If you live in western Alaska, you already know fuel is expensive. What most people never hear is why, and why prices don't come down when they drop everywhere else.

The short answer: most of our communities buy a whole year of fuel at once, in summer, and then live with that price until the next barge. This year, that buying window landed in the middle of a global oil shock.

One delivery, one price, one year

In Anchorage or the Lower 48, a gas station refills every few days. When the market drops, the pump price follows within weeks.

Out here it works differently. Western Alaska's coastal and river communities get most of their fuel by barge between late spring and fall. Many villages only get one or two deliveries a year, so whatever price the barge brings tends to stick until next summer.

The price is set before the fuel ever leaves port. In Norton Sound, the regional bulk fuel program's prices are based on an index of fuel prices during the month the tanker is filled. This year, the first tanker left port in May, one of the most uncertain and expensive stretches of the year for oil.

Once fall freeze-up arrives and the river closes, Bethel and dozens of other communities in the region are locked into whatever they paid. That's why a peace deal or a drop in oil markets doesn't show up at our pumps. The fuel sitting in the tank farm was already bought.

What goes into the price

Think of a gallon out here as a stack of costs, not just the fuel itself:

• The fuel, bought at whatever the market is during the summer buying window
• The money to buy it: a community, utility or store has to pay for a year of fuel up front, often with a loan
• Getting it here: tankers and barges, and air freight for places the barge can't reach
• Storing it: tank farms that have to be built, inspected and maintained
• Small volumes: a village of a few hundred people can't buy in bulk the way a city does

Each layer adds to the price. Together they explain why rural fuel can cost two or three times the national average, even in a normal year.

And energy already takes a big bite out here. In the Kusilvak Census Area, electricity and heating fuel can eat up 45% of household income, according to Gwen Holdmann of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. The area's poverty rate is above 30%, about triple the statewide rate.

Why this year was different

The war with Iran and the near-shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz took about 20% of the world's oil production off the market, right as communities were placing their summer orders.

That hit western Alaska harder than most places. About 80% of the oil that normally moves through the strait goes to Asia, and Asian refineries supply much of the fuel for the more than 160 western Alaska communities that get deliveries by sea from May through October, according to the Alaska Chadux Network.

Suppliers changed how they work, too. Vendors serving the region, including Vitus, Crowley and Delta Western, said prices were now too high to risk shipping extra fuel that might not sell. In past years, they had sometimes loaded tankers with extra fuel on speculation. A cold winter also left more sea ice than usual, which could shorten the delivery season. Communities that miss the tanker window may have to fly fuel in, which costs even more.

A tentative peace deal brought some relief to global oil markets this summer. But for barge-served communities, the high spring prices were already locked in.

What people are paying

For comparison, the U.S. average for regular gas was $4.36 a gallon in September 2026, up almost 38% from a year earlier. Diesel averaged $6.29, an all-time high.

In Norton Sound, gas on the first tanker of the season was expected to cost about 40% more than what residents had been paying at the pump, and diesel more than 50% more.

The ripple effect

Fuel doesn't just fill trucks and four-wheelers. It heats schools, runs the power plants and keeps planes flying, so a price jump spreads into almost everything.

• Cities. Bethel's city manager budgeted for a 30% increase in city fuel costs and looked at closing some municipal buildings and moving staff into shared spaces.
• Schools. The Yupiit School District expected fuel costs to rise at least 50% across its three schools. A quote about $2.50 a gallon higher than last year would add roughly $500,000. The Lower Kuskokwim School District budgeted for an 80% increase across its nearly two dozen village schools.
• Electricity. AVEC, the co-op that powers 58 rural communities, expected at least a 50% jump in its fuel costs and considered the state's bulk fuel loan program for the first time.
• Air travel and freight. Ryan Air added its first-ever fuel surcharge on passenger flights out of Anchorage after jet fuel prices doubled.

Every one of those costs eventually shows up somewhere else: in utility bills, ticket prices, freight charges and what's on the shelf at the store.

The math for a household

Researchers with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power estimate each rural Alaskan uses about 1,200 gallons of fuel a year for heat, transportation and electricity.

