Gas prices in Florida have reached a new high. The average gas price is now $4.82 — that is up from about $4.75 just earlier this week.
AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins told Bay News 9's Katya Guillaume that a combination of tightening global supplies and high demand is the main reason people are feeling the pain at the pump. He said, though, that despite the higher prices, consumer spending remains very strong.
“For the majority of Floridians, travel is still a priority for them," Jenkins said. "If you are feeling a pain at the pump, then in many cases people are offsetting that by budgeting accordingly.
"Expecting to pay more on gasoline, spending less on shopping, dining out, maybe staying at a less expensive hotel or just traveling closer to home.”
Roadside service companies are also feeling the impact of higher gas prices and they say calls for people stranded and in need of gas have increased.
The jump in the 24 hours right before the start of the weekend has some fearing what will happen on Saturday.
Collin Nevels has owned 24/7 roadside in Pinellas County for almost three years now.
“Initially, I love helping people — so I got into this just as a job thinking I would do this as a job," he said. "And I found out that I love helping people on a day-to-day basis and I love making people less stressed out, I guess, and defusing the situation."
Because he works by himself, everything he needs is right here in the back of his car.
“I got my unlocking kit here that I use time to time, but mostly lately we’ve been doing just tire changes and fuel deliveries,” he said, pointing to the back of his car.
With the average gas price at just under $5 a gallon, and continuously increasing, he said he’s working more now than ever.
“It’s increased — double or triple over the past two months, and I probably get about 20-30 calls a month (for gas alone)," Nevels said. “Delivering two gallons of gas anywhere, pretty much anywhere in Pinellas and surrounding areas.”
He said that is enough gas for someone to get to their nearest gas station to top off.
“There are definitely people who are facing the ramification of this economically, for sure, because it’s definitely people who are less fortunate that are placing these phone calls asking for help,” he said.
Nevels said he doesn’t anticipate his workload to slow down anytime soon — especially with the summer season.
“I’ve been seeing a lot more people in need are stranded out in the road, interstate," he said. "Luckily, there are road rangers that Florida has currently, but there could always be implemented services elsewhere."
Nevels said he tries to keep his turnaround time under 30 minutes to serve as many drivers as he can.
He’s working on his own now, but the goal is to expand his business beyond Tampa and St. Petersburg.
He is not the only roadside service company facing an increase in calls. With the national worker shortage, many others say they are so busy that customers are seeing longer wait times — even though they are doing their best to assist as quickly as possible.