price increase

[ADLAWNCUTTERS]

hi gang i have a question. we are going to war and fuel
prices are most likely going to get crazy. how much are we going
to charge if gas/diesel goes up to $2.00 or 3.00 per gallon
for lawn maint./snowplowing. i don't mind eating a little bit
we'll see what happens. thanks for your replies.

[David Haggerty]

I think a true price increase like that would damage the economy.
I'd be so grateful to still have customers that I would not dare loose them by raising prices.

But there's no real shortage is there?

The local newspaper the "Wilmington News Journal" had a front page article about the local police investigation on price gouging by some local gas stations. Evidence of price gouging was being turned over to the state's attorney general for possible prosecution.
The following day's paper had letters to the editors from the gas station owners pledging their ill gotten profits to the red cross.

It was the shortest "shortage" on record.

They should have been more cautious about the image they were projecting to their customers. We should be too.

Dave

[roscioli]

I feel that a time like this is the worst time you could possibly raise prices. People are unsure about the economy, which means if you raise, they go buy a lawnmower as an investment. I won't raise prices until next spring at the earliest, because I told my customers already to expect the increase. They understood for the most part.

[paul]

How much gas do you really use?
If your running 2000 gallons a week then maybe, but most here use $300 to $500 a month, if it doubled or tripled then start thinking about it, but a $.20 or $.30 a gallon increase most of us can eat that.

[jnjnlc]

I got to agree with everyone else on this one. I can't see raising prices now especially since most everyone is nervous about the economy anyway. We are going into the winter months here soon and raising prices here may drive customers away when I need them the most. Its those contract customers that carry me through the winter. We don't get enough snow here to plow. I also will be spending less for fuel during the winter months because of less work to do. I think it will all even out.

[Premo Services]

I agree with the rest if only raise the prices 20-30 cents a gal eat it, but if they double the price, then you would have to do some serious thinking about what to do. Hopefully the prices won`t go that high, so we can finish the season without spending that much more on our fuel. But who knows.

[GreenStar]

this just my opion,we are in a service market.people do NOT need lawn care.in a time of ression or "crisis" whats the first to get cut out of a consumers budget..unnsessary spending.to you it may seem like 2 bucks but that 2 bucks may buy a kids lunch.tgcl put a
$1.5 increase last season for fuel cost and their customers were
pisse% take a second to look at your own spending before you start jacking prices.if we do slow you like all of us will have to bite it a little.keep in mind commercial accounts always need service.

[JimLewis]

I agree with most of the above posts. If gas prices do skyrocket this will indeed cause a recession. We are in an industry that is more of a luxury than a necessity. (Especially those of us who cater to mostly residential clients.) They are already going to be thinking of cutting out the unnecessary things in their budgets. We don't need to give them another reason to can us.

If such a recession really happened I think I'd chose to just eat the costs in hopes of at least keeping most of my existing clients.

[jeffyr]

I agree about the luxury end of it. But when a homeowner doesn't have a mower and hss to actually go to the store to drop a few hundred on a machine he knows nothing about and hates to think about using, suddenly lower monthly prices with no work involved is appealing. People can be sooo lazy.

[ADLAWNCUTTERS]

hi guys thanks for the replies. im not to worried about the
lawn maint part of the business. of course we do a lot of plowing
here in buffalo,n.y. last year was a killer and we were going to raise prices any way . we only do commerical accounts. all of my accounts must be open , if fuel gets crazy this winter im going to raise my prices.im not happy about it. but thats the way it is i'll see who is left standing?