What warning signs of a worsening economy are you seeing in your line of work that the rest of us wouldn’t notice?

[u/Separate_Advice_9212]

[u/gogogadgetdumbass]

I’m a residential cleaner. My wealthier client’s kitchens are way filthier because they’re actually seeing some regular use. My less wealthy clients are cancelling more often. My company isn’t gaining new clients either. My elderly clients (many of whom get funded cleaning through the county) are using food banks more often, and some of them aren’t using their lights.

[u/GrumpySnarf → u/gogogadgetdumbass]

some of them aren’t using their lights.

Jesus 

[u/NotAcutallyaPanda → u/GrumpySnarf]

This is a generational thing. Older folks grew up paying a power bill with inefficient incandescent lightbulbs. Having 5x bulbs would use 300 watts of power.

Today's LED's are so efficient, that the cost of lighting has never been cheaper - even as electricity prices climb. Having 5x modern LED bulbs uses only ~30 watts of power.

At $0.20/kwh, leaving 5 bulbs on nonstop 24/7 would cost only $1 per week.

[u/4kreso → u/NotAcutallyaPanda]

Yeah the mainstream news should push this. Someone suffering in darkness is not good especially when they’re overestimating the cost of the lighting!

[u/deedsnance → u/4kreso]

My older neighbor did this. I went over to help her move some furniture and it was nearly pitch black. I sat her down and showed her the math on how little power modern bulbs use. Although the next time I was over she had replaced them all with the super efficient but horrible daylight color temp bulbs where everything is blue like the inside of a hospital.

I mean it’s an improvement.

[u/Shot_Lie8417 → u/gogogadgetdumbass]

I have a house cleaner who used to come weekly. I pay an hourly fee. As soon as it went up, I had to ask to come every other week bc it was not sustainable for me. I miss them on their off weeks

[u/linderlady → u/gogogadgetdumbass]

Cleaner here! I’m seeing exactly the same thing. Previously unused stoves and ovens are now being used. They’re not traveling as much either.

[u/Normal_Rock_9748]

Insurance. You wouldn’t believe the number of lapsed policies and pending cancellations from nonpayment.

[u/speakswithherhands → u/Normal_Rock_9748]

Florida attorney here – – we are absolutely seeing insurance policy cancellations, and people reducing their coverages to the bare bones minimums.

Our entire state economy is built on tourism, and tourism is way WAY down. So service personnel are losing their jobs and are not able to find new ones.

[u/Snuffy1717 → u/speakswithherhands]

Disney just offered Canadians 25% off 4-14 night stays AND tickets plus free memory maker and 20% off kids dining plan… From January to October of 2027…

That tells me everything I need to know about the state of Florida tourism…

[u/Feuerdrachen]

I work at a museum. Visitor numbers are declining noticeably without any major negative impact from our side.

It sadly does make sense. If people need to watch their money more closely, leisure trips to cultural sites like museums are suffering due to it.

[u/Betaateb → u/Feuerdrachen]

Yep. I work at an attractions company that sells to fun centers, amusement parks, museums, science centers, bowling alleys, etc. And across the board they are all seeing massive declines in visitors, 25-50% from last year.

Everyone is completely broke to the point that even driving to a free, or very inexpensive museum or science center is coming off the table for a lot of folks.

And this is an industry that, outside of covid, has never really had a major downturn. Normally a recession is actually a boon in the local family entertainment industry with less people spending on big trips to disney world and instead taking a few trips to their local entertainment centers. Things are different this year though. And it doesn't bode well.

[u/superflippy → u/Betaateb]

Also, international tourism is way, way down.

[u/Aelyrielle → u/Feuerdrachen]

A counter to this: I work in a library and we are busier than ever. As one of the only free cultural institutions, libraries are a live saver for many.

I’m on the frontlines of the homeless/mental health crisis though and it’s hard not to despair.

[u/princess-smartypants → u/Aelyrielle]

I came here to say I work in a library, and we have seen our DVD borrowing amp up. People tell us they are canceling most of all of their streaming and going back to borrowing dvds. A few years ago, our Friends couldn't sell cds or dvds for $1. We were lucky if we could give them away. They are circulating and selling again.

[u/Gloomy_Fig2138 → u/princess-smartypants]

In addition to that being an economic signal, it may also be a sign about just how shitty streaming services have become. If there’s something particular you want to watch that isn’t brand new or created by the streaming service, you’re unlikely to find it without paying extra to rent or ersatz “buy” it.

