Has anyone else noticed less money out there on the streets?

[FirstLight]

Or is it just me because I am living in poverty and my cashflow is so drastically depressed?

I am doing freelancing for a few folks and it seems like the cashflow is just drying up. small local businesses have less and less dispensable income for events, advertizing, etc...and the 'trickle down' effect is that I am seeing less money for my work too. I did an event this weekend and made $20 per DAY, instead of the usual $10 per hour i am used to...
It just seems like things are drying up... and it is not a happy feeling

[Harmony Blue]

1. There is nothing we can do

if the majority can't connect the dots or are incapable of critical thinking.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Sad but so true.

Willful ignorance....my fav.

[PADemD]

2. It must be the area you're in

When I go shopping at the local craft store here in SE PA, it seems like there are lots of people buying. The parking lot is crowded. My local supermarket (not a Walmart) is hiring. More people are eating out, too.

[firehorse]

24. Craft stores are crowded because the unemployed are doing things like making jewelry on etsy to make

up for lost income.

5 years ago in NYC there were only a couple artisan markets one could shop at. Now there are dozens and dozens of markets, with vendors competing to get in them. Empty stores are renting to pop ups. I've been a vendor since 1996 and most the new vendors buying at craft stores are newbies who are desperate for any kind of money and can't get a job, so they are relying on their crafts in the hope to bring in extra income. I meet people every week who recently got laid off or their unemployment checks ran out.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

26. I make jewelry and do silk painting.

several years ago, I had a domain name, an online business with shopping cart software, took credit cards.

In one year, I had exactly one transaction, for $12.95 for one pair of earrings.

I think this was about 2006. I wasn't making enough money to pay for the website although it was cheap. I also took my jewelry around to several boutiques in Houston and they had too much inventory they couldn't sell before I got there.



why should anyone start a business if there is no demand?



You can see my silk pillows at my blog: http://lavidacountry.wordpress.com

[firehorse]

27. I hear you, been making jewelry since '96

My career started with my own store. Then 9/11 hit, and business died, store closed. Then I sold on the street as an illegal vendor for many years. Then after that I upgraded to a market where I paid $100 a day to sell. That was good till about 2007.

Then the markets where I sold started to compete with made in china vendors who didn't make their stuff but undercut the local handmade. This is still a huge problem. Around 2008, the unemployed started trickling in. 2009 it was anyone who could glue a feather on a headband, selling for $5.

Now the business to be in, is the guy who organizes a popup by fronting the money on a one month pop up to sell to desperate vendors. These organizers are making $15,000 a month ripping off the vendors, and the vendors are losing money with the risk.

Its all desperation on all fronts. Landlords can't rent out their leases for 5 years. There is a glut of "makers" who are undercutting the small boutiques. Vendors shell out all the money and don't make it back. Small boutiques are going out of business.... etc, etc.

It's tough times. Nobody "needs" jewelry or other crafts that makers make. Everyone is just trying to scrape by, day to day.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Excuse me, what is a pop-up?

People tell me my stuff is beautiful and fabulous, but can't afford to buy it.

[pitohui]

32. ok here is a popular scam since the bush 1 recession in the early 1990s

i don't know the term "pop up" but i bet the scam is this -- you rent a storefront (but unknown to the victims of the scam you pay very very little maybe even no deposit down on the storeifront) -- you then tell crafters that they can put their items "on consignment" in your store but, ah, instead of classic consighment (which is bad enough, because you pay them nothing and just steal their stuff and/or any money that comes in) you ALSO collect a fee for their shelf space rental

you the victim rent a tiny space on the shelf for say $40 a month, a bunch of other people do too, storefront owner takes the money and says "oh well nothing sold" and disappears at the end of the month

EVERY one who has sold crafts for any length of time has been taken by this scam and also by the older "i'll sell it on consignment" scam

what is really sad is times are so hard that i've been thinking of doing the scam myself and i was a victim myself! but it's a completely legal crime, there is no law against renting space in your store and then closing the store in a short period of time w. no sales

bottom line, there is no market for cheap, and if you are trying to sell cheap crafts, you are competing with the $1 a day guy in china so you're screwed

[firehorse]

49. yes this is pretty much what I'm talking about

there are variations. NYC the going rate can be anywhere from $400 - $5000 a month depending on location.

[firehorse]

48. Pop up is when you rent a store for a month instead of a long term lease and throw a bunch of makers

in it split the rent.

[PADemD]

29. It's not just the craft stores

A lot of the other stores are busy, too. My son works in a restaurant, and business has picked up.

