WESTFIELD – Chuck Kelly, owner of Court Street’s Flowers by Webster and a self-avowed “micro businessman” is always looking to find economical solutions to everyday business problems.
He’s even gone so far as to purchase two Ford Transit vans to deliver his beautiful bouquets to customers from his floral shops in Westfield and West Springfield.
Purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles can ease the usage of gasoline, the high price of fuel still has an adverse effect on the bottom line for a business.
So when gasoline dips below $2.90 per gallon as it has all over Westfield, with some stations charging as low as $2.82 for a gallon of regular unleaded, what has the reaction been from local businesspeople?
So far, what one might expect.
“It’s great. Everybodies loving it,” said Kelly. “If I was to think about how many miles my wife and I drive, between our personal vehicles and work, I’d say we do about 60,000 miles a year just for floral related business.”
Kelly stated that the two Transit vans cover 20,000 miles apiece, delivering to as far east as Wilbraham from the West Springfield shop and as far west as Chester from the Westfield shop.
They’ve also delivered as far north as Florence and as far south as Granby, Connecticut.
Kelly said his Transit vans, which he purchased in February 2013, were a marked upgrade from the minivans his shops were using beforehand.
“Minivans, when you factor in the stopping-and-going, probably run you 17 miles per gallon,” he said. “These things, when you don’t have the air conditioner running, are doing 24 (miles per gallon). So they’re a huge improvement on fuel costs and have taken a chunk off the payments in return.”
“Thinking in terms of 20 miles per gallon, we probably burn 3,000 gallons of gas a year,” he said. “If we saved $1,500 a year, that’s a good chunk of change.”
“Do I anticipate it going up? Yeah,” he said. “Who knows what they’re doing right now, but I hope they keep doing it. But it’s a competitive market, everyone wants to make money. I certainly don’t expect it to keep going down.”
“Any increase in costs comes off of mine and Gail’s kitchen table at home,” he said. “We’re a microbusiness. there’s no incorporation or any of that type of thing. When things are more expensive, it’s at our expense.”
The average cost of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts has fallen below the $3 threshold for the first time in almost four years.
The Commonwealth’s current per-gallon average price is now 30 cents lower than a month ago and 32 cents lower than at this time last year, though it remains 3 cents per gallon higher than the national average.
Another area florist, Russell Fox, owner of Southwick Florist and Greenhouse on College Highway, is also enjoying the temporary relief at the pump.
“We’ve been taking a beating for quite awhile, so any time any of your overhead goes down, it’s a positive thing,” said Fox, who serves as chairman of the town’s Selectboard by night. “Unfortunately, with minimum wage and insurance going up, hopefully it’ll offset some of those other increases.”
Much like Kelly, Fox has opted to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles to transport his product and currently uses Dodge Caravans to deliver all over Hampden County, logging an estimated 25,000 and 26,000 miles a year.
“They’re saying it’s 50 cents less than it was last year at this time. Per van, we’re filling up twice a week,” he said. “It’s certainly a savings, probably between 10 to 15 percent overall.”
“Our industry is driven by the oil industry. The cost of our product goes up because of oil – transportation, growing flowers,” he said. “It impacts us very seriously, so any time there’s a decrease (in gas prices), we’re happy because it helps offset additional costs.”
“They’re saying it could be for a little while, so we’re going to enjoy it while we can,” said Fox.
Regular unleaded gasoline isn’t the oil fossil fuel seeing price decreases these days.
According to Lisa Laquerre of Pioneer Valley Oil and Propane on Southampton Road, a gallon of home heating oil is around $3.30 at this time.
“We’re a lot lower than we usually are at this time. Usually September hits and we start going up, but we went down,” she said. “I have no idea what’s going on this year.”
Asked how their prices are comparing to other area oil companies, Laquerre said that Pioneer Valley Oil and Propane – which serves thousands of customers across Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire Counties, as well as Berkshire County out of their Pittsfield office – is in the same boat as everyone else.
“Everyone’s down right now, everybody’s pretty low right now,” she said. “We try to be one of the cheapest places around. We’re not always, but our coupons generally make us the cheapest or pretty close.”
Laquerre assumes that the heating oil honeymoon will be short lived and that prices will be on the rise again soon.
“(Prices) always go up in the winter. It’s inevitable,” she said. “I know we’re higher this week then we were last week, so I don’t know if this is the beginning of the trend. Once it starts, it usually keeps going up.”
She added that last year, all of PVOP’s customers were buying 100 gallons, the minimum required by the company for home delivery in greater Westfield.
“Nobody could afford to get more than 100 gallons last year,” Laquerre said, adding that the standard home heating oil tank holds about 275 gallons. “This year, people are choosing to fill up before the prices go up.”
