Article from Zero Hedge:

Personal Consumption "Unexpectedly" Collapses In Latest GDP Revision


I'm starting to see it anecdotally I think. Going home from work, I'll pass a McDonald's that normally would have a line out to the street and now there's one or two cars if any at all. Was at Lowe's and HD this past weekend was surprised at how quiet/non-busy they were. Lots of employees walking around doing nothing, few customers shopping.

It just seems like everyone is starting to cut back and retrench here. Are you all seeing the same?

Wish I could say it was less busy here, but I think our population in general has doubled in the last year or two.

That isn't hyperbole either. Everyone I know is complaining about the traffic now, and every other car has an out of state plate.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Wish I could say it was less busy here, but I think our population in general has doubled in the last year or two.

That isn't hyperbole either. Everyone I know is complaining about the traffic now, and every other car has an out of state plate.

I've noticed in the past 12-18 months a lot of gold NY state plates here in PA when I never saw that before. You'd see NJ and some DE but rarely NY plates. See them every day now, I think they are fleeing NY into PA

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Article from Zero Hedge:

Personal Consumption "Unexpectedly" Collapses In Latest GDP Revision


I'm starting to see it anecdotally I think. Going home from work, I'll pass a McDonald's that normally would have a line out to the street and now there's one or two cars if any at all. Was at Lowe's and HD this past weekend was surprised at how quiet/non-busy they were. Lots of employees walking around doing nothing, few customers shopping.

It just seems like everyone is starting to cut back and retrench here. Are you all seeing the same?

Haven't noticed what other people are doing so much, but Mrs. A. and I are going out a lot less recently as the price of doing so has increased to the point where I get sticker shock upon presentation of the bill. I am not a frequent patron of Mickey D's, but the few times I've stopped in in the last year, it was the same story. Back in the day, when I was regularly eating lunch out, paying $10 for lunch was way too much. Nowadays, that figure seems to be the lower bound.

Not that you get much relief at the grocery store.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
That isn't hyperbole either. Everyone I know is complaining about the traffic now

Where is this?

It is tough to say we have a lot of tourist in our area. I live just west of the attractions in central Florida.

Traffic on I4 is a nightmare. I just read the DOT is finally going to put in the 4th lane on I4 they promised us years ago to hopefully help with the all day traffic back ups.

With that said I have also read that the attractions are not as busy as they were this time last year, not sure how true this is because my wife and I don't go to the parks on a regular basis anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
That isn't hyperbole either. Everyone I know is complaining about the traffic now

Where is this?

North Idaho. A friend of mine moved to Montana last year because he couldn't stand it anymore.

Aside from food, expendables, etc., I don't "consume" things at a rapid pace. I have the same furniture that I did when I moved into my house in 2008, save for the new Standard King mattress, box springs, and bed linens I just bought last month to replace the 15 year old CAL King mattress/box springs/linens I purchased when moving into this house. Hell...I still have the same bath towels I purchased in 2008!!

I tend to keep things until they just die, like vehicles, and I don't buy things just because they're the "latest and greatest". The only "luxury" I've bought for myself in the past 10 years is a new, professional level Trombone that I purchased last month as well. Guess how long I'll be keeping that??

Clothes?? Pssssh. I wear a uniform at work and my casual clothes consist of slacks, jeans, several button downs and polo shirts, all of which are AT LEAST 8-10 years old. I have one suit and maybe one other blazer for dress up. I just take care of stuff! Just the way it is...

Not here, then again half the north moved to Florida in the past few years, so we've had explosive growth in both commercial and residential development.

Hard to say around here, wouldn't surprise me if people are spending less. Extremely hot summer, not cooling off at night has led to electric bills doubling. Add that gas prices are over 4 bucks a gallon, food prices are up some.

The Mrs. does eBay and marketplace and has definitely noticed less business over the last several months. It took a while but it seems people are feeling the crunch of rising prices, out of control inflation, and are spending less.

We can all speak about our personal observations of our own spending habits. For me, I'm finding that my family has been consuming less. We have been making money conscious decisions. We have also had to dip into savings to cover the monthly expenses more often.
I'm not doing better under this administration than I was under the previous.

They say the economy goes in cycles. I'm ready for a prosperous cycle right about now.

