Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine May 2022

News Magazine May 2022

FEATURE STORY

“ Somebody ’ s Got to Pay ” Let’s be honest. We all want something for nothing. A bargain isn’t a bargain until we feel that the other guy lost and we won. Well, that may be taking it a bit far but the issue is to realize that nothing is free. Everything has a price tag and someone has to pay for it. The problem for HVAC guys is that they are good guys. They want to help people and will frequently lower their price to help someone in need — a retired couple, a single mom, a person that is apparently down on their luck. While that may be laudable, if you give away too much, then there will be no company left to help anyone including your employees, you, and your family. We also hate to raise prices. It is a decision that is gut wrenching to most HVAC owners. We know that everything is going up and we don’t want to be the next commodity or service that families can’t afford. AND we all know that HVAC system pricing has gone through the roof. Hasn’t everything. We could talk about equipment, metal, and insulation. It is unimaginable that dealer costs have gotten so high and passing those costs along to consumers is truly a stressful process. This article focuses on one cost and the idea is to put a number to our moaning about the price increase — GASOLINE. My word, who would have ever thought that we’d see such a huge percentage of increase in such a short time.

According to AAA.com, https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=AR, the average Arkansas regular gas price is now $3.799. A year ago, $2.68. If you have diesel vehicles, you might note that a year ago the average price was $2.931 while today you are paying

$5.012.

Obviously, you’ve been paying your credit card bill and cringing at the way it has gone up. Some HVAC contractors are hoping that “this too shall pass” and are absorbing the increase. Others have thought it through and realized that the cost is significant to their bottom line. Let’s take a look at what price increases are doing to you. How many miles do your service trucks travel each week. That varies a lot on whether you are in a rural area or urban.