The rising price in fuel is causing some operational changes to Gainesville businesses. For example, the Edible Arrangements Gainesville location is limiting its delivery radius. Its Archer Road location has stopped most of its deliveries outside of Gainesville, though manager Jake Holton said the business has not increased the delivery fee. "We don't want to increase the prices because our arrangements are kind of already a little more considered a luxury item," Holton said. "So, we can't really adjust the prices too much. How they compensated for that is by coming up with more economically-friendly orders." Holton said there has been in a dive in sales because of their smaller delivery radius, but the business is keeping it that way due to the rise in fuel prices. He said it unfortunately doesn't make economic sense to deliver small orders to outlying customers.
Once gas prices increased, Alachua Flowers and Tuxedo Rentals needed to come up with a solution to keep delivering. The company has raised its delivery fee by $2.50 and is now charging $9.50 to get items delivered. Owner Tina Ross said gas prices has directly impacted delivery costs. "We're not going as far out. Normally (for) Mother's Day, we go out to Lake Butler and things like that, and we did not this year," Ross said. "It just costs too much to go out there." Ross said she's hoping fuel prices will decrease soon.