Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

fintail · March 2020

My cousin, who can't work from home, is using her days off to go on shopping trips for people she knows who can't get out of the house. Observation from a local Costco this morning:

"FYI due to social distancing, they are limiting the store to 400 people. Every other check out open. Currently they are out of rice, pasta, hand sanitizer"

So nothing is calming down. Hoarding specific food seems to be the new fad.

And speaking of Costco and working from home, This has particularly bad optics, seeing as a Costco office worker recently passed away due to COVID

jmonroe · March 2020

abacomike said:
I was supposed to go to my primary care physician this morning for my 3 month check-up, but I cancelled it because that is one place I want to stay away from. He called me and said my blood tests from Tuesday were good including my A1C and the cancer markers. He said I was a little dehydrated and to drink more fluids. I can do that once I call in an order to my liquor store for a delivery! YEAH!!! 😋😛🤪😜

If that selfish neighbor that brought you some booze last week didn't gulp it down, you would be fine right now.

jmonroe

snakeweasel · March 2020

ab348 said:
Perhaps we should all start drinking tonic water made with quinine as a preventative measure. Maybe mix a little gin or vodka in for medicinal purposes only, and a twist of lemon for the vitamin C. :laughing:

You got a point there, if the quinine doesn't get it the alcohol will.

pensfan83 · March 2020

So the great chair debate was settled. Ordered 2 of these with delivery scheduled for Tuesday.

https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdx/hon-ergonomic-mesh-task-chair-hn7689.html

suydam · March 2020

fintail said:
My cousin, who can't work from home, is using her days off to go on shopping trips for people she knows who can't get out of the house. Observation from a local Costco this morning:

"FYI due to social distancing, they are limiting the store to 400 people. Every other check out open. Currently they are out of rice, pasta, hand sanitizer"

So nothing is calming down. Hoarding specific food seems to be the new fad.

And speaking of Costco and working from home, This has particularly bad optics, seeing as a Costco office worker recently passed away due to COVID

Plenty of rice at Asian markets if you have any. No lines either. Oddly, CVS also sells some brands of pasta. Hopefully this will balance out soon as there is no reason for these shortages except panic.

stickguy · March 2020

Looks similar to my chair. Seems to be a nice one.

Wife had eye doc appointment early so stopped at sprouts on way home. Got chicken and hamburger, and some other fruit and veggie needs. Did not report any craziness. So we are loaded up for another week, unless run out of milk.

Michaell · March 2020

Wife has fallen ill (generic cold symptoms, nothing to worry about - yet), so she sent me to CVS to pick up over the counter meds. Found what I was looking for.

Would like to find bread and pasta soon, however. Fair amount of frozen meat - chicken breasts and ground beef - for meals if we need to.

Email from my eye doc indicating that regular check ups and such are suspended for the time being. As I had my annual in December, I'm good to go, for now.

As if COVID-19 isn't bad enough, Denver is suffering through a typical spring snow storm. Up to 9" predicted today and tomorrow, and its that wet, heavy stuff that is a bear to get out of the way. Shoveled a path for the dogs in the backyard so business could be done. I'll have to get to the driveway eventually. Ugh.

laurasdada · March 2020

Costco Update, Boston area: PUG $2.46/gal. But Regular is $1.80 so .66 difference! That hurts a bit, pumping the fancy stuff into the Hag...
Much Charmin TP, limit one per person. Didn't seem like everyone was grabbing a bundle. I didn't, I have plenty, leave it for those who need.
Small crowd, a few masks, some folks wearing gloves. Not sure I noted social distancing.
The fabulous food court is limited to a few items, they actually had a person monitoring the hot dog condiments station.

I own a few individual stocks, that's what has hurt the most, absolute devestation. I think for my retirement funds, I'm down ~30% in the last few weeks. Wowzer. He who lives by the sword...

pensfan83 · March 2020

Michaell said:
Wife has fallen ill (generic cold symptoms, nothing to worry about - yet), so she sent me to CVS to pick up over the counter meds. Found what I was looking for.

Would like to find bread and pasta soon, however. Fair amount of frozen meat - chicken breasts and ground beef - for meals if we need to.

Email from my eye doc indicating that regular check ups and such are suspended for the time being. As I had my annual in December, I'm good to go, for now.

