R-V Industry Hiring...What the hell?

[JSojourner]

In the last six months or so, I have reported on at least a dozen cases of R-V manufacturers (a great many of them are HQ'd in Indiana) hiring at a pretty good clip.  50 new jobs here, 200 there, 600 in one place.

The explanation offered by all the company officials is that orders for R-V's are increasing.

Now, I'm not smart enough to cross swords with the economic whizzes amongst us.  And I really don't want to make the mistake of reading economic recovery into one, isolated industry.  But what the hell? I can't see these companies adding new people or expanding their production lines if the orders aren't in the pipeline.  And if there were ever a measure of spending on "non-essentials", wouldn't it be R-V's?

Unless more people are buying them and using them as actual homes?

Thoughts?

[opebo]

I find the buying of RVs in boom times to be inexplicable, much less in bad.  What ungainly eyesores, and no doubt unpleasant to drive.  Have their inhabitants never heard of hotels, or international flights?  Why do they drive about the Bad Place?  It is utterly homogenous.

But, yes, JSojourner, the economy is 'getting better' in the sense you intimate.

[Scam of God]

I like this. It's a sign that people might just begin taking themselves off the presently-existing grid and trying to become more self-sufficient.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Very good news

[Nhoj]

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

I doubt people who can't afford their mortgage payment and are threatened with foreclosure could even purchase these things.

[cinyc]

RV sales are almost always a leading indicator of the direction of the economy.  When they go down, the overall economy usually follows.   Declines in RV sales have preceded every recession in the past 3 decades.

It's a good sign for the economy that sales are rising.  Perhaps RV prices have fallen enough that people are looking to buy them at lower prices.  Or people believe somewhat lower gas prices have at least leveled off and have figured out the true cost of ownership, which was impossible to do as gas prices were all over the map.

[Torie]

Maybe they are buying them to live in them full time.

[opebo]

I like this. It's a sign that people might just begin taking themselves off the presently-existing grid and trying to become more self-sufficient.

Good lord man, nothing about a rolling chromed sh**thouse with a tiny toilet and rickety cabinets, powered by a gas guzzling engine and requiring the electrical plug-in at nighty-night is 'self-sufficient'.  Do you even think before you speak?

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

I doubt people who can't afford their mortgage payment and are threatened with foreclosure could even purchase these things.

Maybe they are buying them to live in them full time.

Extremely implausible, guys.  These things are monstrously expensive new (which is what we're talking about), and then you have to rent a place to put them.  As cheap as houses are now in any place that would allow RVs, I doubt a single person has boughta new RV as a place to live due to economic need.  Used ones, now that's a different story.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I like this. It's a sign that people might just begin taking themselves off the presently-existing grid and trying to become more self-sufficient.

Good lord man, nothing about a rolling chromed sh**thouse with a tiny toilet and rickety cabinets, powered by a gas guzzling engine and requiring the electrical plug-in at nighty-night is 'self-sufficient'.  Do you even think before you speak?

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

I doubt people who can't afford their mortgage payment and are threatened with foreclosure could even purchase these things.

Maybe they are buying them to live in them full time.

Extremely implausible, guys.  These things are monstrously expensive new (which is what we're talking about), and then you have to rent a place to put them.  As cheap as houses are now in any place that would allow RVs, I doubt a single person has boughta new RV as a place to live due to economic need.  Used ones, now that's a different story.

I thought my response agreed with you?

[Joe Republic]

Here's hoping business is booming for this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ds7OfXXi-c

[Nhoj]

I like this. It's a sign that people might just begin taking themselves off the presently-existing grid and trying to become more self-sufficient.

Good lord man, nothing about a rolling chromed sh**thouse with a tiny toilet and rickety cabinets, powered by a gas guzzling engine and requiring the electrical plug-in at nighty-night is 'self-sufficient'.  Do you even think before you speak?

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

I doubt people who can't afford their mortgage payment and are threatened with foreclosure could even purchase these things.

Maybe they are buying them to live in them full time.

Extremely implausible, guys.  These things are monstrously expensive new (which is what we're talking about), and then you have to rent a place to put them.  As cheap as houses are now in any place that would allow RVs, I doubt a single person has boughta new RV as a place to live due to economic need.  Used ones, now that's a different story.

I thought my response agreed with you?

He probably meant to quote me. in any case you guys are probably right buying new ones as a home makes little sense, with old r-vs however i have known people who have lived in them for a time.

[cinyc]

The only people who might be buying RVs as new homes are newly retired seniors who sell their houses to go on the road, not people foreclosed out of their houses.  As more baby boomers retire, that segment of the RV-owning market should grow.  Demographics could explain part of it.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I wonder if houseboat sales are up around here.

[phk]

The only people who might be buying RVs as new homes are newly retired seniors who sell their houses to go on the road, not people foreclosed out of their houses.  As more baby boomers retire, that segment of the RV-owning market should grow.  Demographics could explain part of it.

This.

[Torie]

I suspect this particular incipient old  would rather be homeless than live in a motorized tin can.  But then I have had a long standing animus against these hideous road slugs.

[MK]

The only people who might be buying RVs as new homes are newly retired seniors who sell their houses to go on the road, not people foreclosed out of their houses.  As more baby boomers retire, that segment of the RV-owning market should grow.  Demographics could explain part of it.

[opebo]

I think that people using them as homes does seem pretty plausible.

I doubt people who can't afford their mortgage payment and are threatened with foreclosure could even purchase these things.

Maybe they are buying them to live in them full time.

Extremely implausible, guys.  These things are monstrously expensive new (which is what we're talking about), and then you have to rent a place to put them.  As cheap as houses are now in any place that would allow RVs, I doubt a single person has boughta new RV as a place to live due to economic need.  Used ones, now that's a different story.

I thought my response agreed with you?

Yes, I was just supporting you in your critique of Nhoj and Torie's supposition.

[JSojourner]

I suspect this particular incipient old  would rather be homeless than live in a motorized tin can.  But then I have had a long standing animus against these hideous road slugs.

Me too.  I've seen one or two that were palaces on wheels.  Disgusting.  Of course, the cheaper, chintzier ones are disgusting in another way.

But I can't complain.  They employ a lot of people here and they seem to be hiring more and more.  I hope this means recovery is at the door, but I hate to make infereneces based on one sector of the economy.

[Brittain33]

Obama visited Elkhart during the campaign and after he was elected President. Obviously, he cured the scrofula afflicting these factories with his touch.

[JSojourner]

Obama visited Elkhart during the campaign and after he was elected President. Obviously, he cured the scrofula afflicting these factories with his touch.

LOL

Well, he did deliver some stimulus cash.  And some of that money helped make it possible for my wife's company to buy a defunct R-V plant in Elkhart County and hire about 200 people.  They are now working on truck hybrids.  I guess enough of the machinery was compatable with what her firm wanted to do.