Pinched small businesses resort to higher prices

…Pet shop owner Ruth Hanessian has grown accustomed to paying fuel surcharges tacked on to invoices by suppliers of pet food and pet-care books. She responded by boosting prices on a few items at her Animal Exchange store in Rockville, Md.

But now Hanessian is planning an across-the-board price increase of about 10%

And her monthly electric bill is rising 53% from a year ago just as summertime weather forces her to rely more on air conditioning. She sells birds, rabbits and other live animals, so she can’t raise the temperature in her store overnight to save money. “Some businesses can turn it on and off,” she says. “I can’t.”

The cost of oil

Higher oil prices have pushed gas prices to an average $2.931 a gallon, nearly 32% higher than a year ago, says the American Automobile Association. That played a key role in the Federal Reserve’s decision last week to raise interest rates for the 17th time.

USA Today