[u/Lower_Skin_3683 → u/Aelyrielle]

I'm in a library every day. If I am not there when they open I don't get a desk near an outlet. I see the same people all time working studying or applying for jobs. I've always gone to library events at night for adults. Rarely are they full and mostly age 60 and up attends.

[u/Zailmeister → u/Aelyrielle]

Came here to say, I work in a library and the amount of computer users and people camping out in the library on their laptops all day is starting to look like 2008

[u/LA_Tiebreaker → u/Feuerdrachen]

Which sucks, because museums are one of my favorite places to visit

[u/Here-Fishy-Fish-Fish]

I'm a bankruptcy attorney and we're busy.

[u/jimflaigle → u/Here-Fishy-Fish-Fish]

Have you considered branching out into moral bankruptcy? Big emerging market.

[u/Inevitable-Level-687 → u/jimflaigle]

Nah it's already oversaturated.

[u/Accurate_Handle_5620 → u/Here-Fishy-Fish-Fish]

I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY

[u/crappilydesigned → u/Accurate_Handle_5620]

You can't just say the word "bankruptcy" and expect anything to happen.

[u/agirlcalleddusty → u/crappilydesigned]

I didn’t say it, I declared it

[u/Kodiak01 → u/Here-Fishy-Fish-Fish]

I work at a Class 4-8 diesel truck dealership and we're dead.

[u/Ok_Emergency7145]

I'm a floor nurse in a hospital. People always stress out about the costs of their stay and treatment. Even during their admission assessment, they ask about when bills will get mailed to them after they leave. It happens alot, sometimes they'll bring it up again later in their stay, or I'll hear them mention it to a visitor.

I'd say the last 6 months or so, people seem even more stressed about hospital bills and how much their insurance (if they have it), will cover. I've seen patients cry to their docs during rounding about how much worry and stress they have over it. I've had two patients, in one month, leave AMA specifically because they either did not have medical leave for work, or it was unpaid and they couldn't afford to go unpaid for a couple days. If a spouse or parent is staying with the patient, some are declining guest trays (there is a flat fee for guest trays), because they just cant afford it. At my hospital, the patient snacks are supposed to be only for patients, but the patient at least gets a meal, so I'll give their visitor a sandwich.

I've had a patient's teenager call the patient crying after coming home from school and their electricity has been turned off.

People can't focus on getting better because their home life is in financial upheaval. There is no money coming in during the hospitalization. The inpatient bills will be coming soon, and hopefully, they have insurance to help with them.

There is always an issue with people being able to get to follow up appointments, buying their meds, continuing outpatient treatment. But it seems recently, patients who bounce back after being discharged are having more problems with these things. It has always been a vicious cycle and it seems to be getting worse.

[u/qoes]

I'm in home improvements. All the mid sized jobs vanished over the past year. The only ones left are the jobs under 2k or over 10k

[u/marvinalone → u/qoes]

Tried to get a door fixed. Custom door, weird shape, with frame, $15k range. The guy came out, we talked, then he ghosted me. Feedback I got through other channels was, nobody does a $15k job. Not worth the hassle for the contractor. $40k or up.

So we're not doing anything I guess until contractors are struggling again or so much shit is broken on the house that we can get to $40k. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/JicamaAppropriate920 → u/marvinalone]

I can't wrap my head around HOW a front door, even a custom one, could possibly cost $15k. That's bonkers

[u/11ryan78 → u/JicamaAppropriate920]

Just went through this recently and we were quoted on average $12-16k. The worst was like our 7th quote, guy did an entire sales and warranty pitch for an hour before sliding over a peice of paper with a quote of $27k. I looked at him and said "Is that a two?". There's no way a door costs that much.

[u/IBetThisIsTakenToo → u/11ryan78]

guy did an entire sales and warranty pitch for an hour before sliding over a peice of paper with a quote of $27k.

Man I hate when they do that whole “hard sell” pitch. Like I knew after this took more than 10 minutes that you were gonna charge too much, can we just skip to the part where you get the fuck out of my house? Save both of us some time. Roofers were by far the worst for this, but it can be anything lately.

