From Tim Wood’s Friday market wrap:
Another item that is contributing to the toxic American economy is rising commodity prices and the stagnate business environment that rising commodity prices have caused. Let me give you a few examples. This past week I went to my local lube and car wash. The manager and I were talking while I was waiting on my vehicle to be washed. He told me that a year ago they would do anywhere between 80 and 100 oil changes in a typical day. But with the rising fuel prices, business has dropped to an average of somewhere between 50 and 60. As for car washes, he said that they were doing upwards of 400 a day. At present, business has dropped to between 60 and 100 per day.
Another friend of mine is a boat dealer and sells bay boats and pontoon boats. This time last year if you went by his store, you could hardly talk to him because he was so busy. I remember needing something and literally not being able to get to him. He told me this week that June is his peak month and it was absolutely dead at his store. He said that he counts on the summer sales to help carry him through the winter season. He is now worried about making it through the summer. There was also another local business owner present and he too is also now feeling the exact same pain.
In yet another example, I needed a trailer ball so I stopped in at a truck accessory store. It was also dead there and I quizzed the owner. He too was telling me how slow it had gotten. He said that recently he had 13 employees between all of his sales and installation people. He is now down to one sale person, a secretary, one installer and himself. He said that it is now costing him to keep the doors open. He had a beautiful black 4-door F-250. He said that it cost $170 to fill it up and he had it parked in the shop and is no longer driving it.
Here’s another one. I went to the local mall with my wife this week. She knows the lady that runs one of the shops in the mall. This lady is looking for a job because sales are so bad that the company is not going to renew its lease this summer and will be closing the doors.
In yet another example, I was talking to a lady at the local gym. Yes, I talk with everyone trying to get a feel for things. Anyway, she was telling me that they are now seeing gym memberships declining.
I also know people at one of the local giant home improvement stores. Sales are down and I am being told that they are not refilling positions in an effort to cut overhead. This slow down is not just affecting the small business owner. It is hitting everyone.
The so called “stimulus package” was like handing a band aid to a Ted Bundy victim. Rising commodity prices are now squashing the economy.
Just in case you’re wondering, Tim lives on the Gulf coast in Alabama.