x
Breaking News
More () »

High gas prices hitting lawn care companies hard and suspending gas taxes may not help

GasBuddy explains what could contribute to relief this summer at the pump.

TOLEDO, Ohio — High gas prices have hit many businesses hard, especially those that involve driving or operating gas-powered machinery, like lawn care companies.

The owner of Jacob's Lawn Care in Toledo, Jacob Ochoa, has been in the business for four years.

"I go to Northwood, Oregon, then I came all the way over here to south Toledo, north Toledo, all around the Toledo area," Ochoa said.

While he cuts grass, the one thing he can't cut is his high expense for gas with all that driving.

"I've had to raise the prices by $5 to almost everybody."

Having to constantly fill his equipment, Ochoa said, "It's like $20 extra or $30 extra that I didn't have to pay before."

That doesn't include gas for his car, which adds around $200 a month to his expenses.

He is just another person feeling the pain in his wallet as gas prices hang around $5 a gallon.

Even as the President calls on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax, it could have an opposite impact according to Patrick De Hann with GasBuddy.

"Cutting the price will incentive more Americans to hit the road and thus potentially there is more upside to demand and further tilting the balance. That could have devastating consequences should we see any interruptions to supply," De Hann said.

While the prices have gone done a little just recently, there's no telling when they'll drop more.

"If we don't get a major hurricane, if we don't get any refinery outages, we could get some relief that will progress throughout the rest of the summer," De Hann said.

Still, in not so good news for lawn care companies, De Hann doesn't expect gas to fall below $4 a gallon anytime this summer.

Before You Leave, Check This Out