How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

Hi guys

I work in financial services and is very interested as to what is happening in the US economy and other economies.

Here in Australia things are not brilliant but the economic situation is probably not as bad as in US and Europe…..[:o]

I love the RC hobby and have been spending quite some money on it lately…… However due to the economic events worldwide I have started cutting my expenditures on the Hobby, ie no new boats or cars, less upgrades, etc.:([&o]

Do you guys experience the same? How about hobby shops owners, are the sales still strong?

Hobby purchases I believe are strongly related to the state of the economy. Let’s hear your views.:eek:

Cheers

JC
no

RE: How does the ecominic situation affect the hobby?
 

What, theres a problem with the US economy?.......... Just kidding.

I agree there is a relationship to hobby sales and the economy. I myself have been a little more picky about where my funds go to overall, not just hobby stuff. But it's sort of like when I was in college....never had money for anything, but could always find ways to buy beer and smokes! ;)

RE: How does the ecominic situation affect the hobby?
 

It hasn't put the kabosh on my boat shopping but I haven't been able to hit the long-distance races or any for that matter the past few years. Gas prices have hurt not only a lot of district races but the larger events.
One of the LHS's has cut back on help as a big part of their business has been from Internet sales, both eBay and directly from them.

RE: How does the ecominic situation affect the hobby?
 

My economic situation changed a few months ahead of that in the US - Got myself hitched.

It has changed the time I have to commit to the hobby and as such impacted what I spend there too.

It is natural for there to be a change in priorities in a climate of change. When many cannot afford their housing and others are out of jobs it is not the wisest time to be too free with your $$. But it may soon be a good time to buy stuff cheap ;)

RE: How does the ecominic situation affect the hobby?
 

Usually when the economic situation deteriorates we have the tendency to save on 'non-essentials'.....[:o]

Hobby expenses I presumed will fall under this category[&o]..... Food and shelter would be top priority.

I believe hobby sales must be down a lot this year compared to previous year. Would be good to hear from some shop owners. Anyone there?

Let's hope that the current situation won't last.

It was a bad morning today on hearing the news that Congress voted down the bailout plan....

Hope they come out with a revised bailout plan soon.:eek:

JC

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

We all live above our means or at least live above what society says we live at. Basically a poor person now, is not the same as a poor person 10,20,100,1000 yrs ago. Since none of you know, our government considers me and my wife poor, yes poor. If I had a kid right now, I could be on welfare. However, I'm not and not close to it. It's this perception of what we think is poor and what is rich. I cant imagine having a $100million, well I can, but really what do you do with that? just buy more things you dont need. anyway, I'm not too scared, I'm on the bottom rung already, worst case senario I'll pack up our two cars with all the electronics I own, buy a generator and live in the woods. the acura would make a great tractor.

What this really is going to do in the long run saying we do get thrown into a depression, well China is next. Hopefully we can survive China and then we wont owe them money anymore..See it's a good thing. Hell, I wont have to live in a cave, once everyone gets kicked out of their homes, then I can buy the house for $50.

if you feel stupider after reading this, than you were thinking too hard.....we all just need to take it as it comes. Freaking out leads people to do crazy things like give a company $700billion that messed up. How about they bail out me. I'll take $700billion and I didnt even cause anyone to loose their homes, at least till you gave me $700 billion. :D

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

A slight increase in price isn't the big deal. The way it impacts the hobby world the most is hobby shops going out of business.

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

I think people are definitely tightening up a bit in terms of hobby purchases, I've noticed it simply in trying to sell off used cars, trucks, and boats. Higher priced items are harder to sell these days.

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

Think you have it bad? I live in michigan. The limited number of hulls I build are priced low just for the economic slump were in. Even my job (commercial carpenter) relies on people that can cash in bonds to fund projects of construction. My pension and annuities have been crashing too. Guess it would be a good investment lol. in antideppressant stock.

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

Working with real estate in the Dom Rep, I have mixed feelings. The majority of our clients came from US, UK, Benelux and Scandinavia and were 2nd / 3rd home buyers for investments. Since Sept 07 last year when the market started to turn and buyers became more hesitant, I have had a lot more disposable time to go out and enjoy the hobby!

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

I live in China & was told the recent hobby shows in Beijing & Shanghai were a bust when it came to seeing customers, ie, importers/distributors/dealers from other countries. Local business is going great guns here through individual internet sales, but its the large production runs for export that keep the factories running. This mirrors the recent iHobby Expo in Chicago that had very little professional traffic.

From those in the business that I have spoken to, it sounds like its going to be hard times for many of the independent shops in the States as well as smaller manufacturers, especially if the forecasts for a severe recession come true. My wife has already told me to quit looking at some of the new kits coming out next year & build what I have. [:@]

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

Hey .
If you liked the give aways to stock brokers who got to greedy & price fix every thing they control WITHOUT any controls on their pricing.


Yeah. 2 local Hobby shops closed. They were all purpose ones. Dam nice people too!!!!

The Futures brokers are so deep in losses, they refuse to open their books because it would cause a REAL crash.
It would make 1929's depression look like pocket change.

(Mod edit - political reference removed)

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

My taking on this issue is that before the stock market goes back up to cover lost wealth in 401K and other investment, the retired or to-be-retired folks will considerably spend less on this hobby, unless the price of everything can go down proportional to the lost wealth.

Other than the lost-wealth point, the purpose/usefulness of the hobby is also one. People can spend much less on entertaining items (such as cable TV) to relax.

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

I could drop TV satal. & air in a heartbeat. Wife can not do without them. They are her hobbies and sanity relief valve.

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

Which is exactly why even when the economy is down... we will still find ways to do our R/C hobbies. When golfing was my big focus, I'd golf all the time and when times got tight for me, I still golfed, I just didnt golf at courses that were so expensive. Same thing when I was riding dirtbikes alot (before we had the kids). At that time dirtbikes were my outlet... not just riding but tuning, tweaking, trying different parts and gear. There were times when I had to slow down on that, but I didnt give it up. I just rode at locations closer to home and didnt upgrade as often. Our hobbies are our diversions from the realities and responsibilities of life. Many of us hard core guys may back down some from our R/C spend but few of us will give it up completely unless your financial situation absolutely demands it. On the other side, when the economy is tough, people do less big expenses like new cars, motorcycles and expensive vacations. It is in these times when you will see first timers enter the R/C scene as your entry level Traxxas, HPI RTR rigs etc are less expensive than the big dollar diversions and provide a lot of value that can be a relatively inexpensive activity for the entire family. Keep an eye on those Hobby shops that don't go under during down turns. They are typically the ones who have been around a longer or have the best staff, customer service and selection of RTR/RTF's and all the parts to support them.

RE: How does the ecominic situation affect the hobby?
 

Now the gas is only $1.67 in a lot of places in Mich...to bad the water turns hard like ice in November[&:]

RE: How does the economic situation affect the hobby?
 

I know its been more than a month now, but OPEC has done it to us again, they cut back oil production and 87octane gas is back to $2USD / gal.

The low fuel prices for what they were the past couple of months were actually helpful to getting the economy to stabilize some, they also greatly reduced, if not halted, inflation. Now, inflation is going to steadily go back up again.

Inflation does need to be kept low, but from what I understand, deflation is a horrible thing and an absolute economic no-no. The last time we had a deflation was eitehr right before or during the great depression.