anyone raising prices for the increased gasoline costs?

[huggytree]

i just raised my hourly rate by $3 and am now considering raising my trip charge by $5 to $60

i may raise it by $4 just to keep it in the $50's....$59 sounds much better than $60....maybe $59.95 sounds best???

i am paying $110 every other day for gasoline....its $4.25 around here....

anyone increasing their costs because of gasoline?

[billbenson]

I think you micro manage this stuff to much Huggy.Yes, you need to cover your costs, but putting it into your hourly rate is the most obvious and allows your competitors to under bid you. I'd put a little extra margin in your fixtures rather than something you will have to defend like hourly rate increases.

[Steve B]

If you are basing your price increase back to the good ole' days when gas was only $3.50 per gallon, your daily cost has only gone up about $9.68 per day. But, you're passing on about $23 per day to your customers ($3 per hour x 6 hours plus $5 trip charge). I also think you're overthinking this and, even with your logic, you're probably raising your price too much. I think you should raise your prices if you think it will make you more money at the end of the year - not because one of your expenses has gone up.

To answer your question, I have not raised my rates as a response to gas prices. I also pay about $100 every other day for one of my businesses. I also pay about half that for the second business. I do plan to pay more attention to charging for the misc. hardware that I use on a job and usually forget to charge for. That will equal a few dollars on each job that I do - so maybe it will offset some of the gas price increases. For instance, I charge $85 for a repair. I usually use about $4 or $5 worth of wire and hardware, but usually forget to add that to the invoice.

[huggytree]

the $3 more per hour is the yearly raise.....i havent raised my prices in 1.5 years, so it was past due.....every time ive raised my hourly rate i worried it would effect business....it never has....since im now all referral and repeat customers i get every job.......and my prices are in line with the market...the higher end of the market, but still in the zone

the $5 per hour trip charge is only for small T&M jobs...typically 1-2 hour jobs....i only do 3-5 of them a week....so were talking $15-20 extra a week....

i typically drive 10-20 miles between jobs....so thats 2 gallons of gas...so i guess im using $2-3 more per job in fuel.....

if high fuel prices are here to stay i think its foolish not to raise prices somewhere...maybe $4-5 per trip charge is too much....maybe $2 is more appropriate ..i havent raised the trip charge in 3 years, so its overdue

all expenses are to be passed on to the customer...fuel goes up = prices go up....

im still making good money on large jobs....no need to be greedy....but the small 1 hour jobs arent very profitable...so every $2 helps

that $2 is probably enough to buy a weeks worth of groceries each month or 2 for my family...its not much, but it will add up to $1,000+ by the end of the year

[Harold Mansfield]

I think it makes sense if you are going out on service calls and covering a wide area. Hell yes the price of gas should be a concern.

Personally, I don't go out on calls, but the cost of living is a little higher. I live in a place where EVERYTHING is trucked, flown, or railed in. So I have seen some price increases in the supermarkets.

I raised my prices at the first of the year, just because it was time.

[Steve B]

Sorry - based on the title of the thread, it seemed to me that the $3 per hour was a direct response to the gas prices. It now sounds like you're raising your prices to keep your place within the marketplace - which makes complete sense. The trip charge increase seems insignificant enough.

[huggytree]

Steve, i just mentioned the $3 raise in wage just to show im actually raising prices by $8....i thought it was an important detail, but i can see where it appeared to also be a gas price increase

im officially $59 for a trip charge

if gas goes to $2.50 again ill take it back

[Haup9]

We raised our price for the first time in 5 years by $5.00 per display. We thought people would freak out about the increase. But we haven't had anyone say anything to us about it, including many repeat customers. This is the BEST 1st quarter we have ever had. We charge a delivery fee if it is over 20 miles away. We charge $0.50 a mile over the 20 miles. Since we have to go to the destination and set up the display then go back a few days later to remove the display it can add up rather quickly.

[huggytree]

as long as you raise your prices by just a few bucks it doesnt seem like it matters....my yearly raise has always been $3-$4 and no one ever says anything

[KristineS]

Shipping costs, in general, seem to have gone up a bit. I know Fed Ex has been tinkering with rates.