Bike boom - is it over?

[Steady Spin]

Just now, bleedToWin said:

Not the roller coaster I was expecting when clicking on this thread... 😱

Hold on tight. This is just the slow crawl up to the crest.

[ChrisF]

May month we qouted for a project that included a return flight.  At the time the plane tickets and rental car was just over R3k.

 

End of June just the plane tickets were over R6k !!

 

Did the trip in July for just over R4k .... 33% increase in 6 weeks 😵

[_David_]

22 minutes ago, Steady Spin said:

Hold on tight. This is just the slow crawl up to the crest.

I'm small business owner and my biggest problem at the moment is getting my clients to pay their invoices on time. We've been going for just over 20 years and this is the worst its ever been.

[Ispeed_V]

So thankful that I am still able to work from home. My fuel saving is huge and that saving is at least covering other expenses

[Steady Spin]

7 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

So thankful that I am still able to work from home. My fuel saving is huge and that saving is at least covering other expenses

Shortly after starting my new job my old company implemented 100% back at the office. Dodged a major bullet only having to go in twice a week now.

[Ispeed_V]

As mentioned, I really feel for the youngsters of today.

Back in the mid 90's, I bought my first property (a 60m/sqr1 bed garden apartment) in Morningside, Sandton for R155 000. (less than a high end bike now days). Advice given by my folks was to look for the worst house in the best area as you can always improve on the property and not the area.

Those same apartments are now selling for over R1million.

Not many youngsters in their mid 20's can afford a bond in excess of R1 million which makes it extremely difficult to break into the property market.

 

[The Ouzo]

31 minutes ago, Steady Spin said:

Shortly after starting my new job my old company implemented 100% back at the office. Dodged a major bullet only having to go in twice a week now.

next week my wife's company have a meeting about new working structures. We are very worried they are going to want her to come back to work at the office. Its not just the fuel, its also the cost of the day care for the kids.

[Frosty]

At the end of the money, there's a whole lot of month left.

[dave303e]

3 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

Newspaper spoke about this earlier in the week.  The reality of the delayed payments during lockdown is setting in.  Minimal salary increases ..... I am seeing inflation way higher than the reported figures .... Know a few young people struggling with the increases in bond rates ....

 

Apparently more than 1 in 3 in SA spends more than 30% of their salary to debt ...

 

Many of us have lived through this in the early and again in the late 90's.  But if the interest rates keeps climbing, as predicted, a lot of people are in for a world of hurting.

So many people bought houses budgeting on the low interest rates that came with covid, not thinking that it would pick up again soon. Big fails

24 minutes ago, ouzo said:

next week my wife's company have a meeting about new working structures. We are very worried they are going to want her to come back to work at the office. Its not just the fuel, its also the cost of the day care for the kids.

We both made it absolutely clear, work from home or we find another job. Driving to the office with fuel at R26/litre is a joke. If you got through hard lockdown working without going in, then you have no need to be there.

[Dexter-morgan]

Question remains, is it over, I see some specials running but might be old stock or will there be more bargains up very soon.

[Robbie Stewart]

I work closely with one of the large supermarket retailers. Last week I was informed that the average price increase to hit in the next two weeks is 27% increase on cost of replacement, and no deals are being given by manufacturers and vendors of fmcg products. This means that the basket average of goods bought weekly is going to go through the roof in short order.

Their diesel expense per month getting their own stores stocked from their own distribution centers exceeds R25 000 000.00

These prices are now being passed on to the consumer. If ever there was a time to tighten that proverbial belt, it's now!

[BikeisLife]

Entry level market is dead. Middle & upper market - still big supply issues. 

I would say the boom has Stabilised. When supply in the middle & upper market has normalised, we will see how many of the boomers have been retained. 
 

 

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, ouzo said:

next week my wife's company have a meeting about new working structures. We are very worried they are going to want her to come back to work at the office. Its not just the fuel, its also the cost of the day care for the kids.

Yip employers don’t give a shot either. Come back to work even if you have to walk or stay home unemployed.

it’s in times like these when he value and sincerity of the “we value our employees “ jargon show it’s true worth ….0000

[BigDL]

34 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Yip employers don’t give a shot either. Come back to work even if you have to walk or stay home unemployed.

it’s in times like these when he value and sincerity of the “we value our employees “ jargon show it’s true worth ….0000

So true - We've just been through an enhanced salary review that was brought forward three months from the usual time. It is humbling to work for a company that has stepped up, increased salaries early and by a far higher margin than in a normal year. First company that I've ever worked for that doesn't just talk about valuing employees,, but lives it at every turn. 

[PhilipV]

3 hours ago, dave303e said:

So many people bought houses budgeting on the low interest rates that came with covid, not thinking that it would pick up again soon. Big fails

 

About 18 months ago I replaced a bakkie. Sales guy was full of bravado, saying that they are selling like hot cakes and I need to get one because interest rates are low. I laughed, asking him if he knows how macro economics work? He didn't. He didn't budge on the price either so I walked away. 2 months later I phoned him again, and I got the deal I wanted. 

Fast forward to now and we'll be seeing another 50 points (hopefully not more) added to repo tomorrow. 

I'm just really glad I bought the 30year old truck last year instead of the shiny new one that face me cold feet, 

[Zebra]

3 hours ago, dave303e said:

So many people bought houses budgeting on the low interest rates that came with covid, not thinking that it would pick up again soon. Big fails

We both made it absolutely clear, work from home or we find another job. Driving to the office with fuel at R26/litre is a joke. If you got through hard lockdown working without going in, then you have no need to be there.

Unpopular, contrarian view coming up; as a small business owner (just 9 employees), I am all for the return to work for MOST (not all) staff…
 

we have seen/experienced a massive disruption, or falling in standards from a good few suppliers who ‘work from home’, not reachable until 09.30 or 10am, then again awol from 3pm, or earlier…

If work from home meant WORK from home, I could care less; personal experience has taught me that standards have slipped, no doubt while QOL increases for the ex-desk jockey…

We were open 5 weeks after lockdown - legally - with a skeleton staff, and then ALL 9 back after 9 weeks. With R650k of COVID loans to survive the shut-down, it’s ALL shoulders to the wheel, to survive.

your experience is no doubt different, but working for a large corporate, or a small/medium business, could not be more different, IN MY OPINION.

I disagree with your ‘absolutely clear’ statement, yet respect your right to have an alternative view.

let us know if you change jobs?
chris