As if COVID-19 isn't bad enough, Denver is suffering through a typical spring snow storm. Up to 9" predicted today and tomorrow, and its that wet, heavy stuff that is a bear to get out of the way. Shoveled a path for the dogs in the backyard so business could be done. I'll have to get to the driveway eventually. Ugh.

I was just remarking to the Mrs. that at least this isn't in the dead of winter where it wouldn't even be pleasant to be outside. It's cloudy, but 61 degrees so we'll likely take a walk/bike around the neighborhood. Exercising social distancing of course.

stickguy · March 2020

I had to go do a rescue dog adoption meeting this morning. out at a park (closed so no people around) with Me, the adopting lady, and husband and wife that were fostering the dog. Turned down offerered handshake (gave an elbow bump instead) and tried not to get too close, then hit the Purell. as soon as back in the car. If that was not enough for keeping me safe, I think it is a lost cause unless I become a total hermit (and everyone else does too)

ab348 · March 2020

Things are so exciting around here, I took a drive today over to the area where I used to work to see a new highway interchange that opened this morning. While I was there I passed by the old office. Parking lot was about half-full compared to normal. The rest of the area it is in is mostly big-box retail and restaurants. All the restaurants are either closed or doing take-out only, and most of the big-box places appeared close to empty. Oddly enough, there is a big tech store there (Canada Computing) that appeared fairly busy though.

abacomike · March 2020

jmonroe said:

abacomike said:
I was supposed to go to my primary care physician this morning for my 3 month check-up, but I cancelled it because that is one place I want to stay away from. He called me and said my blood tests from Tuesday were good including my A1C and the cancer markers. He said I was a little dehydrated and to drink more fluids. I can do that once I call in an order to my liquor store for a delivery! YEAH!!! 😋😛🤪😜
If that selfish neighbor that brought you some booze last week didn't gulp it down, you would be fine right now.

jmonroe

Nah, jmonroe, I need to stock up for the next 3-4 weeks in order to follow my doctor's advice!😋😛🤪😜

Michaell · March 2020

ab348 said:
Oddly enough, there is a big tech store there (Canada Computing) that appeared fairly busy though.

Probably all the new WFH folks who are realizing the tech they need to do their jobs away from the office (external monitors, headsets, etc.)

ab348 · March 2020

Good point, @Michaell , hadn't considered that.

pensfan83 · March 2020

I've had people ask if they can go into the office and take home their second monitors.

driver100 · March 2020

stickguy said:
I had to go do a rescue dog adoption meeting this morning. out at a park (closed so no people around) with Me, the adopting lady, and husband and wife that were fostering the dog. Turned down offerered handshake (gave an elbow bump instead) and tried not to get too close, then hit the Purell. as soon as back in the car. If that was not enough for keeping me safe, I think it is a lost cause unless I become a total hermit (and everyone else does too)

You did the right thing....being out in an open field and keeping distance should be fine. But, did you take the dog?
COVID-19 is here, how long it takes to disappear and how many people it misses depends on how people handle it, big difference between South Korea and Italy. Not sure how willing people in North America are to follow the rules.

snakeweasel · March 2020

suydam said:

fintail said:
My cousin, who can't work from home, is using her days off to go on shopping trips for people she knows who can't get out of the house. Observation from a local Costco this morning:

"FYI due to social distancing, they are limiting the store to 400 people. Every other check out open. Currently they are out of rice, pasta, hand sanitizer"

So nothing is calming down. Hoarding specific food seems to be the new fad.

And speaking of Costco and working from home, This has particularly bad optics, seeing as a Costco office worker recently passed away due to COVID
Plenty of rice at Asian markets if you have any. No lines either. Oddly, CVS also sells some brands of pasta. Hopefully this will balance out soon as there is no reason for these shortages except panic.

But the rice in asian markets are in 25 pound bags.

Michaell · March 2020

pensfan83 said:
I've had people ask if they can go into the office and take home their second monitors.

I have a cousin who works for a local school district here in CO who brought home her dual monitor setup. If I had more room on my desk, I'd love to go that route.

The wife would likely veto it, anyway - there's an aesthetic she's trying to maintain with the home decor. Doesn't want my office looking like NORAD, apparently.

Also why I try to keep things tidy.

tjc78 · March 2020

pensfan83 said:
I've had people ask if they can go into the office and take home their second monitors.

