WYOMISSING, Pa – More affordable could be harder to find for a while.
“I’m from down south. It’s usually like $2.11, $2.30 something,” said Darrell Patton.
“So, if we have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” said President Donald Trump.
“I kind of expected that Monday morning, as soon as the market opens up, it’s gonna jump,” said Samir Sheth, manager of the Exxon in Wyomissing.
And by Tuesday, jump it did.
Following the U.S. military strikes on Iran, AAA says the national average cost of a gallon of gasoline jumped up a dime and a penny.
“It’s a huge price for middle-class, working-class people. Small business owners,” Sheth said.
The manager here says it’s not just at the pump you’ll notice the jump but, specifically due to diesel prices, the cost of stuff inside the store’s gonna go up, too.
“All those truckers, they carry groceries, they carry household stuff. And when we have to pay that price, we probably have to pay the diesel surcharge too,” Sheth said.
How soon could that added increase occur?
“Potentially, it would jump 20 to 30 cents more for diesel. When will that happen? It could happen within 24 hours, as soon as I get another load,” Sheth said.
The manager of the Exxon station in Wyomissing says he hasn’t seen this fast of a jump since –
“I would say during Hurricane Katrina, with those refineries,” Sheth said.
Meanwhile, he’s hoping for an end to conflict and a return to economic stability.
“We always try to stay competitive, but at the end of the day, we have to cover our cost plus the credit card fees. We have to cover all those factors. At the end of the day, we have to raise those prices,” added Sheth.