"...Second of all, "Seinfeld" was the best sitcom of all time, followed by MASH and then Get Smart. (Obviously, there will be no arguments here, so let's move on...)..."
And what about "Taxi" The episode where Jim Ignatowski (sp?) goes for his driver's license makes me ...uhm... almost cry with laughter. (It's a good thing a have a strong bladder!)
yeah, he had a very nice RV! not sure if it was as nice as mark156's RV, but nice nonetheless! he had driven it to the dealership and parked it in front both days, but i never got a chance to see the inside. it was HUGE though!
It funny I'm always hearing you should be able to make all the money on friends and family. The problem is I never do. I don't lose any money though. I was talking about this the other day with one the guys who sold his brother in law a 2000 Jeep Gra Che. Two weeks later he came back stating he was getting head aches and having trouble with the heating system. There looking into the problem. I made a statement that when we sell to friends and fanily we should make all the money because they come back any way and you have to fix all their problems anyway. Unless it is a new car. at least theior is a warranty.
Some one mentioned, I think Joel, That someone wasnted a car for $4000. Those are the worst. The cheapest car I have is around $10000 and those ussually have 80,000 miles anyway(keep in mind that I work at a import store). Any time someone says hey can you get me a car for around $5000. I ussualy send them somewhere else have to go.
comes down to trying to support your local businesses, to the extent that it's possible these days.
I grew up in small towns and learned early that there were rewards to spending my money locally. If ol' Sam's hobby shop charged 20% more for whatever (compared to the mail-order place), I'd deal with Sam, because he'd talk to me & tell me things I didn't know -- plus which, I got what I wanted that day, and if there was anything wrong with it, it'd be taken care of.
I still try to do that, but it's much harder these days. I ride a bicycle & the mail-order/internet places sell components for a song. . .but who's going to put them on or adjust them (I do the simple stuff, but a bottom bracket. . .)? I buy stuff at my local shops & at the places where I spend my holidays, in many cases to support the local trade.
I'm a small-town kinda guy & would dearly love to buy one car after another from dealerships &/or salespeople I know & trust. Or, I could flap my arms & fly to the moon. This is Phoenix -- a long-time resident has been here 8 years. I've been here 44 (off & on) & hate the place -- my wife is a third-generation native. It's changed a lot & not for the better.
I belong in Iowa. . .or Somerset. But, I'm here & have lost all of anything that I used to refer to as loyalty to any particular supplier of vehicles.
locally...I do try to buy at the small store, but they have to be even close to competitive...example...since Ace Hdwre prices are within 5-10% of Home Depot and Lowes, I will spend the extra to support my local storekeeper, and the service is better...
I was looking for a leather briefcase, went to 3 local stores, all priced $350-500...more than I care to spend, since it will not be treated with kid gloves, but thrown into the back seat...one salesguy told me to check ebay and find new/slightly used for $50-150...he was right...I just bought new for $75....probably not as nice as the $500 Coach case or the Hartmann case, but it is what I need, and I never could have done that without the internet...it just makes the free market a little freer, or at least open up many more avenues of purchase...
Also, I have made the point in previous posts...sometimes the Mom and Pop stores are raping you, charging MSRP-plus, while grey-haired Grandma & Grandpa shovel the money to the bank...that is why I am not concerned about WalMart killing off the little guys, the little guys have been ripping us off for years...
Also, I have made the point in previous posts...sometimes the Mom and Pop stores are raping you, charging MSRP-plus, while grey-haired Grandma & Grandpa shovel the money to the bank...that is why I am not concerned about WalMart killing off the little guys, the little guys have been ripping us off for years...
Those mom and pop stores typically pay a living wage and offer benefits, unlike Wal-mart. If you are cool with the welfare system and medicare handling taking care of those people, that is fine but dont whine about taxes. If you go into a boutique place for a specialty item, you will pay more, but you will typcially get better service. I agree with the post about bike shops (something near and dear to my heart), sometimes you need a specialist. If you think you are getting bike-shop quality workmanship assembly from a mass-market store (even REI or Sportmart) you are mistaken. I am pretty good with stereo equipment, I typically know what I want, and more so than the guy at some big-box store and its pretty easy to beat their prices online. I have no issues with that. Even some bike stuff, if I know what I want I just shop price. At the same time, if i am not sure (frame sizing for a road bike, full suspension set up for a mountain bike) I like to get what I need from a shop.
No way it was luck...it was all natural skill my man.