I made my wife a makeshift office in the family room with a table, monitor, mouse, outlet strip and a little stand to raise her laptop up.

andres3 · March 2020

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

jmonroe said:

tjc78 said:
Really sucks!!! Hoping for a painless process to get fixed. The beauty of it being a lease is you aren’t on the hook for DV.
I've heard that about leasing. Given that there has to be the same percentage of lease cars having accidents as the typical purchased cars, I'm surprised that lease contracts haven't been changed to account for this.

jmonroe
Because the banks and insurance are in bed together. They've obviously made a calculation that it is better for them to ignore the world is spherical, or that DV exists, rather than to acknowledge it.

Georgia is the only State out of 50 that I know of that automatically acknowledges, and even further, puts 1st party DV claims on the market (you can buy insurance for it).

What a Proggressive State! Who'd of thunk?
The issue with diminished value is that it is an unrealized loss that cannot be truly determined and will change due to multiple variables. A buyer may consider the diminished value to be more or less than the "expert" who estimates the loss. The longer you keep the car the less loss due to diminished value you will incur. Het into another accident how much of the new diminished value is allocated to each accident.

Case in point, I got into an accident many years ago that was 100% the other drivers fault and I definitely had a loss in value due to the accident. Now it's 6 or 7 years and maybe 80k miles or so later and I am pretty close to having fully depreciated the car. Currently the value of the car is likely less than the loss in diminished value at the time of the accident and if I dispose of the car now I most likely would not realize any loss due to diminished value from that accident.
Doesn't seem like much of an issue to me. If you insist the loss be realized, I'm sure consumers would be happy to sell the car to the Insurance company in order to get the DV check.

The problem is the loss is realized immediately. You lose the option to sell your asset IMMEDIATELY for the price it was worth pre-accident. Not only that, but it takes around 60 days to repair moderate damage and you can't really sell your asset at even its diminished value for those 60 days, even if you wanted to.

If you want to keep the car forever, then I suppose you could sign to waive the DV claim.
It is an issue as you haven't realized the loss until you dispose of the asset and until then any perceived loss is just an estimate and bound to change. Using current events to describe this, I have lost a lot of value in my investments recently, that is an unrealized loss. If i sell my investments now i will realize that loss however if I sell them later that realized loss will be different, if i keep the investments for a few more years i may not even incur a loss and in fact realize a profit.

Again you have not realized a loss and any loss you incur when you sell your car, if any, will change depending on any number of variables.

The issue would be if you get $2,500 in DV and sell the car a year later and realize a $1,000 actual loss due to the accident are you going to return the excess $1,500?

The insurance company wouldn't write a check if I sold the car for a BIGGER loss than settled upon previously, so why should I cut a check for a SMALLER loss???

This is why claims are settled. Negotiation is final. The future value shouldn't matter. The only values that should matter is the value of the vehicle the second before the crash, vs. the value of the vehicle immediately after repairs are completed post-crash. The difference between the two is the diminished value, and it should be settled and signed for immediately.

What happens after that is no ones business.

andres3 · March 2020

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

benjaminh said:
Two charts from a piece in today's New York Times. There are different charts in this article based on different scenarios.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/13/opinion/coronavirus-trump-response.html

I think those death projections are wishful thinking on the part of the NYT.
I did read a biased article in the NYT about how Germany should vote to put speed limits on the Autobahn, and they are like Americans clinging to the 2nd Amendment in regards to having no speed limits.

Then they said something to the effect of: 70% of the Autobahn is limitless, 30% is limited, and that the safety is clear, because the limited sections have 26% lower fatalities!!!

Little do they know that anyone that can do a little math would know that they just made a very compelling and powerful argument for no speed limits. As 70/30 would indicate that the limited sections should be 57% lower in fatalities, assuming they were EQUALLY safe. Since their own data and argument stated it was only 26% lower, it is clear which method is working to save lives better!

Of course, this doesn't take into account traffic and miles driven, but neither did their evidence or poorly written opinion piece, so I'm only using their own figures against them. Strange how they used word and number play to try and convey a conclusion the opposite of what the figures and data show to be true.
The problem with your post is that the limited sections don't have 26% lower fatalities, they have a 26% lower fatality rate. Big difference there. That means that for an equal number of miles driven there will be fewer fatalities on the limited sections then on the unlimited sections. Completely the opposite of your conclusion.

