Dec 4, 2008 5:45 pm US/Central
Cheap Gas Doesn't Stop Fuel Surcharges
CHICAGO
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Some companies that use a lot of fuel are retaining a surcharge for customers, even though gasoline prices have dropped.
No doubt you're really happy the price of gas has dropped dramatically.
But some businesses are acting as if there were still pain at the pump. CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman explains.
When gas was at its most expensive, it cost Park N' Jet about $340 a day -- every day -- to fill up its fleet. That's why the company and other services that allow you to leave your car in a lot and take a shuttle to the airport decided to pass some of the expense down to the customer.
"Around April what we did is for the first we instated a $2, one-time fuel surcharge to help cover the cost of part of the expenses of our gas," Eric Di Silvestro, a Park N' Jet employee, said.
So what happens now that gas prices are down – way down -- from their summertime high?
At Park N' Jet and its competition, the fuel surcharges stand.
And shipping companies that use ground and air transport -- like United Parcel Service and FedEx -- still have them, too, although they're lower now than they were last month.
For consumers like Vinh Lee, it begs a question.
"Why do I have to pay for it -- for what reason?" he said. "It's really not fair."
"Since prices have gone down practically by 50 percent, they don't have to burden us any further," consumer Gloria Lauria said.
It might not be that cut and dried, says economic analyst Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial.
"Many of these transportation companies, it took them awhile before they could institute the fuel surcharges, and even as they were instituting them, prices were going up ... so they were getting squeezed the whole way up," Swonk said.
That means the Park N' Jets of the world are trying to make up for lost ground, even though gas is cheaper now.
"For now we're keeping (the surcharge)," Di Silvestro said. "But if it remains low, we will get rid of it."
Experts say fuel surcharges aren't a gouging issue because these aren't monopolies, and you have a choice. If you don't like the price you're paying, the advice is simple: Go to the competition.
Businesses that take a hit will eventually have to drop the surcharges.
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