RVs are back again, baby! Greater than a decade ago, the RV business was experiencing a renaissance. RVs were flying from the lots, and folks were going everywhere in their new bus motorcoaches, or big 5th-wheel trailers with four slide-outs. Today, people are doing this still, but it seems to me the real growth in recent years has been in the lower-end towable devices.
And I believe how people are using their RVs has transformed as well – people are not driving nearly so far as before. In the 1960’s, the basic idea of venturing across America was a norm. Because flying was so expensive. I also recall in the middle-1960’s, going to Chicago’s O’Hare airport terminal and waiting around in the American Airlines “Admiral’s Club” while our plane taxied to the gate. Dad flew the whole family – high grade, no less – using the frequent flyer miles he accumulated from business travel.
We had to dress up to go to the airport terminal – as if it were church, which in a way of speaking, it was. Well, the airport terminal is the new bus train station, and thanks to low fares, everyman can take a flight – and will, unfortunately, making flights a toxic experience. Can I bring my service flamingo on board? He helps relaxed my flying anxieties by squawking loudly every 3 minutes. And because of HIPPA, you can’t say no! But the upshot is, you can take the whole family to Disney by airplane for not nearly as expensive touring by car – or at least at a competitive cost.
And given that individuals have less time off nowadays, it makes more sense as well. Which is why, when we travel, we see that most of the RVs in the campground are not from faraway places, but from right nearby – literally often. People drive only a few hours to get to their campsite, often simply for the weekend. And in many cases, week people reserve the same site for the same, year after year – only a few hours from your home.
- Reasonable tips
- 100 percent deductible entertainment
- 260 / 65 = 4 hours
- Pre-Intermediate (46)
- Everybody is embalmed
- Easy consumer management
The RV is no more a journeying machine, but a weekend cottage or a once-a-year getaway by the lake – at a price much less than that of running a lakeside cottage. Of course, there are other factors at work here. The expense of travel is still high. 3 a gallon, travelling by RV isn’t cheap.
40 of gasoline per day, going only a couple hundred miles or so. Larger rigs get a whole lot worse mileage (in the one digits) and cost more to go. As a total result, the thought of “seeing America by RV!” has less and less charm. But beyond that, I think this recent increase in RV sales differs than in the past.
The era of the big-bus motorhome may be on the wane. Again, this is based on my unscientific observations. Perhaps real RV industry data would say otherwise. But it appears to me that there’s been a genuine boom in inexpensive tow-behind trailers lately. And in a real way, this is practical.
Americans are buying large SUVs and pickups in record quantities. They find out they own not just a big vehicle, but one with a tow rating in the thousands of pounds – sometimes over ten thousand pounds. The vehicles are out there – you will want to sell them a truck to pull behind it?
And a simple “box trailer” made of sticks and staples can be affordable for a young growing family. And this appears to be who we see buying them. All this talk of a drop in the amount of high school graduates (which is something I discussed years ago within my college bankruptcy publishing) is simply a blip in the figures. Spend a weekend in a campground sometime – you’ll think a youngster bomb went off! So inexpensive trailers are affordable for young families these.