As scary as this sounds, I made an immediate mental connection with the bean, when she posted the time period of her semi-celebrity customer. I immediately pictured Radar(Gary Boogeroff) and Larry Linneville (Major Frank Burns). I had the t.v show dialed in at 100%...MASH. Which of the two characters to choose was a coin toss. And since I could not immediate recollect Radars name... I went with the Frank Burns character. So, no it wasn't a guess. But a mind bending, synapse busting, super nova probe of the beans cerebrum. :shades:
Thanks for your post, but I seem to have a much different recollection than you...Mom/Pop often had part-timers working, often off the books, and paid no benefits, but maybe your area was different than mine...
My prime example...from 1990-1996 I needed special U-shaped bulbs for my light fixtures...local hardware store, only one in this small town, charged $16 each, 10 bulbs $160...
If I drove the 30 miles to Home Depot, they were $5.65 each, $56 for 10 bulbs...savings, over $100...
You can argue "volume buying" or anything you want, I saved $100 in REAL MONEY by going to Home Depot, including the cost of gas...with that $100 I could take the wife out for 2 dinners, thereby patronizing local restaurants that I might not otherwise...
Feel free to call it anything you want, I say Ma/Pa ripped me off, charging MSRP or higher, being in the small town and the only hardware store...Home Depots and WalMarts have broken that "monopoly" wide open, and to the betterment for all consumers...
If 5000 consumers save money, but 10 small businesses with 3 employees each go bankrupt, Society as a whole has saved much money, as the 30 laid off employees can find other work, and common sense says that one should not make 5000 suffer for the 30...
When everyone screams about Mom/Pop stores, what they are simply trying to stop is CHANGE, because we all like things like they are, but big box stores have caused massive change in the retail market, and Mom/Pop are the victims...
There is nothing sacred about Mom/Pop stores, they either compete on price or service, or they fail...that, like it or not, is capitalism...
I wouldn't be surprised if the restaurants started thriving with all the $$$ saved when WalMart opened in the small town, charging less for hardware, toys, toothpaste, school supplies, etc, as folks really had more $$$ in their pockets after going shopping...prior to walMart, they paid 2-3X as much for those same supplies, so Mom/Pop thrived, but the consumers of the town did not...
Mom/Pop are going the way of the buggy whip makers, and nobody tried to stop the car from being sold so buggy whip makers could stay in business...
I agree with the post about bike shops (something near and dear to my heart), sometimes you need a specialist
Ditto with me as well. I'm also an avid biker and bring all my business to the local bike shop. Their knowledge and expertise is more than worth the little bit that I pay going there, and they are quite competitive with the local sports store.
But in my hometown, a Wal-Mart went in and drove out pretty much all the small town local businesses, kind of sad actually, but the local economy now is booming. They're about to build a Lowes, so there goes the local hardware stores.
***Thanks for your post, but I seem to have a much different recollection than you...Mom/Pop often had part-timers working, often off the books, and paid no benefits, but maybe your area was different than mine...***
I dropped into the local bakery last week. The clerk told me that she was moving on to the new WalMart Supercenter down the street. She received a $2.50/ hour increase and will have health insurance for the first time in ten years.
I try to buy local wherever possible. So the last time I purchased eyeglasses, I paid $500 at the local guy instead of traipsing to a chain outside Milwaukee where I bought the previous pair for $375.
But I will get better service, tight? Wrong. The local guy charges $10 for adjusting the frames once a year (even though I bought the glasses from him). In 35+ years of glasses, I had never paid for an adjustment.
In January, my glasses broke in Las Vegas. The manager at Lenscrafter spent 10 minutes fixing the glasses. She told me NO CHARGE. I tried to slip her $20 but she said that she was happy to help.
Where I do disagree with you is that the little guy CAN survive. There are a lot of retailers who offer service and have a shopping atmosphere that WalMart does not offer. The local independent grocer down the street offers hot food, a phenomenal deli, and a bakery featuring Italian pastries. How many of HIS customers are running down to WalMart or Jewel? Not many.
My prime example...from 1990-1996 I needed special U-shaped bulbs for my light fixtures...local hardware store, only one in this small town, charged $16 each, 10 bulbs $160...
If I drove the 30 miles to Home Depot, they were $5.65 each, $56 for 10 bulbs...savings, over $100...
You can argue "volume buying" or anything you want, I saved $100 in REAL MONEY by going to Home Depot, including the cost of gas...with that $100 I could take the wife out for 2 dinners, thereby patronizing local restaurants that I might not otherwise...