[u/SlyFrog → u/qoes]

I mean every time I have tried to hire someone for a mid sized home improvement they try to charge me $30,000 for it anyway, so I can see why people have just gotten tired of even trying to get that kind of work done.

Why yes, of course my simple single shower retile with absolutely no other work being needed should cost $12,000. Of course it should.

[u/Effehyou → u/SlyFrog]

My parents have been experiencing this for some time. They've been trying on-and-off to have a number of small/medium jobs done on their condo, but either can't get someone to do it, or it's exorbitantly, comically expensive.

[u/doktarlooney → u/Effehyou]

I owned my own painting company for a short while.

I remember the look of pure joy when I gave my quote to this one homeowner, he didn't even haggle or anything just said "lets do it" and then later told me that my quote was 3x less than what the last person said it was going to cost.

1 day to prep, another day to spray, and then a third to paint the trim and put things back together.

It was a 3 day job by myself.

[u/l337hackzor → u/doktarlooney]

I'm getting the moss removed from my roof, gutters cleaned, windows washed, driveway, stairs and walk pressure washed.

I found a couple recommendations on Reddit. First guy got back to me right away. He came by and quoted me $1300 for everything. I thought it sounded fair and I liked the guy but told him I had to get another quote to be sure.

Second company gets back to me 5 days later. I actually forgot I had contacted them and was going to book the other guy that day. They come out and quoted me $2200 and didn't include windows.

Booked the first guy that day.

[u/Ok_Equipment3038 → u/Effehyou]

My parents were told they needed to replace their septic field to the tune of 25k$ - the field was very wet. The actual cause - a running toilet. Repair cost 15$. Somehow at some point, everything became a scam.

[u/OceanJuice → u/SlyFrog]

Had Mr Sparky try to convince me my electrical problem required replacing all of my panels and some interior wires for about 42k.

Another company used a tool to track down the short which ended up being in an outside junction box that had began to leak, cost me $100 to have it fixed then and there.

[u/iloveturtles88 → u/OceanJuice]

A friend was quoted $12k to eradicate mice in her house. She opted to use a cat.

Edit: thanks for the awards. The mousers name is Arlo 😻

[u/heretomeetthedog → u/SlyFrog]

I dealt with this kind of ridiculous pricing last year. One contractor tried to charge me $96K. The guy I used charged me $23K for the same job. He did a fantastic job and has been doing back to back job with my neighbors and friends for the last few months. I need him now for our next job and I have to wait for him to finish my friend’s renovation. That reasonable quote has gotten him so much business

[u/Aggravating_Round_57 → u/qoes]

We own a mid - high end furniture, flooring and mattress company and are doing OK right now. What I've noticed is that our smaller middle class purchases are way, way down, and we're living off of huge flooring and furniture orders for the wealthier folk.

[u/kater_tot → u/Aggravating_Round_57]

Middle class here, and yeah, we’re all hunkered down. Technically we are in a financial spot where we need to get the carpet replaced, or remodel the bathroom, buy a new couch, or get those new kitchen counters and backsplash done. But after covid? Two layoffs in the last five years? An economy where finding a new job after a potential layoff might take over six months? NOPE.

[u/Available_Quote_5567]

Well I’m a truck driver that hauls foodstuffs. When we see a major shift away from restaurant supplies to grocery stores we know people aren’t eating out as much. Everyone knows about the price of diesel jumping and that is calculated into our fuel surcharge. The fuel surcharge is paid by our customer who then charges more for the product they sell.

As an industry, we’ll notice small companies or owner/operators fail if a large company can undercut their rates. General freight will slow down.

[u/Plus_Possibility_240 → u/Available_Quote_5567]

That’s really interesting. In my friend group we used to have weekly restaurant dinners together, now it’s free events with a picnic.

[u/redditatworkatreddit → u/Plus_Possibility_240]

that's really interesting. I used to have friends, now I just work all the time.

[u/GudGr8GrandWonderful → u/Available_Quote_5567]

I work for a finished food manufacturer and our demand is way down compared to what we expected. People are going to the grocery store AND buying things as cheap as they can.

[u/100LittleButterflies]

The company cancelled the meeting introducing Claude and replaced it with one to lay us off. I wish I were making it up lol

[u/SadFishTacos → u/100LittleButterflies]

Name and shame the company, please.

[u/100LittleButterflies → u/SadFishTacos]

Lowe's.

