If you read the predictions oilprice.com on what oil is going to cost us for the next 4 years and they are usually right.lol like Don I going to be looking for EV bike and forget about the Rving and buses.Another article there the DOE doesn't have the funds to replace the 220 millions barrels of oil they sold for over 90 bucks a barrel.they rejected a bid for 3 million barrels of oil at 70 bucks a barrel lol said it didn't meet the specs
EV's type in electric motors emitting ozone the next saga. Your new RV should be a backpack and good pair of hiking shoes.
They'll find something to complain about with shoes then.
Yes. We really need to get back to our roots live in a caves without fire of coarse eat bugs and grass wear hemp clothes and sandles that type of thing.
Oh $#!% I forgot unprotected bugs and grass what the hell's the matter with me back to brain washing 101.
Quote from: tr206 on January 18, 2023, 04:10:09 AM
EV's type in electric motors emitting ozone the next saga. Your new RV should be a backpack and good pair of hiking shoes.
Ev bikes have pedals to lol they knew pedals would be needed. Inflation they call it may ease but the prices it brought are here to stay ,the bus has left the station with no driver
Yes. Diesel Fuel prices aren't what they used to be when I grew up. ;D
I should have filled my own Strategic Oil Reserve back then.
Quote from: Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM on January 18, 2023, 06:37:50 AM
Yes. Diesel Fuel prices aren't what they used to be when I grew up. ;D
I should have filled my own Strategic Oil Reserve back then.
Gary it would cost me under $3500.00 to fill my 8000 gallon tank up with red fuel up till 1999 then it started to increase a few cents a gallon every load but not huge increases. The tanker driver would add the dye when he unloaded lol sometimes, he would forget to add the dye and the employees with diesel pickups loved it but my fuel usage went up.I bought my products direct from Sinclair or Sun no middleman and my yard was only 20 miles away.
Quote from: tr206 on January 18, 2023, 05:16:51 AM
Yes. We really need to get back to our roots live in a caves without fire of coarse eat bugs and grass wear hemp clothes and sandles that type of thing.
Forget that! I like my bugs GRILLED!
;D BK ;D
Quote from: Busted Knuckle on January 18, 2023, 07:09:38 AM
Forget that! I like my bugs GRILLED!
;D BK ;D
BK I like my bugs in my teeth, the wind in my hair while getting 50+mpg ;D
No no, you can't eat the bugs, they are people too. Then next on the list is the grass. It grows and has life so you mustn't eat that. Then there's dirt, that was life and has life in it... guess that leaves rocks. Do you like your rocks parched or broiled? We can do either just tell us what you like better.. uh, provided the sun is out so we don't have to burn fossil fuel, which was also alive at some point.
Well then... With only a few exceptions of plants that really do prefer to eat rocks, every single living thing on the planet eats something living to survive and at the upper end most of them will quite happily eat you, given half a chance. I should feel different about eating them? Why? Because they can think up tricky ways of eating me? OK, I do draw the line at eating people (who aren't bugs of course). And dogs that I know. But other than that? Why would I?
Jim
Well there are the goofs out there that are complaining that BEV school buses are get this, too quiet. They were screaming that those old evil noisy, smoky diesel engines were going to kill children so now they got their wish and BEV school buses are available now. But they don't make enough noise so now they're dangerous.
Quote from: tr206 on January 18, 2023, 05:40:11 AM
Oh $#!% I forgot unprotected bugs and grass what the hell's the matter with me back to brain washing 101.
Or we can live in our mud filled huts and wait for some celebrity to show up with a peanut butter sandwich along with a camera crew showing how wonderful they are.
It looks like it is time to get that Electric bus now and fill the roof with Solar Panels and the baggage bays with Lithium Batteries so we can drive around the country and charge it up at Campgrounds each night and get rid of the reliance on fossil fuels.
I think I will start selling shares in my company to start converting a fleet of these. Who wants to get in on the ground floor?