Minus an hour of time. You could've bought it and been done in 10 minutes, but it was worth it to you to spend an hour driving to get them.
Actually, they just had a segment about how walmart buyers are effectively shutting down US factories and moving them to China (they had a thing on Rubber Maid), so I guess it helps everyone that doesn't do any kind of manufacturing. They were also talking about how the manager of the WalMart in the town where the Rubber Maid plant used to be was getting in trouble for sagging same-store sales :sick:
I am glad you are happy with your briefcase purchase, I cant seem to break the backpack habit. I got the backpack in high school and it lasted though college an graduate school as well. It was manufactured locally in the town where I grew up, and was about 2x as much as the walmart backpack. It also has a lifetime guarantee which they have honored.
I find most of my online shopping is instead of big box store purchases, since there is no customer service there anyway.
Jeez, you wanna see black N blue marks? come over to my side of the store (service) and sit in my chair for a few hours and you'll see what a punching bag FEELS like!!
I have great respect for what you do. Especially if you're in the Mercedes service center. That has to be doubly brutal. How do you do it? Are you a masochist?
There is no better feeling that taking the guy/gal who was screaming, jumping up & down and acting like an IDIOT, calming them down and making them leave with a smile ... after of course, I make them open up their wallets and remove ALL evidence of greenbacks!!! (Franklin's, Grant's & Jackson's)
BR:
I DID work in a Land Rover/Jaguar store in service for 2.5 yrs (that was 3 yrs ago) and the FREELOADER (what a TURD) had just been released. I worked 6 months for Rover and then they xfered me to the Jag side where I stayed for 2 more years and then made the leap to BENZ which is where I am today.
We sure as heck don't have any math wizards in here today.
4 in a row looking at $30K plus trucks wanting payments under $400 with $0 down :confuse: Had some buyers sprinkled in there to so the day isnot a total loss.
I find it hard to believe how many people I see using debit cards for a $5 purchase at the local convenience store, or a $3.49 breakfast at the McDonalds drive-thru window!
I'm surprised people are actually shopping for trucks with todays gas prices, maybe they're trying to offset the gas prices with zero down and under 400 a month
According to some recent survey, the national average price for gasoline would need to reach about $3.90/gallon for the "typical" U.S. driver to consider changing his driving habits.
I don't think thats true as currently we are below that price and it looks like people are cutting down on their driving. It may be a short term response but it is happening.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
There was an article last summer that mentioned that as gas prices peaked last year, people actually did change driving and travel habits an the volume of fuel sold went down over a given time period. While diesel is used primarily for heavy applications with relatively fixed volumes (trains, trucks, construction equipment) and the prices are pretty steady, gasoline seems to fluctuate quite a bit. I don't understand how there isn't more inflation though, as the cost of manufacturing goods and the cost of living increases though the price of gas.
I don't understand how there isn't more inflation though, as the cost of manufacturing goods and the cost of living increases though the price of gas.
Here is where you have it wrong, its not the price of gas but the price of crude oil. Most things are shipped using things other than gas (i.e. trains and trucks using diesel and planes using jet fuel) So when the price of gas increases but the price of things such as diesel and jet fuel doesn't there is very little effect on the price of goods overall.
When crude oil increases then that would increase not only gas but diesel and jet fuel. Plus it would increase the cost of other items that are made out of crude oil such as plastics. This would work its way through the system as price increases.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I've no idea what the price of aviation fuel has been doing but I'm very aware of the price of diesel.
Diesel has increased and decreased in step with gas on a very consistent basis, and has done for at least the last sixteen years. Currently a little behind gas, it's edging back up on a daily basis. A couple of months ago it was ahead.
I don't know why inflation isn't higher, but it's not because crude oil and diesel prices are holding back.
Here is where you have it wrong, its not the price of gas but the price of crude oil. Most things are shipped using things other than gas (i.e. trains and trucks using diesel and planes using jet fuel) So when the price of gas increases but the price of things such as diesel and jet fuel doesn't there is very little effect on the price of goods overall.
It definitely affects what I purchase though. If there are 2 cars each going 1000 miles/month, and each car gets about 28 mpg = (2*1000)/28=72 gal/mo. Last summer when gas was 2.25, this represents ~$160/mo or ~$2000 annually. This summer gas is 3.50 gal so its $250/mo or $3000 annually. Thats a thousand bucks that is no longer discretionary spending money, or no LCD HDTV for me this year.
