KSWO Channel 7 News broadcast the plight of Kevin Williams, a landscaper in Lawton, OK. His company maintains about 85 lawns. On the broadcast he says that his average monthly bill for fuel for his truck, mowers, etc. was about $1,800. His latest bill was $3,200. He says that if the price of gasoline doesn’t come down he will have to reduce the size of his workforce and the number of lawns he can maintain. He’s caught in a squeeze because he says that about 90% of his clients signed contracts before gasoline started climbing.
Wonder how many owners of route-based service businesses are caught in similar squeezes? My guess is just about all of them.
If you want to see a video of Williams, click on the headline, which will take you to the KSWO Web page with his story. — Ron Hall
1 comment:
Kevin should consider a fuel surcharge to his customers on a temporary basis. Everyone would understand the rationale and most would reluctantly accept. A few would not, however if he did it correctly he could mitigate much of the increase and keep his business intact. The extra communication, if done correctly, would strengthen his customer relationships.
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