Quote from: tr206 on January 18, 2023, 05:16:51 AM
Yes. We really need to get back to our roots live in a caves without fire of coarse eat bugs and grass wear hemp clothes and sandles that type of thing.
I can see it many years from now. You turn on TV and there's an ad for THOMAS'S HOUSE OF BUGS. "Join us every Friday for our famous fried spiders "The whole family will love our menu with a wide selection for everybody."
The 6 to $7.00 a gal for fuel in our future will slow down RVing but people will adjust with shorter and closer trips I believe .Like me we are going to do by downsizing to smaller for better milage and cheaper maintenance like going from $800.00 ea for tires to $200.00 ea for tires and less than $ 200.00 for a tank of fuel instead of $600.00.Love buses but not practical for us now.
Ok until we can refit our bus's to be EV's I think the overall trend is that fuel prices are going to climb (especially as use goes down) and that electricity will stay the same or get cheaper.
I don't think many of us are in the market for a fresh off the assembly line class A EV motorhome. So maybe you will see more motorhome where the bus is graphed onto the rear of a EV semi-truck tractor.
In the meantime just setup a payroll diversion to a fuel fund to be drawn down when you travel.
"Refit our bases to be ev's" pipe dream. Enjoy what you have now or get out of the hobby. Tiny house, TV, cell phone, modem, router, internet. You have it made then. Just like the people in "WALL-E"
Quote from: chessie4905 on January 18, 2023, 03:58:55 PM
"Refit our bases to be ev's" pipe dream. Enjoy what you have now or get out of the hobby. Tiny house, TV, cell phone, modem, router, internet. You have it made then. Just like the people in "WALL-E"
I have often wondered how many would call converting a old bus a hobby.LOL you don't buy conversions parts, material and supplies from Hobby/Lobby, it is to much friggn work to be called a hobby.
Quote from: luvrbus on January 18, 2023, 04:12:36 PM
I have often wondered how many would call converting a old a hobby.LOL you don't buy conversions parts, material and supplies from Hobby/Lobby, it is to much friggn work to be called a hobby.
So true. By any standards it's an obsession. My ex-GF called my bus The Mistress because she said I spent more time with her than with her. Rational sane people don't convert buses! It makes absolutely no sense financially or by the amount of time spent, but it's still the best (and worst) thing I think I've ever done. It's certainly the hardest thing I've ever done: I've been at it for fourteen years now, and I'm still learning more than I ever knew one could learn. And I wouldn't have it any other way!
John
Quote from: Iceni John on January 18, 2023, 05:29:17 PM
So true. By any standards it's an obsession. My ex-GF called my bus The Mistress because she said I spent more time with her than with her. Rational sane people don't convert buses! It makes absolutely no sense financially or by the amount of time spent, but it's still the best (and worst) thing I think I've ever done. It's certainly the hardest thing I've ever done: I've been at it for fourteen years now, and I'm still learning more than I ever knew one could learn. And I wouldn't have it any other way!
John
SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE BUS NUT!
Quote from: Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM on January 18, 2023, 06:37:50 AM
Yes. Diesel Fuel prices aren't what they used to be when I grew up. ;D
I should have filled my own Strategic Oil Reserve back then.
Gary I grew up in a filling station, truck stop and I remember when my folks changed out the pumps because they would only go to 49.9. I can also remember as diesel was past fifty cents going up one of the regular truckers said when diesel gets to dollar I am done trucking. He just retired last May so he got to truck with five dollar diesel a few times.
High priced fuel with the price of trucks and refer vans now plus the up keep on trucks. Food is one thing we need and it all comes to us by trucks, so take a wild guess.who in the end foots the bills.I never thought I would see the day when a plastic bottle of water would cost more than I paid for fuel,you break it down today water in plastic cost more than fuel at most stations.
I think there will be engine and tank retro fits for hydrogen combustion. Hydrogen generator with electric Motors and most likely the first will be hydrogen injection in diesel engines to keep the fleets moving till there is the turnover of the newest 18 wheelers, the build out of hydrogen truck stops and the fleet filling stations...
