Gas prices are down, but not surcharges

Gasoline prices have headed south, but most fuel surcharges have stayed put.

Gasoline prices have swooned in the past three months, falling to $2.20 a gallon nationally after peaking at more than $3. But hop on an airplane, send a package or even ride a SuperShuttle to the airport and you’ll still pay a fuel surcharge.

After a summer of sky-high prices at the pump, South Florida consumers feel like they’re getting a reprieve with gas prices in the $2.40-a-gallon range.

But executives at fuel-dependent companies say that despite plummeting gas prices, the price of oil is still high — much higher than before hurricane damage to Gulf Coast refineries that disrupted supplies and jitters over the Mideast pushed up prices.

Since last year, the executives said, their companies have been paying higher fuel costs without being able to pass all of them on to consumers in the form of extra fuel surcharges like those many slapped on this summer.

Miami Herald