I want to hear

[Banned by Squirrels]

If anywhere in the country has not felt the recent crunch in getting people to open their wallets for tree work that is not for hazard, or land clearing purposes?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Everybody has. I hardly ever "trim" trees anymore. It's all TD's, construction or hazard.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

A salesman I deal with is already booking the end of July. This isn't a small co either 40+ employees year round....

 

[inztrees]

I think we're week to week

 

[gf beranek]

The hills are on fire in Santa Cruz and elsewhere in SoCal. Usually spawns a lot of tree work. Awful damn early for fires though. Nonetheless there be work after a fire storm.

 

[Banned by Squirrels]

Ok, so if you're established is anybody continuing to grow? And if you've been in the same area for a year or two are you struggling or keeping above water?

Locations please.

 

[squisher]

Sucks here, nothing to hear about

 

[Banned by Squirrels]

I'm not looking to crash anybody's party...











And who would want to live in Canada?

 

[Old Monkey]

Things are slower here than last year but I still expect to beat last years numbers.

 

[sotc]

busier than last year at this time but all the other companies are slow. dont know why but im not complaining

 

[squisher]

And who would want to live in Canada?

Nobody. It's basically a barren wasteland.

Picture taken by me earlier this spring.

 

[Stumper]

I'm very busy. Who knows what the future holds? Disposable income is certainly reduced due to fuel costs and attendent ramifications on everything else.

 

[Paul B]

...Disposable income is certainly reduced due to fuel costs ...

dependant on the timescale how much does the rising cost of fueling vehicles really affect a household?

My quick math is:
Wifes honda takes about 3 tanks a month for her driving to work and everything else, at $1.10 a liter it would cost her about $100 a month, raise the fuel price to the current $1.35 a liter and it makes a difference of about $22 a month. I think we were at $1.10 a liter about a year ago.

Thinking about trickle effect of other products like food and such costing more what would be the impact at the average home, $50 a month?

Has anyone changed their lifestyle or spending habits to compense for the fuel prices? I am talking about more than just worrying about the mileage in the car/truck.

Not trying to attack Justin's thoughts at all but they got me thinking about the issue in some base terms. I know I havent changed my lifestyle. I changed trucks but not for fuel savings, I have always been a light turner offer (drives the wife crazy! ), heater turner downer and door closer. Seems we (I) just shrug and stand their whilest the pumps chug away at whatever price it is at. I have raised my hourly rate each spring a few bucks and it seems we keep plugging along doing the same things we did the year before etc.

I find here almost every landscaper I talk to has more work than they can handle, construcion is BOOMING, fuel prices are rising and it gets busier and they build more, more and more.

so, as I like to say 'consume! its the north american way!', yes I say that very sarcastically.

anyhoo, I am off to the shower, then I might do some work, not much though, I am playing hooky today to have a family day, maybe we will go for a drive!

 

[sotc]

i fuel my pickup about time a week. used to fuel up for 70-80 bucks, yesterday was 130 bucks! hasnt really changed the way i do anything but bidding. it most definatly is affecting the prices i charge this year.
i drive my wife nuts with light switches to

 

[Paul B]

I have even startedunplgging things that arent on, like cell phone chargers, baby monitors etc. I was talking to someone and I forget what they call it 'ghost loads' or something like that, apparently between all the little adapters (in use or not) plugged in they suck a teensy bit of juice each adding up to a frightening amount of power consumed for no reason at all.

I now charge my cell and GPS in the truck only, not in the house. Teeny effort but its a start. Imagine if 2 million people did the same?

 

[squisher]

Frig it, electricity is cheap .

 

[sotc]

i dont fool with chargers

 

[Paul B]

Frig it, electricity is cheap .

for us its pretty cheap (hydroelectircally sourced power). What about not having to build a nuke plant or being able to close a few coal burners?

a little less of this would suit me just fine

 

[squisher]

Well when ya put it that way I suppose!

 

[SkwerI]

If I were driving a Honda then fuel prices wouldn't affect me much either. Last year I was using about $600 per month in diesel in the old bucket truck. The new truck seems to get better mileage, but now I'm spending about $1000 per month on diesel fuel.

And that's just diesel, that doesn't count gas for my pickup or mix gas for my saws. My gasoline cost is about $300+ per month.

 

[Paul B]

I used that (my wifes little honda) as an example of an average-ish personal vehicle usage. Rather than basing my thoughts on a business (much more mileage) or heavy vehicle. As an employee you wouldnt feel the sting (you wouldnt earn any less hourly) of a fuel price increase of your work provided vehicle, its us poor business owners that get to feel the direct sting.

My equipment fuel usage is minimal, maybe $15 a month.

 

[sotc]

shoot, they say nuke is as clean a power as it gets. were tearing out all our dams for the salmon down here

 

[Paul B]

dunno, I just figure if our house uses a little less, its not a bad thing

 

[Stumper]

dunno, I just figure if our house uses a little less, its not a bad thing

No it isn't a bad thing-but it probably isn't going to change the world economy either. If 2 million people did all of their cell phone charging in their vehicles it might save enough electricity to power three 60 watt encandescent bulbs each day and result in 7 more traffic fatalities per year.(Yes I pulled those figures out of the air -just like every other pie in the sky fanatic that fails to calculate the unknowable unintended consequences of any sweeping policy change.)

 

[Paul B]

...(Yes I pulled those figures out of the air..

I checked the link I put up earlier, their estimate is a fair bit higher.

"Also known as "phantom loads", ghost loads are the sneaky devices that constantly consume small amounts of electricity 24 hours a day—even when they're not actually doing anything useful. While each device by itself may not consume much electricity, the combination of all of them within your household may easily consume the equivalent of two or three 60-Watt incandescent light bulbs left on all day and all night. Over the course of a single year this adds up to over 1 Megawatt-hour—in other words, enough electricity to power an entire energy-efficient house for 2 to 3 months!"

I dont know what it takes to produce 1 megawatt hour of electricity though.