Rising the price of gas/diesel affects EVERYONE. How else do our stores get their supplies for us to buy? The price of everything is going up witht he price of gas. When gas does have a small downtick, no prices fall. They remain stabilized at the higher rate. Now apply to the larger picture. Look at the costs to schools for the food service, office supplies, school bus operations, etc. Apply thsi to everything else. You want to know why things are so much higher? Check out the price of gas and how it is adding to our costs.