find a pump attendant who will actually pump fuel for you.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-06-2004).]

I know of only 1 station in SoCA that isn't a self serve. They still run credit cards through a manual/carbon paper machine, too.

Paul, it's gotten to the point where I can't do much service on my own vehicle's engine other than change fluids, filters, & spark plugs and wires(diesel non-issue).
Microprocessors do all the rest

Price at some of the gas stations in omaha NE ran from $1.69 to $1.85. Then some of our state senators want to raise the gas tax.
Just increased my labor rate.