BAY AREA (Bay
News 9) --
An
increasing number of businesses are
raising prices or cutting services
because of the ever rising cost of
fuel.
But
some businesses have found
intriguing ways to accommodate for
the cost of gas. Recent Dominos
franchisee and owner Chuck O'Brien
reimburses his drivers at his Tampa
location $1.10 a delivery for gas.
But with the recent spike in fuel
prices he has felt pressure to raise
that amount. "Being a single store
family-owned operated franchise, I
can't afford to go much higher than
that, and I don't really want to
raise my prices," O'Brien said.
So O'Brien came up with an idea: the
first and only Dominos scooter, at
least in the Bay area. "It's
great," O'Brien said. "Drivers love
it. In turn it's saving us money
because we don't have to pay them
that $1.10 a delivery." A $3 to $4
fill-up has translated into two to
three days worth of deliveries at 80
miles to the gallon. And customers
are noticing. "I was impressed,"
said Dominos customer Nelson
Sanchez. "I guess everybody's trying
save a dollar here, a dollar there."
Just across the bridge in
Clearwater Joseph Stancy is
trying something similar.
Stancy owns Dry Dock Laundry.
"It means being able to keep prices
the same -- offering the same
service, not having to raise my
prices or charge for delivery,"
Stancy said. Stancy has turned off
his pick-up truck and turned on a
scooter, which has saved him about
$400 a month in gas.
With 60 miles to the gallon,
Stancy can still offer pick up and
delivery for free since the gas only
costs him about $3 a day. And
for businesses that can't sensibly
reduce carriage size, for example
St. Petersburg Recycling Services,
they've come up with other ways to
minimize. "On this laptop we have a
GPS routing program that was just
implemented that allows us to
actually show our routes on a local
map," said Lawrence Church of St.
Petersburg Recycling Services. "Then
it shows us accurate real time
information on what houses we're
passing and the best route we should
take based on fuel economy." O'Brien
said Dominos stores overseas have
been delivering pizzas on scooters
for quite some time. O'brien said he
paid $1500 for his scooter and
expects to make the money within
months.
Stancy said he paid $7,500 and
plans to continue pick-up and
delivery service with the scooter
even if gas prices eventually drop.