At that rate, every $2 increase per gallon adds about $2,400 a year per person. For a household of four, that's close to $10,000 a year, Holdmann estimated. In a worst case of a $5 increase, economist Steve Colt calculated up to $6,000 more per person, and about $450 million across rural communities.

That's money that comes straight out of groceries, travel and everything else. Higher fuel costs can also cut into subsistence, which is at its busiest right as the barges arrive.

How people are getting ready

Families aren't waiting for help to show up. In Unalakleet, residents are stacking firewood for winter. It takes time to gather, but it's much cheaper than heating oil.

In Stebbins, a village of about 600 people, residents are hauling driftwood that floated down the Yukon River, going out by boat early in the morning and collecting wood for neighbors who don't have a way to get it themselves. City Administrator Daisy Katcheak said more people have also been putting up fish and other traditional foods since Typhoon Merbok knocked out power and spoiled food in 2022.

Still, leaders in the region warn that people on fixed incomes may face hard choices this winter between buying food and buying heating fuel.

What's being done

There isn't a quick fix, but there are a few tools:

• Buying together. In Norton Sound, Unalakleet teams up with 14 other villages through NSEDC's bulk fuel program, and buying millions of gallons together gets them lower prices.
• Bulk fuel loans. The state's Bulk Fuel Loan program gives low-interest loans to utilities, fuel retailers and other rural buyers, repaid the following spring. In 2025, barge-reliant Y-K Delta communities made up nearly half of the 51 communities that got loans. On May 20, the Legislature doubled the borrowing cap from $750,000 to $1.5 million. Lawmakers also pointed out that it's still a loan, and the cost gets passed on through utility rates and fuel prices.
• State budget help. The state budget included $15 million for the bulk fuel program, $29 million in energy relief for K-12 schools, $11 million to restore a state heating assistance program, and an energy relief payment added to this year's Permanent Fund dividend.
• Help for households. LIHEAP, the federal heating assistance program, covers households up to 150% of the federal poverty level. The Alaska Affordable Heating Program covers households up to 225%. The state also offers a one-time crisis payment for households that are out of fuel, nearly out, or facing a shut-off.
• Relief money. This month, a state agency sent $25,000 relief checks to three small villages. Other communities say they need help too.

What to watch this winter

In September, the head of the Alaska Energy Authority said he wasn't ready to call it a crisis yet, and that the main challenge is getting fuel delivered, not a lack of fuel. Communities still waiting on deliveries may end up flying fuel in, which costs more, and smaller runways limit how much a plane can bring.

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said the Legislature will need to take up the issue again when it returns in January, and that more money for heating assistance may be needed if prices stay high.

The bottom line

Fuel prices out here aren't random, and they aren't just greed. They're the result of buying once a year, at whatever the market is, and paying to move it hundreds of miles to small communities that can't buy in bulk.

When the market spikes during the summer buying window, rural Alaska carries that price all winter. This year, the spike came at the worst possible time.

Sources

• KNOM / Alaska Public Media, June 18, 2026: Norton Sound pricing, Unalakleet, Stebbins, NSEDC bulk buying
• KYUK via KNBA, May 22, 2026: Bethel, Y-K schools, AVEC, Ryan Air, household costs, loan cap, state budget
• ADN, April 19, 2026: Strait of Hormuz, suppliers, sea ice, 1,200 gallons per person, Kusilvak energy burden
• Alaska Energy Gateway: Bethel gas and heating fuel, winter 2026 survey
• BTS via AJOT: U.S. gas and diesel averages, September 2026
• Northern Journal / ADN, June 2026: Hooper Bay prices
• Alaska's News Source, May 2026: heating fuel above $17.50
• Alaska's News Source, September 2026: Dillingham and Kokhanok prices, heating assistance, Alaska Energy Authority
• ADN, October 19, 2026: Shungnak and Ambler prices, relief checks

Read: How Donlin Gold could help the YK region →

Walk into Stan's Barber Shop and you'll get more than a haircut. For over thirty years, the shop has been one of the places in Bethel where people sit down, wait their turn and catch up on what's happening around town. Some of Stan's first customers now bring their grandkids.

