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TOLEDO -- High gas prices may not only pinch your wallet at the pump but also
at the supermarket. Some stores and even restaurants may have to charge more to
cover their costs.
Talk about sticker shock. Hal Spradlin couldn't believe pump prices when he
filled up his delivery truck Tuesday morning. Usually $65 gets him close to
a full tank. But Tuesday? "Three-quarters of a tank," Spradlin said.
And by week's end, Hal will nearly pay three times as much. "It's an average
of $180 a week to fill this thing up. Twenty cents a gallon makes a big difference,"
said Spradlin.
If you think what Hal pays at the pump doesn't affect you, you're wrong. Hal
delivers produce for Sam Okun, a food wholesale business in downtown Toledo.
Even though the company does not charge extra for gas, the increase cost is
built in to the price of some products. "Lettuce that cost us $8 before,
we were getting $10 now. We are [selling it for] $10.50. It is affecting the
price of the commodity that the customer is buying," said Neil Bornstein
of Sam Okun.
Since shops like Sam Okun sells to both retail stores and restuarants, you
could be feeling the pinch of high gas prices at both the pump and dinner table.
Some analysts expect the price of gas to continue to rise. Oil prices hit another
all-time high in trading on Monday, with a barrell of crude oil goint for $63.94
cents a barrel. That's more than three times the price it cost three years ago.
This comes as the US announced it was closing its Embassy and Consulates in
Saudi Arabia on Monday and Tuesday because of security threats. There are also
continuing concerns that earlier shutdowns of American oil refineries will reduce
supply. At least seven US refineries have reported problems of one kind or another
in the last two weeks.
Oil prices have risen even though OPEC said Friday that it increased oil production
by 300,000 barrels a day in the last two weeks.