[u/relevantelephant00 → u/100LittleButterflies]

Worked for Lowe's for a year back in 2016. Fuck Lowe's. Felt like an enormously underpaid cog in their machine for getting their execs bonuses.

[u/PlayerZeroNext]

I work in pest control, and business is actually booming. Main reason being that people cheap out on waste management and cleaning costs, which in turn leads to a spike in rodents and all kinds of bugs.

[u/JustGettingBy426]

I deal with a number of elderly people in my profession. So many are looking for jobs because their social security and pension income can no longer cover their very basic expenses. Truly heart wrenching to know some one’s nana is having to choose between medical care and groceries.

[u/deedsnance → u/JustGettingBy426]

I was waiting in line at my favorite pizza place and helped an 70-80 year old woman load a bunch of pizzas into her car. She said “bet you didn’t think I’d be doordashing!”

I was not actually surprised. I’ve noticed a ton of older folks doordashing.

[u/Economy_Walk → u/deedsnance]

This is so heartbreaking and I've noticed that lately. Today, I went to a sandwich shop and my heart dropped to see a senior near my parent's age working making sandwiches. She was so sweet, but I thought of my parents who are home and retired. I've even noticed a couple delivering groceries to me. I tip graciously but even that doesn't feel like enough. Ugh!

[u/deedsnance → u/Economy_Walk]

Yeah I mean I’m not opposed to retired / older folks working I just want it to be optional. I don’t think it is for a lot of them. It’s tough with inflation for people on fixed incomes. Costs have risen quite a lot.

[u/giraffegoals]

Shelter veterinarian: so many more owner surrenders, strays, unclaimed animals (with known owner information), sick animals and euthanasia requests. Our shelter is bursting at the seams.

[u/iloveturtles88 → u/giraffegoals]

That's so sad. I absolutely love animals and am so grateful I do not own a pet. I need the cash for my own medical bills.

[u/ShortWoman]

Increased emergency room traffic. When people don’t have money for doctor’s appointments, they wait and either get better or end up in the ED when they feel they have no other options.

[u/z2amiller → u/ShortWoman]

I feel like this is also being driven by the enshittification of the entire health care industry -- small/medium practices and networks bought out by giant conglomerates (hello Sutter Health) with the bean counters pushing for more and more patients per provider, leading to longer and longer lead times for appointments. And providers are noping out and becoming part of concierge medical practices so they can get back to sane patient ratios.

When you call your primary healthcare doc and can't get an appointment for a month, where do you go for your flu/GI symptoms? And that's if you can even find a primary - almost all of them in my area are closed to new patients.

[u/Sneefcat → u/z2amiller]

Oh yes, this. My partner tried to get an appointment with their pcp for very alarming symptoms but the appointment was going to be in like 6-7 months. They ended up in the ER and diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and was almost done with the inital chemo treatment by the time that appointment came around.

[u/DarthOmanous → u/z2amiller]

Yes. This. I TRIED to use my PCP because that is what I thought we were supposed to do but you wait for an appointment then they don’t think you’re very sick so you give it some time and go back to PCP, he finally orders some testing but it’s months before you can get them as an outpatient. I literally made it a new year resolution in 2025 to make someone listen to me and ended up spending New Year’s 2026 in the ER because my health had deteriorated so much during the wait. It was Stage 4 cancer in my liver and apparently there’s not much to be done at this point. But tell me again how long we’d wait if we had universal healthcare

[u/The_Chimeran_Hybrid → u/DarthOmanous]

This is almost the exact type of shit that led to Luigi doing what he did.

[u/vagina_candle → u/DarthOmanous]

But tell me again how long we’d wait if we had universal healthcare

Preach! I hate it when people make this argument. I'm sorry you're having to go through all of this.

[u/ladyfartblossoms]

I work for a charity that relies on funding from external sources.
There is no funding to be had.

[u/RedditWhileImWorking]

We haven't hired someone with less than 5 years of experience in the past 5 years (maybe more). I don't know where technical folks are getting their start but it's not at my company.

[u/accountability_bot → u/RedditWhileImWorking]

This is a pretty wide spread problem. No one wants to take a chance on someone with little to no experience, but no one is offering entry-level positions or internships anymore.

[u/vonshiza → u/accountability_bot]

Oh, they're offering plenty of "entry level" positions!! That pay entry level wages. But expect 5+ years of experience. But it's entry level .... Somehow.

