I don't know about your industry, but the economic effects of the price of oil and a myriad of changes and instability in China have made everything go 'splodie.

All the pretty colors!

It's like a fireworks show everyday. *boom* *boom* *boom*

After a major vendor pulled a price and spec change on a whole bunch of products that are placed in three catalogs two weeks from print, day before yesterday, one of my people remarked, "You're being awfully calm about this."

I was sitting at my desk staring into space.

Just enjoying all the pretty colors, I said.

Being raised an only child with a great imagination has its payoffs.

How are things in your neck of the woods? I see instability everywhere. Take-out sandwiches are up $2.00 in my area, and I know that isn't covering all of the extra gas money, and raw material money the little sandwich shop owners are incurring.

My member agencies are reeling from the costs of oil - they have to transport clients in agency vehicles, or they are paying for heating oil, etc. - and because of the way foster care contract rates are set up, they won't see an increase in the per diems to cover these costs until FY 2010 or 2011. For some of the smaller agencies without foundation or endowment support, that could be too late.

Wow, MJ, that totally bites. You think they might get something in place to handle sudden, unexpected price increases in the future?

We're pretty lucky that we don't see much of the effect around here, other than the gas itself and the groceries. DH is working IT now, and we live very close to his work (I think it's about 3 or 4 miles) so none of this gas stuff is affecting us or his work. And yes, I realize how lucky we have it right now.

At work we are seeing construction projects that were estimated last year by our consultants and architects being bid this year by contractors at much higher prices. Some projects are being canceled as a result.

At home the diesel Suburban is pretty much parked all of the time. If I could find someone who sells french fry diesel I'd be in line for it. (I have an uncle in Montana who gets it for $2 a gallon. Says he smells like a hamburger stand but it is worth it.)

We used to run back and forth between my town and the next biggest town, about 15 miles, at the drop of a hat but not anymore.

And my husband now proceeds every conversation with "It's hard times...."

Fuel costs don't impact software development much. Only two of us here have nasty commutes and really feel the pain. I'm not sure when both of us will start telling the boss to either fork over some more money or let us work from home a few days a week.

emeleel Wrote:Wow, MJ, that totally bites. You think they might get something in place to handle sudden, unexpected price increases in the future?

Unfortunately not likely. We're also hit with the whammy that NYS, whose budget depends a lot on taxing Wall Street, is cutting expenditures and so we're happy to have what we can hold on to, not really looking for additional $$ at this time. Some offices are cutting hours to save energy, including one that is shifting its administrative offices to a four-day workweek so they can shut off utilities an extra day.

Wow.

mjfrombuffalo Wrote:My member agencies are reeling from the costs of oil - they have to transport clients in agency vehicles, or they are paying for heating oil, etc. - and because of the way foster care contract rates are set up, they won't see an increase in the per diems to cover these costs until FY 2010 or 2011. For some of the smaller agencies without foundation or endowment support, that could be too late.

I can imagine.

I heard a story on NPR the other day about Meals on Wheels, how the cost of transportation crushing many programs getting food to seniors.

Nothing is disconcerting me more than the idea that the jump in oil and food has a direct correlation to people going hungry!

Which, you know, makes any fretting I do over the cost of pens or whatnot seem silly...........but, there are plenty of jobs and family food tables tied to them, too.

Too old for adventure. Requests stability please. Thank you.

mtomm Wrote:At work we are seeing construction projects that were estimated last year by our consultants and architects being bid this year by contractors at much higher prices. Some projects are being
canceled as a result.

I can relate very much to this. We work, as do our vendors, in a pretty long cycle. Products that are starting to sell now were developed and priced nearly a year ago.

Is not the same world it was a year ago, or six months ago or even two months ago.

<--- balloon happy, looking at all the pretty colors

How much do you absorb? How much do you pass on? How much do you push back on vendors and say "your problem, not mine, I have a quote signed in blood, no help here."

Quote:At home the diesel Suburban is pretty much parked all of the time. If I could find someone who sells french fry diesel I'd be in line for it. (I have an uncle in Montana who gets it for $2 a gallon. Says he smells like a hamburger stand but it is worth it.)

We used to run back and forth between my town and the next biggest town, about 15 miles, at the drop of a hat but not anymore.

And my husband now proceeds every conversation with "It's hard times...."

Armada here. I knew we should have gone green the last time we leased.

