I went out and ran some errands this afternoon. I had to grab a few things for the household and I'm told by reliable sources that one of the local supermarkets is the cheapest ( Market Basket), so I proceeded there to do my shopping. Upon pulling in the parking lot the place was jammed with cars and people. This is on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. or so. I drove around a bit and decided I wasn't in the mood to mingle with my fellow humans.
As I drove up the street I remembered a friend of ours that works at ( Shaws ) , another more expensive supermarket, saying that she was surprised she still had her job because that place was so dead. I pulled into their parking lot and was surprised at the amount of open spaces. I got a front row space ( I usually walk from farther out , but there was more than one available), and went in the store. The items I had to get were at opposite ends of the store so I had to cover the whole place. I bet I saw a maximum of 20 people in there.
I got the 5 or 6 things I needed and went up to an empty register line and was back in my truck in 10-15 minutes. So ALOT more people are shopping at the lower end places because money is getting tight, OK I registered that in the old memory banks and to keep an eye on Shaws to look for layoffs or store closings.
On to the next synapse firing incident:
Since I had done an outstanding job I decided I needed lunch. A quick stop at Burger King was the next thing that shocked me. I ordered a BK double stacker and a bottle of water. The girl handed me the bag and I questioned myself " Theres no way theres a burger in there?" it was too light. I pulled over into the shade of the trees in the parking lot and got this:
NOW mind you I'm not small BUT I sure as hell ain't no giant. It looks to me like the food industry is downsizing their portions so that they can maintain their margins.
These were just a couple things that registered to me today. I know that things aren't as rosy as they are saying and there is NO WAY things are turning around. More and more layoffs will result in less spending which will result in less revenue, which will result in layoffs....... etc... etc.... etc....
