(continued...)

Ease the Pain
There are plenty of problems at businesses of every size, in every corner of the metro. But this being Kansas City, most business owners prefer to expend their energy focusing on what they can do to ease their pain-and their employees’ pain and their customers’ pain.

“We have good vendors we work closely with,” said Pour Boys’ O’Shea. “They’re good about giving us plenty of advance notice about special pricing and promotions. We’re more diligent about ordering so that our vendors can cut back from two deliveries a week to one. And we’re more focused than ever before on good customer service. We make sure our customers know we appreciate them. We know that times are tough for them, too. It’s hard, of course. But it’s what you
have to deal with.”

Straub Construction’s Young said his company started taking steps to conserve fuel long before the $4 sticker shock set in. His company has, for quite some time, been encouraging carpooling to job sites, and has carefully pre-planned delivery routes. “We make sure we preplan before we go to Home Depot, ensuring we make one trip a day instead of two or three. If we have to make a delivery to a job site in the Northland, we check first to see if other nearby job sites might need a delivery soon.”

And, of course, there are delivery surcharges, coming and going. “All of my suppliers pass along their fuel surcharges to me, and the landfill has even implemented a fuel surcharge,” said Ted’s Trash Service President Ferrel. “We tack on a fuel surcharge to our customers, too, but it isn’t nearly enough. We use local vendors whenever we can to help keep our local
economy strong. I know our customers are dealing with these same issues, too, and I hate passing along costs to them,
but you have to.”

Several Kansas City agencies are determined to help cushion the blow of higher gas costs. The Mid-America Regional Council, which has long promoted car-pooling, has noticed an increase in workers using its Carpool Connection database. “So far in June we’ve had 700 people sign up, which is very high,” said MARC Rideshare Program Manager Marge Gasnick. The program recently upgraded with better tracking to help employers provide inhouse carpooling for its employees.

“With the Commute Tracking Calendar, people can log trips they make to work,” she said. “Employers have a way to monitor who has signed in, trips reduced, miles reduced, and emissions.”

MARC is also behind Operation Green Light, which improves the coordination of traffic signals on major routes across the metropolitan area, helping to keep traffic flowing smoothly, decreasing fuel usage. So far signals have been retimed along roads in Lenexa, Merriam, Olathe, Overland Park, Shawnee, Liberty, Raytown and Kansas City, Mo.

There are no easy answers or quick fixes. But for Kansas City employers and workers willing to be creative and roll up their sleeves, there are plenty of ways to squeeze out savings and make it through the crunch.

—Additional reporting by Roger Moore and Amy Johnson of Ingram’s Staff

«June 2008 Edition