Side hustles, self-employed and personal support workers among Canadians feeling gas price pinch

Everything seems to be getting more expensive. Food, gas and housing prices are on the rise while paycheques are slow to keep pace. The CBC News series Priced Out explains why you're paying more at the register and how Canadians are coping with the high cost of everything.

Alissa Sauder works a full-time job, but a few years ago started to drive for Uber to make some extra cash on the side.

During the pandemic, she started driving for Amazon Flex while also switching to Uber Eats.

But in recent weeks, she says her side hustle hasn't really been worth it. With pandemic restrictions lifted, not as many people are ordering food delivery. Higher gas prices are also eating into her bottom line.

"You're making less because it's less busy and you're making less because you're spending a lot on gas," she told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

In the past week, she hasn't done any delivery runs. She says she'd reconsider if she notices a weekend seems busy or if there's an event happening that would result in more people ordering food.

Brittany Bailey is a self-employed house and office cleaner in Cambridge, Ont. but she's had to take on a full-time job to help make ends meet.

Bailey says the current economy means fewer people are able to afford to have a cleaner come in, and higher gas prices means she has to charge people more if they live more than a few kilometres away.

"I've made my pricing as competitive as possible," Bailey said. "I am definitely worried about my business because I just want to help as many people as I can. But of course, I have to charge."

As for the price of gas, she says, "I'm just swallowing the cost right now and hoping the prices and everything goes down."

Nearby, Nathan Whalen, CEO of a larger company called Summerhill Clean also operating from Cambridge, says before the recent spike in gas prices he was researching switching his fleet of vehicles to hybrid or electric.

Now, his employees are using apps to find the cheapest gas while they travel between clients during the day. Cleaners are also working in a smaller radius than they did a few weeks ago, which means they're serving fewer people.

"We've had to really start thinking differently about how we're going to operate," Whalen said. "Unfortunately, we are just eating that additional cost [of gas] and we are trying to save money in different ways, so either via supplies or cutting certain hours ... it has to come from somewhere."

Whalen noted it's not just the recent increase in prices spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gas prices have been on the rise for several years, except for a minor reprieve in 2020.