Diesel has increased and decreased in step with gas on a very consistent basis, and has done for at least the last sixteen years.
Not sure of where you are but around here diesel is considerably less expensive than gas while 5 months ago it was a little more expensive. It certainly has not jumped up in prices like gas has. Around here gas is up something like 70+% over the last 5 months, diesel maybe half that.
I don't know why inflation isn't higher
Ok put it this way, put 250 TV's in a truck going cross country that will use say 300 gallons of diesel to make the journey. If diesel goes up $1 a gallon that means that the added fuel costs would be about $1.20 per TV. That would be less than 1% of the price of most TV's.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
You hit a key thing here. Higher gas prices means less money being spent elsewhere(presuming you do not cut back on driving). Less spending money means less goods being sold. This could put pressure on retailers to reduce prices to move items (mind you I said could).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Comments
And what about "Taxi" The episode where Jim Ignatowski (sp?) goes for his driver's license makes me ...uhm... almost cry with laughter. (It's a good thing a have a strong bladder!)
It was a very good month
i know mash was a huge show, but like rover, it was a bit before my time (im only 27)
i still have his autograph at home - he drew a little picture of himself and signed a nice little note to me. i always thought that was kinda cool
-thene
Some one mentioned, I think Joel, That someone wasnted a car for $4000. Those are the worst. The cheapest car I have is around $10000 and those ussually have 80,000 miles anyway(keep in mind that I work at a import store). Any time someone says hey can you get me a car for around $5000. I ussualy send them somewhere else have to go.
Dang, sounds like we need to ship out trades North if 80K mile Altima's are bringing that kind of money
And if you did have cars much lower than $10k, they would probably NOT sell very well as that is NOT what people head to a Range Rover vehicle to buy.
I know this is a late response. I'm just catching up on some reading but nobody pays any attention to what you say. :shades:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I grew up in small towns and learned early that there were rewards to spending my money locally. If ol' Sam's hobby shop charged 20% more for whatever (compared to the mail-order place), I'd deal with Sam, because he'd talk to me & tell me things I didn't know -- plus which, I got what I wanted that day, and if there was anything wrong with it, it'd be taken care of.
I still try to do that, but it's much harder these days. I ride a bicycle & the mail-order/internet places sell components for a song. . .but who's going to put them on or adjust them (I do the simple stuff, but a bottom bracket. . .)? I buy stuff at my local shops & at the places where I spend my holidays, in many cases to support the local trade.
I'm a small-town kinda guy & would dearly love to buy one car after another from dealerships &/or salespeople I know & trust. Or, I could flap my arms & fly to the moon. This is Phoenix -- a long-time resident has been here 8 years. I've been here 44 (off & on) & hate the place -- my wife is a third-generation native. It's changed a lot & not for the better.
I belong in Iowa. . .or Somerset. But, I'm here & have lost all of anything that I used to refer to as loyalty to any particular supplier of vehicles.
Bring me the low bid. Thank you. Good afternoon.
I was looking for a leather briefcase, went to 3 local stores, all priced $350-500...more than I care to spend, since it will not be treated with kid gloves, but thrown into the back seat...one salesguy told me to check ebay and find new/slightly used for $50-150...he was right...I just bought new for $75....probably not as nice as the $500 Coach case or the Hartmann case, but it is what I need, and I never could have done that without the internet...it just makes the free market a little freer, or at least open up many more avenues of purchase...
Also, I have made the point in previous posts...sometimes the Mom and Pop stores are raping you, charging MSRP-plus, while grey-haired Grandma & Grandpa shovel the money to the bank...that is why I am not concerned about WalMart killing off the little guys, the little guys have been ripping us off for years...
Don't you just hate it when that happens?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Those mom and pop stores typically pay a living wage and offer benefits, unlike Wal-mart. If you are cool with the welfare system and medicare handling taking care of those people, that is fine but dont whine about taxes.
If you go into a boutique place for a specialty item, you will pay more, but you will typcially get better service. I agree with the post about bike shops (something near and dear to my heart), sometimes you need a specialist. If you think you are getting bike-shop quality workmanship assembly from a mass-market store (even REI or Sportmart) you are mistaken.
I am pretty good with stereo equipment, I typically know what I want, and more so than the guy at some big-box store and its pretty easy to beat their prices online. I have no issues with that. Even some bike stuff, if I know what I want I just shop price. At the same time, if i am not sure (frame sizing for a road bike, full suspension set up for a mountain bike) I like to get what I need from a shop.