[KansDem]

4. I've noticed local entrepreneurs seem to be willing to negotiate fees and pay arrangements

I have a large oak tree in my front yard whose branches were beginning to hang close to my roof. A couple of months ago I received a letter from my insurance company instructing me to trim the branches or lose coverage.

I contacted a couple of tree trimmers who gave me estimates. While I was pondering whom to go with, one individual returned and left his card on my front door stating that prices were negotiable due to slow business in the area. He even offered to defer payment until my payday.

I had him do the work and sent a check a week later.

I don't think this (negotiable fee and pay-later plan) would have been possible a decade ago...

[Sherman A1]

5. Things tend to get slower during election years

Something my Mom told me years ago and I didn't believe until I was running a retail business for 18 years. Sure as she told me, things slowed down every 4 years.

[geckosfeet]

6. Not bad where I am (central MA).

It's not great and there is a lot of concern but things have improved slightly. Certainly not a robust economy, but better than two or three years ago.

[phantom power]

7. of course, we're in a depressionary economy and demand is flatlined

[HopeHoops]

8. I dropped a quarter yesterday. Couldn't bend down far enough to reach it.

It's on the street.

[raccoon]

14. Can you provide a map? nt

[HopeHoops]

23. About where the red car is in front of the plaza behind the McD's.

http://maps.yahoo.com/#tt=shur+fine&q=Enola%2C+PA+17025&conf=1&start=1&lat=40.300443349798286&lon=-76.9284850358963&zoom=19&mvt=h&trf=0

[rufus dog]

9. I went into Costco on Saturday it it was a ZOO!

To the point of being highly annoying, people everywhere, couldn't get down aisles, all checkstands open.

[zbdent]

10. Yeah, "trickle down" really works ...

just ask the farmer whose crops are dying of thirst, while "upstream", some guy decides to damn up the river so he can have a swimming pool ... and then sells you glasses of water.

[taught_me_patience]

11. Nope

Economy is booming here. Restaurants are full, shopping centers are crowded, homes are flying off the market, and events are packed. It even seems like more people are just driving around.

This is a serious post.

[hack89]

12. Things are picking up here. Lots of tourists spending like crazy. nt

[deaniac21]

13. I found a quarter in the parking lot last week

[gaspee]

15. Not at my store

I have a discount pet store in a year round indoor flea market. We had our best week ever last weekend.

We sell new products, not junk, but our prices are, on average 25% less than regular retail pet stores.

I'm in RI, if that matters.

[IndyPragmatist123]

16. I work in advertising, most of our clients have cut back

I personally work with 5 clients and 4 of them have made fairly significant cuts to their advertising budgets in the last few years.

I think people are holding on to cash. There is too much uncertainty in the markets and the government right now. We are less than 6 months away from knowing whether our country takes a huge turn to the right or moves to the left. I think the economy will pick up a bit next year because people will know what is coming. It will have little to do with the actual policy, it will be because people will know what to expect for the next 4 years.

[geckosfeet]

20. If it will have little to do with actual policy, then wtf?

They are going to do what they are going to do no matter what government policy is as long as they know what to expect?

I never understood this way of running a business. Expectations, guesses and intuition.

[FreeJoe]

17. Not here

I live in an affluent area just north of Houston. I used to see lots of high end BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes in my commute. I still see them, but I'm seeing an increasing number of Maseratis, Ferraris, and Bentleys. Someone told me yesterday that the local unemployment rate for college grads age 25+ is under 4%. About half of the kids we offered internships to turned us down. I keep expecting the bubble to burst here, but it hasn't happened yet.

[kestrel91316]

18. It's been dried up for over 5 years in my neighborhood.

And it's tanking again.

[jeff47]

19. One tip:

When you mention you are freelancing ALWAYS MENTION WHAT YOU ARE FREELANCING.

I have no idea if you write software, ad copy or cook. While I may not hire you, there's other people reading your post who might.

[pitohui]

34. doesn't matter, spend some time on elance or guru.com

it's a global economy

you're a writer, so is kenny from bangladesh but he'll write 500 words for $1

you're a coder, the same

you're a cook, if you don't pay off the right people and have $1 million (not a typo) worth of insurance you're out of business

the three things i just stated are actual events that either happened to me or people close to me (i have never cooked commercially but 2 diff friends had their businesses shut down damn fast for reason #3)

any job that you can do right here on the ground so you're not competing with the $1 day guy, you have to know who to pay off w.out getting arrested

if you're an honest person it is truly frightening this time of century

and even whores and strippers earn less than they did 30 years ago, there is nothing a woman can do that is considered to be of much financial value (what is the icon for head in hands?) -- we were closer to financial freedom in 1978!

if there is anything you can do, don't be a free lancer, if you have some problem in your background where you have no choice, well, give me ideas and i'll look out for ideas for you, i honestly don't know what else to suggest, if you cannot for whatever reason be hired by the man this society judges you as worthless

[jeff47]

47. Yes, it does matter

First, a lot of jobs can only be done in person. We both have no idea what the OP does and it could be such a job.

