Gas prices have jumped 8.3 percent in the past month. That $3 a gallon -- Tuesday's average -- hurts when most people are filling the family car. Consider what it would do to your budget if you had to multiply that amount by a few thousand cars or trucks, and you ended up like UPS, facing a $2.65 billion annual gas bill. Now you can start to feel the pain of businesses as they try to keep their sales, service and delivery people on the road.

Next, figure in that we're zooming toward Dec. 31 -- that glorious time of the year when the bean counters try to get their numbers to add up -- and you can see that these higher prices affect more than your weekly commute.

We checked with local companies to find out whether their efforts to manage higher fuel costs are paying off, and how much of the added expense they might be passing along to customers.

WASTE INDUSTRIES, which manages a fleet of 765 heavy vehicles, pays a fuel surcharge on the trucks that take waste to landfills. Making it worse, those trucks use diesel fuel, which can be about 10 percent higher than regular gas prices, said Harry Habit, chief operating officer for the Raleigh garbage hauler.

Those higher prices get passed on. The company starts with a base of $2.40 a gallon, and when the price of fuel goes above that, the difference is charged to customers. Under this system, Habit said the company can keep its year-end budget in line. He said customers understand that prices can go up or down, depending on the cost of crude oil.

UPS this month raised the fuel surcharge it charges customers to 16.5 percent for air and international packages, up from 14 percent last month, spokeswoman Ronna Ranch said. Ground packages cost 5 percent of the shipment price. Ranch said the percentages reflect a two-month lag, so December customers will see the charges reflecting today's gas prices.

UPS is trying to cut back on the amount of gas used by its 94,500-vehicle delivery fleet with preventive maintenance and software that helps drivers avoid left turns, which use more gas.

FOOD LION is testing fuel additives, inspecting tires for proper inflation and buying aerodynamic rooftops for its tractor-trailer fleet in an effort to keep fuel expenses down for its fleet of delivery trucks, said Karen Peterson, spokeswoman for the Salisbury company.

John Potts, the co-owner of ALL AMERICAN RELOCATION, a Raleigh commercial and residential moving company, said that for trips that exceed 35 miles, it has a fuel surcharge of 98 cents per mile, the rate allowed by the state's public utilities commission. Potts said the surcharge isn't enough to cover the rising fuel costs, and he expects that some local moving businesses will have to close if prices continue to climb.

PROGRESS ENERGY has a half-dozen hybrids in its 1,800-vehicle Carolinas fleet, including two bucket trucks, said Mark Hughes, spokesman for the Raleigh electric utility. Its operations managers get monthly fuel usage reports. Hughes said the company's dispatch system provides linemen with the most fuel-efficient routes, using on-board laptops in trucks.

Jeffrey Scott Salmon, owner of ELITE TRANSPORTATION in Wake Forest, said he has tried to pass on higher fuel costs, but he has been undercut by competitors. "It's like playing cat and mouse," Salmon said. Elite has 15 trucks that make deliveries across the country, but if prices go higher, Salmon said he is not sure he can keep them all on the road. Profit margins are already tight. "If it gets to where we are losing money, then we have got to start parking trucks and laying off drivers."