Angie's List

Angie's List: Gas Prices Affecting Businesses

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― If the price at the pump is giving you heartburn, you're not alone. Businesses are getting hit hard too. Rising petroleum prices are affecting the cost of transporting products and making them too.

And in the end, it will affect us all as Jim Donovan explains in this week's Angie's List report.

Angie's List recently surveyed 75 companies. They talked to roofers, painters and lawn care companies about the affect rising oil prices are having on their businesses. Angie's List found that 95 percent of the companies are seeing an impact on their bottom line.

"Many of us focus our thoughts on gas prices around the cost to fill up the trucks to get around town but petroleum is actually used to develop a number of other products including plastic. So we're seeing these high oil prices affect things like vinyl windows, vinyl siding, asphalt shingles, even lawn fertilizer," said Angie Hicks, Founder of Angie's List.

She says you should expect price hikes.
"For example, asphalt shingles you might see prices increasing anywhere from 15 to 50 percent. Lawn fertilizer you might see increasing anywhere from 20 to 30 percent," said Hicks.

She also says be prepared to be flexible.
"Because even if a product isn't made from petroleum it is likely being shipped so you might be paying extra charges for that product to be shipped. Some companies are even holding loads until they have a full truck before they send the shipment out so plan ahead as much as possible," said Hicks.

Angie's list is a membership organization that helps consumers find reliable contractors.

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