Steve Paul has spent just about all of his career behind the wheel.

“It’s definitely interesting, and every place you go, you meet new people,” said Paul, supervisor and driver for Capitaland Logistics. “I graduated high school in 1983, and all I ever wanted to do was drive a truck.”

For the past five years, Paul has been a driver and supervisor for Capitaland Logistics, a courier and freight service in the Capital Region.

“If everything runs smoothly, this is my job: I pick stuff up and I put stuff down. It’s fun to me,” he said.

Most of Paul’s routes are fairly close to home, but he says he burns plenty of miles out of town.

“We do a lot of trips down to New York City and pretty much everywhere, and sometimes the gas bill is out of control,” he said.

Rising about 10 cents in just the past month, the American Automobile Association (AAA) reports the average price for gas in America is up roughly a dollar since last year, something Paul notices every time he fills up the two 50-gallon tanks on his truck.

“A trip to New York City is usually $125, and now it’s $175 to $200 to the Bronx or Brooklyn,” Paul said. “That’s a 400-mile round trip.”

Owner Wayne Tearno started Capitaland Logistics 10 years ago.

“These trucks go anywhere from 300 to 500 miles a day,” Tearno said. “So with the five units we have, we are doing about 11 or 12,000 miles a week.”

He says his fuel expenses have increased by 25%, costing him an extra $500 to $700 per week.

“With the exception of payroll and lease truck expenses, fuel is the highest expenditure that we have right now for operating costs,” Tearno said.

AAA predicts prices could increase another 20 cents before the end of summer. With his margins slimming, Tearno says he’s trying to avoid raising rates so he doesn’t risk losing customers.

“We don’t generally try to have an appetite for increasing rates, so we have to really try to be resourceful and find a way to keep our customers at the same level, the same rate,” he said. “Obviously, I cannot absorb it all.”

While managing the company’s coffers doesn't fall within his line of duty, Paul says it’s easy to see why cheaper fuel prices would be in the best interest of he and his fellow drivers.

“It’s definitely a concern,” he said. “With the price of gas going up, then our delivery prices go up, but people don’t like when our delivery prices go up, but it’s got to equal out, you know? It has to, otherwise we won’t be in business.”