raising prices

[Stinky]

Has anyone raised prices since the season started to absorb the cost of rising gas. I have thought about this seriously but do not want to p*** anyone off. Two clients have volunterily given me five extra per week. Finally got rain yesterday after three weeks and it is raining now. Rain on!!!!

[Davis TLC]

I haven't raise any prices yet, but thinking seriously about it with the way gas keeps going up. I'm jealous that you're getting rain, over here in Mid Tenn it is drier than a popcorn fart, no real rain in about 3 weeks. You can really tell where the rocks are close to the surface around here. It will rain this week for sure though, got some jobs to get done by the weekend and it will rain just to mess up my schedule.

[dhicks]

I've thought about raising my prices to cover fuel, but a deal is a deal. I will raise my fees a modest amount on new customers and work orders. $1.69 per gallon a rising.

[scottb]

Im going up on new customers only. Like you say a deal is a deal. But it sure would be nice if gas prices would come down just a little bit.

[Premo Services]

:( 1.72 a gallon here. :(

I have been talking to other LCOs around and they will be putting a gas surcharge on their invoices to cover the raising fuel prices :( . I have not done this for the invoices sent out in beg. of May, but I am seriously thinking about doing it for the next months invoices.


[Edited by mow money on 05-07-2001 at 10:49 AM]

[plow kid]

I am sending out a letter this month with the statements saying, if gas prices go past $2.15 I will have to add on a fuel surcharge of 10% if they dont like it then they can mow their own lawn.

[scottb]

Originally posted by plow kid
I am sending out a letter this month with the statements saying, if gas prices go past $2.15 I will have to add on a fuel surcharge of 10% if they dont like it then they can mow their own lawn.

Great Idea I will have to keep this in mind.

[mowerman90]

I raised all my monthly accounts by $5.00 per month last July when gas hit $1.50. Out of 70 accounts I didn't get one complaint. I feel it's foolish to add a surcharge. Then you get some cranky old customers that are gonna complain if they see gas at some mom & pop gas station go down .02 gal cheaper than everyone else and will be asking you to lower the surcharge. Then what are you gonna do, lower it for some and not for others. It'll be a bookkeeping nightmare. Just raise your prices a fair amount and if they ask why tell them the cost of doing business, period. If you loose a couple you probobly will be glad in the long run 'cause those are the type of people you don't want in the first place.

[Fantasy Lawns]

I agree No surcharge ....raising rates with rising cost of living ....keep it fair ...it's part of life ..... rate increases in June/July when it's blazing out & everyone is booked ;->

[Charles]

On the news tonight saying likely the gas will hit 3$ gallon in parts of the country. I guess they trying to get us use to the idea. The midwest and CA will probably be the hardest hit

[Mowman]

I raised my price at the begining of this season. I sent everyone a letter raising my price by $5.00 per cut to help offset the raising cost of fuel. I only lost 1 customer,and she was a pain in my ARSE anyway. She wanted her lawn cut at 1 3/4". I refused and kept cutting at my normal 3" and her lawn looked great. I think she just wanted to be a pain in the you know where. So I say go ahead and raise your price, just explain that you are trying to help offset the cost of fuel going up almost every week. It worked for me. I think most of your customers will understand.
Good Luck,
Mowman

[scottb]

After reading the last couple post I guess I will stick to raising prices for new customers only. Although 5 dollars a month per account does not sound bad and proably will not bring me too many complaints. Guess we have to wait and see.

[allabout]

Fuel surcharge sounds good just fill up today @ 1.99
cost $65. bucks I hear maybe up to $3.00

[bobbygedd]

i agree, raise prices in june when the customers will have a hard time getting someone else. i advertise in a local paper and get lots of calls from people who just call everyone for a free estimate. well, my new policy is this: when they call for an estimate, i tell them i will come by on my next scheduled day in that area, to cut their lawn. not just give an estimate. i will do it for say, $30. then, if after cutting it, if they want regular service, i adjust the price accordingly. i am not driving around for hours to give people free estimates when they have no intention of paying a legitimate price for my work, its a waste of my time and fuel dollars. and, if i raise my price $2 a cut on my regulars and they dont want me, screw em!

