Local Signs of Economic Impact of Gas Prices

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 683

Going fishing and try and forget about it. Its 80 miles round trip to the lake. We are seeing less and less ppl there and the bait shop, boat storage is going broke. Bad enough out in Kansas without this happening. The lakes are so far from the towns its expensive to just get there.

You can have the lake all to yourself most days. Sad deal. Now the parks dept. is going broke as ppl are not buying camping permits, fishing licences etc.

I hunt there too and to drive 80 miles to hunt is almost out of my reach. Even with a 30 mpg car, I am losing interest.
kk

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1504

Our highway is closed for reconstruction about 4 miles from us, so I thought that explained the very light traffic by our house. But yesterday we drove that way, then took the detour to get to the next bigger town that has a Wal Mart. I noticed alot of yards that needed to be mowed on our way. Much lighter traffic there, too, and Wal Mart's lot was only half as full as normal for a Saturday. They were out of our brand of cat food. Two weeks ago they were out of Purina dog food.
The farm supply store was pretty quiet, and was low on the hydraulic fittings I wanted. Hardy's fast food place only had half a dozen people at 5:00 pm. I saw a couple old, small cars with duct-taped windows and tail lights, and commented to my wife that our last customer that day was fixing up an old Ford Festiva to drive to work. Lots of these old small cars getting put back in service, and a lot fewer SUV's on the road here.

The Help Wanted ads are down to 2 columns in the small town paper, from a full page last year. The For Sale ads are growing, however, and it is all rather useless stuff, all playthings.
The industrial auction ads I get are much smaller flyers now, and the number of them has decreased. The last of those I attended, I got some real bargains, and the big stuff didn't get a bid.
The phone rang as we came in the door at home. It was a friend of my daughter's, who has gone broke in Colorado at a car sales job, and is now going to return to her dad's here in Indiana to care for him after he has surgery. Good for both of them. She had nowhere to go, and he needs help, but the fact remains that she can't find a job in sales, manufacturing, or elder care, in all of which she has experience. A real bum day, all around.
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Local fix-it guy..

Zapmanj · Coal Joined: Jun 15, 2008 Posts: 2

jlw61

I went out of town this weekend and was amazed at how many SUVs, Pickups and RVs were on the road. I did notice the RV dealer that used to have dozens of huge class A's had about 8 and a lot of really small class C RV's and trailers instead.

Lawns are not neatly trimmed in lots of areas. Motorcycles and scooters are now a very common sight. I saw more cars and trailers along-side the road then I've every seen before in a single day trip. No accidents, but blown tires accounted for about half of the problems.

I've spent many a Sunday on or near I-95 and the number of trucks seemed to be way down... perhaps because it was father's day?
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When somebody makes a statement you don't understand, don't tell him he's crazy. Ask him what he means. -- Otto Harkaman, Space Viking

WisJim

I seldom get out of town (that's why I live where I do), but I drove about 50 miles the other night to pick up a lathe that I bought, and driving there it seemed like a lot of cars on the road, but coming back we both commented on how few cars and trucks, and how weren't getting passed much, even though I was driving about 50mph on the interstate. Then I realized that on the way down, it was 5:30 to 6:30 or so, PM, and we were seeing people driving home after work. Not long ago, it looked like rush hour on the interstate any hour of the day and any day of the week. Still a lot of traffic in town, but then I only see it going to work or coming home after work, so I suspect it is mostly workers traveling like I am. Store lots don't seem as full as usual, either.

charliebrownout · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 272

Just wanted to add something...possibly not related to gas but more the economy in general....

Today we took the kids swimming at the local gym and they were using it as an impromptu food bank and tons of people were there to collect.

And it didn't look like an economic services hand out or a soup line. People were very average folks picking up boxes with their kids. I'm not saying food banks and shelters are populated by nasty people. I'm just saying that, these folks didn't look like the people I encountered years ago when I had to use such services myself.

If that makes sense... I guess what I'm saying is...these people looked employed. They looked like they just showed up to pick up their boxes after a trip to the mall playland. In other words, soccer moms and dads.

I really do feel for them. The economy is going south.

But, it was quite an eye opener. This isn't 80's or 90's America anymore. Not by a long shot.

Cloud9 · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 1025

Local used car lot with lots of trucks on the lot going belly up after being in business for 17 years.

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 683

Lots of boats in driveways instead of at the lake storage etc. And campers too. I think ppl took them out of storage to save money on rental fees and are not going to go to lake this summer. Its 40 mles to the lake, then food and gas and oil and well, its $100 a trip minimum to go one day.

I parked mine and wont be using it this summer at all. Lots for sale over there at the marina too. BUT, the prices are still up there. NO REAL DEALS>
I dont get that honestly. I guess that has yet to come. I saw a suburban 2001 still wanted $20,000. GOOD LORD>

mos6507

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5366 Location: Eurasia

ReducedToZero

Currently in San Jose, CA for the summer but I got to school in San Luis Obispo, a small localized college town with a large bicycle population halfway between SF and LA on the coast. Gas is pushing $5 a gallon... we have an event called bike night once a month...

I am starting to notice conjested bicycle lanes, a huge turnout at bike night (over 3000 people)...

No place to park my bike at school anymore, lack of bike racks

MrBill · Expert Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 5366 Location: Eurasia

"I'm trying to think of the last time I heard of salmonella coming out of a farmers' market. It's always a big chain thing," said Marty Hayden, a vice president with environmental group Earthjustice. "The perception is fresh is better."

topcat

We have a seasonal roadside market on our farm. So far, we have held prices on the few early items we have. Don't think that will be true for the later ones.

Our biggest worry is the folks not 'drivin' by to buy!

The expensive auto ppl will stop as most of them have money. It is the Ford & Chevy crowd who will keep on going.
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"...the problem is today we have unknown unknowns."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn; IMF chief

watermelonpunch

My local grocery store & local gas station have a cross-deal going on where for every $50 spent on groceries, you rack up 10 cents a gallon discount toward gas at the gas station. You just stick your shopper's card in the credit card slot at the gas pump. The catch is, you can only get 20 gallons per discount, and you can only get the discount PER purchase, meaning if you drive a car like mine that only fits 12 gallons when the gauge is on E, that's all you can get for your discount.

The gas station is making out on this in regards to me, because I shop at that grocery store anyway... But I usually shop at another gas station, right across the street, that's slightly more convenient to drive into. Both have exactly the same gas prices all the time, because they're right across the street from each other.

Now the existence of this promotion alone is probably an indicator of gas & grocery prices going up.

But here's my "sign" contribution.

I drove my 1991 Subaru that had a dent in the front right fender when I bought it, to the gas station to get my deal. Which was 11.45 gallons @ the 60 cent discount I'd saved up because I didn't know about the promotion until the grocery store check out clerk pointed out how high my discount had gotten.

When I pulled up at the gas station, the people on the other side of the pump were in the process of finagling it so they could put gas in 2 cars on the same discounted purchase, to get the full 20 gallons allotted.

The woman had a bright shiny funky green spanking new looking VW Bug, and the man had a pretty late model full size American pick-up truck.

And they did this shove up, and quick switcheroo to employ the cheat.

Even if they'd saved up their discount to $1 a gallon, all that effort probably got them a mere $5 extra, but it was probably more like $2.

And these are people who can (supposedly) afford new, less than sensible, vehicles.

If that's not a sign, I don't know what is.
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cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3564