2008 Woodie Awards
Gas prices, lack of students hurt businesses in summer
By: Kristen Marschall
Issue date: 8/17/06 Section: News
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Splash Café owner Joanne Currie also said she has been struggling with student employees. She owns both the San Luis Obispo and the Pismo Beach restaurants and said she likes to hire Cuesta and Cal Poly students.
"The student population is a very important part of our business structure," she said, estimating that close to 98 percent of her employees are students. Unlike many employers, Currie works with students to provide flexible work schedules around their classes, but even that is failing to entice students when the cost of gas is rising.
"It costs so much to come to work," Currie said. "Gas eats up their paychecks."
To deal with this, Currie started hiring local high school students instead and though there are less regular student customers these days, she said she has not seen any significant loss in business this summer because the tourist industry remains strong.
"We have been having a lot of European travelers," she said. "Gas prices are much pricier there."
But for many Cal Poly students, gas prices in San Luis Obispo are more than they can handle.
Mathematics junior Casey Ellis is one such student. Ellis stayed in San Luis Obispo for the summer to work and take classes, rather than return home to Saugas, Calif.
Though driving isn't a problem because she can walk to school and work, she said she has cut down on how much she drives because of gas prices.
"Sometimes I'll choose to go to the pool instead of the beach because I don't have to drive," she said, adding that gas has kept her from driving home as much as she originally planned.
"I pay for my own gas, not my parents, so it gets expensive."
Like Ellis, biology senior Devon Taylor avoids driving.
"One, I have other ways of getting places; and two, gas prices suck," he said. "I only put in five bucks at a time."
Even if that $5 only fills up 1.5 gallons in Taylor's Toyota Corolla, he said, "That'll get me by for a week."
"The student population is a very important part of our business structure," she said, estimating that close to 98 percent of her employees are students. Unlike many employers, Currie works with students to provide flexible work schedules around their classes, but even that is failing to entice students when the cost of gas is rising.
"It costs so much to come to work," Currie said. "Gas eats up their paychecks."
To deal with this, Currie started hiring local high school students instead and though there are less regular student customers these days, she said she has not seen any significant loss in business this summer because the tourist industry remains strong.
"We have been having a lot of European travelers," she said. "Gas prices are much pricier there."
But for many Cal Poly students, gas prices in San Luis Obispo are more than they can handle.
Mathematics junior Casey Ellis is one such student. Ellis stayed in San Luis Obispo for the summer to work and take classes, rather than return home to Saugas, Calif.
Though driving isn't a problem because she can walk to school and work, she said she has cut down on how much she drives because of gas prices.
"Sometimes I'll choose to go to the pool instead of the beach because I don't have to drive," she said, adding that gas has kept her from driving home as much as she originally planned.
"I pay for my own gas, not my parents, so it gets expensive."
Like Ellis, biology senior Devon Taylor avoids driving.
"One, I have other ways of getting places; and two, gas prices suck," he said. "I only put in five bucks at a time."
Even if that $5 only fills up 1.5 gallons in Taylor's Toyota Corolla, he said, "That'll get me by for a week."
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