CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Gas prices continue to soar, hitting drivers’ wallets hard. Delivery drivers who rely on their cars for work face added expenses.
Kevin Tran hops on his bike every day to make money through DoorDash. He empathizes with his fellow food delivery workers who are paying surging gas prices.
“It’s a strain not only on their cars and mileage but just their everyday expenses,” Tran said. “They won’t get paid until they use up their own money to spend for gas.”
He has not owned a car in close to a decade because of how expensive it can be.
“The last time I remember paying for gas it was probably the better part of $2 and even then for myself that seemed like an expense that I wasn’t willing to pay for,” Tran said.
According to AAA, Monday’s national average for a gallon of gas was $3.95. That is 24 cents higher than last week and $1.02 higher than last month.
A 19 News crew found a gallon was $3.99 at a gas station in Cleveland off West 150th Street.
“You see it’s $60, so it is what it is and at this point I guess you have to do what you got to do,” one driver said.
For small businesses like A Slice Above in Strongsville, they rely on their delivery drivers to help serve customers.
Higher prices at the pump can potentially impact the bottom line.
“Delivering for the drivers that’s some thing I’ll probably have to add a little bit later but also my vendors who deliver to me will start charging me more for deliveries,” Don Bersacola, the shop’s owner, said. “That happened 10, 15 years ago. They added a delivery fee to my produce, my meats so when they deliver they’re going to start charging me more so then I have to eventually but I don’t like to do that because consumers are hurting right now so you can’t just pass everything on to them.”
Despite the rising costs for fuel, he plans to keep his prices steady.
“I’ve been here 33 years so I’ve been through a lot so I can hold on for quite some time, I think,” Bersacola said. “Some of the smaller, newer ones maybe not so but I’m pretty confident.”
For drivers, there is no end in sight for when gas prices might drop back down.
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