With every move he makes, Jerry Shaw watches his earnings get cut like freshly mowed grass.
“With the gas prices the way they`re going, if they get to $5 a gallon, I do not know what I’m going to do,” says Shaw.
He’s been in business for 10 years with his company ‘Shaw Lawn Service.’ For the first time in three years, he’s had to raise his prices.
“I had to go up $10 per customer to compensate for my gas. I don`t know what else to do except for that,” says Shaw.
He has already lost three long-time customers because of the hike. He says he didn’t have a choice. Now that gas is nearly $4 a gallon, he can barely stay in business.
“This uses gas, the weed whacker uses gas, the push lawn mower, the blower,” explained Shaw.
It’s not only Jerry`s equipment that costs a lot of money to operate with gas prices, but it’s also the truck he uses to get from job to job.
“I don`t want to fill it up. I refuse to pay that kind of price. I just put in $30, do the jobs and then put another $30 in because I’ve got to survive, too,” says Shaw.
Until gas prices get under control, if ever, Shaw will have to fight and work extra hard to keep his customers to stay in business.
“It’s something I need real bad to keep in business. I can’t come out here and push my truck. I can’t push this,” says Shaw.
