Driving force to find options
Workers who rely on their vehicles making changes to counter impact of gas prices
DETROIT — High gas prices have Wallace Reid looking for a new career.
Reid, who drives for Uber and Lyft in New York, fills up his Lexus at least three times a week. He pays around $95 each time, about double what he was paying last year. To make up for that, he’s driving more often, but he’s also applying for other jobs that wouldn’t require his car.
“It’s more hours, more stress,” he said. “New York City is not an easy city to work and it’s affecting our lives.”
Reid isn’t alone.
Millions of Americans who rely on their cars for work are changing their habits, signing up for carpools or even ditching their cars for bicycles as gas prices recently hit $5 per gallon for the first time ever.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden asked Congress to suspend federal gas taxes for three months, which would shave 18.4 cents per gallon off the price of gas. He also urged states to suspend their own gas taxes.
Biden’s push faces uphill odds in Congress. In the meantime, gas is straining budgets.
Jace Shoemaker-Galloway agonized over whether to charge more for Paws and Whiskers Sitters, her pet-sitting business in Macomb, Illinois. She visits as many as 10 houses each day and fills up her 2018 Mazda CX-3 almost every week. One recent fill-up cost her nearly $50.
“The cost isn’t just impacting my bottom line,” she said. “Because the price of everything is so expensive, people are cutting back on non-essentials.”
In a normal summer, Orvilia Nieto might do some traveling in the RV she lives in in Lytle, Texas. But that might not happen this year. She is struggling to fill the tank of her 2008 Ford Expedition SUV so she can get to her job at a T.J. Maxx distribution center in San Antonio, 20 miles away. A handful of colleagues on her shift, which ends at 2:30 a.m., ride their bikes home in the dark.
“If we lived in the city it would be easier, could take the bus ,” she said, “but at the end of the shift at 2:30 in the morning, what bus line is available?”
Jill Chapman, a senior performance consultant with Insperity, a Texasbased human resources and recruitment company, said gas prices and commute lengths are increasingly a sticking point with job candidates. Chapman said companies may want to consider temporary bonuses, incentives for public transit or gas cards to help their employees.
David Lewis, the CEO of Operations Inc., a Norwalk, Connecticut-based human resources consulting company, has around 100 employees in Norwalk. Before COVID19, 85% of them were in the office at least two days a week. Now, maybe 25% of them are. Lewis — and many of his clients — would like to see employees in the office more, but say gas prices are a barrier.
“If you are the company that requires everyone to come in all the time, you’re a pariah,” he said.
For those who must commute, there can be options.
On Tuesday, Uber announced it was bringing back discounted shared rides in nine cities this summer, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Organizations that link carpoolers say they are seeing more participants.
But others say they simply have to hustle harder.
Brian Scheall, an Uber driver in Tampa, Florida, pays $75 every time he fills up his Volkswagen Atlas. “You can make money but you have to work, work, work,” he said.