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I took the family camping in a state park about an hour outside Atlanta this weekend. It was somewhat surreal and enlightening. I share my observations here.
First, it was the first time I had to deal with our current gas shortage in Georgia. I ride a bike to and from work, so I gas up my car about once a month. For a week or so, the vast majority of gas stations in the Atlanta area have been completely out of gas. Wait times of 30 min are typical at those stations that do have it. On this trip, I dialed in "Fuel" on my GPS, calling station after station from my cell until I found one that had gas. Surprisingly, we hardly had to wait in line (it was 1/2 mile from the highway).
The rural town where the state park is was clearly very poor. Many "for lease" and "out of business" signs. The park was not nearly as well kept as other state parks we have been to. Business at the Dollar General store was surprisingly brisk, however, and I overheard locals talking about how bad the labor market was. The prices of non-essentials at the store were shockingly low while 20 oz Cokes were $1.25.
Breakfast on Sunday at a local restaurant was interesting. The 3 employees looked surprised to see someone pulling in and jumped up to help us. 3 of us ate for $7.75. An order of bacon (3) was 85 cents. How can that be profitable? We listened as the only topic of conversation among the employees and the few customers that came through revolved around how broke they were. One customer said, "I don't know what I'm gonna do. I used to have hundreds of dollars and now I'm down to my last couple bucks!" We left a $12 tip.
These are the people most affected by the recession, outsourcing and inflation. It's sad.
On the trip home, we stopped at a Cici's (all you can eat $4.99) pizza in an exurb about 30 miles outside the city and the line was out the door. I suppose it's kind of like Wal-Mart, they lose some customers but get the higher end customers who take a step down, so the recessionary impact kind of evens out.
Back in Atlanta for dinner, we were the only people in the restaurant. "They must do really good lunch business," we rationalized....
Jimmy
First, it was the first time I had to deal with our current gas shortage in Georgia. I ride a bike to and from work, so I gas up my car about once a month. For a week or so, the vast majority of gas stations in the Atlanta area have been completely out of gas. Wait times of 30 min are typical at those stations that do have it. On this trip, I dialed in "Fuel" on my GPS, calling station after station from my cell until I found one that had gas. Surprisingly, we hardly had to wait in line (it was 1/2 mile from the highway).
The rural town where the state park is was clearly very poor. Many "for lease" and "out of business" signs. The park was not nearly as well kept as other state parks we have been to. Business at the Dollar General store was surprisingly brisk, however, and I overheard locals talking about how bad the labor market was. The prices of non-essentials at the store were shockingly low while 20 oz Cokes were $1.25.
Breakfast on Sunday at a local restaurant was interesting. The 3 employees looked surprised to see someone pulling in and jumped up to help us. 3 of us ate for $7.75. An order of bacon (3) was 85 cents. How can that be profitable? We listened as the only topic of conversation among the employees and the few customers that came through revolved around how broke they were. One customer said, "I don't know what I'm gonna do. I used to have hundreds of dollars and now I'm down to my last couple bucks!" We left a $12 tip.
These are the people most affected by the recession, outsourcing and inflation. It's sad.
On the trip home, we stopped at a Cici's (all you can eat $4.99) pizza in an exurb about 30 miles outside the city and the line was out the door. I suppose it's kind of like Wal-Mart, they lose some customers but get the higher end customers who take a step down, so the recessionary impact kind of evens out.
Back in Atlanta for dinner, we were the only people in the restaurant. "They must do really good lunch business," we rationalized....
Jimmy
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