Gas prices taking big chunk out of small business owner’s budget

Gas prices are taking a big bite out of the budget of a small business in Saskatchewan.

Karl Hamilton has been running his business for the past three years, installing internet and TV satellite services in rural areas throughout central Saskatchewan.

“Each day I go in a different direction,” he said.

On Monday, the price of gas at some stations in Regina and Saskatoon rose to $2.07 per litre.

When he started his business, Hamilton said he used to spend between $200 and $300 per week on gas, filling the tank of his newer Dodge minivan each time for under $60. Lately, however, the weekly cost has more than doubled.

“It’s about $600 now. It’s starting to get to the point where it’s not viable to kind of keep going. It’s just hurting everybody,” he said.

“People need service, and Saskatchewan is so spread out that you can’t just have a local guy all the time, so you’ve got to drive out to the people.”

Hamilton said his take-home pay has been affected, but he doesn’t want to pass along the added costs to his customers yet, so he’s trying to come up with alternatives.

“Just trying to get better routing, so I’m not going out so far. Or, if I’m going out far, trying to do more jobs while I’m out in the area to kind of level everything out,” he explained. “Just trying to be smarter about how things are dispatched.”

At home, he said he’s having to make tough decisions.

“I’ve got a couple of young kids, and you want to do sports and you want to have fun. You want to go to the lake. It’s getting to the point where you’re thinking maybe you can wait. Or maybe we’ll do one big, special trip,” he said.

Hamilton said he’s not struggling too much so far, but he’s not sure how long can he keep his business going with gas prices predicted to continue increasing.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’re looking at bills to cut around the house, so that’s kind of where we’re going to try and manage everything.”