I do a lot of real estate signs (a lot). I was busy last month but this week and last I'm half expecting a tumble weed to roll by.
All of this a still incredibly low in comparison to the previous decades prior to the 2009ish Recession.
1 man shop here and when things slow down is when i tend to back up with work. This inflation has also got me busy as i really do not have to increase my prices which for the most part i havnt so my customers have been very happy with my holding the line idea. I will have to bump things up once i sell all the foam and vinyl i got from buying a couple shops that were closing. I cannot express enough that life and work life have never been so nice since getting rid of my mortgage and credit card debt. It took some work but i did it so now if i dont have work i am not freaking out like i used to be but there is very little time where there is no work in my shop.
That seems to be pretty much be the case everywhere and any time. It's generally like a hurricane for me... Three weeks slammed and then a week of normal and then getting slammed. Usually the slow spell is due to delays on the customers part. or sometimes by design. This year it's usually attributed to delays in vehicle deliveries or vendor supply chain issues. This year is certainly a slower year which is definitely a result of a slow down in the economy. I always welcome a bit of slow-down during the summer Car Show season and winter Hunting season.
Its still pretty busy down here in the Caribbean. Our real estate sign business is about the same as last year at this time. But, real estate in the islands doesn't suffer from the same mood swings as the mainland. Prices for homes on my island rarely ever go down. My commercial printing business is down about 13% from last year but some of that is due to the overall decline in printing volumes in general as more people go digital. My promotional products business is ripping good and I attribute that to businesses increasing their marketing post-covid. Overall, we're still putting money in the bank and eating out frequently.