HIGH....he ain't never done it before and he surely won't do it again. :surprise:
Beginners luck !! :shades:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Oh that was great, one of the funniest things ever on TV.
"What does a yellow light mean?"
Now about funny shows what about "WKPR"?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Whhaaaaaattttt dooooeeeesssss aaaaaaaaa Yeeeellloooowwwww Liiiiiighhhht Meeeeeeaaaaaaaan?
ROFLMAO!!!!!
No way it was luck...it was all natural skill my man.
As scary as this sounds, I made an immediate mental connection with the bean, when she posted the time period of her semi-celebrity customer. I immediately pictured Radar(Gary Boogeroff) and Larry Linneville (Major Frank Burns). I had the t.v show dialed in at 100%...MASH. Which of the two characters to choose was a coin toss. And since I could not immediate recollect Radars name... I went with the Frank Burns character. So, no it wasn't a guess. But a mind bending, synapse busting, super nova probe of the beans cerebrum. :shades:
My prime example...from 1990-1996 I needed special U-shaped bulbs for my light fixtures...local hardware store, only one in this small town, charged $16 each, 10 bulbs $160...
If I drove the 30 miles to Home Depot, they were $5.65 each, $56 for 10 bulbs...savings, over $100...
You can argue "volume buying" or anything you want, I saved $100 in REAL MONEY by going to Home Depot, including the cost of gas...with that $100 I could take the wife out for 2 dinners, thereby patronizing local restaurants that I might not otherwise...
Feel free to call it anything you want, I say Ma/Pa ripped me off, charging MSRP or higher, being in the small town and the only hardware store...Home Depots and WalMarts have broken that "monopoly" wide open, and to the betterment for all consumers...
If 5000 consumers save money, but 10 small businesses with 3 employees each go bankrupt, Society as a whole has saved much money, as the 30 laid off employees can find other work, and common sense says that one should not make 5000 suffer for the 30...
When everyone screams about Mom/Pop stores, what they are simply trying to stop is CHANGE, because we all like things like they are, but big box stores have caused massive change in the retail market, and Mom/Pop are the victims...
There is nothing sacred about Mom/Pop stores, they either compete on price or service, or they fail...that, like it or not, is capitalism...
I wouldn't be surprised if the restaurants started thriving with all the $$$ saved when WalMart opened in the small town, charging less for hardware, toys, toothpaste, school supplies, etc, as folks really had more $$$ in their pockets after going shopping...prior to walMart, they paid 2-3X as much for those same supplies, so Mom/Pop thrived, but the consumers of the town did not...
Mom/Pop are going the way of the buggy whip makers, and nobody tried to stop the car from being sold so buggy whip makers could stay in business...
Ditto with me as well. I'm also an avid biker and bring all my business to the local bike shop. Their knowledge and expertise is more than worth the little bit that I pay going there, and they are quite competitive with the local sports store.
But in my hometown, a Wal-Mart went in and drove out pretty much all the small town local businesses, kind of sad actually, but the local economy now is booming. They're about to build a Lowes, so there goes the local hardware stores.
Oops, I'm way off topic, sorry hosts.
I dropped into the local bakery last week. The clerk told me that she was moving on to the new WalMart Supercenter down the street. She received a $2.50/ hour increase and will have health insurance for the first time in ten years.
I try to buy local wherever possible. So the last time I purchased eyeglasses, I paid $500 at the local guy instead of traipsing to a chain outside Milwaukee where I bought the previous pair for $375.
But I will get better service, tight? Wrong. The local guy charges $10 for adjusting the frames once a year (even though I bought the glasses from him). In 35+ years of glasses, I had never paid for an adjustment.
In January, my glasses broke in Las Vegas. The manager at Lenscrafter spent 10 minutes fixing the glasses. She told me NO CHARGE. I tried to slip her $20 but she said that she was happy to help.
Where I do disagree with you is that the little guy CAN survive. There are a lot of retailers who offer service and have a shopping atmosphere that WalMart does not offer. The local independent grocer down the street offers hot food, a phenomenal deli, and a bakery featuring Italian pastries. How many of HIS customers are running down to WalMart or Jewel? Not many.
If I drove the 30 miles to Home Depot, they were $5.65 each, $56 for 10 bulbs...savings, over $100...
You can argue "volume buying" or anything you want, I saved $100 in REAL MONEY by going to Home Depot, including the cost of gas...with that $100 I could take the wife out for 2 dinners, thereby patronizing local restaurants that I might not otherwise...