Business traffic across the general retail trade around here has probably softened some, but with where I shop things seem about the same if not a tad busier. Supermarkets are as busy as ever, though walking through a Nordstrom a couple of months ago during one of their half-yearly sales (I think) was positively depressing, as it is with most clothing stores. My wife does all of her clothing purchases online these days, and that's the prime reason for the malaise at the brick and mortars. She'll still swing by the local JCP from time to time, but she always says that the selection to pick from is better online that what it is at the actual store.

General merch stores like Target and Fred Meyer always appear to have busy parking lots whenever I drive past, as does the larger shopping centers like Alderwood Mall and Bellevue Square. And the local Home Despot is always hopping, although they're suffering when it comes to carrying the little minutiae bits and bobs that I'm often looking for. "Supply chain" woes are still quite real with them.

It does seem like fast food drive thrus are busier than ever. Instead I think the usual trendy foodie hotspots are the ones that are suffering. Posting pics of one's fashionable meal gets expensive really, REALLY fast, especially if the tech company they work for is about to go through another round of layoffs.

[Rant on] Working at a gun shop, yes we've seen a steep decline in sales since the ban on semi-auto centerfire rifles went into effect back at the end of April. However there was a MASSIVE runup of sales leading up to that, so for the year we're still ahead of our average. But steep is steep; with modern rifle season upon us, we're still sitting on a lot of bolt guns even though I stocked up on more affordable options that we usually run out of in past years. We have the same problem with pump field shotguns; past years we'd ALWAYS run out of Benelli Novas and SuperNovas; this year we've only managed to sell a small handful so far. Only bright side is that Super Black Eagle 3 traffic has been noticeably better than it was during the dark years of COVID, though conversely our Beretta A400s are languishing when they sold very well last year. Bow sales were way down this year as well; this was not the year to stock up on new-for-'23 Mathews inventory and fortunately we didn't...sort of, at least.

I've given up trying to figure out trends with duck hunters. Aside from orange vests and a VERY cursory need for new decoys and their favorite shot size, annually they tend to bounce around when it comes to buying everything else, including what sidearm they "should" be carrying. This year the most requested "IT" gun is the FN 510, conveniently the newest and so far non-compliant due to WA's 10rd mag limit. [/Rant off]

Some of it probably due to the ease of Amazon and WalMart+ where everyone can order anything, anytime, in your Duluth Trader No Sweat No Stink underwear without spending a nickle for fuel, or time out in public.

I'm probably bucking this trend but also have an emergency fund and no debt except the house.

Considering a majority of the US was using credit card to fund their living expenses the last couple years, they are going to be hurting pretty bad.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I'm probably bucking this trend but also have an emergency fund and no debt except the house.

My wife and I have nearly always bucked the trend because we've always kept our spending to w/in our means.

So, far, through nearly all the dips in the economy, save the 2008 recession, our spending habits have remained essentially unchanged.

The 2008 thing was an exception because it hit my employer so hard they laid-off some 80% of the workforce--getting us down to essentially a skeleton crew, required each of us who remained to take a two-week unpaid leave-of-absence, reduced our pay by 10% across-the board, and suspended 401k matching contributions. (Even then the company survived only with massive cash infusions from the private investors.)

The stats show that people just started putting more on their credit cards than ever before. Eventually that will come to a head as well.

I've always been very fiscally conservative so nothing has changed at our household. The restaurants around here are all packed and every Starbucks I go to is wrapped around the building.

Women make about 40% of the GDP and spend almost 80% of the GDP so it's kind of hard to tell with so much online shopping.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
That isn't hyperbole either. Everyone I know is complaining about the traffic now

Where is this?

North Idaho. A friend of mine moved to Montana last year because he couldn't stand it anymore.

How true this is. Any trip to CDA is a day long journey it seems, doesn't matter what time of day, so much traffic.

Sales have dropped drastically in most parts of the store where I work and I’m hearing the same from peers in other locations.

Some years ago was taught a good lesson after joining the military that if at all possible that you should try and survive on 1 pay grade less than you actually make.. So that if something happened it would be more survieable.... Credit cards have become to dependant for the majority of most people. ............................ drill sgt.