So at what price per gallon will be the nail in the coffin for the bus conversion community also when are our buses going to be virtually worthless for resale? Can't believe what 2 years has done to my dream.
If you are over 65, not an issue. If in the late 40's to early 50's, get out now.
Quote from: chessie4905 on January 20, 2023, 06:24:39 PM
If you are over 65, not an issue. If in the late 40's to early 50's, get out now.
I'am thinking it's already to late to get out unscathed.
When it cost a $1.00 a mile on the average just for fuel it takes the enjoyment out of it in a hurry. I take 12 gallons of oil for a oil change and the oil filter on my ISX 15 Cummins my price was a $135.00 at NAPA.We are looking for 32 ft with 1 slide and a gasoline engine.I don't want any more $135.00 oil filters and a $122.00 air filter, plus $260.00 for oil,lol $21.00 for a fuel filter I am ok with,antifreeze change I didn't even ask I will do it later
Roll coal!
You guys aren't quite as discouraging as you are trying to be. I'll just keep on building today and we'll worry about tomorrow when it comes. If it turns out that I can only make a couple trips a year, well that's still enough to go south for the winter. And if that gets to be too much the bus can be my home away from home up in West Virginia. Can't hardly build a house for what I have invested so the payoff is still there regardless. I could even rent it out if it came to that.
Jim
Quote from: Jim Blackwood on January 21, 2023, 08:18:09 AM
You guys aren't quite as discouraging as you are trying to be. I'll just keep on building today and we'll worry about tomorrow when it comes. If it turns out that I can only make a couple trips a year, well that's still enough to go south for the winter. And if that gets to be too much the bus can be my home away from home up in West Virginia. Can't hardly build a house for what I have invested so the payoff is still there regardless. I could even rent it out if it came to that
Lot of owners have started to just making 1 trip a year.RV parks are full of owners hunkered down thinking this crap would pass.Fuel prices are taking a toll on Quartzsite,now is the time to buy a bus prices are dropping on all RV's not just buses, It is sad you see so many gutted buses for sale people are selling at a loss. Me I need something smaller to drive 250 miles,Sonja is going to Texas for a few weeks a round trip ticket from Vegas to Austin cost me $38.00 lol it will cost me more than that to drive her to Vegas.If I drove her in RV like she wanted it would cost between 3 to 4 thousand dollars 2 years back I could do that trip for less than a $1000.00 stopping at parks along the route for the night
.
The older generation on a fixed income are really taking up the poop shoot.
Quote from: tr206 on January 21, 2023, 06:19:10 PM
The older generation on a fixed income are really taking up the poop shoot.
I as many others can relate to that! Oh but we got an 8.5% COLA - big deal, that takes care of the eggs!, what about the rest of it. :-\
Quote from: dtcerrato on January 21, 2023, 07:06:22 PM
I as many others can relate to that! Oh but we got an 8.5% COLA - big deal, that takes care of the eggs!, what about the rest of it. :-\
I know some have had to go back to work to survive but what if you can't? I haven't lived paycheck to paycheck for years but I'm back there damn scary.
Quote from: tr206 on January 21, 2023, 07:20:17 PM
I know some have had to go back to work to survive but what if you can't? I haven't lived paycheck to paycheck for years but I'm back there damn scary.
With careful planning and pricey advice, I got out when I was 60 years old and was told I had nothing to worry about damn now I starting to worry if I am going to outlive my money. 0% interest on your life savings for 12 years didn't help any.Land has been ok but commercial land is a nightmare you are married to the stuff, or they tax you to death when you sell it and you don't reinvest. Stocks you can do ok sometimes but here comes the tax man, we been sitting on Ford stock for years if the stuff ever get close to what we paid it's gone ,your home if you sell it you can walk away with cash but then people usually replace it at a higher price lol it is losing deal anyway you look at it now and it is to going to get worse living in a broke country now printing worthless paper
Enjoy. The reason we are where we are.
https://www.fox.com/watch/807a912b570ddc06e098595cb5abd0da/
On the bright side, minimum wage is much higher.lol
Quote from: chessie4905 on January 22, 2023, 06:33:36 AM
On the bright side, minimum wage is much higher.lol
Yeah if we made a $100.00 bucks a hour but a loaf of bread is $50.00 bucks what good is it. Not the answer.