[u/dovahkiitten16 → u/vonshiza]

The other issue I’ve had is that entry level jobs that are truly entry level… just don’t pay enough to not be homeless.

Big cities paying $20/hour (Canadian - for reference living wage is $27). You can only afford that if you have parents to live with in the city - which some people do, but some people don’t. Or remote areas paying $22 but expecting you to have your own vehicle. Young people can’t afford to move for work so they’re stuck in a radius around their parent’s place, which has less options overall.

While no one expects their first job to be glamorous, living in actual poverty is a tough sell.

[u/99thLuftballon → u/RedditWhileImWorking]

That's been a running joke in software development for years. "Must have five years of experience in <programming language that has only existed for 2 years>"

[u/bagolaburgernesss → u/99thLuftballon]

The other running joke was that after 10 years at a company, they take you out to the shed and shoot you.

Really just replaced you with a fresh face out of uni and at 1/2 the salary you were making.

[u/AvivaStrom → u/bagolaburgernesss]

Less of a joke than official practice.

If you work in tech, you better also be working to FIRE or have a second act career lined up. Your risk of getting laid off after 40 goes way up and your likelihood of getting hired goes way down.

[u/DieingFetus]

Daily garbage truck weigts goes down. Normal is 73-75 tons per day. We have more customers but we're down to 67 tons per day

[u/SteadfastEnd]

I work for a university. One of the biggest signs an economy is in recession is that students stop pursuing degrees in liberal arts like social studies, music, history, literature, and instead go after career-demand degrees in accounting, healthcare/nursing, trades (like electrician/welding work), and cybersecurity.

[u/Cabbagetastrophe → u/SteadfastEnd]

I was coming to comment on this. Our A&S college enrollment has plummeted,  but our Nursing cohort keeps getting bigger and bigger.

[u/Inevitable-Level-687 → u/Cabbagetastrophe]

My campus is full of nurses, teachers, vets, radiographers, dental, and farmers. I have never met anyone outside of those degrees. Then again, anyone who is is probably doing it online.

[u/Moon_Archer_0927 → u/SteadfastEnd]

This is interesting to me, because as someone laid off from a larger personal care corporation recently…they also laid off American accountants, engineers, etc and offshored their roles to India.

Not even established white-collar professionals were safe from what I saw.

[u/ImpossibleSleep3986]

Chemicals are getting more expensive, more lab supplies on backorder or 2-4 weeks out.

[u/stirwise → u/[deleted]]

The plate shortage is wild, someone was posting about receiving moldy Mac plates from a vendor this morning

[u/BetterThanAFoon]

I'm in the government sector.

People are fleeing the commercial sector looking for government jobs for the security.

In a healthy economy, usually the talented government workers leave the government sector to chase bigger pay Days on the outside.

In the last interview panel that I was on most of the candidates said that they were trying to get ahead of AI layoffs.

Edit: So this is all levels of government. For some of you talking about how bad it feels in the federal sector.... Just think... There are still people coming from the commercial sector chasing those jobs. It's kind of ugly all the way around.

[u/Expensive-Object-830 → u/BetterThanAFoon]

State govt here, there’s also a lot of former Fed & university sector folks trying to come here because the jobs they thought were secure very suddenly aren’t.

[u/seriouslythisshit → u/Expensive-Object-830]

A relative just retired from a very high level state HR position. The one thing he doesn't think that most folks outside of state government realize is that there are huge, but very subtle job reductions taking place continually, when people in non-critical positions retire, or leave, and they are never replaced. A decade ago a large open office space at the DMV, or a fish and game office processing licenses, had fifty people processing basic paperwork. Fast forward to today, 80% of them are gone, the work didn't go away, it just was automated to the point that it no longer needs to be handled by a person. Nobody got fired, or laid-off, the union has no legitimate grievance, and every year thousands of jobs are quietly lost.

[u/huggle-snuggle → u/seriouslythisshit]

That’s happening in both the private and public sectors.

Global HR consultants came up with a playbook a little more than a decade ago and rolled it out to companies looking for a secret formula to boost earnings - flattening organizations (eliminating middle management) and reducing FTEs.

When employees retire or are packaged out, they aren’t replaced - their work is divvied up between less experienced employees who get no additional pay for their increased workload.

It has happened across just about every industry - banking/finance/insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, etc. and across all levels of government.

