Waukesha Delivery Services Begin Fuel Surcharge Discussions As Wisconsin Gas Prices Climb

WAUKESHA — Waukesha-area pizza shops and delivery services are running early-season budget models for the holiday season after Wisconsin gas prices hit $4.36 per gallon this week, according to AAA data, with several operators saying the increase has moved from an inconvenience to a line item.

Rick Giovani, owner of Giovani's Pizzeria on Sunset Drive, said Tuesday his five-car delivery fleet is consuming roughly 8% more fuel budget month-over-month than last year at this time. Giovani tracks the number in a spiral notebook he keeps next to the register, alongside a separate column for "trains," which he says accounts for a smaller but real slice of the overage.

"We're still absorbing most of it ourselves," Giovani said, standing beside a whiteboard where delivery zones are drawn in dry-erase marker and revised roughly every six weeks. "But if prices hold through November, we'll have to talk to customers about a delivery surcharge."

"We're still absorbing most of it ourselves. But if prices hold through November, we'll have to talk to customers about a delivery surcharge."

— Rick Giovani, owner, Giovani's Pizzeria

The Notebook

Giovani's fleet, three Honda Civics and two Ford Fiestas, averages a combined 34 miles per gallon under normal conditions, a figure that drops closer to 29 when a driver gets held at the Broadway rail crossing during a dinner-rush delivery run. Giovani estimates idling at the crossing costs the store an extra $60 to $90 a month in fuel alone, separate from the $4.36-a-gallon baseline increase, and said two of his drivers have started routing south to the Newhall Avenue underpass between West Avenue and Grand Avenue to avoid the tracks entirely, even though it adds four-tenths of a mile to some routes.

"It's a wash on gas, honest to god it's a wash," Giovani said. "But at least you're moving instead of just burning it in place."

The Wider Fleet

The pressure isn't limited to pizza. A regional dispatch coordinator for Lakeland Parcel Service, which runs a distribution hub off Northview Road, said similar budget conversations are happening across the industry, with some smaller regional operators already implementing modest surcharges on orders under $50. The coordinator, who asked to be identified only by her role because the company hasn't finalized its own pricing update, said Lakeland's per-route fuel cost is up 11% since June across its 14-truck Waukesha County route group.

"We modeled three scenarios in July and we're already tracking above the worst one," she said.

At Giovani's, the surcharge under discussion is small: a flat $1.50 added to delivery orders under $50, waived for anything above that threshold. Giovani said he's held off implementing it so far because he doesn't want to be the first shop on his block to do it, and because his wife, who handles the online ordering platform, told him the checkout page "already has enough boxes people uncheck."

What Comes Next

Giovani said he'll revisit the decision after the first full week of November, once the store's holiday delivery volume becomes clearer and, he hopes, once gas prices tell him something different. Until then, the notebook stays by the register, the "trains" column stays open, and the whiteboard zones stay in dry-erase, subject to revision.

"Nobody wants to raise a price," Giovani said. "But nobody wants to eat a tank of gas for a twelve-dollar order either."