Where do you get that information as the word "rate" wasn't used in the article, so you must have another source? Or are you just inventing things? I find when fatalities are talked about the word "rate" is deliberately left out, not accidentally left out. Is this the one exception of all-time? We shall find out.....

Drumroll....

P.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/world/europe/germany-autobahn-speed-limit.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

Quoting "The number of deadly accidents on stretches of autobahn that have a speed limit is 26 percent lower than on those without."

You might have different English comprehension than I do, but my language skills indicates "the number of deadly accidents" is most definitely a figure, and not a rate.

So based on this I'm going to say you pulled your post out of your behind with no substantiation or support, much like the way most of the speed limits in the USA are decided in the first place.

suydam · March 2020

snakeweasel said:

suydam said:

fintail said:
My cousin, who can't work from home, is using her days off to go on shopping trips for people she knows who can't get out of the house. Observation from a local Costco this morning:

"FYI due to social distancing, they are limiting the store to 400 people. Every other check out open. Currently they are out of rice, pasta, hand sanitizer"

So nothing is calming down. Hoarding specific food seems to be the new fad.

And speaking of Costco and working from home, This has particularly bad optics, seeing as a Costco office worker recently passed away due to COVID
Plenty of rice at Asian markets if you have any. No lines either. Oddly, CVS also sells some brands of pasta. Hopefully this will balance out soon as there is no reason for these shortages except panic.
But the rice in asian markets are in 25 pound bags.

The markets near me look basically like World Market, only better stuff. Everything is normal size. I can get 20 lb bags of rice at Albertsons too but I don’t.

fintail · March 2020

There's an H Mart (Korean) a short walk from my place - I noticed they still had TP when I stopped in last weekend. So did the Rite Aid, but not much. The panic is real when the buying moves from TP and sanitizer to rice, flour, pasta, etc. I've heard gun stores are doing a land office business, too.

I wonder how much of this is going on where everyone here lives - I like seeing stores limit purchases, might at least slow the opportunism.

suydam said:

Plenty of rice at Asian markets if you have any. No lines either. Oddly, CVS also sells some brands of pasta. Hopefully this will balance out soon as there is no reason for these shortages except panic.

roadburner · March 2020

Here’s my desk- bonus points if you catch the relevance of the file sorter:

sda · March 2020

laurasdada said:
Costco Update, Boston area: PUG $2.46/gal. But Regular is $1.80 so .66 difference! That hurts a bit, pumping the fancy stuff into the Hag...
Much Charmin TP, limit one per person. Didn't seem like everyone was grabbing a bundle. I didn't, I have plenty, leave it for those who need.
Small crowd, a few masks, some folks wearing gloves. Not sure I noted social distancing.
The fabulous food court is limited to a few items, they actually had a person monitoring the hot dog condiments station.

I own a few individual stocks, that's what has hurt the most, absolute devestation. I think for my retirement funds, I'm down ~30% in the last few weeks. Wowzer. He who lives by the sword...

Michaell said:
Wife has fallen ill (generic cold symptoms, nothing to worry about - yet), so she sent me to CVS to pick up over the counter meds. Found what I was looking for.

Would like to find bread and pasta soon, however. Fair amount of frozen meat - chicken breasts and ground beef - for meals if we need to.

Email from my eye doc indicating that regular check ups and such are suspended for the time being. As I had my annual in December, I'm good to go, for now.

As if COVID-19 isn't bad enough, Denver is suffering through a typical spring snow storm. Up to 9" predicted today and tomorrow, and its that wet, heavy stuff that is a bear to get out of the way. Shoveled a path for the dogs in the backyard so business could be done. I'll have to get to the driveway eventually. Ugh.

Are you able to still run your new business, on a smaller scale? I wish you and everyone the best.

pensfan83 · March 2020

Twin kidney file sorter?

oldfarmer50 · March 2020

abacomike said:
If I wanted to go somewhere just to get out of the house for an hour or two, there is nowhere to go! All shopping malls are closed; all movie theaters are closed; all flea markets are closed; restaurants have delivery or pick-up only; beaches are all closed, etc., etc.!

If I wanted to buy a car right now, I could but my lease has too many months left to make it a good deal - June/July is the earliest!