A barber's son

Barbering runs in the Corp family. Stan's father, Don Corp, ran Don's Barber Shop in Upper Michigan and cut hair for 66 and a half years. Stan grew up around the trade, watching his dad work the chair every time he came home.

As a kid, he didn't quite understand why his father loved the job so much. He does now. Don was proud to see his son pick up the shears, and Stan carried the same steady, old-school way of doing things north to Alaska. Don has since passed away, but his trade is still at work every weekday in Bethel.

Coming north

Stan came to Bethel when he was 18, and he never left. In 1992 he hung his own barber pole in town and opened Stan's Barber Shop. More than three decades later, he's still behind the same chair.

A lot has changed in Bethel since 1992. Businesses have opened and closed, and restaurants have come and gone. Stan's has stayed, with the same walk-in rules and the same man doing the cutting.

Inside the shop

You know you're in the right place when you see the hand-painted sign on the building, with a wooden moose and bear on the wall beside it. Inside, past the barber pole, the shop feels like thirty years of Bethel history.

Antique clippers and shaving brushes sit on the shelf. Tools hang on the wall, next to photos collected over the years. In the middle of it all is a classic barber chair that has seen more regulars than anyone could count. The price list sits on the counter, the hours card is taped in the window, and a small sign asks everyone to silence their cell phones.

Walk in, take a seat

Stan's has always been a walk-in shop. No appointments, no sign-up sheet. Come by during open hours, take a seat, and you'll be helped in the order you arrived.

That means the line can get long. A haircut that takes 30 minutes in the chair can turn into a two-hour visit once you count the wait and the conversation. Most regulars don't seem to mind. For a lot of them, the wait is half the reason they come.

Bethel's living room

Bethel doesn't have a sit-down coffee shop where people linger for hours, and for decades Stan's has filled some of that gap. It's a place where people from town and from villages across the region end up in the same room, with time to talk.

Stan is known for knowing what's going on. Ask him what's happening and he probably already knows: what the city council decided, how the fish are running, where the berries are good, when the next winter storm is coming in, who had a baby and who passed away. For many folks around the Delta, a trip to Stan's is part haircut, part news of the week.

People meet at the shop, too. Two customers from Quinhagak once met for the first time while waiting their turn at Stan's. Another regular, originally from Albania, has been coming in since he moved to Bethel 23 years ago. Others were born and raised in Bethel and have been getting their hair cut at Stan's for most of their lives.

Regulars across generations

Plenty of Stan's customers have been sitting in his chair for decades. Louie Andrew, Bethel's Traditional Chief, has had Stan cut his hair for about thirty years. When Alaska Business magazine visited the shop in 2023, the chief joked that Stan should leave his eyebrows alone, and called him a good man.

The shop has been around long enough that it now serves families across generations. Some of Stan's earliest customers now bring their grandchildren in for haircuts.

Every kind of cut

Thirty-plus years in one chair means Stan has seen every trend come through Bethel. Over the years he's done bowl cuts, A-line bobs, perms and hair dyed just about every color. These days it's mostly regular haircuts and trims, buzz cuts, mohawks and beard trims for men, women and kids.

Showing up

Ask Stan for business advice and the answer is simple: be there. In his words, on the shop's website: “I go to work every day. You have to be there for your customers.”

He means it. Outside of vacations and hunting trips, Stan is in the shop every weekday it's open. In a town where a lot of businesses come and go, that kind of consistency is a big part of why people keep coming back. Customers know the shop will be open, and they know Stan will be in the chair.

On the shop's website, he sums up why he still does it after all these years: “I enjoy it. I like the people. That's the main thing.”

Life on the river

When he's not cutting hair, Stan lives like a lot of people in the region. He loves being out on the river, fishing, and hunting, especially the fall moose hunt. Subsistence, as he puts it, is something just about everyone here does. It's one more thing he shares with the people in his chair, and one more thing to talk about while they wait.

What it costs

When he's in

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10 am to 5 pm
• Wednesday: 10 am to 6 pm
• Saturday and Sunday: Closed

One house rule, posted on the counter: please silence your cell phone.

Why it matters

Small businesses like Stan's don't make headlines very often, but they hold a town together. Stan's is a steady job for one man, a place to catch up on the news, a meeting spot for people from across the region, and three decades of haircuts for families that keep coming back. It's proof that in rural Alaska, showing up every day for your customers is still one of the best business plans there is.

