What If Gasoline Goes to $9.00 Per Gallon?
That was one of the questions futurist Don Libey (www.libey.com) posed to the audience during his presentation at the last VendorNet user conference. You may say that’s absurd! But fuel has already doubled in the past couple of years. Why should those who control the cost of oil give Americans a break?
Libey, who is known to get the audience thinking and groaning about “what might be if……..” has been living in London six months of the year. As many people know, the British and most of Europe have been paying over $9.00 for the equivalent of the US gallon for years.
Europe is a lot different from the US, in many ways. The geographic distance we travel to cover our country is much vaster. The Europeans have well developed mass transportation, where many US cities have elementary means. We were in love with the SUV until recently; now US manufacturers have started to shut down plants dedicated to SUVs. Our roads are full of single passenger cars. We’re already seeing airlines canceling less traveled routes, with ticket prices forecasted to climb. Whether the cause is oil futures speculation, supply constriction, market manipulation, or something else, oil probably will not go down to its old levels.
What would have to change if gasoline went to $9.00 per gallon? High fuel prices may actually cause consumers to favor direct retailing. But it will be a constant battle to keep inbound and outbound shipping costs down so they don’t kill the direct business. Might we as business owners have to shuttle employees from key points to staff distribution or call centers? And oil is the raw material of so many products; with a huge price increase, we will battle inflation.
Readers, how would a doubling of fuel costs change your business and life style?