It’s early Thursday, and I’m on the road to California for an event. This marks my first drive in my diesel Sprinter van since the beginning of summer. With the route planned and everything packed, I started looking at fuel prices to map out my stops.
That’s when the sticker shock hit.
Diesel is currently $5.96 per gallon locally. Curious about prices farther along my route, I checked the next state and found it hovering around $6.85 per gallon. Then I looked at California. Since I’ll be there for roughly ten days, a fill-up is inevitable. The price? An eye-watering $8.41 per gallon.
As painful as those numbers are, they’re not enough to keep me from making the trip. I may be a little more strategic about where I fuel up, but my plans remain unchanged. The truth is that rising fuel costs touch everyone. Whether fuel is a business expense or part of a hobby, increased energy costs eventually show up in the price of nearly everything we buy through higher production and transportation costs.
Chuck Johnson DVM, MBA
Senior Consultant
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