[kutnkru]

Prices have gone up $1.50 per thousand square for us. Lost some kept the majority. It has been the blessing in disguise to weed out even those that we thought we were happy with.

It has averaged out to about a $5 per cut up to a cap of $150 a season.

I agree that we should keep things fair, and am amazed at how many have begun to fold already due to the poor pricing structures they set out to conquer all with.

I think that Plow Kid has a good idea as long as he pursues his endeavor in a professional manner he will have great results.

Kris

[Lawn DOG]

The million dollar question. You need to sit down and see if you are getting what your worth. The cost of fuel gives us a good excuse to raise prices exspecially on those accounts we know we are doing too cheap. Take a good look at what your man hour rating is and factor in all the other junk. Cut loose all the crappy accounts. If they don't like your prices don't worry your competition will do it. Someone has got to be a bottom feeder. We let go about 15% of our accounts last year and increased profits by 30%. Work less and make more. When you figure out how to do that you won't care about the measly fuel increase. It really does work.

[LoneStarLawn]

Gas prices here $0.99...

[jasonp]

Im also just raising prices on my new customers. I have a fear of making my older customers mad and it aint like they cant get someone else to cut their grass around here everytime you turn around you see someone with a mower riding around.

$.99 a gallon, is there anyway you could ship me like one thousand gallons. The lowest here is $1.50 its been acouple of years sense I have seen gas that low.

[Mike (MLC)]

I plan on going up on prices soon. There a few of my accounts that have a good bit of travel time for me.

I can't believe gas is only $.99 here in Orange the lowest is $1.47 and in Houston $1.57

[LoneStarLawn]

Alot of gas businesses here are taking advantage of the gas being high by have specials( for short periods of time) so they lower their prices to $0.99 every once in while (two are doing it now because they are going out of business. If you don't mind waiting in line for 30 min to an hour you can get gas for $0.99 about once every two weeks here. Unfortunately not everyday.

[summitgroundskeeping]

We did. But not much. Gas today was 1.96 $2.06 $2.16 in Hobart.

[BRIMOW525]

What i was thinking about doing is what ever the price of gas was when I started the customer and what the percentage of fuel increase from then to now is what I would increase them. Plain and simple. Write down and give it to the customer and tell them if this isn't suitable then they 'll have to find someone else. Also it could go up more if the prices keep rising. Technically if the price of gas has risen 25% then they're price per cut should increase by 25%. Right? Wrong? Just the way I see it. Yea I might loose some but like others have said, if you loose them so what? There's 3 messages waiting for you for estimates when you get home tonight!!

[jeffyr]

Brimow,

So.....
if gas prices go up 25% or 50 cents per gallon, then you will raise a $30 cut to $37.50 ? How many gallons of gas do you use on a $30 lawn ? I can't see how a customer wold go for that kind of increase over 50 cents per gallon.

I could be wrong though.

jeffyr

[northeast]

We sent out a letter in March,raised our price five bucks,out of 43 residentials only lost one customer,saw him push mowing out his acre lot the other day,he will be calling soon ,but to bad we replaced him
with a higher paying account.:p northeast

[KD'sLawns]

If they are going out of business, Buyer Beware!!!

They are probably adding water to the gas at a 50/50 ratio.
Then, they are getting $1.98 a gallon. If someone is going out of business, what do they have to lose. You better be careful.

Got a question for you anyway? I was in San Antonio about a month ago and saw some guy mowing a grass median with a 22' craftsman without a bag. The grass was about 14" tall and the flap on the back of the lawn mower was propped open. Needless to say, this guy was green from head to toe. That wasn't you by any chance was it?LOL.

[Greenkeepers]

I'm just going to transfer the cost to new customers for now.. If it gets really bad, then I'll send out a letter and take a census and see who would be against it and see if it's worth loosing them (if any)....

[LoneStarLawn]

Not quite KDLawns (LOL wouldn't even touch a crapsman...hmmm I hope our website doesn't portray that we would work like that)....as far as the gas goes...it is what is left that they are selling at 0.99...when it is gone it is gone...

