SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – We’ve all seen the price of gas rise since the start of the war with Iran. But the costs associated with the conflict could go beyond the pump and trickle down to what we are shopping for at stores.
“All the gas is going up, and it's sure going to affect the price of groceries,” Carol Becker, a shopper at Jensen’s Foods, said.
The food you get at the grocery store has to get there somehow.
“I think customers are smart. They realize that nearly every product on the shelf gets here by truck,” Adam Zack, the owner of Jensen’s Foods, said.
Zack said that when gas goes up, they’ve sometimes seen the impacts on how much their products cost them.
“We'll see it as fuel surcharges a lot of times because when the prices spike, they’ll add a fuel surcharge and then often we'll take it off when the prices come back down to normal,” Zack said. "It really is delivery specific. So, say it's our produce company, they add a fuel surcharge of $20 onto an invoice. So, it's spread out over however many products. So, the idea is to buy as smart as possible, to have the least amount of deliveries.”
He says that way they can absorb as much of the impact as possible, so it’s not put on the customers.
“It’s all gone up about 20 percent, and coffee is out of sight,” Becker said.
Becker told ABC 10News they’ll be mindful of what they put in their cart as we wait for the gas price trickle down.
“I'm going to keep with my budget, even if it means I have to deprive myself of some stuff that I like,” Becker said.
There’s some other stuff that people are holding off on as we wait to see fuel fallout.
“Have I booked family vacations this summer yet? Not yet. I’m kind of waiting to see, right? Am I going to drive to go ski up in Mammoth on a whim, on a short notice? Maybe not,” Paul Tibbets said.
If you’re looking for a game plan at the grocery store on short notice, here’s some advice from someone who owns one.
“The products that are least affected are local products. So, buy as much local produce as you can because it's not coming thousands of miles to get on our shelves and to look for values and deals and add items, temporary price reductions, and just be a smart shopper,” Zack said.
