The camping industry is going to be hit hard

I think there are a couple of states that are still mostly wide open. Taking a trip to one might be a great idea for folks who feel strongly about "reopening" regardless of the state of the pandemic. Work on that herd immunity and take one for the team if it doesn't turn out.

Why were they just sitting in their cars. Why didn't they march and protest?

I was not going to join in here, but I now feel that I should. This is not my first rodeo, the last was very memorable and ended just a little shy of ten years ago.

Remember when the administration took control of two car companies that were not doing real well and forced them into bankruptcy? Well, for a while there Michigan had a 30~40% unemployment. The big organized labor people didn't hurt to bad, but when they bankrupted those two, a lot of the first tier (companies that sell directly to OE) either had to shut down hard or go out of business altogether. The way the OE works is nobody gets paid for what they deliver for 60~90 days in good times. Only a few had the resources to survive that. With a hit like that, the area became a ghost town. Literally hundreds of small business not directly related to OE folded. Without the cash flow lots of bars, restaurants and service businesses died. We have only just recovered from that calamity.

Demand for my services doing specialty work on racing sloops completely disappeared over night. I went from having to prioritize client's requests to nothing and even cancellation of some larger jobs over night. That is the nature of a business dependent on discretionary spending. I was ready.

Now, we are at it again. What I am expecting is that much like last time, there will be a big pent up demand when the cork gets pulled. This will have only been a couple of months when things reopen here. Governess will do here best to retain the depression because that is her party's line. This is why she is treating the whole state like it is Detroit. That is why she wanted to lock things down for another 2 months, but the legislature didn't buy it. They aren't alone. This afternoon there were literally thousands of cars in the area of the capitol in Lansing to protest the state wide quarantine when the only hot area is the heavily urban areas.

Remember when the administration sought to punish us all to get the over inflated budget by closing things that cost more to close than it would to leave them open? Because of the length and depth of that depression, things did not come back like gang busters as it was on the heals of the first. But they did come back. Yes many smaller shops did not, but small shops close all the time.

If things are allowed start to reopen with the first May, I am expecting a "Katy - Bar the Door" recovery. Not everybody will be riding that wave. Several local businesses have already pulled down the shingle and put up the realtor tag. This has recently been a "Help Wanted" state, and it will come back to that as soon as it is allowed to do so.

Yes, this will be remembered as a hard time, but we have to remember that it all had a clearly identifiable cause and we need to remember what they did to us and how they did it.

Matt

Strangely we seem to have enough tests available here in TN. The Governor has just announced that anyone can now be tested, symptoms or not. No idea about wait times. With the exception of some drunks in downtown Nashville early on, it seems most have taken the restrictions seriously and we may have "flattened the curve" here. You can still see some folks shopping at our local Walmart w/o masks but our corner of the county is known for inbreeding among other backward practices.

JimK-NY wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
NY just added around 3000 deaths to their total yesterday that were NOT reported originally... evidently they died from something while in the hospital and they just decided it was Covid-19 ????

I'm sure there is a reason they did that, they are a much higher pay grade than I am....

they BAD part is that an additional 3k died ... for any reason

In the NYC area, there is an accurate count of the number of patients with Covid 19 who die in the hospitals. There are unknown numbers of people who die at home and were never tested. There is a major triage center less than a mile from my house so I am pretty familiar with what is going on. First getting tested is difficult. Just being sick does not qualify. You need to be very sick with the "correct" symptoms and/or have a doctor's recommendation. Being admitted is even more difficult. You need to test positive and have life threatening conditions. Otherwise you will be sent home. Many never try to jump the hurdles. We also have hundreds of thousands of illegals in the area. Many will not go to testing facilities or to hospitals. It is by no means clear how many people die at home from Covid.

We have an office in Bethpage LI.. Had an employee feeling ill over the weekend and went to an urgent care just West of Hempstead I believe. received a test, was told to wait in his car, 15 minutes passed and they came out to advise he was positive and have him all the paperwork of what to do.
But than again, he WAS/IS Legal and could read English... unlike a LOT in the area

I predict when this is over, Camping World/Gander will own just about all the mom and pop dealerships that are left today. They already gobble up most of them in a good economy. The smaller dealerships that won't able to survive will succumb to the cents on a dollar offering to avoid losing everything. CW/Gander already has a monopoly, there won't be anything left of small dealers when this is over.

What that could mean as a consumer is that maybe that deal of a lifetime won't be able to be found. Once a dealership is in trouble, CW steps in to "save" them so no crazy prices for you and me.

The private sale market though is going to have some screaming deals if people with luxury items like RV's remain out of work.

jdc1 wrote:
RV sales around here are offering up to 40% off new units. Where not talking stripped down pop-ups. These have slides, fireplaces, ect. All brands and models.

40% of what? If it's MSRP that's pretty much business as usual. It's probably a little early for bigger dealerships to start the fire sale. Smaller dealerships maybe. In another month or so cars and Rv's are going to have some blowout prices.

RV sales around here are offering up to 40% off new units. Where not talking stripped down pop-ups. These have slides, fireplaces, ect. All brands and models.

Regarding Sweden, I had an email yesterday from a friend who lives east of Stockholm who told me that their restrictions are pretty close to ours. The only big difference is that elementary schools remain open. High schools and universities are closed. Social distancing is recommended and usually followed.

ford truck guy wrote:
NY just added around 3000 deaths to their total yesterday that were NOT reported originally... evidently they died from something while in the hospital and they just decided it was Covid-19 ????

I'm sure there is a reason they did that, they are a much higher pay grade than I am....

they BAD part is that an additional 3k died ... for any reason

In the NYC area, there is an accurate count of the number of patients with Covid 19 who die in the hospitals. There are unknown numbers of people who die at home and were never tested. There is a major triage center less than a mile from my house so I am pretty familiar with what is going on. First getting tested is difficult. Just being sick does not qualify. You need to be very sick with the "correct" symptoms and/or have a doctor's recommendation. Being admitted is even more difficult. You need to test positive and have life threatening conditions. Otherwise you will be sent home. Many never try to jump the hurdles. We also have hundreds of thousands of illegals in the area. Many will not go to testing facilities or to hospitals. It is by no means clear how many people die at home from Covid.