Gas prices are rising, and a recent story in The Los Angeles Times listed a number of professions whose profits are directly affected by $4 per gallon prices at the pump. Among those listed: carpet cleaners.

From the Times: "The toll is especially heavy on the small business owners who depend on their cars and trucks to bring goods and services to consumers. These enterprises - carpet cleaners, food truck drivers, cabbies, gardeners, traveling massage therapists, exterminators, plumbers and the like - say their profit or loss is inextricably linked to the price of gas. They can't easily raise their prices or impose fuel surcharges because their customers, like them, are feeling the pinch of higher prices at the pump. And unlike airlines or big delivery companies, they aren't big enough to hedge fuel purchases in the futures market."

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