Here’s a suggestion for all those gas station owners out there: instead of prices, why not just post “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” and get it over with?

$4.35, by the way, is the latest per-gallon assault on the wallet by my local station. It’s not total surrender at this point, no, but there’s an up-against-the-ropes feeling becoming more and more prominent out there. Remember bemoaning the idea of $3-a-gallon gas? Ah, those were the days.

And in case you were thinking that little glimmer out there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, this just in:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Batten down the hatches: hurricane season starts on June 1. It's expected to be a rough one, threatening to upend refineries and disrupt pipelines in the southern United States. And that could send gas prices, already nearly 20% above what they were last year, soaring even higher.

Oh happy day!

By now you’ve looked into every nook, cranny, crevice and corner in your business, evaluating how to shave off every last cent of unnecessary expense to shore up the bottom line. Odds are you’ve raised your prices once if not twice in the last year to help offset fuel costs. But you can go to that well only so often; at some point it will run dry. And that means it’s time to get really creative.

What are you doing to combat the rising costs of running your operation? Sharing what works (and what doesn’t) with your peers gives you one of your best shots at riding out the storm.