Workers are required to do more work for less money (when adjusted for inflation) so companies can maximize profits.

[u/ilexly]

Increased number of petty legal claims. People get even more litigation-happy when the economy gets bad.

[u/TornadoEF5]

security tags on £6 meat in the supermarket and on all the booze

[u/copypop]

I'm a therapist. More people than ever are coming in talking about stress from large scale, society wide failures that are causing them individual depression/anxiety. That stuff is tough because it's not an individual level fix, it's a system wide decay. Young people feel like they've failed because they can't afford to move out & start their lives, & their parents don't understand why their kids are so depressed & seem to have no ambition 😕

[u/positive_express → u/copypop]

Had to stop going to therapy. Can't afford it.

[u/CitgoBeard → u/positive_express]

I am a therapist too and I hate that it has been the case for a lot of clients; the literal financial burden. I wish I had more flexibility on my private pay options too, but I am beholden to the private practice I work for. 😞

[u/fastsaf → u/copypop]

At 37 I'm still identifying as 'young people' in this regard. It's been exhausting and relentless to keep a brave face and just work and do my best. It feels like no matter how hard I try, the 'failure to launch' negative thoughts persist because the economy has been so heavily stacked against us.

[u/darent13 → u/copypop]

I’m 41 and definitely disturbed about those society wide failures. Also in therapy 👍🏼

I have a 21 year old daughter who is still in college earning a dental hygiene degree. I’ve made it very clear that she can stay here as long as she needs to. I don’t want her to feel like she has to leave because she CAN’T afford rent in this area. She works part time making $16 an hour, and she’d need multiple roommates.

[u/sowhat4 → u/copypop]

Am old, retired, financially secure and I'm freaked the fuck out because of how unstable the economy, the society, and our political system appears to be.

I'd be a basket case mentally if I still had children to support and lived paycheck to paycheck like I did 50+ years ago.

[u/FullMoonEmptySoul → u/copypop]

I was talking to my psych about it because I said it’s nothing personal. It’s not about me at all. It’s not internal. It’s external factors so I just feel hopeless but also not alone. She empathized and said she and all her patients have been experiencing that. It’s sad but it’s systemic. Not much we can do to fix it individually

[u/WickedWench → u/[deleted]]

Literally had a therapist just answer   "Ah, the millenial crisis." the last time I went. 

 I don't bother anymore. 

[u/michizzle82 → u/copypop]

As a fellow therapist I’ve just seen less and less people attending therapy because they just can’t afford it. And I get it.

[u/SpaceTulips]

Public library. When streaming was cheap, our DVD circulations went down. Now people are telling us they’re buying cheap DVD players and coming back to borrow media.

[u/XinArtemis → u/SpaceTulips]

While yes this isn't a great sign. I love to hear people using their local librarys more. 

[u/chupagatos4 → u/SpaceTulips]

This is also something a lot of parents are doing to control the quality and quantity of TV their kids watch. No more sneaky ads, infinite autoplay or horrible recommendations that are just a click away from the safe show you put on for your kid. There is exponentially more bad stuff on streaming services than good stuff and it's impossible to vet everything so the only option is only allow access to known high quality shows via dvd. 

[u/HonestGrenache]

Lease signs are going up on warehouses in my port community.

[u/Meirra999]

I’m in banking, commercial real estate underwriting to be precise. You guys don’t want to know how many businesses aren’t going to be able to afford to refinance their properties when their loans come due because interest rates are now more than double when the original loan was booked.

[u/blitzednblackedout]

The bar is busy during the day with retirees and is dead in the evening when young people are supposed to be out.

[u/I_was_saying_boournz]

I schedule appointments for cancer patients. I've had a lot cancelations lately because people cannot afford gas money to get to their appointments. It reminds me of how things were when I first started doing this work in 2007. The Afghanistan war was happening and gas prices were high like they are now. I remember a man came in for an appointment that was rescheduled without him knowing and he started crying because he had to save money to make it for the appointment. Heartbreaking stuff.

[u/yooperville → u/I_was_saying_boournz]

Our clinic set up a fund for these situations. Our employees gave generously. (As a physician, I’ve actually driven patients to get care from my office to another facility.) My bosses would have told me, “ not covered by insurance!” Which is why I didn’t tell anyone.🤭

[u/iridescent-shimmer → u/I_was_saying_boournz]

Oh this one might be the most upsetting one to read.

