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

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“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.

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“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.”

Last week, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) called on the Saskatchewan government to offer relief for business owners dealing with high gas prices. Specifically, they are asking for cost relief by reducing the provincial fuel tax.

“It is no secret that small businesses are facing a long and challenging road to recovery,” said Brianna Solberg, CIFB senior policy analyst. “According to our latest CFIB Small Business Recovery Dashboard, only 42 per cent of Saskatchewan small businesses are back to normal revenues for this time of year and the majority are staring down significant debt, supply chain challenges, and the pressures of inflation.”

Solberg added businesses are already facing additional costs including raises to minimum wage, WCB premiums, and SaskPower rates and the expansion of the PST to include gym memberships and admission to arts and sports events.

“In Saskatchewan, inflation has now reached 5.9 per cent, and with the provincial fuel tax at 15 cents per litre, the government has an opportunity to provide some much-needed cost relief,” said Kathleen Cook, CFIB’s director of provincial affairs for Saskatchewan. “Small business owners are struggling with the many cost increases government has already imposed this year, and some relief on fuel costs would help them on the road to recovery.”

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