SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Gas prices across the country continue to skyrocket, and in San Diego, it rose another 11 cents Thursday, bringing the county's average to $5.71 for a gallon of regular.
Now some grocery stores, already dealing with high costs due to inflation over the last several months, are feeling the impact of the rising fuel costs as well.
"We're starting to see a lot of vendors add a fuel surcharge that wasn't there before, or if they had one before, they're increasing it nearly every day," said Adam Zack, the owner of Jensen's Foods in Point Loma.
"It's something we have to watch for because a lot of times they'll put it on and won't give us a notice," said Zack.
Zack showed ABC 10News several invoices for recent deliveries from vendors. Added fuel surcharges ranging from $5 to $40 per delivery. Zack says they receive multiple deliveries a week.
"It's something we pay directly, and so it definitely contributes to the cost of inflation and product cost going up," he said.
Costs that also have to get passed down to consumers. "Our average item costs now is up about 9 percent, and it's about 9 percent more at the register," he said.
Zack said it's likely that the price of perishable items, like produce, milk, and eggs, will eventually decrease as things stabilize, but he doesn't know if that will be true for all products.
"I'm worried a little bit about shelf-stable products like crackers, or diapers, or pet food," he said. "Maybe they're not going to come down like they should; that's what we've seen in the past."
Experts don't expect to see the fuel prices drop down significantly any time soon, as the uncertainty in Ukraine continues and spring and summer approach.