Min wages are $7.25 per hour lol they used CV-19 to raise the wages without the American people never knowing.or paying attention. Makes no difference with the giveaway programs now people don't need to work .Welfare programs will buy your gasoline and do the maintenace on your car even buy the tires.It sucks to me
Quote from: luvrbus on January 22, 2023, 04:48:45 AM
we been sitting on Ford stock for years if the stuff ever get close to what we paid it's gone
I call BS on that claim. :)
As a fellow F holder you know damn well you didn't sell when it got over $20. We both thought it was going higher. Serves us right.
Quote from: bobofthenorth on January 22, 2023, 09:23:54 AM
I call BS on that claim. :)
As a fellow F holder you know damn well you didn't sell when it got over $20. We both thought it was going higher. Serves us right.
LOL you are right BoB ,Ford being the #2 in car sales I don't get why the stock stays so low, maybe they should have taken the Governmet bail out,Fridays closing @ $12.40 still leaves me below what I paid though.
Chin up you guys Ford has a better idea! Probably be the first to come out with the flying cars, your stocks will soar then. :^
Quote from: Van on January 22, 2023, 10:46:41 AM
Chin up you guys Ford has a better idea! Probably be the first to come out with the flying cars, your stocks will soar then. :^
Lol I never owned many Fords in my life the Mercury Marquis was a nice car I have owned 2 of those back in the 70" but you won't cut a diamond in one as the commercials showed they weren't that smooth. The 460 engine was not that great on fuel economy :^
I shouldn't bitch because I just got a raise to my military pension and my Soc Sec...
BUT
With the "raise" they notified me they are taking yet more from my Soc Sec to pay for my Medicare?
(page 1021 of the affordable health care act.).
I guess they think I can affordable it...
Not a political statement. Just an observation.
That aside, it feels like they are taking from an entitlement to pay for the other one? Both of which I am pretty certain I earned??
"Give me your wallet so I can give you the ten bucks I owe you.....". LOL
I try to remember what my dad told me when I first bitched about taxes early in life.
"Welcome to the club Ted. Just try to remember, they can't keep all of it.". Not sure that made me feel much better at the time, but life goes on.
They're paying from 14 to 16 bucks an hour and everyone still advertising for help around here.
Quote from: chessie4905 on January 22, 2023, 01:32:23 PM
They're paying from 14 to 16 bucks an hour and everyone still advertising for help around here.
Even $16/hour is basically poverty wages these days in most of the country. The whole "Fight for $15" movement to raise the minimum wage was based on a livable wage back in 2012, $15 in 2012 money is more like $20 today.
Course it is. Forced wage increases never work for long. Next unions will start demanding their shrare and decry attempts of business to eliminate jobs to cope with higher and higher operating costs. Remember how long unions fought to keep fireman around after steam locomotives were history? History just repeating itself.
The poverty level for the US is $26,500.00 a year a lot of seniors are living on a lot less than $26,500.00 a year. Make no sense to me people here need help and we send billions of dollars to Ukraine to protect the CIA's handpicked leader. Charity begins at home.
Quote from: Tedsoldbus on January 22, 2023, 11:26:19 AM
I shouldn't bitch because I just got a raise to my military pension and my Soc Sec...
BUT
With the "raise" they notified me they are taking yet more from my Soc Sec to pay for my Medicare?
(page 1021 of the affordable health care act.).
I guess they think I can affordable it...
Not a political statement. Just an observation.
That aside, it feels like they are taking from an entitlement to pay for the other one? Both of which I am pretty certain I earned??
