Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[John_Mc]

I got a 15% "valued customer" coupon which expired before I got around to using it (Feb 13). Now just got the 10% No exclusions for everyone / 15% for Inside Track members. Probably won't get around to using that one either. I just don't need anything they are selling badly enough at this point.

 

[5030]

I see HF is offering a 10% off no exclusions coupon for everyone. I'm wondering if they are seeing sales decline and are trying to boost foot traffic.

Could be. With the economy tanking, discretionary purchases like tools and storage cabs is probably slowing down. I do like HF's free shipping on Internet orders however, but they are slow.

 

[Alan46]

Could be. With the economy tanking, discretionary purchases like tools and storage cabs is probably slowing down. I do like HF's free shipping on Internet orders however, but they are slow.

Tanking?

 

[MossRoad]

Tanking?

Maybe he's thinking 4 years ago?

 

[kenmbz]

US news and world report:
While we no longer forecast a recession, we do expect the consumer spending growth to cool and for overall GDP growth to slow to under 1% in Q2 and Q3 2024. Thereafter, inflation and interest rates should normalize and quarterly annualized GDP growth should converge toward its potential of near 2 percent in 2025.
We will see a housing crash and a huge crash in commercial real estate, both of which has started.

2024 Commercial Real Estate Trends | JPMorgan Chase

Multifamily, retail, industrial and office face uncertainty around interest rates in the year ahead.

www.jpmorgan.com

Inflation is still on an upward trend, so the fed has chosen not to reduce the interest rate.
Tech is still doing massive layoffs and advertising spend is down by end of 1Q2024

A comprehensive list of 2023 & 2024 tech layoffs | TechCrunch

A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2023 and 2024.

techcrunch.com

Ad Spending Growth for Digital, Traditional, and Total Worldwide, 2022-2027 (% change)

www.insiderintelligence.com

2024 is going to be an interesting year financially once the election is over, no matter who wins, it's going to be a downward spiral.
All this may turnaround in 2025, keep your fingers crossed the commercial real estate and interest only housing loans hitting 5 year balloon payments don't happen as predicted.
FRED chart above does not count inflation, so value of $ won't affect that chart.
better use of FRED data:

How expensive are groceries in 2023? These 5 graphs show prices skyrocket

You’ve probably felt your grocery bill growing over the past year, but seeing the numbers really puts it into perspective.

thehill.com

 

[California]

Maybe he's thinking 4 years ago?

View attachment 852620

No fair using facts - where the curve is steeper now - to counter feelings!

 

[daugen]

Tanking?

from a GDP and unemployment basis, for sure not.
all those pickup trucks aren't being bought by out of work folks...
what we have is a lot more visibility about the bottom 5 percent.
As we should, but overall, employers have been hiring for a long time.
There are always layoffs.

now maybe to the guys furloughed at Ford's electric truck plant, the EV market may have tanked...
and Ken is right, those real estate markets are going down, but I don't see the crash part.
some segments are clearly soft, shopping centers, office space, etc.

I wonder how HF is doing this year/last year?

 

[California]

...all those pickup trucks aren't being bought by out of work folks...
what we have is a lot more visibility about the bottom 5 percent.

We really do have more and more people falling into the 'bottom 5%', while corporate profit margins are setting new records.

Wait till AI replaces more people. It's going to get worse for many.

 

[5030]

now maybe to the guys furloughed at Ford's electric truck plant, the EV market may have tanked...

They didn't get furloughed, they got moved to other non EV jobs.

Mullaly just announced that Fords is going to redistribute vehicle building to more 'diverse' locations, which I fully expected after the UAW strike and wage increase. IOW, offshoring. Fords has the largest UAW employment of the not so big (now) 3 and of course Fain had to get his usual last digs in on that as well.

I take it some folks have not been to the grocery store lately either. What a hundred bucks used to buy has really shrunk and is getting even smaller today...

Far as new pickup trucks and SUV's go, creative financing his made a good impact. A 7 year loan is now the reality. Problem is, will they last 7 years of rust away???

I will say, I've never financed ANY vehicle, I always pay cash. Car and trucks and especially motorcycles and snowmobiles are the worst investment you can make. All you do is make some finance company rich while your check book shrinks and your new vehicle is worth less and less.

We don't play that game here.

 

[California]

... I've never financed ANY vehicle, I always pay cash. Car and trucks and especially motorcycles and snowmobiles are the worst investment you can make. All you do is make some finance company rich while your check book shrinks and your new vehicle is worth less and less.

We don't play that game here.

Ditto, always waited until I could afford to pay cash. This meant many used cars that served 2~5 years when I was young and poor.

Then the first car I bought new was when I got a job that paid mileage. A $6k Chev Citation that turned out to be the worst car I ever owned. Everything about it was all worn out at 45k miles.