How is business?

[Zep]

Glad to hear that Scott.

I need to get back out there to the Bellagio Pool and sipping drinks on the patio @ Mon Ami Gabi!

[Steve]

Ya'll need to get into the beauty biz! Seen anyone lately without color in their hair or that don't use shampoo or styling products?  Virtually recession proof!

OK, so it’s not as “manly” but does your accountant care?

[In Canada eh]

Water treatment industry is just flowing right along, up hill in fact

[Vinny]

Well, as you know, I don't sell spas, I am a nurse.

Business in the health care industry is, well, always in a crunch due to a consistent nursing shortage.  Job security, yeah, I have it.  However, things do slow down in the summer time, for the most part.  From Sept. on, it gets nuts.  Flus, Pneumonias, lots of stuff.  Plus, people are back from their vacations.  So, time to pay attention to that cough, dark stool, certain ache,...  We had some baaaaddd pneumonias earlier this year.  Couldn't even tell you what bug caused it, because most times, people were on an antibiotic before hitting the hospital door.  So, it wiped out the bug, not the damage and the massive infiltrates.  

On a slightly different angle, I would love to know what our hospital's profits are--seems we always spend hundreds of thousands on a "new reporting ssystem", but take away extra shift incentives, bonuses for no call offs, or trying to woo new staff, or to retain the old.  Once, our hospital spent bookoo bucks on Hunter group to come and TELL us where we were losing money.  What did they do?  Squeeze the staff some more.  

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, though I fess up, I took a mental health day last night, my bad.  I have a great bunch of nurses I work with, and docs, too, and the best manager in the nursing world.  It always seems the administration could do more, maybe I am just looking at it from the armchair quarterback side...

Chrisi

I forget where you are but I am in NJ. Hospitals here are closing due to the funding (or lack there of). Some of the better, well known hospitals have a small nursing shortage but the lesser hospitals have a bigger problem. My niece works in Manhattan at Sloan Kettering and she says they treat nurses like gold. Me, I'm a Biomed guy that some of the othr hospital professionals treat like a POS because I'm supposed to know that there is something breaking in the hospital AND have all the parts readily available.

As far as hospital administrators ... they seem to me to be the low end of the management pool.; couldn't get a job anywhere else!

[Vinny]

Ya'll need to get into the beauty biz! Seen anyone lately without color in their hair or that don't use shampoo or styling products?  Virtually recession proof!

OK, so it’s not as “manly” but does your accountant care?

Steve,

I knew a husband and wife that sold beauty products - from the wife ' as long as there are women on this earth we will always have a job'. It also may be true of some men as well.

[Memories_Galore]

My husband is a truck driver and with the price of fuel here in Pa. and the high tolls, highway taxes, truck repairs, tires, I could go on and on, but the price of fuel is a killer, by the time he pays the fuel bill and tolls, he is just about making ends meet.  I have a small courier business, and that has just about come to a halt.  The economy is REALLY bad.  Hopefully the next president (who ever that will be) will turn the economy around for the better.  We know of some trukers who could not pay for fuel, just had to let their trucks sit.  No wonder people are losing their homes, it's really scary.

[Swell-Tub]

The President does not effect the economy as much as Congress and the Senate. They are the law makers and control the purse strings. So we need to pay attention to those races as well. The biggest impact the next President will have is on the Supreme Court.

I think the economy will get better next year regardless of the President. And while I'm on my soap box. The price of diesel is hurting us more than the price of gas. High gas prices are making alternate fuels more attractive, high diesel prices just make everything else more expensive like the price of Hot Tubs. Despite an earlier post, hot tubs are not delivered by storks.....

Scott  

[spahappy]

Living on the edge the one of the most significant oil finds in the U.S. does have it's advantages. We're about the same as last year on spa sales, however we're seeing substantial increases in our fireplace and sauna business. The locals seem more interested in wood and pellet burners, while the recent oilfield implants, many of whom are from the southern states, are just interested in heat. I guess they've heard about our frigid winters up here in North Dakota.

We've never charged a trip charge, and only charge mileage after the warranty period, but we've talked about changing that due to the high cost of fuel and windshield costs involved in sending vans down the road to the many rural towns and area's we cover.

I understand cost of running a business has increased substantially over the last year and a half, however everything in my life is definitely costing me more these days as well. I haven't had a raise since before a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas were under $3.25.  I have teenagers and I drive a Suburban, so I'm at the pump and the dairy case alot

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

windshield costs involved in sending vans down the road to the many rural towns and area's

[size=24]?[/size]

[Mr._Bubbles]

[size=24]?[/size]

Stone chip/cracks, I'm guessing.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

I try to never guess or assume.... could be flying squirrels with rock hard heads.

[Mr._Bubbles]

I try to never guess or assume.... could be flying squirrels with rock hard heads.

hahah, true true.

[spahappy]

It's a term my boss uses, it means things like insurance, repairs, tires, all the costs of maintaining vehicles. We haven't run across any heavely armed squirrels, however we've had a pheasant take out a windsheild in one of the techs vans last year.

[wewannahottub]

I forget where you are but I am in NJ. Hospitals here are closing due to the funding (or lack there of). Some of the better, well known hospitals have a small nursing shortage but the lesser hospitals have a bigger problem. My niece works in Manhattan at Sloan Kettering and she says they treat nurses like gold. Me, I'm a Biomed guy that some of the othr hospital professionals treat like a POS because I'm supposed to know that there is something breaking in the hospital AND have all the parts readily available.

As far as hospital administrators ... they seem to me to be the low end of the management pool.; couldn't get a job anywhere else!

Vinny--I am from south of Pittsburgh, not many hospitals closing here, only 2 that I can think of (other than Mayview State Hosp for Mentally Ill) in the past 10 or so years, but I could be wrong, the one closed and reopened, then closed again under poor management.

BTW, ICU nurses love Biomed guys--you are our support when our CVVH machines fail, monitors act up, IVACs need new batteries--I figure, if anything nurses drive Biomed techs nuts, letting IVAC batteries to run out.

Just wait until fall is here--we'll be nuts.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

We are in the North East and things are plucking along. I have had an increase in sales this year. As with most others, it has been the high end tubs that are going, not the entry level. I think the customers that have disposible income are buying because they are getting good deals right now due to sales ect to keep the market moving.

We have had a huge increase in tub repairs this year also. May people in the middle income bracket that want to repir their tub to get a few more years from it rather than replace it right now. We have done an unbeleivable amount of control system replacements.

Saunas are slow....90 plus degree weather may be playing a role in that. We just added woodstoves, Hunter and regency line to our floor for a bit of added security $$. Our floor models have not even arrived and we have 4 sales pending all ready!

We have also instituted a fuel surcharge for customers beyond 30 miles. I have had no complaints about this as of yet. Everyone is very understanding.

Yesterday while delivering 2 tubs, our state was hit with BAD storms, what they think is possible tornados went through and 100 houses got washed away in torrential downpours. One tub did not get delivered because the customer now has a river running through his back yard and we did not bring a barge to place the tub on to get to his deck! Things like this slow down the economy for a bit, but as people get back on their feet, they will be purchasing. Many of those 100 houses were on a lake with a hot tub that is now floating away somewhere. As they rebuild they will replace...