Global Finance Crisis

Is the Global Financial Crisis making you spend less on marines ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 25 46.3%
  • No

    Votes: 24 44.4%
  • What Crisis ?

    Votes: 5 9.3%

  • Total voters
    54
  • Poll closed .
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Is the Global Finance meltdown, making you spend less on live stock, hardware and upkeep of your Marine tank.

Also interesting if anyone has personal experiences with whats going down in the SA economy and others around the world.
 
I think there is a varied and healthy global interest in SA.I believe our country is going to boom and possibly become the next emerging first world country.On the otherhand I am not a politician and I am an extreme optimist.....We really need to encourage foreign investment.I can in all honesty say that if a corporate from Dubai wanted to build a R50 billion park where my house is,i would sell and move just to make it happen.Imagine the boost to our economy.Imagine the spin offs to the SA people.........need I say that is IMHO
 
Good one on you Goodisor!

Thanks for the poll Warr......

Personally - I think that there is indeed SOME impact, as this "crisis" has forced a lot of LFS's and even our sponsors, to sell marine related life stock, as well as hardware for "more expensively".

Personally, because I think that keeping marines, is quite a "niche" hobby (not status related = just specialist, ie "niche"), that the economy will have a limited impact on marine/reefkeepers....
YES - it WILL have SOME impact if the life-stock/hard-ware becomes more expensive.... people will either think twice of purchasing this, BUT, they would have only purchased these items in ANY case, IF they had extra money.....

Personally, I think that the "SCUBA diving" fraternity has had a FAR bigger impact due to the current economic situation, than the marine/reefkeeper fraternity...
 
No - not yet... but I believe that it will get worse before it gets better, so I do expect that I will have to "tighten the belt" somewhat in the not too distant future...

Hennie
 
i agree it might hit us, but it would be more based on rand-dollar for imports, the other side i see to it is that manufacturers will have to compensate as thier businesses will need to sell more "niche" products, it could go eighter way.

and if LFS get more expensive, it might boost aquaculture and breeding locally, well i am hoping it will
 
Further to this topic - I really don't understand how some (all?) businesses work, really I don't... Take vehicle sales as an example: I am currently just starting to consider replacing my 2005 Volvo (just "testing the water", have not seriously entered any negotiations ;) ). In this crises where one hears about the trouble the vehicle manufacturers are, one would logically (to me...) assume that they would be dropping their prices to encourage sales - NOT SO! One would also expect that, as the crunch starts to bite, there would be a larger demand for 2nd hand vehicles, and that their trade-in value would increase - again, NOT SO... and then VW tells me that if I want a Tiguan 2.0TDi I must put down a deposit now, and expect delivery in 6 months time :whistling: soooo, did anyone hear a rumor that car sales is down ???

Hennie
 
Hennie, just hang on 6 months and the car sales people will be begging you to take a car off their hands, in the UK car sales are down, you can get 15 -25% off list price, free car insurance for a year along with free roadside recovery etc
 
I feel that once a reefer has his/her stocked aquarium the only necessary consumables are salt, bulbs, ro filters and food/supplements, i wont skimp on any of these personally.
 
hennie, in the USA i saw adverts for porsche, buy one get one free :)

this financial crisis will weed out the greedy and thiefs...
 
yip, the global recessions level the playing fields, taking R100 products and selling them for R500, a good example is the car industry here, we manufacture, ship and sell cars to austrailia cheaper than what we retail them here for.

i mean i got a new car in july 08, and managed to get 15% discount, over and above a trade in, and they still made a profit.

dont get me wrong i am all for capitalism, but not extortion :)
 
... I believe that it will get worse before it gets better,
Hennie
Ditto, but how will we as simple folk feel the effects.

Is our economy export dependent?.....:027:Mining showing dramatic slowdown.
How much do we import?...Current deficit very high:nono:

These two are very interdependent. The horror part is the 30% weakening in our currency. Simply put, you will be buying 30% less livestock and equipment as prices take off. Falling exports, growing deficit. Not good

The good news is that manufacturing is about to boom. China intentionally devalue their currency to favour job creation specifically in manufacturing.

Also interesting if anyone has personal experiences with whats going down in the SA economy and others around the world.
Sell your retail shares and any other shares that rely on imports, and buy shares in manufacturing:)
 
The crunch is hitting big time even in this country, house sales are definatly down due to credit act aswell. I know Estate agencies are taking hugh strain, car sales are supposedly down. Eskom's latest reason for wanting an increase is that people are saving too much electricity and they not making enough at the moment......go figure. But, yes all in all it is slow as most business owners will tell you, in the service industry its not difficult getting the work, getting paid for it is a whole new ball game.
 
our saving grace is oour banking system, credit act and the fact that our banks borrow from the reserve.

in USA the banks were separate commercial entities and traded credit/debt to stay alive, where our banks borrow, hence the repo rate :)
 
Yeah if it wasn't for the whole "crisis" I would be getting paid more and would have gotten a better bonus and I'm sure a portion would just naturally go to the hobby. I work in financial services though.
 
Yeah if it wasn't for the whole "crisis" I would be getting paid more and would have gotten a better bonus and I'm sure a portion would just naturally go to the hobby. I work in financial services though.

So this is all your fault then:whistling:
 
i get really annoyed with LFS increasing theit prices as they seem fit and then blaming it on the exchange rate.
About a month ago i was in the market for a new skimmer. I phoned one of the sponseres and he quoted me R2800. I went to his shop the two days later and the price was suddenly R3600. I asked how that could happen, and he told me it was because of the rand/dollar exchange. To make things worse, he then told me ( in a most arrogant manner) that i better buy it now, because next week it will cost over R4500!! It wasnt een new stock...he pulled it form a pile of old stock and the box looked about six months old!
I can understand if NEW stock costs more, but pushing up the prices of old stock is criminal.
And if they so quick to push up prices when the rand decreases, how come they never lower their prices when the rand gets stronger?
 
i hate that, most retailers suffer from that...
i dont support shops that do that, well i try too atleast
 
The biggest issue faced by a large number of the industries is to preserve bottom line at all costs. While they know that the topline sales volumes will suffer, the easiest way to maintain their position/standing in the market is to curtail costs , implement price growth or enhance the margin on their products.

IMO , RSA has not yet seen the "wash through" on the global crisis as yet. Our market growth rates are still running at an average of 8% , which when compared to Europe and the USA's growth rate of 1-2% is still healthy.

Problem is that there are a lot of goods suppliers out there that are "milking" the situation by citing ROE as the biggest reason for cost increases.

Think back to 2000/2001 when we had a swing in the currency of approx 25%. We didn't see the effect on costs in such a great way as we do now. So why is the depreciation of the Rand at present such a big issue.

Don't get me wrong : The industry has suffered as a result of the depreciation and the global economic slowdown comes as a double whammy, but I don't believe there is justification for going overboard with price increases.

IMO you don't grow a business by purely curtailing costs , buffering margins and executing price growth.

RSA is truly alive with possibilities and the innovative thinkers and entreperneurs amongst us will most certainly capatilise on this.

Just my 2 c worth.
 
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