"Give me your wallet so I can give you the ten bucks I owe you.....". LOL
I try to remember what my dad told me when I first bitched about taxes early in life.
"Welcome to the club Ted. Just try to remember, they can't keep all of it.". Not sure that made me feel much better at the time, but life goes on.
Ted what did you do everyone else got a raise and Medicare decreased this year?Unless you added part D because you didn't get it originally then you would get a penalty?
Illegal immigrants may get $450,000 each.
https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/cash-illegal-immigrants-the-new-low-bidens-open-borders-push
Quote from: chessie4905 on January 22, 2023, 03:55:04 PM
Course it is. Forced wage increases never work for long. Next unions will start demanding their shrare and decry attempts of business to eliminate jobs to cope with higher and higher operating costs. Remember how long unions fought to keep fireman around after steam locomotives were history? History just repeating itself.
So in one post you're complaining about how nobody wants to work for $16/hour, and in the next you're agreeing that that's not even a living wage? C'mon. If a business can't afford to pay their employees a living wage, either that business deserves to fail or our entire system is skewed in the wrong direction. The people who don't want to work for a non-livable wage are not the villains here.
Quote from: Nova Eona on January 22, 2023, 05:42:28 PM
So in one post you're complaining about how nobody wants to work for $16/hour, and in the next you're agreeing that that's not even a living wage? C'mon. If a business can't afford to pay their employees a living wage, either that business deserves to fail or our entire system is skewed in the wrong direction. The people who don't want to work for a non-livable wage are not the villains here.
Why work when you can make more sucking off the government just got to learn how to work the system. Not talking about those who genuinely need it.
Minimum wages were for entry level people starting in the work force with no skills,I started a $1.10 an hour the opportunities are there for everyone to advance in the USA you work hard and look for that opportunity. That doesn't happen sitting on your @$# looking for a handout or thinking you should start at the top.Not the way it happens you start at the bottom and work to reach the top, it is there for everyone if you want it.
Quote from: luvrbus on January 22, 2023, 06:42:36 PM
Minimum wages were for entry level people starting in the work force with no skills,I started a $1.10 an hour the opportunities are there for everyone to advance in the USA you work hard and look for that opportunity. That doesn't happen sitting on your @$# looking for a handout or thinking you should start at the top.Not the way it happens you start at the bottom and work to reach the top, it is there for everyone if you want it.
So people starting out with no skills don't deserve enough wages to put food on the table and a roof overhead? I disagree - if a job exists, it should pay enough to keep a person who's working 40+ hours at it from dying of starvation or exposure. I'm all for recognizing merit and awarding those who do well with a greater slice of the pie, but our economy should not rely on people doing jobs which don't pay enough to simply live. Y'all want fewer entitlement programs? Get the big multi-billion-dollar corporations off of the major entitlement program wherein our taxes are making up for the shortfall in their wages and salaries.
When you started at $1.10 an hour, how much was the average monthly rent on a one-bedroom? How about the average tuition cost at a local college? Compare that to today's rates and see how that matches up.
Get real you don't enter the workforce when you 30 years you enter most of the time when you are 16 or 17 years still living at home with mom and dad.You go to college or a trade school to start at better wages.Most employers offer an apprenticeship above minimum wage. Tax corporations all you wish it still will cost the taxpayers in the long run, all you do is add the increase to your overhead and pass it down.Have you eaten out lately a Big Mac is not 70 cents anymore.
.
They have trouble getting help because after getting those stimulus payments, nobody of young generation want to work. Live with parents, with free room and board have a phone. No need to have to go and get a job. And since Epa and Osha laws however beneficial, have forced the migration of industries out of this country.
well. this seems to have gone 90 degrees off topic. :)
Just the other day a similar conversation was had with a neighbor. It seems working a minimum wage job did not allow someone to afford to live independently. I agree 100% a person with journeyman level skills and some years of experience should be able to afford to live alone. The real issue at heart is the loss of the middle class that battles against global wage competition.
