DETROIT – Gas prices have jumped again in Michigan and Metro Detroit as the current average of $4.97 is 13 cents higher than Thursday (June 2).
People are being impacted daily, especially those whose job is based on driving.
“It’s rough,” said Owner Archie Adams of Trash Pulley Dumpster. “We’re up to $200 a day.”
Last year Adams says he paid half that for gas.
Roofing companies and homeowners rent his dumpsters for a few days at a time. The father and son business clock a couple hundred miles a day.
“We go here all over the back to the city dump here, the transfer station,” Adams said.
Read: ‘You’re working to buy gas’: Gas prices cross $5 mark in Michigan
In a cruel irony, with gas at $5 a gallon for regular, the family is spending more time on the road trying to make ends meet.
“We work longer hours to make our budget,” Adams said. “Everybody makes their ends meet some way or the other.”
Oil analysts say the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lockdowns lifting in China, and increased global demand are all factors.
Refineries can’t simply pump more oil as it takes time to boost reserves after 2020.
“There are now, I think, seven or eight states that have an average that’s above $5,” said Chief Oil Analyst Denton Cinquegrana. “And, again, the country’s not far behind. It’s hard to see what’s going to go on to kind of stop that. I think with a little stop it is we drive less.
For small businesses and everyday families, the focus now is on survival.
“There are a million reasons why right,” Adams said. “So we can’t do anything about it.”
“Hopefully, it comes back down so we can come back on the prices too,” Adams said.