If I wanted to buy a house, I could - but I don't want to buy a house.

I have to go to the bank tomorrow morning to close a CD and put the proceeds into my checking account so I will try to pick up a few food items at Walmart after the bank visit.

I sure hope this doesn't last too long - I could go crazy after a few months.

Why don’t you take your car out on the interstate and open ‘er up? No traffic.

oldfarmer50 · March 2020

jmonroe said:

snakeweasel said:
Just a quick warning, the Government has announced that they will be sending funds to individuals in a month or so, the details are not finalized as of yet. They are expecting a rise in scammers trying to take advantage of people with this government payout. Please remember this and pass it around, no one from the government will call you and ask for any personal information, if anyone else contacts you offering help in claiming this government payment it's a scam. In any case never give out private information.

Keep safe out there.
Your post is good advice and had almost perfect timing. But, I read your post after this happened:

Just this morning I got one of those, "the sky is falling", calls about my SS number being compromised. I always hang up immediately when I get these robot calls but not this time. Maybe because I've been shut in for a few days and starting to crave people interaction, I decided to have some fun so I hit button #1as instructed to be connected to a SS agent that could help me. The woman, for the most part, spoke English fairly well but I did have to squint a couple times but all things considered her English was good enough for my purposes. Anyway, after a few very general type of questions that I answered, she then asked for my name and SS number. My responce was, "you called me so you tell me". CLICK. I concluded that she understood English better than she spoke it.

jmonroe

Those scammers are the worst which is why I only trust Nigerian princes. My current deal promises to pay off big any time now.

Sandman6472 · March 2020

I was at a Latin supermarket near the house and they were giving out a limit of 12 rolls/person. Had plenty of eggs also. Even went to the local bagel place and ate there, me and three other folks.
Work at Enterprise is now on an unlimited basis, work everyday if ya want. I took a mental health day today as I was exhausted. Monday I was literally on the couch all day, too tired to move until late in the day. Told my boss yesterday I need a couple days off each week going forward, I'll give ya five bit no more 60 hours like the last two weeks. He wasn't pleased but do not want to get sick at my age, 65. Hell, he'll get over it! We've taken over the Palm Beach Raceway in Jupiter to store vehicles from PBI and the ones that we've sold to dealers. A bit of controlled chaos to be honest but up for the challenge!

roadburner · March 2020

pensfan83 said:
Twin kidney file sorter?

Yep- each row is different, going from the vintage vertical design to the current horizontal layout.

Michaell · March 2020

@sda - the governor of Colorado just announced that all 'non-essential' businesses are to be closed through 30 April. So, nothing going on for us for the next 40 or so days.

There's money in the bank to cover the expenses - rent, utilities, etc. - during the closure, but the lack of any new revenue certainly won't help.

Fingers crossed that we will be able to reopen in time for summer camps, which begin at the end of May. The girls are contemplating adding more slots. Initially, they capped enrollment at 12, but now considering a bump to 16 per week.

suydam · March 2020

Sandman6472 said:
I was at a Latin supermarket near the house and they were giving out a limit of 12 rolls/person. Had plenty of eggs also. Even went to the local bagel place and ate there, me and three other folks.
Work at Enterprise is now on an unlimited basis, work everyday if ya want. I took a mental health day today as I was exhausted. Monday I was literally on the couch all day, too tired to move until late in the day. Told my boss yesterday I need a couple days off each week going forward, I'll give ya five bit no more 60 hours like the last two weeks. He wasn't pleased but do not want to get sick at my age, 65. Hell, he'll get over it! We've taken over the Palm Beach Raceway in Jupiter to store vehicles from PBI and the ones that we've sold to dealers. A bit of controlled chaos to be honest but up for the challenge!

Surprised you’re going out and doing all these things And mingling with people. Is Florida doing things differently than other states? My adult children are WFH and only going out for groceries. Here we are basically ordered to stay home. All restaurants are closed except for takeout and delivery. Gyms are closed, and all schools, parks, and playgrounds. I’ve made a couple of forays at off hours to grocery stores and that’s it. We are basically at home.

stickguy · March 2020

I was figuring it would not take long to get to the 6 weeks total, so right around the end of April. Really hoping that at least some semblance of normal can come back on-line by then. really hard to see locking down entire cities or the country for that long.

and man am I kicking myself for going through with the car purchase. Really thinking will be regretting that big time soon.

my family really has good timing. we do that about 1 day before everything totally blew up, and the daughter found an apartment near work for 5/1, and our son is under contract on buying a house in later May. 3 things that given current upheaval, probably should not have done or be doing!

somewhat curious if anything happens to prevent the house closing. and at least with an apartment you have some options. Given the uncharted territory I expect a lot of SOP is going out the window.