Minus an hour of time. You could've bought it and been done in 10 minutes, but it was worth it to you to spend an hour driving to get them.
Actually, they just had a segment about how walmart buyers are effectively shutting down US factories and moving them to China (they had a thing on Rubber Maid), so I guess it helps everyone that doesn't do any kind of manufacturing. They were also talking about how the manager of the WalMart in the town where the Rubber Maid plant used to be was getting in trouble for sagging same-store sales :sick:
I am glad you are happy with your briefcase purchase, I cant seem to break the backpack habit. I got the backpack in high school and it lasted though college an graduate school as well. It was manufactured locally in the town where I grew up, and was about 2x as much as the walmart backpack. It also has a lifetime guarantee which they have honored.
I find most of my online shopping is instead of big box store purchases, since there is no customer service there anyway.
YOU were, will be and are the punching bag.
Jeez, you wanna see black N blue marks? come over to my side of the store (service) and sit in my chair for a few hours and you'll see what a punching bag FEELS like!!
-SKIP-
I have great respect for what you do. Especially if you're in the Mercedes service center. That has to be doubly brutal. How do you do it? Are you a masochist?
-Moo
I swear every third freelander transmission replacment and fourth engine replacment should be free. :sick:
Wow... Tough crowd....But yor probrably not paying attention anyway. :sick:
I love cars, I love people and I love to help!!
There is no better feeling that taking the guy/gal who was screaming, jumping up & down and acting like an IDIOT, calming them down and making them leave with a smile ... after of course, I make them open up their wallets and remove ALL evidence of greenbacks!!! (Franklin's, Grant's & Jackson's)
BR:
I DID work in a Land Rover/Jaguar store in service for 2.5 yrs (that was 3 yrs ago) and the FREELOADER (what a TURD) had just been released. I worked 6 months for Rover and then they xfered me to the Jag side where I stayed for 2 more years and then made the leap to BENZ which is where I am today.
-SKIP-
I thought lobotomies were illegal?
How can you can empty their wallets and still have them leave with a smile? Is it voodoo or witchcraft? Or, maybe you use to be a lawyer? :confuse:
What you to good for Hamilton's, Lincoln's, Jefferson's and Washington's?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
4 in a row looking at $30K plus trucks wanting payments under $400 with $0 down :confuse:
Had some buyers sprinkled in there to so the day isnot a total loss.
I find it hard to believe how many people I see using debit cards for a $5 purchase at the local convenience store, or a $3.49 breakfast at the McDonalds drive-thru window!
You try being a construction contractor in a Prius.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I don't understand how there isn't more inflation though, as the cost of manufacturing goods and the cost of living increases though the price of gas.
Here is where you have it wrong, its not the price of gas but the price of crude oil. Most things are shipped using things other than gas (i.e. trains and trucks using diesel and planes using jet fuel) So when the price of gas increases but the price of things such as diesel and jet fuel doesn't there is very little effect on the price of goods overall.
When crude oil increases then that would increase not only gas but diesel and jet fuel. Plus it would increase the cost of other items that are made out of crude oil such as plastics. This would work its way through the system as price increases.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Diesel has increased and decreased in step with gas on a very consistent basis, and has done for at least the last sixteen years. Currently a little behind gas, it's edging back up on a daily basis. A couple of months ago it was ahead.
I don't know why inflation isn't higher, but it's not because crude oil and diesel prices are holding back.
It definitely affects what I purchase though. If there are 2 cars each going 1000 miles/month, and each car gets about 28 mpg = (2*1000)/28=72 gal/mo. Last summer when gas was 2.25, this represents ~$160/mo or ~$2000 annually. This summer gas is 3.50 gal so its $250/mo or $3000 annually. Thats a thousand bucks that is no longer discretionary spending money, or no LCD HDTV for me this year.
Not sure of where you are but around here diesel is considerably less expensive than gas while 5 months ago it was a little more expensive. It certainly has not jumped up in prices like gas has. Around here gas is up something like 70+% over the last 5 months, diesel maybe half that.
I don't know why inflation isn't higher
Ok put it this way, put 250 TV's in a truck going cross country that will use say 300 gallons of diesel to make the journey. If diesel goes up $1 a gallon that means that the added fuel costs would be about $1.20 per TV. That would be less than 1% of the price of most TV's.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
You hit a key thing here. Higher gas prices means less money being spent elsewhere(presuming you do not cut back on driving). Less spending money means less goods being sold. This could put pressure on retailers to reduce prices to move items (mind you I said could).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D