If you accept the trend that th USA competes in a global market, then the main way to afford higher wages is via higher productivity. There is no reason why we can't compete but it requires investment by business into new gen automated systems.
When you have more automation and greater productivity that comes at the loss of jobs. If you have a job you will earn better living wages due to greater need for skills and education. Those not making the grade fall into the increasing chasm of the hollowed out middle class.
No easy answers, especially when AI can devour many more middle white colloar jobs. what do people do?
The trouble is that our productivity has gone through the roof for decades, but none of us are reaping the true benefits of that and those that do are pouring enormous amounts of money into making sure we blame the 'entitled youth' or the 'global economy' instead of looking to see if our slice of the pie has wound up in their bloated pockets. Wages and productivity no longer track together. Increasing productivity of the workforce no longer benefits the workforce tangibly, and more and more people are getting tired of chasing the carrot on the stick.
Here's a thought experiment to consider. What if tomorrow someone invents an AI/robotics/power-generation system which, once turned on, can do literally any job - including arts and sciences - better than a human while operating indefinitely. These bots cost practically nothing and take mere seconds to produce, with the only caveat being that the factory needed to get them going costs a few billion dollars. With almost every single job on the planet instantly deprecated, do we end up with a utopia where no one has to work if they don't want to, or a dystopian nightmare where billions starve because they don't have a job?
When I was still working full time I put away money for my granddaughter, then 3 years later for my grandson, in a special fund for post high school education, here in Nevada. It was low interest but safe from risky investments, supposedly. But looking at the quarter statements, my grandsons lost $500 in a quarter. In My angryr call I was told I did it! Of course which I didn't do, but was told that is the only way it could have gotten changed. They wont replace the lost $500 but switched it back to the original instructions. Life has gotten so complex investors are so shrewd I don't know how regular people can survive any investments to get ahead. The sharks are everywhere...
Short answer: IMO unfortunatly half of the world has lost grip with reality and want to live in some sort of utopia. I think that's why were so divided these days and where it goes from here is anybodys guess. God help us all.
The Dobbs bill changed everything in the way we bank,invest and credit cards gone are the small banks no personal contact with a banker any longer now it is push 1 for English. We are controlled by Wall Street and they use the power to elect our politicians stay tuned there is more to come. There has not been any startup money available for a business for years the SBA loans are a joke, people with ideas and inventions end up with nothing because of dumb laws, Warren Buffet has made a fortune in startup business and buying a business banks refused to loan money to
Quote from: luvrbus on January 22, 2023, 10:32:25 AM
Fridays closing @ $12.40 still leaves me below what I paid though.
I averaged down when they were giving it away in March of 2020. Good thing or I'd be under water now too.
I must be some special kind of stupid. Three Fords in the driveway and Ford stock. There must be a word for that.
Technology changes are occuring at exponential speed. Just the past couple days, more news on AI advancements.I just read some AI system can now pass the medical and law bar exams. Screw middle class college level jobs, now it's over professional jobs.
Once they get the vision AI solved, the last big hurdle, then robotic/AI/vision systems will be doing all surgical operations and nearly every other normal medical exams. Lawyers will be a dead profession. You just have your facts and case shoveled into an AI service and it'll print out the legal decision.
It is honestly moving so fast, so far ahead of the law, ethics, morality, etc., Elon is right - AI is the most dangerous threat to humans ever.
Maybe you'll be able to talk to AI about the bus problems and it'll spit out just how to fix it. LOL
Once the AI reads this thread, we're all going to be categorized...
happy coaching!
buswarrior
AI maybe a good thing in Washington DC what we have there now have no brains and common sense.
Lawyers will be a dead profession....ha ha. NEVER HAPPEN.
AI for President?
Jim
Quote from: Jim Blackwood on January 24, 2023, 07:38:04 AM
AI for President?
Jim
Everyone in Washington ,starting at the top with "Tin Man" would be good
I will take AI for President. A chimp would be better than the last two? :^