28firefighter · March 2020

I would not sweat the RDX purchase. You got 10% off MSRP - I doubt even in a depressed market you’d do dramatically better.

stickguy · March 2020

I am not worried about doing better. More like not being able to afford it at all, or needing a 2nd car for the next 6 months. And in a depressed market at the height of a recession (or worse) would not be looking at something like this anyway.

I probably won't put 50 miles on both cars combined in the next 6 weeks. that is just depressing.

suydam · March 2020

You made the best decision you could with the information you had at the time. Nobody could have foreseen this mess. Don’t second-guess yourself. Things will change again, and you’ll both love your new ride. Jeez, getting out on the road is about all that’s left to us anyway.

28firefighter · March 2020

The pandemic will eventually slow itself down - vaccine, treatment,
herd immunity - some combination of those.

The damage being done to the economy, in my not so expert opinion, will take longer to come back - but it will. At some point, we will need to face head on the shortcomings of our healthcare system and wealth stratification in our country. I’m not saying I know what the solution is, because I don’t.

In the meantime, enjoy what you can now. Get out for a drive in those new wheels. I’m trying very hard not to wish this time away because life is way way way too short.

Sandman6472 · March 2020

Stick, don't second guess anything, you guys did the best you could with the info you had at the time. Heck, I even dollar cost averaged in the stock market yesterday. My main holding is trading at 10 points lower than when I bought most of it so now seemed like a good time to do it. Hell, it even got down to $4.95/share the other day but I was working. Transferred some excess cash into my brokerage account and bought more yesterday. Things will come back eventually so best just to stay the course and don't make any dumb moves right now.
We're open and running now, for how long, have no clue. But working 5 days going forward as any more is just too much. Got my check deposited in my account this morning and looks like I had 118 hours of work the last two weeks, some of that being overtime pay. As long as I'm feeling good, like I am now after a mental day off yesterday, I'm gonna work.
My kids are pissed that I'm over doing things but I feel an obligation to be there. Agreed that anything over five days is a bit much so I'll keep it with that. Only a few folks are working as many hours as I am and some are older than I. But staying as optimistic as I can because this to shall pass...when, no one knows!

sda · March 2020

28firefighter said:
I would not sweat the RDX purchase. You got 10% off MSRP - I doubt even in a depressed market you’d do dramatically better.

I agree, and with production at a stop, availability could be thin and pricing firm.

sb55 · March 2020

suydam said:
You made the best decision you could with the information you had at the time. Nobody could have foreseen this mess. Don’t second-guess yourself. Things will change again, and you’ll both love your new ride. Jeez, getting out on the road is about all that’s left to us anyway.

It's just that some people (i.e. rich insiders) had some head up before us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stocks-sold-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

qbrozen · March 2020

sb55 said:

suydam said:
You made the best decision you could with the information you had at the time. Nobody could have foreseen this mess. Don’t second-guess yourself. Things will change again, and you’ll both love your new ride. Jeez, getting out on the road is about all that’s left to us anyway.
It's just that some people (i.e. rich insiders) had some head up before us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stocks-sold-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Well of course some people were bound to guess right.

nyccarguy · March 2020

sb55 said:

suydam said:
You made the best decision you could with the information you had at the time. Nobody could have foreseen this mess. Don’t second-guess yourself. Things will change again, and you’ll both love your new ride. Jeez, getting out on the road is about all that’s left to us anyway.
It's just that some people (i.e. rich insiders) had some head up before us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stocks-sold-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Disturbing, but not surprising to say the least

ab348 · March 2020

Well, the article reads like it was written by a kid who has zero knowledge of investments and how things work for people of means. And moving stocks in January and February was a wise move - wish I had done it myself, and maybe it would have happened if I had an advisor managing my portfolio for me as these people likely did. I seriously doubt you can draw a straight line between that and the situation today as few would have predicted the type of impact back then. IOW exactly the type of thing I expect from the NYT these days.

stickguy · March 2020

Ran up this AM and got the plates on it at least, before NJ follows PA and tells car dealers to close. Then ran over to wife’s office (close by) so she could grab her headset and docking station to make WFH easier, since that isn’t going away soon.

