As gas prices rise, expect to pay more elsewhere, too

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Gracie Johnson

Alabama is seeing its highest gas prices in years, with an average right now around $3.91 per gallon. That’s a nearly 60-cent increase since last week, and the sudden rise will soon be creeping into other aspects of life.

As gas prices rise, so too do the costs to get goods from manufacturers to consumers. Manufacturers won’t eat that cost. Instead, they’ll pass it along to you.

“Anything that relies on gasoline to get to where it needs to go for consumers is going to be affected,” said University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business Associate Dean James Cochran. “You have to transport food around, you have to transport other foods and services around. All of those prices are going to go up as those gas prices go up.”

AAA Alabama Public Relations and Marketing Director Clay Ingram said higher shipping prices mean pressure at the pump and beyond.

“It’s a shame that these higher fuel prices trickle down and affect everybody because almost everything we buy these days is transported at least once between distribution centers and warehouses and local stores,” said Ingram. “Every time that happens, there’s a transportation tax added. The higher the cost of fuel, the higher that expense is.”

Ingram and Cochran said it’s hard to predict when we can expect gas prices to fall again because there are many aspects that go into the cost of fuel.

If consumers adjust to the high costs and use less gas while producers step in and increase their oil production, that will eventually mean cheaper gas. But for now, plan on driving less and spending more.