As fuel prices rise, profits gets slippery

SAN FRANCISCO — Larry Bearg’s business depends on gasoline. Lots of it.

And with the average price of gas in California stuck above $3.30 per gallon, that dependency is starting to hurt.

Bearg’s company, Planet Organics, delivers groceries to 2,300 San Francisco-area homes each week. His vans, packed floor to ceiling with boxes of organic produce, make 65 to 70 stops per trip before returning to the company’s warehouse. They get 10 miles per gallon. Fueling them costs $7,000 each month.

Last year, it was $5,000.

The pain doesn’t stop there. Truckers who bring fresh-picked produce to Planet Organics’ warehouse are charging more, trying to recoup some of the extra money they’re spending on diesel. Bakers have added fuel surcharges to their shipments of bread. Even the plastic boxes used to lug groceries to each customer’s door have nearly doubled in price.

San Francisco Chronicle