Nice rebuttal.
Numbers don't lie. Gas is about $3.70/gallon here, how bad is it in Seattle right now? $4.00? $4.50?
The public's general laziness when it comes to passing up a little extra work/time to save a few pennies don't lie as well. In general people just say "whatever, it's not worth the time/effort to save a few pennies".
No doubt people are lazy. However, when it comes saving a dollar or more, they'll go through extraordinary measures. That's why walmart and sites like gasbuddy and amazon have become so popular.
Anyway, back to the numbers...
With such a dramatic increase in costs, the only way any business will be able to maintain their current pricing and profits is by changing the way they do business.
Sure, the "ideal" way to deal with this such a dramatic increase in operating costs is to operate more efficiently. I could buy in bulk shop for better pricing on products/services that I purchase, amongst other things. However, in this economy, we've already implemented these savings and are already operating as efficiently as possible. So, there's no other way to offset this cost without sacrificing quality or service.
So, the only other option is to sell more product. But, no business can realistically expect to increase volume overnight. This especially holds true in the restaurant/retail industry because it's not like you can flip a switch and expect a hundred more customers to walk in your door every day - even if many of them just got a big raise.
This increase hits harder in other industries. When it comes to small custom manufacturing companies like the one I run, that $11 per hour increase in costs, essentially, means I'm out of business because my former customers can now buy a similar product from my competition in the next town over and save a whole lot of money.
The products I make, generally, take a minimum of 2 - 3 hours to produce. So, that's an increased cost of ~$20 - $30. On larger or more complex projects, that extra cost can add up to be hundreds of dollars or more. SO, who in their right mind won't want to save such a significant amount of money?
So, I'm left with 2 choices. I can either raise my prices to cover the increased cost and hope I still get clients. Or, I can move outside of the city limits and, at least, guarantee that maintain my existing clients.
