Tis the Season! (to start the dreaded RV cycle again)

Here we are again, approaching the holiday season and the time of year that brings uncertainty to the RV world.  Lake effect snow, chain laws, road closings, bridge closings, wash fee changes (Dealer: "I know I told you to pay the wash fee instead of washing the unit, but the unit shouldn't be dirty either!").


It is the beginning of the winter season and all that comes with it.


What comes with it, you ask?  Well - that all depends on your perspective.


The manufacturers are preparing for the year-end push, if it isn't already underway.  This is that great time of year when everyone from sales coordinators through company Presidents are doing all they can to get the dealers to open
their floorplan and take delivery of both units they ordered and units they didn't (open units) before year-end.


RV Carriers are doing all they can to keep their drivers busy as production has slowed, as is usual for this time of year, and bending over backward for whatever the manufacturers and dealers need in an attempt to keep the loads coming.


If you're a driver then you realize that it all flows downhill and stops with you.  Not just dealing with weather, but the dealers, the carriers and the manufacturers - they all need you when they need you but don't when they don't.


They likely won't need you for a while.  But when busy season hits, it's the big flip-flop.


At that point, dealers are instead calling the manufacturers, everyone from the sales coordinator to the President, trying to get their unit bumped up in line.  In response, dealers receive delivery date promises that may actually fall before the offline date.  That is where it all starts flowing downhill again.


If you're the driver, then you know it all flows downhill and stops with you...(hey, that sounds familiar)... and you know you'll get the 1,800 mile trip that needs to be to the dealer tomorrow by noon because the retail customer is leaving on vacation... etc, etc, etc.... and so the cycle goes.


So - which one are you?  Does this ring true for you this year? Or do you see something different on the horizon?


Either way, just remember - Tis the Season!