Small Businesses Getting Whacked With High Gas Prices

SPOKANE VALLEY — High gas prices are affecting everybody and you feel it every time you fill the tank. But what if you had to do more than just drive to work everyday. What if everything you did was powered by gas?

Mike Taitch runs a small landscaping business. Right now he’s spending well over $2,000 a month just to stay afloat.

“Very costly when you’re  running trucks, lawnmowers, weed whippers,” he said.

His small fleet includes 5 trucks, which cost a painful $120 each time he fills them up.

“It’s something you gotta do. You don’t have to like it, but you gotta do it,” Mike said.

But then he has to fill up each one of those lawnmowers and weed eaters and every other mechanical device his business operates.

“It comes out of my pocket that’s all,” he said.

His clients are under contract at a set price no matter how much he pays for gas and the worst part is there’s very little he can do about it.

“There’s no way out,” Mike said. “Who you gonna cry to?”

As prices continue to rise businesses will either have to pass the cost along or absorb it themselves and there’s no telling how long small business owners will be able to absorb the costs of gasoline before they raise prices or go out of business.