Rising fuel price knock-on effect hits Earl of Spencer as compounding freight surcharges force price increase

A popular Albany pub has been forced to increase the cost of its pies and pints following a “compound” of fuel-related price hikes from the freight companies that deliver its kegs and ingredients. The Earl of Spencer Historic Inn’s owner Neil Simmonds said the culmination of multiple companies lifting their freight prices at once was too much, announcing last Thursday the “knock-on effect” had resulted in a 50¢ increase for some menu items. “Everything in hospitality, or just in general, is going up and up and up, and before I could swallow a couple of the bills,” he said. “It didn’t bother me because it was minor, but when every company that you use is putting a surcharge on fuel, and it might not seem a lot to some people, you know, 2 per cent here or 3 per cent there, but over the course of six to 12 months, it adds up.” Mr Simmonds said the uptick was widespread, with everything from beer keg and butcher deliveries to the gas tanker freight companies putting on a surcharge since the cost of fuel soared amid rising conflict in the Middle East. “One freight company put it up, I think it was last Wednesday, and one freight company put theirs up from this Monday coming,” he said. “Everybody gradually, over the . . . course of two, three weeks, has started putting a bit on here and a bit on there and a bit on here. “So it’s just that, you know, by the end of, say, a month’s time, I’m gonna be paying an extra 10-15 per cent on top of everything, all added together. “I know some people say, ‘Oh, it’s not a lot, you make money’. Yeah, we do make money in business, but I’ve got to keep that business open. “I’ve got 17 employees that work for me that have all got mortgages and rents to pay. I can’t cut hours. I can’t cut wages. “I’ve only put up 50¢, you know, some drinks, some of the foods, some of the meat items, so it’s not huge, and I want our clientele to still be able to come into a nice place and it be affordable, but it’s all creeping in so my top line has to take a big knock.” Mr Simmonds said he did not charge an EFTPOS service fee and had absorbed multiple recent beer tax increases in the past year in order to keep his prices reasonable. He said in his seven years owning the pub, he had “never been hit by so many companies at one time”. “Everybody’s got to make a living, and there’s nobody to blame,” he said. “What is happening in the world is happening in the world, and I can understand that other people and other businesses have got to put their margins up or do what they’ve got to do to make a profit. “It’s fair enough, but I can’t swallow as much as I used to be able to.”