Mike Davis isn't giving potential plumbing customers free estimates any more. Bob Normand has cut his cruising speed back from 75 miles an hour to 60. Irene Hagerty is doing her morning walk in the parking lot at nearby Falmouth Elementary School instead of driving six miles to walk at Spotsylvania Mall.
"We try to work with what we have," she said.
The high cost of gasoline has changed the way people around here are living their lives.
Gasoline prices spiked last week at $3.27 a gallon, a 76 percent increase over the same period last year. This week they're hovering between $3.19 and $3.09 in the Fredericksburg area, with a few bargain places offering fuel at $2.99 a gallon.
The damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina to oil wells and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico is blamed for the rise past the $3 mark, but even before the hurricane, gasoline prices were nipping consumers' pocketbooks. The last weekend in August, the price of a gallon of gasoline was around $2.60, up from $1.78 at the beginning of the year.
Davis, who owns Davis Plumbing & Heating Inc. in Falmouth, said he is now charging $20 to come out and give an estimate, something he used to do free.
"When gas prices started jacking up, we stopped. A lot of customers don't want to pay a surcharge. But if you spend $15 or $20 on gas and don't even get the job "
He tells potential customers if he gets the job he'll deduct the estimate charge from the total bill.
Davis also skipped his annual vacation in Myrtle Beach this year because of the cost of gasoline.
Another man said he had given up his trips to the casinos in Charles Town, W.Va. He used to budget $20 for the trip; when he lost that, he came home.
"Now it costs more than $20 to get there," he said.
Normand had stopped at the Virginia Welcome Center on Interstate 95, nearly halfway through his 1,500-mile trip back home to Florida from a summer spent in New Hampshire.
Gasoline was selling for $2.20 a gallon when he went north at the beginning of the summer. Now, he's finding it around $3.20.
He said that during the first 200 mile of his trip home he'd been driving at 55 mph, but that was on less-crowded roads.
"Here you have to drive 60 to keep up with the traffic. You try to drive 55, you'll get run down," Normand said.
Fuel efficiency decreases markedly at speeds over 60 mph. According to the Alliance to Save Energy (ase.org), "Each five miles per hour over 60 is like paying an extra 15 cents per gallon."
So driving 60 instead of 75, Normand is effectively saving 45 cents on each gallon he uses.
He said he learned that lesson back in the late 1970s, when many of the states reduced the speed limit on interstate highways to cut down on fuel consumption.
Many people also said they were trying to consolidate errands as a way to save gasoline.
Others are giving up little luxuries.
Judea Thompson of Stafford County said she isn't getting her hair done as often.
"I'm not getting my nails done at all. Those things are extras. We're putting our money where it really counts."
Hilton Coleman is considering not cutting his grass anymore. It costs the Caroline County resident $12 to mow his three acres.
"The backyard is growing pretty good right now," he said.
The Colemans used to own a push mower, but they sold it. Coleman is trying to convince his wife, Gloria, that they need to buy two calves and put them out to pasture in the yard.
"Fatten them up, kill them before winter, then you don't need to feed them," he said with a grin.
Even before Katrina hit, Mary Matherly had joined a van pool to get to work. She used to drive her Crown Victoria from her Marlborough Point home in Stafford County to her job at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County. When it started costing her $20 every other day to fill the car up, she went to the van pool. That costs her only $10 a month, because the government subsidizes the ride.
Her commute takes 30 minutes longer now, but she's dealing with it.
"I had to step out of my box," she said.
Transportation experts advise car buyers to consider fuel-efficient vehicles, like the new hybrids. But Bob Husztek of Annandale, who had stopped at the Massaponax Race Trac to fill up on $2.99 gasoline, ended up getting a vehicle that had about the same gas mileage as his old one.
"You spend $6,000 to $10,000 more for a [Toyota] Prius. If you look at the gas prices and the difference in gas mileage, it would take you 16 years to make a difference It's a false economy," Husztek said.
It takes $65 to fill Larry Duvall's F-150 truck, the vehicle he uses for work. It gets 14 miles to the gallon.
He's afraid that "the powers that be" will figure that Americans will just suck it up and get used to paying higher prices.
His solution is for everybody to quit driving for 30 days.
"That would shake their world like they're shaking ours," he said.
He defined the "powers that be" as the oil companies and President Bush.
"He can control things," Duvall said, referring to the president. "We're saving everybody else's country, and we're over here paying for it."
Not everybody is upset about higher gas prices. Theresa Tompkins of Massaponax sees something good coming out of it.
"There's way too much traffic. My subdivision is filled with cars. Everyone's got three or four cars," Tompkins said. "If high gas prices stop it, that's fine with me. Oil--we're running out of it. "
And Husztek, a real estate broker, noted that gas prices now are essentially the same as they were in 1980, when adjusted for inflation.
"Look at what you paid for a three-bedroom house in 1980, and what you'd pay now," he said.
To reach LUCIA ANDERSON:
The U.S. Department of Energy and the Alliance to Save Energy Powerful $avings campaign offer these vehicle maintenance and driving tips to help consumers get better mileage and reduce gasoline expenses (monetary savings calculated by DOE based on gas at $2.20 a gallon): Basic maintenance pays off Keep your car properly tuned up to improve gas mileage by about 4 percent and save about 9 cents per gallon; replacing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve mileage by as much as 40 percent, to save up to 88 cents a gallon. Keep air filters clean to improve mileage by as much as 10 percent and save up to 22 cents a gallon. Replacing clogged or dirty air filters also keeps impurities from damaging the inside of your engine. Keep tires properly inflated to improve gas mileage by as much as 3 percent and save up to 7 cents per gallon. This also extends tire life and ensures tire safety. Use the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil to improve your gas mileage by another 1-2 percent, saving 2 to 4 cents per gallon. Look for "Energy Conserving" on the API performance symbol to ensure friction-reducing additives. On the road Curtail aggressive driving. Speeding, rapid acceleration and braking cut mileage up to 33 percent at highway speeds and 5 percent in town, wasting from 11 to 73 cents per gallon. Nix jack-rabbit starts in favor of slow acceleration from a dead stop. Obey the speed limit. Speeding cuts fuel economy 7 percent to 23 percent, as gas mileage decreases rapidly above 60 mph. Each 5 mph you drive over 60 is like paying an extra 15 cents per gallon. If available, use your vehicle's overdrive gear when appropriate to reduce engine speed, save gas, and decrease engine wear. Use cruise control to help cut fuel consumption by maintaining a steady speed during highway driving. Pack lightly when traveling, and avoid carrying items on your vehicle's roof. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk cuts a typical car's fuel economy 1-2 percent. Avoid idling, which gets 0 mpg. Cars with larger engines typically waste even more gas at idling than cars with smaller engines. Carpool and use public transportation whenever possible. Check the American Public Transportation Association's Web site for local public transit information. Combine your errands into one trip and plan your routes carefully to drive fewer miles and use less fuel. Also, several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a longer, multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm. Other gasoline & If your employer permits, consider telecommuting or staggering your work hours to avoid sitting in traffic and wasting gas during peak rush hours. If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets better gas mileage whenever possible. If you drive 15,000 miles a year, you can save $550 a year by driving a car that gets 30 mpg rather than 20 mpg. That's $2,200 extra in fuel costs in just four years! Protect your health and your pocketbook by walking--or biking--to your destination whenever possible. Source: The Alliance to Save Energy Web site, ase.org |