1 tank = $130.00 last fill up

Fortunately, I live very close to work. But teh husband is the "favor guy", the friend in the crowd who runs errands for anybody and everybody. I said tell them you now accept gas money.

(I am actually not kidding, but he'd never do it.)

I can't talk about money today. It is definitely affecting my work and my life. I'm a bit freaked all of the time now.

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Ditto Leslie's post. Credit card bill is more than I make in a month. Charges on the card are almost all necessities. Not much fat left to cut. BF is in an even scarier place than I am financially. Don't have a plan. Looking forward to the stimulus (if it ever comes) to pay back some CC debt.

Not sure how to make what little I have stretch far enough. Why did I have to pick the time right before the shit hit the fan to be the time that I bought my first place?

Business-wise, they are expanding. I am going to help them grow their empire. I hope that eventually they'll reward that...

@ Margaret & Leslie

I hear you. Personal finances, people are struggling, at every level.

I read a story the other day (I might go back and it to this post) about a small town in Georgia where everybody is working for gas. This one guy, as an example of many in the town, has a minimum wage job doing assembly for one of the big corps outside Atlanta. The gas to get his job is two full days salary now. Biking to work isn't an option when you live in the rural town you and your family grew up in.

Also read a story about "rich" people who are quietly selling off major possessions to finance their lifestyles so no one will know that their income has dropped tremendously. (It's a great time to be a dealer in the second hand market if you can afford to hang onto inventory until the next boom.)

Our family, I've done pretty well the last X years but this year is different. My income is tied directly to *profit* and when costs go way up and sales don't, you don't have to be a math major to figure the profit goes away.

Fortunately, DH and I have kept our fixed costs reasonably modest -- no big fancy house, only one vehicle even if it does eat more gas than any vehicle should in this day and age . OTOH, we've never been frugal...or *close*, and we're watching everything. My current income no longer supports our previous lifestyle unadjusted....and there are two boys near college age.

DH (who never looked at the price of anything in his life): Do you know how much this loaf of bread was? 4.50!

Me (pang of guilt, hasn't baked bread in a month): I have to start baking again, this is ridiculous.

Business-wise, it's not the worst thing in the world. We've turned everything upside down, found lots of places to cut costs, and have re-focused and re-purposed to what really matters: sales & profits. I wouldn't mind having *one* easy, "phone it in" day in the office, though. Pretty colors are nice and all, but, one day without technicolor would be great.

My greatest worry remains hunger. I don't see how a bunch of people who were barely making it before all this chaos are able to feed themselves and get to work when the price of basics - milk, eggs, flour & gas has skyrocketed. Scary.

$4.50 for bread? Whatever kind of bread that is, I hope it has gold in it or something!

mjfrombuffalo Wrote:$4.50 for bread? Whatever kind of bread that is, I hope it has gold in it or something!

And there you go!

We've gone health foody since I was last around here. That's organic flour, whole wheat Wegman's bread.

Which, you know, we *used* to be able to afford, doin' the whole "locally grown", organic, unprocessed stuff.

Really must bake today. Really.

edit - P.S. I'm not *complaining* about what I can and can't afford anymore. My point is towards the economy and how chaotic it is when nearly the entire population has to change their buying habits. There are jobs and family food tables tied to Wegman's Organic bread, too, and a lot of small family businesses supply Wegmans. If a bunch of people can't afford those products anymore, those businesses are in danger.

Oh, you didn't say it was Wegmans. Now it makes sense. (I Wegmans, used to work for them, wish they were here.)

I went and checked my usual Stop n Shop big loaf of nutrient-free white bread: $1.39, up from $0.99. That's a 40% increase in three months.

I don't know if it's available where you are, Andrea, but Vermont Bread Company is really healthy, no high fructose corn syrup, tasty, and more like $2.75 a loaf.

Not that that savings will get you far or anything This economy is for the birds.

I'm thinking that the man commuting into work near Atlanta, using two days pay for his gas every week is having to live on two days pay to have enough left over to pay his income tax. That's grim. We're going to be back to people having to walk an hour or two each way to work, because they can't afford transportation.

Around here, all the little local spur lines of the railways have been turned into bike/walking paths. Back in the day, people came into the big city on the train, and that will never happen again. With amalgamation, boundaries have become really bizarre, and extending city bus routes requires cooperation between several municipalities. It would be nice if the price of gas caused development of a county-wide transit system.