By Carol Wersich, Evansville Courier & Press
Ka-ching: Another $60 is spent to fill the car with gasoline.
That's a big price tag, but how about a fill-up of diesel fuel for a whopping $1,257?
That's what it cost one recent day to fill a semitrailer with 300 gallons of diesel at $4.19 a gallon, the going rate in the Tri-State.
Virtually every business feels the pain of the steadily rising fuel costs in one form or another, whether directly or indirectly.
Nearly everything must be delivered to the retailer, and the increased fuel cost is shared by the consumers.
Consumers are affected in higher costs for everything from groceries, clothing and garden equipment to cars, appliances and construction materials.
Here is a look at how some Tri-State industries are coping with the higher fuel costs:
Grocery suppliers
Officials of Winkler Inc., a wholesale food supplier based in Dale, Ind., wrestle daily with the soaring price of diesel fuel.
The company runs an average of 20 trucks a day on routes that include Evansville and St. Louis.
The diesel fuel has gone up to $4.19 a gallon in the Tri-State area, and most of Winkler's trucks hold 300 gallons, said President Tom Winkler.
A fill-up averages more than $1,250.
Winkler said he believed the best thing that could happen for controlling expenses would be that the fuel increases level off.
"The continued increases are hard to deal with. We scramble to keep up with the weekly increases," Winkler said.
The wholesaler said he has no choice except to add the increase to the client's grocery costs or as a federally controlled fuel surcharge.
"Retail grocers are angry that their prices are going up every week, and they also have no choice other than to pass it onto their customers," Winkler said.
Brian James, a co-owner of Simpson's IGA Supermarket with his wife, Nancy, said: "There's no way to come out of this on a positive note. I've never seen anything like this before."
Both James and Winkler - veterans in the grocery industry - said the fuel expense wasn't the only reason all grocery commodities are rising in price. They also blamed cost increases that have come about for a variety of reasons in corn, chicken, pork, beef and other products, and taxes, utilities and insurance.
"The only choice that the consumer has is to either not eat or to buy down to cheaper choices, like switch to hamburger meat from steak," said Winkler, who also owns the Wesselman's grocery chain.
If diesel fuel goes much higher his company plans to readjust its truck routes and change delivery times and dates to deliver as many goods as possible over fewer miles and fewer days.
"We can't continue to pass the added cost onto our customers. The grocers will have to make changes to help us," said Winkler, whose wholesale company has operated since 1911.
Simpson's James said his company deals with at least 70 different suppliers on a regular basis.
"We have tried really hard to get more efficient in our ordering so we end up with full trucks, instead of partially filled trucks," he said.
James said he knows his store's customers "are watching closely what they buy as well they should. They're checking us for specials and bargains and are cutting out entertainment and other things that they can do without."
Taxi companies
"It's horrible" is how William Kramer, general manager of Yellow, Checker and River City cab companies, termed the steady climb in gasoline prices.
His cab drivers - all professional independent contractors who are city-certified - must foot the gasoline expense themselves.
"It's not uncommon for a driver to spend $100 a day out of his pocket," said Kramer.
As a result, he said, 20 percent of his 25 drivers are looking for other employment.
"This went from being a really good occupation to being a nightmare," said Kramer.
Cab rates are controlled by a city ordinance.
Kramer said he is seeking approval from the Evansville City Council to increase the rate by 10 cents for every fifth mile.
The current rate includes the meter starting rate of $2.50, plus $1.50 per mile.
Kramer said he also hopes the City Council can do something about putting a stop to what is known in the industry as "gypsy cab drivers," drivers who aren't city-certified.
Kramer said they waste his drivers' time and gasoline by often arriving at a pickup site first.
No council meeting is scheduled yet to discuss the issues, he said. If approved, the rate increase would go to the drivers, he said.
Kramer feels badly, though, that elderly passengers who rely on cab transportation for getting to the grocery store and appointments would be affected the most by the increased rate.
"It won't affect the guy bar-hopping. He wouldn't care about an increase but would give a tip," Kramer said.
"I don't mean to belittle the bar hopper, however, because he's also an important part of our business to," he said.
School buses
The Evansville-Van-derburgh School Corp. isn't having a problem with recent fuel cost increases, accord-ing to James Harris, the schools' operations director.
He said the EVSC bid on and locked into a fuel range in September.
"We have a budgeted amount that covers us," Harris said.
The arrangement allowed the EVSC to buy the fuel at a reduction of about 20 percent, he said.
The schools' bidding contract expires this September.
The school board is expected to review options and determine how best to buy fuel in the future, Harris said.
Meanwhile, the EVSC is using 15 percent less fuel today than a year ago since changing from gasoline to diesel fuel.
The buses get better milage on the diesel, said Harris.
The EVSC also is reducing its costs by having drivers' take their buses home with them, rather than start out each morning from a central location. Efforts also are being made to conserve on mileage of extra-curricular runs by assigning drivers who live nearest the schools and trip destinations that are involved, Harris said.
The EVSC has 60 contract bus drivers and owns about 240 buses.
Movers, haulers
Greg Hoover, president and chief operating officer of Evansville-based Atlas Van Lines, has been in the industry nearly 25 years.
The current high fuel costs are as bad as he's ever seen, he said.
To make matters worse, the moving industry is tied to the housing market directly, which is in a record slowdown across the nation.
As a result, Hoover said, Atlas' moving business is off about 9 percent from last year.
Hoover believes a lot of the fuel pricing is driven by speculation by those in the fuel industry.
"If we could get the speculation settled down, the price of oil could get back down to $70 to $80 a barrel," he said.
Fifty percent to 60 percent of Atlas' drivers are contract drivers, Hoover estimated.
"Obviously, if he's the guy who has to recoup his cost, it's tough," Hoover said.
Typically, the driver owns his truck and meets the fuel expense himself.
Atlas owns the trailer used by the drivers, Hoover said.
BJ Flittner, owner of Geiger Moving & Storage Company, said he is having trouble finding enough work to keep his staff of 15 full-time workers busy.
"We've been around a long time (142 years), and we'll ride it out. But it's difficult with the increase in fuel, utilities and other expenses, atop the slowdown in business," Flittner said.
Eddie Robbins, an owner of Belmont Moving & Storage Co., agreed.
He said his company has found a way to help reduce its fuel costs some through the use of auxiliary power units that keep the battery charged and the heater and air conditioning running when a truck is parked and idling.
Robbins said so far 20 of its 75 moving vans and freight trucks have been equipped with the units, which reduce the use of diesel fuel by one-tenth on parked and idling vehicles.
The units cost around $8,000 apiece, however, he said.
Robbins said he encourages his drivers to shut off their truck engines whenever possible.
A fleet of trucks left idling for an hour, outside a restaurant, results in wasted fuel and extra wear on the engines, Robbins said.
He also asks his drivers drop their speed to five miles below the limit to conserve fuel.
But any fuel savings gained from those kinds of steps are lost if a driver's rig weighs 80,000 pounds and has to roll up big mountains, Robbins said.