‘A dollar or two increase is devastating’: US readers on toll of rising gas prices | US news

KWhile the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran is in its seventh week and a fragile ceasefire has been in place since the beginning of this month, Americans continue to feel the pump effects of rising global fuel prices.

For many readers who spoke to the Guardian, the impact has led to difficult compromises, from access to essential medicines and groceries to being pushed to the brink of homelessness due to the already rising cost of living.

For Mandy, a 42-year-old mother living in central Utah, high gas prices have made it difficult to visit one of her children who is disabled and lives hours away.

“Before [Donald] Trump and [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu started the war, gas was $2.70 a gallon in my town. It’s now $4.19 and I’m afraid it’ll get closer to $5 before all is said and done. “One of our children is disabled and lives in a group home two and a half hours away,” he said.

“It was already expensive to go see him, but now it’s almost out of our budget, which is a huge pain for him and me. We live in a rural area. There’s no public transport.”

Even as she described the strain on her own family, Mandy noted the wider human toll of the conflict, citing US and Israeli strikes in Iran and Lebanon; This includes an airstrike on an Iranian primary school in February that killed at least 175 people.

“I feel like this war is going to lead to a recession. What civilians in Iran and Lebanon have to endure is even worse… I’m outraged at the bombing of that school, the terrible, murderous rhetoric coming from our secretary of defense and our president. This is all being done in the name of every American, and it’s disgusting,” he said.

Lisa, a 56-year-old disabled woman who lives on a tribal reservation in Oregon, said rising gas prices have disrupted her ability to access needed medications.

“My caregiver and I have had to cut trips to pick up my prescriptions, even though they are necessary. Since I live in rural Oregon, basic needs are 40 minutes away, so if the doctor writes an additional prescription after I’ve been in town for a week, that prescription has to wait until the next week for me to pick it up,” she said.

“Medical transportation has now doubled and many trips have become ‘rideshares.’ So what used to be a four-hour trip now easily becomes five to six hours with an additional person—not great when you’re dealing with multiple medical issues.”

For Michael Adcox, a retired firefighter in Alabama, the combination of rising fuel costs and broader inflation is taxing his household.

“I am a disabled retired firefighter and we are on a very tight fixed income. My wife continues to work, but the sudden increase in gasoline prices and general inflation is eroding our financial security. We are essentially on the verge of homelessness,” Adcox said.

Similarly, rising gas prices are leading more people to rely on food pantries, even though the same costs are straining the operations of local food banks and volunteers, said Melissa Meyer, general manager of IPM Food Pantry in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Increased gas prices impose additional costs on our operations as we must increase gas costs to receive and distribute food in the five counties of Southwest Ohio… We are not reducing our services in any way yet,” he said.

Still, Meyer said he was “especially concerned about our rural neighbors and the working poor,” adding: “Both depend on transportation to get to work or buy groceries… Unless you are earning a livable wage, a dollar or two increase in gas per gallon is devastating.”

Others described how high gas prices were reshaping their working lives. Maverick B, 35, who works in training and development in California, said the impacts go far beyond day-to-day expenses.

“It also affected my commute, putting me at risk of having to quit my job to save enough gas for the next paycheck. We did not agree to this war, these decisions, the sending of billions of dollars to Israel for weapons. We should have more say in what our tax dollars go to, not be held hostage by an administration that has no sense of reality about what we need,” B said.

Rising fuel costs also have indirect effects. Cathi Newlin, a 63-year-old ceramic artist who lives in Sacramento, Calif., and also cares for her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease, said her income has dropped as consumers pulled away.

“A significant portion of our household income comes from the sale of my artwork and the classes I teach. These are certainly luxury items in any economy, but when people have to spend more on basic necessities like gasoline, they don’t have as much money or desire to spend on art. The increase in oil prices impacts my income and the price of my supplies greatly,” Newlin said.

This tension also highlighted the lack of alternatives to driving. A 30-year-old IT worker living in Poulsbo, Washington, said that “the relentless rise in gas prices has fundamentally changed my daily decision-making process.”

“I seriously question whether any travel is necessary anymore,” the IT worker said. “Unlike dense urban areas with robust public transportation systems, most of us have no realistic option but to drive… This reality makes prices at the pump feel even more awful because there is no way to opt out. The ability to make independent financial decisions should not be held hostage by an industry we cannot avoid.”

Katherine Botelho, a 63-year-old retired IT professional who lives in Pompano Beach, Florida, said rising gas prices have forced her to “seriously” consider “purchasing an electric bike or scooter for some of my transportation needs.”

“Unfortunately, I will need an enclosed scooter as I cannot tolerate prolonged exposure to the sun. An enclosed scooter is a very expensive item and is unrealistic for my current financial situation,” said Botelho.

Forced into early retirement and now living on Social Security, Botelho described a growing sense of isolation: “It was as if I had been forced to stay at home, a prisoner of a war that I neither supported nor approved.”

For some, rising gas prices have also made it financially unfeasible to hold down a job.

“When my husband lost his job, he wasn’t the only earner; he also managed our health care,” said MA Tullos, an artist and mother near Austin, Texas. “So after spring break in March, we agreed that if he couldn’t find anything, I would at least try to find a retail job that offered insurance while he looked for a new job and freelanced.”

But Tullos explained that the only job that responded offered two- to four-hour shifts, six days a week, which “does not cover the commuting and insurance costs of a part-time working family after taxes and Social Security withholding.”

“It’s really expensive to work,” he said.