sgusers7的部落格

Source: The Telegraph, Nashua, N.存倉H.July 19--Temperatures aren't the only thing on the rise in the region. A spike in the price of gasoline is making drivers and business operators sweat, too.Geoff Burgess had just finished changing the prices on the tall sign out front of the Hudson Bridge Express Gulf station in Hudson in Wednesday afternoon's heat."I used to get yelled at all the time when I changed prices," Burgess said back inside the combination convenience store and fuel stop. "It kind of got old after a while. They'll yell at you, call you (names)."It's not fair for retailers at all. We're not the ones making the money. The oil companies are the ones who are reaping the real profits, but local customers take out their anger at the pump and heckle the employees.The price for gasoline in the region, according to the AAA website, ranged from $3.56 to $3.76 a gallon Thursday.Hudson Express Gulf Owner Kathy Burgess takes it with a grain of salt, since they have no control over the price."It is what it is. We have to make our margins. We have rent to pay, bills to pay. I just can't give it away," said Burgess, who has owned the gas station since 1988. "You have to make a living. Everything else is going up. We have to move with it."When customers complain, she tells them it's out of her hands."I can't control it," she said. "It's the speculators on Wall Street."Monique Fortin had just gassed up her Ford Edge on Wednesday. She said one fill up a week costs her about $40. Work for her is in Andover, Mass., at a Market Basket warehouse 42 miles away from her Hudson home."There's nothing I can do about it. I need gas to get to work, and I've got to pay the price," Fortin said. "What are you going to do but get a bike and pedal to work?"Over at SK Taxi in Nashua, driver Kathy Blaney, of Nashua, is hoping not to get a goose in her Chevrolet Impala. A goo自存倉e is a fare that doesn't show up after a cab is dispatched. It's a waste of fuel, the cost of which comes out of the driver's pocket."It's hard for the drivers when they get paid by the mileage and paid by the call," said the 30-year veteran of the business. "No calls means no pay."Tips help defray the cost, but some customers don't tip. With long drives, cabbies hope for another call for the return trip so fuel isn't burned without a fare in the back seat, she said before taking a call on a hot, busy day."You make no money empty," said dispatcher Laurie Lester. "It's about efficiency. I'm the quarterback; they're the receivers."It's a complex arrangment of keeping cabs full, drivers moving and not waiting or idling, just burning gas. Unloading groceries, waiting for a fare, even pausing a while waiting for a passing train cuts into a profit, particularly when gas prices rise."The price of gas kills the drivers, kills them," Lester said. "No one is going to get rich driving a cab, especially with the (higher) cost of fuel."Over at the Alltown station on East Hollis Street, Roger Boilard, of Nashua, had just filled his Dodge Intrepid, a car he appreciates since he doesn't have to drive much because of a convenient home and work situation."Gas prices are hurting a lot of people, especially ones that can't find a job around here and have to drive an hour into Massachusetts," he said. "It takes up a lot of their budget."Boilard has a friend who travels more than an hour out-of-state to work and "it's just killing her," he said. "When you're on a strict budget, it hurts a lot."Don Himsel can be reached at 594-6590 or DHimsel@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Himsel on Twitter (@Telegraph_DonH).Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Telegraph (Nashua, N.H.) Visit The Telegraph (Nashua, N.H.) at www.nashuatelegraph.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