Second, people go to elance and guru once. Once they've been massively burned by offshoring, they go back to local options. If IBM can't successfully pull off offshoring, what makes you think a single random person can?

[HooptieWagon]

21. It seems to be the case in Tampa Bay area.

Everyone has cut back, which has local businesses struggling and even closing.

[closeupready]

22. Yes, I do notice that, very much so.

At that same time, things seem to be just getting better for a smaller number of people.

[jwirr]

25. I see a lot more people going to get help from the charitable programs such as the food shelf and

Naps/Mac. And if you listen to people talk they are talking about being broke. I have exactly $40 left for the rest of the month after paying bills.

[pitohui]

30. this has been the case for at least 5 years now

a young person is shooting themselves in the foot to be a free lancer/self employed, you are condemning yourself to a lifetime of below minimum wage and no health care benefits

things were different when i first started out but i regret every day i listened to the crap about being an entrepreneur and a free lancer, i have destroyed my life, there is no money out there to get

if you can get a job, grab it, if the job has benefits, never let it go

if you're one of the unemployable (like me) i don't know what to say, we are screwed if we are unwilling to have sex with creeps for money and i am VERY unwilling to do that (and too old now to do that anyway)

if i wanted to have sex for money i could have slept w. my harasser back in the day and i would literally have millions more in income by now

it makes me sick

if you are a woman, you are of value for ONE thing and it is not for stringing beads, which some kid in a Chinese village can do (and any other craft too) for $2 a day

[FirstLight]

36. ya

In a small town, with limited resources...casino jobs, tourism stuff...but most of the work is seasonal and my age and health are limiting...Add to that the fact that no matter what I do, as a single mom, if the kids get sick or need me I end up losing the job ...and less than $10 isnt a living wage for a 40 hr week anyway...not like i could pull of a 40 hr week anymore and still keep my sanity or health intact.

[slackmaster]

31. There's new construction and upgrades going on all around where I work. Companies moving in,

Lots of traffic on the roads during rush hour.

The only way I can tell we are in a recession is that I know several people who are unemployed.

[banned from Kos]

33. You are correct. Less money is a characteristic of deflation.

As the Fed tries to boost the money supply it evaporates.

Spot on.

[FirstLight]

37. so where does it go?

are the 1%ers starting to hoard it?

[lonestarnot]

40. 2 Trillion stashed by richie rich.

[banned from Kos]

42. No, the !% is oblivious. Where does it go?

It disappears like the $50,000 in your IRA account goes to $10,000.

Like your car falls 50%.

[HiPointDem]

35. yes.

[Egalitarian Thug]

38. Yes. Every year since 1998. K&R n/t

[Honeycombe8]

39. Even if businesses have the money, it's prudent to watch expenses closely in these times.

They're keeping an eye on the bottom line, making sure they have buffer for a continuing recession or lapsing into another recession, maybe.

I'm seeing it in my business, too. Some places have experienced a decrease in revenue, for sure. But others who have not are keeping a tight rein on expenses.

Thank goodness you have some freelance work. Are you looking for something permanent, or is freelancing what you generally do?

[FirstLight]

46. freelancing is kind of a default

since a 'real job' is really not an option... my area is not easy to find work in... and there's personal issues for me not being able to hold a full time gig

[woo me with science]

41. Went into a Toys R Us today for the first time in years

and was shocked at how small it was and how cheap (in quality) and limited the inventory.

I have noticed for a while that selections are a lot smaller than they used to be. I guess that is a natural result of driving out most of the small competitors and having just a few massive providers anymore.

But, yeah, it's depressing.

[Egalitariat]

43. I live in Orlando, and was in Winter Park with my parents on Saturday

My Dad remarked that it didn't look like there was a recession going on here. And he was right. It didn't.

[ibegurpard]

44. not where I live

I can't find a contractor to do anything here and actually get it finished in a reasonable amount of time.

[Digit]

45. I am now making what I made in the 80's

Which is depressing enough.

I am constantly looking for other jobs, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there.
The positions I apply to are scams and I have become so cynical of anything I see available I hesitate to apply.

Guess who holds all the money?