WINTER GARDEN, Fla. \u2013 As gas prices continue to rise, small businesses that rely on deliveries are being forced to make tough decisions just to keep costs manageable. <\/p>\n
At Betty J\u2019s Florist in Winter Garden, higher prices at the pump are creating new challenges ahead of one of the busiest times of the year.<\/p>\n
The longtime flower shop is preparing for the Mother\u2019s Day rush while balancing this year\u2019s challenges. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe tariffs have hurt us, inflation, gas prices, even the flower prices have quadrupled have also hurt us,\u201d said manager MeriBeth Jackson.<\/p>\n
With Mother\u2019s Day quickly approaching, Jackson says the business expects a high volume of deliveries, just like last year. The biggest difference will be the cost of gas, but they don\u2019t plan to raise delivery costs for customers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know last year we did over 100 deliveries,\u201d Jackson goes on to say, \u201cmost of the customers have been doing business with Betty J\u2019s for two or three generations, they are family, and we don\u2019t want to do more damage to their budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, the shop plans to absorb the added expense, even though Jackson estimates the business will spend significantly more on gas during Mother\u2019s Day week.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur drivers are going to be spending probably the week of Mother\u2019s Day a $1,000 or more in gas prices,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n
To offset those expenses, the team is reworking how deliveries are handled. Routes are being streamlined, and drivers are focusing on speed and efficiency to ensure every arrangement arrives on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything has got to go out as expeditiously as possible and on time,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n
As part of that effort, the shop has made the difficult decision to limit deliveries to certain areas on Mother\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a couple of neighborhoods in the Winter Garden we won\u2019t go out on Mother\u2019s Day,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Even with those adjustments, the goal remains the same: making sure each flower arrangement arrives on time for customers celebrating the holiday. Jackson adds the team works hard to make sure their customers receive the best. <\/p>\n
She notes that while customers may have other options, like big box stores, Betty J\u2019s remains focused on quality and service. For those interested in their fresh flowers, she encourages them to reach out, and they will work with them on their budget. <\/p>\n
Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINTER GARDEN, Fla. \u2013 As gas prices continue to rise, small businesses that rely on deliveries are being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[558,1917,28,30,29,11248,104739,1335,25863],"class_list":{"0":"post-234794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-consumer","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-gas-prices","14":"tag-mothers-day","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-winter-garden"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}