MONTREAL - Even if you don't travel beyond your grocery store, chances are that
spiraling gas prices are taking a big bite out of your pocket book.
Those who never set foot in a truck or a plane still pay the ticket for the plump, red tomatoes they purchase. The same transportation costs have also inflated the prices for a wide variety of goods and services.
For example, Montreal transportation company Robert Trucking and its fleet of 1,100 trucks burn 48 million liters of fuel per year, at a cost which has jumped from 95 cents to about $1.30 since September.
The company has coped only by slapping on an additional gas surcharge to consumers, a ritual they have performed every Monday since January. Their gas surcharge now stands at a whopping 36 percent.
Those hopping a plane have also felt the gas surcharge pinch. And it's a fee that you has started migrated to other less-familiar places.
One Montreal air-conditioner repairman said that he has recently started slapping an extra $30 on all visits just to cover the increased charge at the pumps.
Taxi drivers, however, have had to field the billfold damage unaided. Their fuel fees have risen in some cases from about $25 day to $50 a day.
Grocery items have been blasted by the inflation bug. One store manager reports that many consumers have simply taken to buying fewer items.
The price at the pumps receded slightly Tuesday, but many expect the numbers to eventually rise further even though OPEC is also expected by many to increase supply.
