Rising gas prices could impact prices at stores: expert

Brace yourself for a major shock if you need to fill up your gas tank.

The price at the pumps has surged once again to around $2.30 per litre for regular at most stations around Metro Vancouver, Wednesday.

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If that number isn’t shocking enough, one expert says just wait for the sticker shock it’ll produce.

Retail analyst Bruce Winder says small businesses will be the first forced to pass on the rising cost of gas to consumers.

“If you’re a small company and you buy from a distributor or supplier, they’ve got to increase your prices or add a fuel surcharge to you, which means you either eat the profit or you have to raise your prices,” Winder explained.

“If you’re a bigger company, normally you handle the freight yourself, but that means the same thing. Your cost goes up.”

Winder says businesses have little choice but to hike prices to offset fuel surcharges imposed by suppliers.

“The big grocers, they only work on a three to four per cent net margin,” he said.

“If you’re buying fresh vegetables and fruits right now, if you’re a grocer, large or small, you’re seeing some increases in fuel prices because that’s happening in real time. Companies are filling their trucks right now at higher prices, which means they have to pass that along to their retail customers.”

Winder says shoppers will notice those increases even more at smaller stores that don’t have the same leverage as the big box chains.

“I think consumers just need to realize that this isn’t price gouging at the retail front,” he said.

“It’s not the fault of the retailers. It’s really just responding to events beyond their control.”

Winder says you may have to change your buying habits and seek deals at discount stores to save and avoid what could be massive price hikes.