Finding the shop

Look for the hand-painted sign and the wooden moose on the side of the building, then head inside past the barber pole. Prices, hours and Stan's story are at stansbarber.com.

Sources: stansbarber.com, and Katie Basile's April 2023 photo essay on Stan's Barbershop in Alaska Business magazine.

Read the Kusko Pizza Spotlight →

For a lot of small restaurants and stores, taking orders means a phone that won't stop ringing during the rush, or a national delivery app that takes a cut of every sale. TIKT is a new online ordering system built for local restaurants and retailers.

The problem TIKT solves

For customers, ordering from a local restaurant usually means a phone call. Restaurant listing sites can help people find a place to eat, but most don't let them place an order. Customers end up calling one restaurant after another, waiting on busy lines and repeating their order out loud.

For businesses, the usual options don't fit well. National delivery apps take a percentage of every sale, which is hard on a small restaurant's margins. Full point-of-sale systems can be expensive and more than a small shop needs. TIKT is built to be simpler: the business's own ordering page, orders that show up on a screen or print in the kitchen, and card payments that go straight to the business.

The goal is to give small, independent businesses the kind of online ordering that big chains have, without giving up a cut of their sales or their customer relationships.

What it is

TIKT gives each business its own online ordering page with its own link. Customers open the link on their phone, build their order and pay. The order shows up instantly on the business's orders screen, which rings when something new comes in. Busy kitchens can add a receipt printer so tickets print on their own.

The ordering page carries the business's own name and menu. TIKT is built for restaurants and retailers. Restaurants and coffee shops can offer pickup and delivery, with choices like size, toppings, milk or syrups. Retail stores offer pickup.

Kusko Pizza is the first business on TIKT.

How it works for customers

1. Open the business's ordering link.
2. Pick your items and options, then choose pickup or delivery.
3. Pay by card, or choose cash and pay at pickup or on delivery. Add a tip if you'd like.
4. The order rings in at the business, and staff move it from New to Making to Ready.

How it works for businesses

• You run your own menu. Change items, prices, hours and sold-out items yourself, any time.
• You set your own fees. Each business sets its own delivery fee and tax rate.
• Your money goes straight to you. Card payments go into the business's own Stripe account and bank. The business pays Stripe's normal card fee, about 2.9% plus 30¢. TIKT doesn't add a markup.
• Cash is fine. Customers can pay cash at pickup or on delivery.

What it costs

Every order has a $0.75 TIKT service fee, paid by the customer at checkout, so businesses keep their full menu prices. On top of that, businesses pick a plan:

Yearly billing comes with about two months free: Grow is $790 a year and Pro is $1,490 a year. A kitchen receipt printer is sold separately for $549.

Why it matters for local businesses

Every phone order takes a staff member away from the counter or the kitchen. Online ordering lets customers order when it suits them, gives the kitchen a clear ticket every time, and cuts down on mistakes from orders taken over a noisy phone line. Because each business keeps its own menu prices and its own customers, the money from those orders stays with the business.

Common questions

• Do customers need to download an app? No. The ordering page opens in any phone or computer web browser.
• Does TIKT take a cut of my sales? No. Customers pay a $0.75 service fee per order, and card payments go to the business's own account.
• Do I need a printer? No. Orders show up on the orders screen on a phone, tablet or computer. A kitchen printer is optional.
• Can it work with my website? Yes. Grow and Pro plans include your own web address and an "Order Now" button for your website.

Getting started

Plans and sign-up are at tikt.store.

Read about TIKT Rewards →

TIKT, the online ordering system for local restaurants and retailers, has acquired Quyana Rewards, the free rewards program that lets people earn points at businesses around town. Quyana Rewards is now TIKT Rewards.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. For customers and businesses, the biggest change is the name. The program is still free, and it works the same way it did before.

What's changing

Quyana Rewards now carries the TIKT name and joins TIKT's online ordering under one brand. Businesses that take orders online with TIKT and reward their regulars with TIKT Rewards are now working with one company for both.

The two were already connected. When customers order online from a TIKT business that also runs the rewards program, they earn points on those orders automatically, the same as they would at the counter.