[ron]

Gas prices here are 1.67 gal.I have already send this months bill out .if the gas goes over 2.00 gal I will be sending a letter to all my clients raising there monthly fees $10.00 .last year I raised prices 5.00 per cut and only lost 4 customers but gained 10.I have 43 accounts working part time LCO and have a full time with the Department of Corrections as a correctional officer.so loosing a few clients will not hurt me..

[kris]

We payed 68 cents a litre today...that's like 2.80 a gallon

[BRIMOW525]

Well think about it... most customers 2 1/2 - 3 yrs old... gas price then was .99 - 1.10 per gallon. Now gas is almost twice as much. Are you still making as much on a $30 yard now as then? 3 yrs ago my fuel amount a month was $300 per month... give or take... now its 450 - 500 per month. True I have more customers now, but give or take 10. Thats more money out of my pocket. I'm not trying to rip people off, but I'm not paying to fuel my mowers to cut someones grass. Most cutomers I have talked to say 5-7 dollars more a cut is no problem. I mean to fill a 5 gallon gas can it costs almost 10 bucks! most new zero turn machines with 2 - 5 gallon tanks are taking 20 bucks to fill up! The only way I see it to make the same money as 3 years ago on a lawn is to take the fuel % increase from then to now. If you have a mower that burns say... 10 gallons per 40 yards... at 1.00 per gallon it costs you $10 per week.. now at 1.70 per gallon your at 17.00 per week... over say from April to Oct. ...32 weeks...then $320. now ... $544.... thats only one mower. Not your weed eaters, blowers, other mowers, trucks, tractors, edgers... etc. And I'm sure oil mix has gone up... I haven't bought any yet... had 2 packs left over. I'm in the business for it to support me ... not support my business...

[Ground Pounder]

I just sent out statements letting my customers know that effective June 1st, there will be a $3.00 fuel surcharge added to their weekly mowing charge.

With the cheap stuff being 1.88/gal, what am I to do? I hope no one drops me.

[cantoo]

kris, it's around $.81 a litre here now.

[Nathan]

Don't get me wrong, the gas bill is the one that I despise paying every month, but how much gas do you all really use. I personally use approx. 280 gallons per month. If gas rises 20 cents per gallon it would only cost $56 dollars more per month. Does that really warrant risking the loss of customers? I generally have a cost of living raise every 2 years to cover all increasing expenses, but not just seasonal stuff like gas.

BTW, isn't it funny how all of the power problems are arising as Good ol' boy Bush and his oil buddies reap the rewards.

[Scotty]

We use about 95 gal. of gas per week for equipment and about 25 gal. in the truck. Last year I started a gas surcharge of $1 - $2 per week, I intend to use the surcharge again when we do May invoices. I think $1 - $2 per cut is a fair amount. I think we may have lost 3 customers last year because of the increase, but the other 115 customers did not have a problem.

[bobbygedd]

question: u r under contract for $30 per cut, gas goes up to $5 a gallon, r u breaking the contract by raising prices?

[jeffyr]

I think yep.

2 winters ago oil prices jumped from .95 to $1.90 per gallon--but I was under contract with a .99 cent price cap. The oil company honored that throughout the winter. No bill over .99 cents per gallon.

Now over the course of the winter that was close to $900 that I didn't have to pay because I had a contract. If I chose not to have a contract then I would have had prices raised.
The purpose of the contract was to insure the oil company that they had my business and I had their service whenever needed at an agreed price.

How is that different from what we are doing ? Fool me once shame on me--next year raise prices or put a gas price cap clause in the contract.

I will raise the price of the people without contracts, but not with.

thats my 99cents.....I mean .02 cents.


jeffyr:blob3:

[cutntrim]

With all the tax the Canadian government adds to the price per litre of gas up here we're at over $3.00/gallon in Southern Ontario. Yes, we do have universal health care but when it costs me $75 to fill my truck I wish I were living in the lower 48! Filled two gas cans, one truck, a 20hp Toro, and a 15hp WB for $133 today. Nice, eh?

[thelawnguy]

Tanked up today, gas had dropped a nickel a gallon from last week, word is it will drop further.

So, how do you plan to give back the gas increase, increase once the prices drop?