Wow, Hot Spring Highlife selling at Costco.

[East_TX_Spa]

A super high end know it all, to be sure.

Terminator

[grahamtasia]

I am sure Watkins has made a deal where HotSpring dealers get a cut of any that are sold and probably get a cut as far as shipping if a Costco sold spa is placed on the truck with their spa order. Funny how the salesman gets left out.

[Vinny]

I think the economy is really in trouble by the way things are going. Housing has flattened out and in some markets are receeding. People who bought housing with "special financing" are in trouble of losing their homes.

Gas prices, oil prices, electricity and natural gas prices are going up in an alarming rate... soon food and clothing prices will be going up because of this.

People pay more for their benefits which are being cut down.

Little by little these take their toll and the quality of life goes down. As far as the economy, who's buying a luxury item when you need to eat? How may people can afford a $400,000 or more house? How does a young couple starting out afford a $1300/month rent and save. How do people with children take them to the doctors and pay the copay + whatever their deductable is?

Yep, we're in for some hard times ...

[drewstar]

I think the economy is really in trouble by the way things are going. Housing has flattened out and in some markets are receeding. People who bought housing with "special financing" are in trouble of losing their homes.

Gas prices, oil prices, electricity and natural gas prices are going up in an alarming rate... soon food and clothing prices will be going up because of this.

People pay more for their benefits which are being cut down.

Little by little these take their toll and the quality of life goes down. As far as the economy, who's buying a luxury item when you need to eat? How may people can afford a $400,000 or more house? How does a young couple starting out afford a $1300/month rent and save. How do people with children take them to the doctors and pay the copay + whatever their deductable is?

Yep, we're in for some hard times ...

I think housing and fuel are definatley major players, and the future will be uncertain, as it always is, I was reflecting on a statment that said the industry, as well as the economy was up and down, and in trouble for the past 4 years, and I just shook my head and wondered what medication he was on.  

[grahamtasia]

Anything that is a unknown, you can easily be uncertain about, thats for sure!

[Bonibelle]

I think this is a very real awakening....I am old enough to clearly remember the last energy crunch in the early '80's. Interest rates were so high that if you could afford a home starting out, it wasn't a very big and not many frills. As energy costs dropped and interest rates dropped, we became pigs and just used and used like there would be no end to available energy (oil). Now the cycle is returning....High fuel costs, slower housing market, higher interest rates...that's all it is a cycle but we will now have to incorporate the global competition....this is depressing me..think I'll go out and catch some frogs

[drewstar]

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/fyi/2006/032306fyi.html


And here's a decent article on the state of the economy. It's not all roses, and there are siginificant concerns,  but overall we've been doing ok:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060420/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy]

[Anoroc]

Drewstar- the chart was upside down.  Now, as you cansee the economy has taken quite a dip.

[drewstar]

A super high end dip.  

[East_TX_Spa]

http://www.careerbuilder.com/tv/Default.aspx?sc_cmp2=JS_HP_TV&cbRecursionCnt=2&cbsid=06bbe6c708584c45bd842e1a4d21b2da-198864265-R3-1

It's been known to happen before.

Terminator

[grahamtasia]

Hopefully, the Costco experiment fails miserably and the employee who came up with the herky jerky idea gets fired.

[Wisoki]

For the time being.

I don't think anyone can go to Costco and pick up the tub.

Isn't only being sold via Costco's internet site?

[Wisoki]

99% of people use 70% of their brains 10% of the time and the rest use 5% 100% of the time and 99% of all statistics are made up ON THE SPOT.

99% of the people in the world don't own a spa, so there are a lot of potential customers out there.
Terminator

[Chas]

Well, I was also told that the economy was in trouble and it was up and down for the past 4 years,  

The industry was down around 15%, while HS was only down about 1%. Another way of saying it is this: HS gained almost a 14% market share.

[hottubdan]

I just came back from Sam's and they are sellling the HS.

They are selling what?  In the store or the parking lot?