These high gas prices we’re experiencing are just the beginning. Many experts say the price spike will be with us for several months, and that could send chills through the economy because the more money people spend on gas, the less they have to spend on other things.
"I’m probably gonna have to start raising my prices," said mobile dog groomer Rachel LaFontaine. LaFontaine’s workspace is a large van equipped with a tub, blow dryers and everything else she needs to pamper north San Diego County pooches.
LaFontaine says her cost for diesel has almost doubled since she started her company a year and a half ago. This week’s price for diesel is already more than $6 per gallon.
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“It kinda keeps me up late at night,” LaFontaine told NBC7, admitting that she’s anxious about what the future holds.
She hopes her customers will understand if she has to raise prices.
“Either that or cut a lot of my clients that are further away from me just so I don’t have to drive as far," she said.
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Kim Panacek has been known as Carlsbad’s “flower guy” for 27 years. He hopes his shop on Carlsbad Boulevard will be around for another 100, but he’s also worried about the price of gas.
His business, Hey Flower Guy, charges $10 to $15 per delivery, so for now, Panacek says he’ll absorb the extra cost.
“Hopefully, we won’t have to raise our prices because then it makes the arrangement more expensive and people have a certain budget to spend," he said.
Both the flower guy and the mobile dog groomer say they’re trying to stay positive, but with each penny that gas prices go up they say it’s getting harder to do.
