Is the slow economy affecting your hobby?

[Coelacanth]

Maybe this is mostly directed at the Canadian members...but is the downturn in the economy affecting your RC hobby?

For me, other than building an RC Buick GNX pan car for someone in Ohio, all my RC projects & tools & crap have been bagged 'n' tagged 'n' stashed away for the past several months. I'm anxious to build my Lucas Agitator, I have all the "theme" colored parts acquired, I just need to polish some de-anodized parts and have them re-anodized crimson red, and rebuild it. It's gonna look amazing when it's done. My other "beast RC" project is similarly on hold, it's about 1/3 complete...I need to buy a B4 slipper assembly for that, some odd-sized rear tires, a suitable body and build up an Optima Mid gearbox for it. But since the budget is frozen at the moment, everything is in limbo and I'm not even motivated to work on anything.

How is the slow economy affecting your RC projects?

[uniquenamehere]

For me it's the exchange rate that's making me second guess buying anything for RC or my 1:1 toy. It sucks...

[GoMachV]

become a service tech working on broken appliances. 10-22 hours a day, you will forget all about hobbies, family, breathing...lol

[Incredible_Serious]

become a service tech working on broken appliances. 10-22 hours a day, you will forget all about hobbies, family, breathing...lol

Could this possibly be an indirect result of the aforementioned slowing economy i.e. people are getting appliances fixed, where they used to just buy a replacement?


I know the low value Aussie dollar against the US$, coupled to just awful postage costs (both locally and internationally) has meant I no longer buy that much from the US or UK... but the economic slowdown does mean that I am buying a lot more projects and stuff locally - people seem to be liquidating a lot of their RC for cheap prices, and if you happen to have a few $$$, there are bargains to be had. As an example, I picked this lot up locally for AUS$80 (about US$56, CAN$77), which included the M03 chassis and heaps of upgrades, Spektrum receiver, racing-spec brushless system, fast servo, and three LiPo packs to suit. Right place, right time!

Alex

[Coelacanth]

Yes, if you have the funds socked away, a bad economy is a great time to score fantastic deals. Not that many years ago, when the USD & CAD were almost on par, and the US economy was at an ebb, I was buying up vintage cymbals (I play the drums) from American eBay sellers almost on a bi-weekly basis. I scored some amazing deals and saved the ones I liked most, and turned the others into trades or money. For the past few years, since shipping rates skyrocketed on anything larger than 4 pounds, I haven't bought a single cymbal. Fortunately by now I've accumulated quite a nice collection of cymbals.

I also stumbled upon my "dream kit" on the MusicGoRound.com website, stashed somewhere in a warehouse was a 6-piece set of Sonor Delites, it included a rare 14x6" snare in matching super-rare Metallic Marine finish...the price tag said $1499...for a drum kit worth 5 grand, easy. I couldn't whip out my Visa card fast enough! Ordinarily I would've never been able to afford a top-of-the-line kit like that, for so cheap...the kind of instrument that'll be with me all my life, because there's almost nothing superior to it. Thanks to the soft American/strong Canadian economy for that score, but now the Canadians are on the other end of the stick these days.

[slotcarrod]

Yup, the best I can explain it to the US guys, would be like taking a 35% pay cut!

[mAdMan]

Damn I'm sorry guys.

I'm not trying to start a political discussion here I'm just truly curious, but what would you Canadians say the main reason for Canada's economic problem is?

[hugger19]

for buyers its great, for sellers it sucks!!! i just sold a body and sticker sheet it took me 2 years to sell and only got $22. 8-10 years ago i would have gotten $50 and sold the first time i listed it

[slotcarrod]

Damn I'm sorry guys.

I'm not trying to start a political discussion here I'm just truly curious, but what would you Canadians say the main reason for Canada's economic problem is?

Oil and mineral prices for the most part. Our dollar strengthens as soon as oil goes up. Enjoy the low gas prices while you can though!

[Coelacanth]

Damn I'm sorry guys.

I'm not trying to start a political discussion here I'm just truly curious, but what would you Canadians say the main reason for Canada's economic problem is?

A healthy portion of Canada's economy is resource-driven, a huge part of that is oil. Even though Canada's oil development is among the cleanest in the world, and we contribute such a tiny amount to global emissions, idiots like Leonardo Dicaprio, Daryl Hannah, Neil Young and others crap all over it, even though none of them have a clue...and each of them has a huge carbon footprint themselves. We want to get our oil to the ocean via pipelines--which is comparatively the cleanest, safest way to do it, compared to oil tankers or rail--not that anybody thinks about THAT, of course--but everyone seems against it. Even the idiot premier in Montreal, Quebec is against a pipeline from Alberta to tidewater in Quebec. Yet, they're happy to take BILLIONS of dollars in equalization payments from Alberta rather than developing their own vast shale oil resources. So, Alberta sends billions of dollars to Quebec & Ontario each year, but they want to block the pipeline. Classic case of wanting to bite the hand that feeds you.

It gets pretty complicated but the fact remains that our oil development is more cost-effective and cleaner and much less of a carbon footprint than importing oil by tankers or rail, for example from the Middle East. It's just that too many politicians and activists have their heads up their asses when it comes to the actual facts.

[Diamond Dave]

No pay cut here, no oil based economy is going to affect me. I am so freakin loaded with cash it is ridiculous!

[Incredible_Serious]

No pay cut here, no oil based economy is going to affect me. I am so freakin loaded with cash it is ridiculous!

Always happy to help out a mate who is needlessly overburdoned.... let me send you my PayPal ID....



Alex

[shodog]

I think in my area things are on the turn around. The freeways are busier and housing costs are rising. I find that no matter how much overtime I work, my expenses find out about it and snatch it up. This leaves little for toys.

I'd like to sell off a ton of my stuff but Rere's killed the market. Right now it appears to be a buyers market. So now I hunt only the the stuff I really want and leave the nice to have on my watch list.

[Diamond Dave]

Buyers market for sure. Unless......

You have the rare of the rare, or something that just can't be bought for cheap. Then you might be able to sell at a profit.

The same goes for many of the things we buy and think the value is still there years later. Vehicles, some property, RC anything. (almost)

There is a guy that posts stuff online in my local area weekly, where and how he gets this stuff I have no idea. He asks close to retail for his first ad.

Sure enough, a day later he is asking for half of what he posted it for and it is always poor quality. I wish some ppl would learn.

[fakiee]

Personally I think its partly by design. I think its no coincidence that Mark Carney is now Governor to the Bank of England. When he was In Canada it was during probably your biggest housing boom, perfect person to appoint to England while we are in a massive housing boom too.

He will know exactly how long he can drag it on a syringe every last penny before moving on and letting the house of cards fall. When Carney steps down in the UK expect the housing economy to go down too.

Every household is upto their eyeballs in debt, even with ZIRP and some place negative interest, massive money printing and people struggle more and more. Reducing Oil prices is another tool they have used to keep kicking this can down the road, and as with every "tool" or "instrument as they like to call it, there will always be casualties.