Originally posted by Jacob:
... Let's see,
Top Ten reasons Christmas Business stinks:
10. The economy sucks, regardless of the spin you hear.
9. The skyrocketing cost of heating oil/gas.
8. The war in Iraq.
7. People are making $10 an hour for jobs that used to pay them $25 an hour.
6. People are broke from spending $60 a week to run their cars.
5. People are broke because nobody's buying anything from them either.
4. Everybody spent their Christmas money already on an IPod.
3. Everybody spent their Christmas money already on booze to dull the pain.
2. Everybody spent their Christmas money already on Health Insurance and Prescription medication.
1. People are saving their pennies for the important things in life. Like duct tape.
Oh well, look at the bright side. As the economy spirals down and the middle class becomes extinct, we can look forward to more poor people. Crime, crowded prisons and unhealthy living conditions...
These reasons are both true and false.
They are true because American consumers are being bombarded with exactly those thoughts every day, and the majority of consumers believe them in the absence of other input. Hence, the doom & gloom is self-fulfilling prophecy, and it is continuing to take a serious toll on consumer confidence.
It is false because our economy actually is strong, our workers are working, our incomes are growing, our cost of living and inflation are not skyrocketing, the stock market is doing well, and money is flowing at a record pace thoroughout major sectors of our economy.
I'm old. But in all my years I have never before seen so much careless, one-sided, destructive media emphasis given to the bad news, and so little mention of the good news -- of which there is plenty. I believe the bad-news media coverage is intended to stimulate viewership/readership, and to inspire political upheaval. The fact that it fuels consumer discontent is, to media folks, a secondary concern.
American consumers are working, earning, and spending in record numbers. So why aren't our shops jammed with orders?
1. Consumer confidence is very low, as Jacob so eloquently points out. Consumers have the money but when they decide to cut back, "discretionary spending" for products/services like ours is what suffers first, last, and most.
2. Our industry is changing and the custom framing segment of it is shrinking. We have competition from big, professional businesses unlike our own. Consumers are buying more foreign-made "wall decor" than custom framing; internet sales of framed art continue to grow; and the craft stores are doing much better than we are. We are not losing business to our traditional custom-framing competitors, we are losing it to whole new classes of competitors.
3. Too many small shop framers are dazed and confused; seemingly unable to adapt to the changing market. We all need to read & heed Carter, Bluestone, Goltz, et al.
...) But if they want it done, I just know that I will be here when they are ready...holiday or no holiday.
