By Greg Gerber on
5/30/2008 12:31 PM
An article appearing in today's edition of The Register Guard blasts Country Coach for taking two company executives and four of their top dealers -- and their spouses -- on a 10-day luxury cruise to Tahiti.
Country Coach did the right thing by honoring a commitment it made to its sales force in 2007. The company conducted a sales competition in which it promised to reward its top performing dealers with a luxury cruise. Those dealers who chose to work hard to earn the vacation, deserved to take it.
Why in the world would the company want to punish the very people who put forth the effort to keep the rest of the staff employed? Rather than complaining about the incentive to local newspapers, Country Coach employees would be better served writing a personal note to their top dealers thanking them for making it possible to keep their jobs.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/28/2008 7:27 AM
Despite high gas prices, people continue to buy RVs, or so data released today from the RV Industry Association would suggest.
The monthly shipment report shows that, although down 10.9 percent over last year, dealers are still ordering new units -- hopefully to replace those that have been driven off the lot by customers.
If that's the case, then the industry welcomed 114,000 new customers in the first four months of the year. I think that is good news any way you look at it.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/27/2008 9:10 AM
While blogger Chuck Woodbury suggests that consumers visit a dozen dealers and make ridiculously low offers to each in hopes that one of them will bite, I wouldn't advocate that approach. But, it might be possible for RV dealers to be the family travel heroes this year.
I don't want to spend a dealership's money, but it seems possible that RVs could be marketed this summer at lower prices as a way to "help" families overcome the gas problem and allow them to enjoy a memorable vacation within their budget?
Rather than just giving away the money in the form of a discount, I sense an opportunity to have some real fun with different types of promotions. Which story would a dealer want consumers to be telling about their business? That the RVers were able to knock $30,000 off the price of a new motorhome? Or that, because of gas prices, the dealership was willing to help the family enjoy several great vacations.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/22/2008 8:06 AM
Rather than laying off workers because there isn't enough for them to do, Fabric Services is actually paying them to work in local non-profit organizations where there is often more work than the staff can handle. The workers maintain their current pay, but go to work at one of nearly a dozen local charities.
This is good news for several reasons. First, because it's a great way to give back to a community that has been struggling due to layoffs at several other companies. Second, because it signals that Fabric Servces doesn't expect the downturn to continue and they aren't buying into the conventional wisdom that we won't see recovery until next year.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/22/2008 7:58 AM
Some "expert" is babbling about in the media today that $12 per gallon gas is "inevitable." After shocking listeners with that statement, he goes on to say that we'll see rationing and a global economic depression lasting 12 to 15 years.
If this guy's story gets any traction, maybe, just maybe, the media will give up the ghost on global warming -- another liberal-induced crisis proven to be false -- and focus on the pending global economic calamity. Or, if they play their cards right, we could see the "perfect storm" where whacked out economists collide with whacked out ecologists and, fueled by power-hungry liberal politicians, unleash a hellacious storm of regulation and socialism.
Read More »
|
By Chuck Marzahn on
5/19/2008 2:06 PM
Are you finding it hard to sell today’s buyer? Well, it can be done and with acceptable profits. The requirement is to do your homework, be thorough and pay attention to the basic. The buyers are out there. A positive attitude is absolutely necessary. Be careful not to let another dealer’s negative attitude become yours.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/16/2008 8:26 AM
There’s one reason why conventions and shows targeting RV dealers shouldn’t take place in Las Vegas. It’s because the dealers learn from the best how to prostitute themselves.
And, sadly, consumers are talking about who are the best hookers in town.
Even in a down economy, dealers still need to make money. Sure they can discount a unit or toss in a few chairs to make the new owner feel like he got a bargain. But, is the situation so bad and so desperate that dealers have to throw in a satellite TV system, washer, dryer and “a bunch of other things” just to get a unit off the lot?
It comes down to this. You can’t fix stupid. And all the regulation of Internet sellers and restricting what prices dealerships can display online won’t make a hill of beans worth of difference when the chucklehead down the street opts to lose money on every deal in hopes of making it up in volume.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/14/2008 8:15 AM
The National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds announced this week that its headquarters building in Falls Church, Va., had been sold and that the group will be moving to new property near Denver in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The fresh air will do wonders for the association. In fact, I can't think of a better place to locate the headquarters of an group dedicated to getting people to enjoy the great outdoors and tour America.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/13/2008 8:50 AM
Within four hours yesterday, a series of news reports crossed my desk and each had an entirely different outlook on the RV industry.
Why are scads of reporters predicting doom, gloom, despair, death and destruction for the RV industry, but not the travel industry this year? Upset they have to pay an extra $8 to gas up their Volkswagens, the reporters attempt to create class envy by showing people why RV users are jacking up the price of fuel for all consumers by burning so much of it themselves.
I remain confused on the whole good year, bad year issue, and whether RV owners are using their units or parking them. I've posted a survey with two questions. If you answer them, we’ll see whether all these conflicting reports are based on the journalists’ personal biases about RVs in general, or whether they are truly reflective of market conditions in their little part of the country.
Read More »
|
By Greg Gerber on
5/7/2008 9:39 AM
I can't turn on a news channel, surf a news website or listen to a television station without reading about or hearing some liberal babbling about huge oil profits and the need to clamp down on these "rich" oil companies that are profiting at the expense of little people. Blah-blah-blah.
Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—more than twice the amount of domestic profits earned by major U.S. oil companies during the same period.
The election year tactics of promising to release a few million barrels of fuel from America's strategic reserve or to give taxpayers a temporary "holiday" of a few cents at the pump are simply a foolish cover-up for the vast corruption that exists at state and local levels when it comes to regulating and taxing fuel.
Read More »
|