With Gas Prices So High, Businesses Are Hurting
By kelly60
@kelly60 (4547)
United States
May 27, 2007 4:05pm CST
I live in a rural area of Northern Michigan. Our area gets most of it's income from tourism. The high gas prices are taking their toll on our economy. On a typical Memorial Day Weekend, the traffic is so heavy here that it takes me several minutes to pull out onto the highway from my road. This weekend there has been little if any wait. The workers are not getting the extra hours that they normally get because they are not needed to take care of what few extra customers drift into the stores, restaurants and bars. These businesses are not making the extra profits because there are few extra sales this year.
Are you traveling this Memorial Day Weekend? Have the gas prices affected the economy in your area as badly as they have here? What are your thoughts?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Keleidescope (204)
• United States
27 May 07
I live in Michigan too and the prices are gettin ridiculous. I normally go up north during holidays and the gas prices have really put a damper on things. Now I'm stuck at home.
The town that I live in doesn't raelly thrive on the tourism economy, but I really think that the gas prices have affect all of Michigan.
2 people like this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
28 May 07
Many others like you who normally go up north during the holidays also decided to stay home because of the high gas prices. I guess that in a way it is a good thing because they are conserving gas, but for our community it really hurts since our community depends on the tourism.
Usually our roads, stores, bars, restaurants, hotels, and campgrounds are full this time of year, but there are barely any cars on the roads or any people in any of these places. I have lived here my entire life and never seen things so slow before.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
28 May 07
I have signed a petition to get real about the gas prices. We have not traveled and had friends over this weekend. It was my birthday today also. The gas prices are going to keep honest working people that make minimum wage from going to work. A friend of mine that has a nephew in California has quit his job since he could not afford the gas to get to work. That is a beginning we do not want to have as a normal thing in our lives. No service people and then we are skrewed. Just my thoughts.
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
28 May 07
The petition I spoke of came from the Care2.com site I belong to. They do real petitions and address them to real congressmen, companies and such. Still the issue is one we all should get together on and take a stand. That is what our country was founded on and we could be powerful if we stuck together.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
28 May 07
Happy Birthday! Unfortunately, according to the snopes.com website, the gas petitions are not real and will not help, but I guess that it can't hurt to try. I know that it is ridiculous to have to pay so much for gas to travel back and forth to work, especially when you have to travel any distance to work. I have a friend who drives over an hour each way to work. She must spend a good-sized chunk of her paycheck just to keep gas in her tank. I do not know how we are expected to live this way.
@prashant3075 (112)
• India
30 May 07
First le tme thank you for responding to my discussion and sending your wishes and prayers for me to get a good job here.
thanks a lot and i wish that your tourism business should flourish to the maximum and give you the max revenues.
my prayers for you to earn more in your business.
gas prises are high here also and i have taken to my walking habit s to attend interviews.
god bless you.
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
11 Jun 07
Unfortunately, I live in a rural area and walking is not an option most of the time because of the distances I must travel. Luckily for us, our gas prices just dropped by 20 cents just in time for our big annual music and arts festival, so attendance was pretty good after all. I have seen a lot better attendance, but after the amount of people in the area for Memorial Day Weekend, I was concerned that there would be nobody in attendance at the festival either.
@totty1969 (1468)
• United States
28 May 07
Yes I agree prices are outrageous. I has to give up my business that I,ve ran for the past 26 years. I live near Grand Rapids Michigan. It doesn't look like the Memorial weekend that I'm used to, mainly due to the price of gas.
1 person likes this
@eminalani (29)
• United States
27 May 07
Wow! I live on Maui and the gas prices are crazy. Our state is VERY dependent on tourism and luckily gas prices have not affected our tourism industry as it has in Michigan. But I am very afraid that this problem may be right around the corner.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
28 May 07
I have never seen things so slow here, not on a normal summer weekend, but especially on a holiday weekend. It is scary to think of what kind of impact this will have on all of our local businesses, and on the economy of the state and the country as a whole.
