Some companies doing business in Olds and area say the provincial carbon tax, which came into effect Jan. 1, is forcing them to pass that cost on to their customers.
Jeremy Tookey, owner of Olds Electric & Lighting Ltd., is one such business person.
He says companies he's dealing with are already passing the cost of the carbon tax on to his firm. Olds Electric & Lighting is trying to absorb that cost as much as it can, rather than pass it on to customers, but that can't always be done.
"We're having levies put on all our shipping bills," Tookey says. "We try to absorb it as best we can, but at the end of the day it's going to go back to the customers."
He says in one case, two pallets' worth of products were shipped to Olds Electric from a Calgary firm and that company slapped on a $14 shipping levy to cover the cost of the carbon tax.
"We take as much as we possibly can. Obviously it all depends on what we're shipping. If it's all large-ticket items, we can obviously hide it within the cost of the project," Tookey says.
"But if it's small items coming out of the cities - where typically everything we get comes from - at the end of the day it goes back to the customer. It's got to go back to the consumer somewhere, some way.
"It's happening to everybody, so it's not like it's just happening to us, but it's just the way things are going. With this new carbon tax and our recent government and stuff like that, things are going up. (The cost of) products are going up, materials are going up, fuel's going up," he adds.
Tookey says he's frustrated by receiving the extra charge and having to pass it on to his customers, but he's philosophical about it too.
"It's something we can't control," Tookey says. "It's not an item that's voted on. They got put in power and that's what's happening."
Some trucking companies have been looking at hiking their prices to reflect the carbon tax.
Hi-Way 9 is one that has done so. It was announced last month that starting on Jan. 1, it would be adding an additional 0.8 per cent surcharge onto its freight charges as a result of the carbon tax.
- More carbon tax coverage on page 8.
"We're having levies put on all our shipping bills. We try to absorb it as best we can, but at the end of the day it's going to go back to the customers."JEREMY TOOKEYOWNER OLDS ELECTRIC & LIGHTING LTD.