Still quite a few cars out and about. But the train station (commuter line into philly) parking lot was practically empty.

At this point, impossible to say how it all plays out and how long before can start living life again, but real clear the economy is taking a hit. A lot of people, especially in the service industries, could be ruined before this is all over.

imidazol97 · March 2020

The headline fails to mention Sen. Feinstein's also having sold. The swamp doesn't have a dividing line.
I'm surprised anyone is surprised that this kind of thing goes on...still.
More defense measures against the China virus spread, even earlier before the China travel ban and after the ban, would have been helpful, but many in government were busy with their other goal that failed in January.

I won't let my wife go into stores around other people because she's highly at risk. I go to stores at
below peak time so I can keep my distance from everyone else. It's been interesting. Hit Walmart
early this morning. They had toilet paper, tiny amount of disinfectant cleaners from Lysol/Chlorox
and even had a few packs of Delmonte green beans on the shelf. I noticed the Walmart brand of green beans were not picked up; bad sign about the house brand flavors.

Even alcohol wipes for insulin injections are being price gouged by Amazon suppliers. The price of
needles has gone up drastically. At least ChickFilA hasn't raised their prices.

I think @driver100 and his wife did the right thing getting home early. Leave Florida to the kids infecting each other with the cold virus/flu virus on spring break.

Our governor made a mistake when he closed schools and called it a 3-week Spring Break. Should
have called it a study-from-home break.

roadburner · March 2020

My son works for a company that is essentially a research platform for investment firms. I was afraid business might slow down and endanger his job, but he reported yesterday that he was very busy and already hit his monthly bonus target- so go figure.

houdini1 · March 2020

suydam said:
After full retirement age there is no earnings limit.

Being old and feeble is an effective earnings limit for most of us seniors.

sb55 · March 2020

ab348 said:
Well, the article reads like it was written by a kid who has zero knowledge of investments and how things work for people of means. And moving stocks in January and February was a wise move - wish I had done it myself, and maybe it would have happened if I had an advisor managing my portfolio for me as these people likely did. I seriously doubt you can draw a straight line between that and the situation today as few would have predicted the type of impact back then. IOW exactly the type of thing I expect from the NYT these days.

It looks like Fox might have something to say, too.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/tucker-carlson-calls-on-sen-burr-to-explain-reported-1-6-million-stock-sale-or-resign.amp

houdini1 · March 2020

abacomike said:
I cannot remember the last time oil was at $25.00 a barrel. PUG at my Costco is at $2.45 a gallon as of this morning. They expect a gallon of PUG could drop below $2.00 a gallon in the next several weeks. Unbelievable!

In 1960 a barrel of oil was around $3.00

graphicguy · March 2020

abacomike said:
If I wanted to go somewhere just to get out of the house for an hour or two, there is nowhere to go! All shopping malls are closed; all movie theaters are closed; all flea markets are closed; restaurants have delivery or pick-up only; beaches are all closed, etc., etc.!

If I wanted to buy a car right now, I could but my lease has too many months left to make it a good deal - June/July is the earliest!

If I wanted to buy a house, I could - but I don't want to buy a house.

I have to go to the bank tomorrow morning to close a CD and put the proceeds into my checking account so I will try to pick up a few food items at Walmart after the bank visit.

I sure hope this doesn't last too long - I could go crazy after a few months.

My conference calls have swindled to maybe one/day. My company is at a virtual standstill. I feel very fortunate as they are paying me for essentially no work. My bonuses will be shot to hell, but I’m feeling quite fortunate. Again, retirement is looking more and more likely.

As such, I spend the afternoons taking my dog for a walk at parks in and around where I live. They’re essentially empty, which is more than a little eery given the weather is touching 60º-70ºF around here, now. Almost like a B Grade horror movie set.

Mike, if there are any parks near you, they are a great avenue to get out of the house. Plus, now that you have a checking account full of money, you can hit every dealership between your home and the Mercedes dealership to get a full view of ANY car you MAY EVER want to buy, with no wait, while being greeted with open arms.

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