Pump prices may be sliding a little lower right now, but the general consensus is that high gasoline prices are here to stay. How is it affecting other areas of people's lives?
Manpower, with a local office at 8170 W. Sahara Ave., recently conducted a survey to see how people are cutting back to budget more for gasoline.
The online survey was conducted in May and June and analyzed responses from 900 people. A high number, 76 percent, said that rising gasoline prices were affecting their work/life balance, and not for the better.
"Gas prices are ridiculous," said Delores Roks, a Sun City Summerlin resident now retired from the catering business. "I've been trying to cut back (on driving) as much as I can. When I get in my car, I try to go round robin so I get everything done in one trip."
Roks said gas prices were causing her to cut back in other areas of her daily life. She clips food coupons and searches for sale prices at the grocery store.
"I hope something is going to be done about these rising gasoline costs," she said.
In contrast, Ken Dendato of Summerlin, a clinical psychologist, said the higher cost of gas is not affecting him much at all.
"I just fill up once a week, and that takes me back and forth to work," he said, adding that his office is near Jones and Charleston boulevards. "I've cut down on long (out of town) trips. When I do go, I just use alternate transportation."
Asked if he's cut back on things like taking the family out to dinner, he said, "I don't cut back on anything."
Reduced spending on entertainment and hobbies was reported by nearly 65 percent of the survey respondents. Other responses included: dining out less, 64 percent; reducing summer travel, 55 percent; canceling summer travel plans, 29 percent; entertaining at home more, 42 percent; and fewer extracurricular activities for children, 29 percent.
The results exceed 100 percent because participants could select more than one answer.
"Workers are really feeling the squeeze of gasoline prices," said Andy Katz, president of Manpower Inc. of Southern Nevada. "It's encouraging, however, to see that 6 percent of employers are taking steps to help their employees manage higher fuel costs. It's this kind of thinking that helps set employers apart from the rest of the pack."
While companies cannot erect gas stations on site, they can take the heat off their employees in other ways. The top methods reported by survey respondents included: offering telecommuting, 24 percent; subsidizing mass transit as an employee benefit, 17 percent; organizing carpools or a shared-ride program, 21 percent; and providing discounted or preferred parking to carpool vehicles and motorcycles, 10 percent.
The survey also found that consumers were looking for their own ways to tackle the high cost of gas. A full 31 percent said they were considering switching to a job closer to home. That finding is similar to a Manpower online survey conducted last fall in which 35 percent of respondents said they were searching for jobs that enjoyed shorter commutes.
It should be no surprise that a recent survey by Consumer Reports magazine showed fuel economy is now the top criteria when buying a car, rated more important than the vehicle's reliability, price and safety ratings.
Thomas LaSorda, chief executive for Chrysler, said in August that his company was operating on the belief that gas prices will be $3 to $4 a gallon for the rest of the decade.
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