Falling Gas Prices Have Businesses Seeing More Green In NJ
By Cleve Bryan
SEWELL, NJ (CBS) – Low gas prices in South Jersey are especially making a positive impact on businesses that consume large amounts of fuel.
"The lower the better," says Ed Maher who owns Flowers by Sweetens in Woodbury and Washington Township.
When gas was high the business was spending hundreds of dollars each week to fill their delivery vans.
Now with Valentine's Day approaching, delivery costs won't eat up so much of the profits.
"We'll probably be filling up quite a few times that's for sure and vans don't have very good mileage," says Maher.
The price of gasoline is at a six year low and according to GasBuddy.com, the average price in New Jersey was $2.02 per gallon.
The McGough Bus Company in Sewell and Camden goes through about 8,000 gallons of gas and diesel a week.
Chief finance and risk officer Jim Raphaely says the company's fuel costs are down about 20 percent from a year ago, so it's time to reinvest.
"We can maybe buy equipment a little bit earlier than we projected, which expands our fleet and allows us to provide more jobs," says Raphaely.
Not only does cheaper fuel mean more hires, the company is passing savings along to their customers.
"We do give that return back to the school systems," says Raphaely.