You may not like or agree with what Mr Skid Row Joe said but he is correct. The Growth of the ecomony has slowed but it has not reached 0 growth or negative growth. Remember a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth not just negative growth in certain sectors of the economy such as the RV and or Housing industry. The problem right now is the dollar is weaker than the EURO and that is pushing up oil prices (A few strong dollars equals a lot of weak ones) and the FED keeps pumping out paper money to keep cash flowing through lending organizations. Also, with the interest rate low, many companies raise prices of thier goods to compensate for the money they loose through poor performing money markets. I have to do that...I don't keep my company's cash just laying around..it needs to work for me and short term investments are not paying so hot right now so I make it up in costs for goods and services. BUT it is all cyclical..and one downturn may cause an upturn somewhere else like many of our exports are up right now because our goods are cheaper to import and so dollars (undervalued) are flowing back into the country. Where I live the shipping industry cannot keep up with the demand for goods overseas. Also people with good credit who could not affort to buy an overvalued house now can. Don't forget it was the collapse of the housing market that started the snow ball rolling down the hill. And that collapse had a lot to do with flippers, and poor lending and borrowing practices. I saw it coming a long time before it happened...very similiar to the commercial real estate collapse in Japan. Look it all balances out. When I started in business 17 years ago I paid 1.00 a gallon for gas and charged 32 bucks an hour and I sold business phones for 400 plus bucks each. Now I pay 3.69 a gallon and charge 120 bucks an hour for my company services and phones that do a lot more sell for 200 bucks plus. It's called market forces. The RV industry, just like the rest of us will have to contend with them.
* This post was
edited 05/09/08 05:00pm by -Gramps- *
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08 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 38PLT UFO GAS Chassis
06 Saturn Vue toad, SMI Breaking sys,Blue Ox tow bar. Myspace site and blog
Gramps and family
The new CEO of Winnebago seems to understand how it works.
Winnebago's new leader remains bullish
FOREST CITY — Bob Olson doesn’t have any illusions about the challenges facing the company he “took over” Monday.
Winnebago Industries’ new chairman of the board and CEO is blunt when he says the Forest City-based RV manufacturer is facing a myriad of issues ranging from plunging consumer confidence to high gas prices to uncertainty caused by the perceived national housing crisis to the upcoming presidential election.
Yet, Olson remains bullish when it comes to the long-term future of the company he will lead now that former Chairman of the Board and CEO Bruce Hertzke has officially retired.
“We have money in the bank, we have an excellent inventory-control program and we make the best motor homes,” Olson said. “I’ve seen us go through downturns before, and just like before, we will come out of it.”
The torch was officially passed from Hertzke to Olson on Monday, ending what Winnebago officials say has been an almost three-year transition process. Olson is taking over a company that is still turning a profit but has seen income drop in recent months because of a slow marketplace. This past winter, the company laid off about 200 employees and it shut down production for a week last month.
Olson, like Hertzke before him, is quick to point out that Winnebago has gone through more traumatic times in which it lost money and conducted much larger layoffs than it did in January.
Yet, he said this downturn has been different than the others because of the wide range of challenges in the marketplace.
Olson said what makes it frustrating is that he believes many of the challenges facing his company are psychological.
Take gas prices, for example. Olson used the WIT Grand National Rally as an example of how little the rising price of fuel affects RV owners. He said the jump in gas prices in the past year means a WIT member from San Antonio who drives a diesel-powered Winnebago would pay about $86 more in fuel costs to attend the rally this year.
“If you look at the big picture, you can spend more for one night on the town,” Olson said, “but it’s that perception that we have to overcome.”
“If things don’t change from an economy standpoint, we have to do things for the health of the company,” he said. “We have to reduce our cost structure or find ways to generate revenue.”
If you want something to worry about - worry about this. When 40% or 50% of the people in this country start struggling to just put food on the table how are they going to view our big bucks class A rv's roaming the countryside?
I guess it all depends where you live. Here in my town, you can't get in the door of Applebees or Chili's, even on a week night! When dining out comes to a halt, I will start getting worried. As has been posted, everything cycles. The RV market is down, but it is still a good market overall, especially when you start looking at historical figures.
ThyssenKrupp announced a new $4.19 billion steel plant north of Mobile, AL on 3467 acres which will employ 2700 people. The construction will employ 10,000 people and the RV parks around Mobile are expanding to handle workers and many more parks are going through the permitting process to meet the need. Using the normal ratio of 3.9 jobs for evey one created - the side benefit of those 2700 jobs will be 10,530 in associated businesses. The hiring process for professional workers is all ready underway.
BMW announced a $750 million expansion at it's Greenville-Spartanburg plant. I went by there two weeks ago and land development next to existing plant is underway. This plant will employ 500 new workers and thus add another 1500 related jobs.
Cummins is spending $14 million to expand engine production in Jamestown, NY and more millions to build a new small diesel facility in Columbus, IN for Chrysler 2010 vehicles.
Nissan is deploying cars to another state from it MS plant to build a new truck using Cummins engines.
RV manufacturers Gulfstream (new C class),Heartland and New Horizon are moving into new expanded facilities. Canadian RV manufacturer Adventurer is moving to WA state to produce its trailers.
The list could go on. Yes, we have some problems which the media focuses on but there are good things going on and not being reported.
PS I called an RV dealer in Greer, SC (Holiday RV) yesterday to ask him to schedule my unit for a detailing. He said they couldn't do it because they were backlogged preparing new sold units. He referred me to another individual detailer.
If we listen to the doom and gloom on the news channels we may as well just crawl in a hole and wait for the inevitable financial armageddon to overtake us all. Turn off the news and go out and wash the coach!
Good things are happening all over the place, focus on those and you will feel much better. I've found that watching one news cycle a day is plenty instead of keeping the tv on in the background all day.
Jim , MJ & Spirit of Sambuca Bear
2006 Winnebago Vectra
Jeep Liberty Toad
Yes, there are way too many investors that let the media totally influence their decisions. The media can spin something out and everyone starts selling their stocks. Day trading and the internet sure made for one heck of a roller coaster market.
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Jodi & Richard
98 Tiffin Allegro Bay 34' w/Slide
01 Ford Ranger 5 speed - US Gear Brake
00 HD E-Glide
We sold a park model to get back into RVing. It cost us over 7K annually to keep a place at the beach. That was before the insurance tripled. Plus the lot rent goes up 8% a year. We decided to travel while we were still young enough. Don't get me wrong it was nice just turning a key and we were ready to go.
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