{"id":409812,"date":"2026-09-25T00:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409812\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T00:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:38:10","slug":"sw-florida-mobile-pet-groomers-raise-prices-as-gas-costs-climb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409812\/","title":{"rendered":"SW Florida mobile pet groomers raise prices as gas costs climb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lee County mobile pet groomers raise prices as gas costs climb<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc-7.com\/news-team\/12557a67-0e1e-4634-8b86-01ee65820479\" aria-label=\"Madison Zaleski profile page\" class=\"css-15eikfp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790296690_799_12557a67-0e1e-4634-8b86-01ee65820479_1742943240.jpg\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Madison Zaleski\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">Drivers across the Gulf Coast are paying more than $4 a gallon for gas. Those higher prices are hitting mobile businesses that rely on gas to serve customers. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">&#8220;I have been telling my clients I might have to raise my prices because the gas is just way too expensive. I mean, I am really hurting over it. I&#8217;m dipping into my own pay,&#8221; said Mary Starkloff. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">Mary Starkloff, owner of Star Pet Salon, a mobile pet groomer in Lee County, tried not to let rising gas prices land on her customers. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">&#8220;I have no choice. I have to pay my business and I have to pay myself,&#8221; said Starkloff. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">Her business runs on the road, which means every mile comes with a fuel cost.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">&#8220;It cost me $75 to fill up just my truck all the way to full,&#8221; said Starkloff. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">Not only does she have to fill up her truck, she has to keep her generator fueled too. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&#8220;My generator is what powers my trailer and what powers my business. My generator cost me $40 just to fill up. And then I also have to have backup fuel as well for my generator. So putting that into perspective, well over $75 to cover gas,&#8221; said Starkloff. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"8\">Now, she and those with other mobile shops are facing another challenge of having tough conversations with their clients.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">&#8220;A lot of people are also feeling it. So if I have to raise my prices, they&#8217;re going to try and find something cheaper and not get the best quality,&#8221; said Starkloff. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">Starkloff hopes the increase is temporary, but says the community support has helped.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/qrco.de\/gcnapp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylocal.com\/wbbh-ft-myers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee County mobile pet groomers raise prices as gas costs climb LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Drivers across the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1185,162658,209,211,210,76199,4277,10721,162657,104,897,27172,4805,162659,11248,62081,162654,536,213,356,17634,162651,162653,162648,162649,162656,14161,162652,93395,1521,197,162650,6525,162655,221],"class_list":["post-409812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-alert","tag-business-costs","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-client","tag-community-support","tag-customer","tag-customer-prices","tag-entertainment","tag-fort-myers","tag-fuel-costs","tag-gas","tag-gas-cost-climb","tag-gas-prices","tag-generator","tag-generator-fuel","tag-gulf-coast","tag-late-news","tag-lee-county","tag-lee-county-florida","tag-mary-starkloff","tag-mobile-business","tag-mobile-pet-groomers","tag-pet-grooming","tag-pet-salon","tag-price","tag-price-increase","tag-rising-gas-prices","tag-southwest-florida","tag-sport","tag-star-pet-salon","tag-truck","tag-truck-fuel","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409812","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=409812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}