TANGO TRIKE IS HELPING TO CUT RISING GAS PRICES FOR BAY AREA BUSINESSES Businesses coping with high gas prices Gas prices are still rising and a number of bay area business are finding new ways to deal with the costs. Monday on your morning news. Monday, June 16, 2008
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.

 
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