Fuel is up about $1.00 a gallon as opposed to this time last year.. Check local listings. Gas is up less.. more like $.75..
Now, are you trying to imply that a $1.00/gal jump is going to more-less "break" your operation? If so.. You're WORKING TOO CHEAP.. I don't know what kind of tractors you're using, or what kind of truck you use to get from one place to another.. but it CAN'T be that hard on fuel.. I run a large JD tractor at work, and the worst I've ever saw the screen show is right around 20 gallons to an acre.. Now, keep in mind, that the working weight of the tractor, tanks it pulls, and liquid have a combined weight of nearly 200,000 pounds (full tank of fertilizer is 100,000 pounds itself), plus pulling a 6-shank toolbar at about 12" of depth, and it comes out to the width of the tractor (16 feet) and usually 1.5 mph, so it takes a little bit of time to cover a acre.. Plus, the tractor runs from one spot of the field to a loaded truck, unloads the truck, runs back and unloads again on that 20 gallons.. and sometimes I have to sit and wait on a truck to arrive.. again still on the same 20 gallons.. Or to make it simple, On an average 11 hour day it will burn right around 100 gallons a day.
So back to the original point, say your tractor is a hog and uses 10 gallons to the hour.. That extra $10 is going to break you?? (Again, as I just stated, in a 11 hour day my 400+ horse tractor uses less than 10 gallons a hour)
Now, My uncle will do backhoe/dozer work, or mow ditches for a per hour fee, and last I knew, he didn't put a key to the ignition for less than $100/hour, 5 hour minimum.. And it makes money.
I will agree that the prices of most things are ridiculous, but in all honesty we're not going to ever change that.. Maybe in a perfect world we can, but face it, it's no perfect world.
To end my long post.. I see 3 options.. 1) Just give up 2)Raise your prices or 3) Just keep on keeping on and live with it, like everyone else. Hell, I wish I got a raise every time fuel went up because it costs me more money to drive to work.. But, it don't work like that for me.. I get my hourly wage to show up for work whether the fuel is $1.00 a gallon or $100.00 a gallon, and whether I drive 1 mile or 100 miles to the jobsite
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Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: 1964 JD 2010 Dsl - Part 2 - by Jim Nielsen. Despite having to disassemble the majority of my John Deere 2010's diesel engine, I was still hopeful I could leave the engine-complete with crankshaft and camshaft-in the tractor. This would make the whole engine rebuild job much easier-and much less expensive! I soon found however, that the #4 conrod bearing had disintegrated, taking with it chunks of the crankshaft journal. As a resul
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