What stays the same

• It's still free. TIKT Rewards costs nothing for customers and nothing for businesses. No monthly fees, no sign-up fees.
• One account, every business. Customers use one account at every business in town that joins, and can switch between them to see their points at each one.
• Same points. Customers earn 1 point for every $1 they spend, and unlock rewards that each business picks for itself.
• Same levels. The more customers visit, the higher their level: Platinum, Emerald and Diamond. Diamond members earn 1.75 points per $1.
• Quests and gifting. Businesses can still run challenges for bonus points, and Emerald members and above can send points or rewards to friends and family. Rewards and gifts last 365 days.
• Nothing to download. TIKT Rewards runs in your phone's web browser, and you can add it to your home screen like an app.

Customers who already signed up don't need to do anything. Their account and their points stay right where they are.

Why ordering and rewards belong together

Big chains have had both for years: an app to order ahead and a rewards program that brings customers back. Most small businesses in rural Alaska haven't had either.

Putting online ordering and rewards under one name makes the pitch to local businesses simpler. Customers can order ahead, earn points on every order, and come back for the rewards. Businesses keep their own menus, set their own rewards, and thank the regulars who keep them going.

About the old name

Quyana means "thank you" in Yup'ik. The program was built around that idea: a way for the businesses in town to thank the people who keep coming back. The name is changing, but the thank-you for shopping local is the same.

For businesses

• Set it up yourself. Create a free business account, then choose your rewards, quests, levels, sign-up bonus, birthday reward and double-points days.
• Use the counter screen. Staff look customers up by phone number to log a purchase, redeem a reward or adjust points.
• Add your team. Owners invite staff by email and remove them when they leave.
• Earn on online orders. If you take online orders with TIKT, customers earn points on those automatically.

Getting started

Kusko Pizza was the first business on the program. Customers and businesses can sign up for free at rewards.tikt.store.

Read about TIKT online ordering →

Read our original Quyana Rewards feature →

Update, October 22, 2026: Quyana Rewards is now TIKT Rewards. Read the news →

Big chains have rewards apps. Most small businesses in rural Alaska don't. Quyana Rewards is a rewards program for everyone in town: any local business can join, and anyone can sign up and earn points with one account at every participating business.

Quyana means "thank you" in Yup'ik, and that's the idea: a way for the businesses in town to thank the people who keep coming back.

What it is

Quyana Rewards runs in your phone's web browser at rewards.tikt.store. There's nothing to download from an app store, and you can add it to your home screen like an app. One account works at every business in town that uses Quyana, and you can switch between them to see your points at each one.

Kusko Pizza is the first business on Quyana Rewards.

How it works for customers

1. Sign up with your email and link your phone number.
2. Earn 1 point for every $1 you spend. At the counter, staff look you up by phone number. Online orders through TIKT earn points automatically.
3. Unlock rewards as your points grow. Each business picks its own rewards and how many points they take.
4. Show staff your reward and they redeem it at the counter.

The more you visit, the higher your level. There are three levels: Platinum, Emerald and Diamond. Higher levels earn points faster, and Diamond members earn 1.75 points per $1.

• Quests. Businesses can run challenges like "visit 5 times this month" or "visit 3 weeks in a row" for bonus points or a prize. Your progress shows in the app.
• Gifting. Once you reach Emerald, you can send points or an unlocked reward to a friend or family member.
• Expiration. Rewards and gifts last 365 days.

How it works for businesses

• Sign up and set it up yourself. Create a business account, then choose your rewards, quests, levels, signup bonus, birthday reward and double-points days.
• Use the counter screen. Look up a customer by phone number, log a purchase, redeem a reward or adjust points.
• Add your team. Owners invite staff by email and remove them when they leave. Staff can work the counter but can't change rewards or settings.
• Get approved. New businesses are reviewed before they show up to customers.

What it costs

Nothing. Quyana Rewards is free for customers and free for businesses. There are no monthly fees and no sign-up fees.

Getting started

Customers and businesses can sign up at rewards.tikt.store.

Read about TIKT online ordering →

Donlin Gold could be the largest private economic engine the Yukon-Kuskokwim region has ever had. It promises thousands of construction jobs, about 800 long-term jobs, and a 27-year stream of revenue to the Alaska Native corporations that own the land.

The YK region covers 56 villages across an area about the size of Oregon. It is one of the poorest regions in the country, and fuel can cost close to $9 a gallon in coastal villages. Steady, year-round jobs close to home are scarce.

What sets Donlin apart is who owns the ground. Calista Corporation selected this land under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and owns the minerals. The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) owns the surface. That means the region's own Native corporations sit at the table, not just outside investors.

Jobs

Building the mine is projected to take 3 to 4 years and employ about 3,000 workers, paying roughly $375 million in wages. Once running, Donlin expects to employ about 800 people year-round, with a payroll of more than $100 million a year.

Those are projections, not guarantees. But the project's track record on local hiring is real. During advanced exploration, more than 90% of the roughly 200 workers on site were Calista shareholders or their descendants (2008).

A mine job also builds skills that travel: heavy equipment, electrical, mechanical, environmental monitoring and camp operations. Those trades stay with a worker long after any single project ends.

Economy

Donlin is built to last a generation. The mine is planned for about 27 years and is expected to average more than 1 million ounces of gold a year. Its proven and probable reserves are part of a deposit of roughly 40 million ounces in measured and indicated resources, so the mine life could grow.

A payroll of $100 million a year does not stay at the mine site. Workers spend it at home: on groceries, fuel, boats, snowmachines, housing and family. That spending flows through local stores, air carriers, barge lines, fuel distributors and the small businesses that serve them.

The mine will also buy goods and services for decades. Shipping, catering, maintenance, environmental work and transportation are all contracts that regional and Native-owned firms can compete for. The owners report working with more than 60 communities across the region.

The project is also moving forward on paper. It is federally permitted, all federal and state permits remain in effect, and an updated feasibility study led by Fluor is targeted for 2027.

Shareholder benefits

Because Calista owns the minerals and TKC owns the surface, Donlin pays the region's own corporations to operate on their land. Calista says shareholders will receive economic benefits from project revenues, including distributions. Calista has paid more than $141.6 million in dividends and distributions since it began; a producing gold mine could add a major new source on top of that.

The Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska shows what this can look like. NANA, the regional corporation that owns Red Dog's land, has received about $2 billion in royalties over three decades. About 57% of Red Dog's roughly 600 workers are Alaska Native, with an average wage around $100,000.

Donlin's revenue would also reach far beyond Calista, through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act:

• Section 7(i): Calista must share 70% of its natural resource revenue from Donlin with the other 11 regional corporations. Red Dog alone produced $1.6 billion in 7(i) payments through 2021.
• Section 7(j): Half of the 7(i) money a regional corporation receives must go to the village corporations in its region.

That sharing cuts both ways. Calista keeps 30% of its own Donlin resource revenue, and it also receives its share of other regions' resource revenue. Donlin would turn Calista from a corporation that mostly receives 7(i) money into one that generates it, putting the YK region among Alaska's major resource owners.

The exact royalty rates and payments in Calista's lease and TKC's surface agreement are not spelled out in the public sources reviewed here. Shareholders who want those numbers can ask Calista and TKC directly.

Safeguards and community voice

Donlin needs more than 100 federal and state permits. Most key permits are issued, and the owners say all federal and state permits remain in effect. Supporters point to the project's work with the communities it would affect:

• A Subsistence Community Advisory Committee, with a new Subsistence Plan and a Barge Communication Plan
• Outreach to more than 60 regional communities, including visits to 11 YK villages in May 2026 alongside Calista and TKC
• Support for regional programs such as Clean Up Green Up, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute and school district programs

Calista's position is that resource development and subsistence can coexist under strict regulation and oversight. Supporters also argue that subsistence itself takes cash: for fuel, boats, nets and snowmachines. Steady wages can help families stay in their villages and keep living off the land.

The bottom line

Donlin Gold offers the YK region something it has rarely had: thousands of jobs during construction, about 800 steady jobs for 27 years, a $100 million-plus yearly payroll, and resource revenue flowing to the region's own Native corporations and their shareholders. Done right, it could change what's possible for families who want to build a future at home.