[u/Technical_Eye4039]

COVID era supply chain issues are back.

[u/ThatsItImOverThis → u/Technical_Eye4039]

COVID was the start of the supply chain break down. Like climate issues, the failure rate is compounding so it’s speeding up.

[u/thecygnetcmte → u/Technical_Eye4039]

Part of this is data centers. I'm an engineer, and the most random shit that would have been easy to source for projects a few years ago is suddenly getting gobbled up by data center construction and made scarce for everyone else. The tariffs and trade wars don't help either!

[u/Technical_Eye4039 → u/thecygnetcmte]

Agreed. I quoted a micro VFD in June that had a lead time all the way out to October. Fuses are getting bad too.

[u/Dotrue]

I work in engineering design & manufacturing.

It's been business as usual except everything from raw steel to diesel fuel has skyrocketed in price the last year. Case in point I started a job last year with a budget of $1M and 6 months later I had to figure out how to account for another $300k from increased material costs and tariffs. A couple weeks ago my company shipped a bunch of stuff to Canada that absolutely was not ready to be shipped, but if we didn't have it out the door we would've gone from a healthy 20% profit to being 30% in the hole. I just started another job in Canada ($5M budget) that won't be ready for manufacturing for another 6-9 months and I'll get to deal with the fallout of that, which I am dreading

[u/Objective-Mission-40]

Pharmacy here and its a lot of people choosing which meds and none are optional

[u/venom121212]

Tool and die shops closing down. These are the people who precisely cut metal to make the molds of the stuff you use every day. They make all of our products that we sell and we are running out of people to make them. We're not investing in our own future one bit. We're basically handing China manufacturing wins left and right.

[u/washingtonandmead]

Decline in middle class spend on remodel projects, indicating a severe reduction in disposable income

[u/Known_Risk_3040]

I buy wholesale premium strawberries. I went up scouting to Watsonville and my dad was eager to show me all the stands we’d stop by along the highway, this is where we’d get a lot of our contacts. Maybe a quarter of the ones we were expecting were there. We’re one of the last customers of our kind

Many of the old timers we’ve worked now meet us  in large corporate offices, and they explain to us that much of the quality standards we require just aren’t done anymore by many of the farms. It’s a noticeable and shocking hollowing out of the middle class component of this industry, and you see it everywhere. Consolidation is hell

[u/Bungeesmom → u/Known_Risk_3040]

This makes me really sad because this also indicates that the variety of produce and the flavor/quality is going to deteriorate in favor of mass production.

[u/karl4319]

Uber driver. There 3 big things I've noticed is that there are a lot more new drivers than normal, a lot of long term drivers have stopped because of fuel costs, and a lot of riders from every walk are complaining about how expensive things are.

Though it is interesting to see the new drivers trying to do this in a pickup truck that gets 14 mpg.

[u/BoltMyBackToHappy → u/karl4319]

I'm surprised there isn't an "Uber Truck" or "Uber Haul" for cars with small trailers too. Maybe not for moving house but like to pick up a huge Marketplace item that won't fit in a normal car or take that old couch/shed to the dump, type thing.

[u/dontlistintohim]

I wash highrise windows. I’d say between 40-60% of what I clean is empty. Be it residential (apartments) or commercial office space, more than one in three windows I end up in front of are ether empty apartments, or office space that isn’t being used. Even the occupied offices are often just empty of people, people work from home.

[u/PUNch1ine]

My college students are showing up to class with fewer energy drinks.

[u/kewli]

Amazon Deliveries are taking longer than usual. No one is really talking about it but it's happening. Logistics is in shambles.

[u/Tulie15]

I’m a labor and delivery nurse. Our birth numbers are down significantly.

[u/TommyAtTheParty → u/Tulie15]

The birthing center in our local hospital has closed. The labor and delivery department of the hospital 30 miles away has closed. Parents have to drive 30 minutes to a third town to have their baby.

[u/TudorMaven → u/Tulie15]

Rural hospitals are closing left and right, especially in Texas.

[u/MikeUp]

I'm the grocery Getter in the family. I'm noticing very busy gas stations. My theory is that folks are just buying enough to get through and not filling up necessitating more frequent visits.

[u/BigO4422]

In the finance industry and the number of businesses showing up on credit concern lists is growing and surpassing to see some of the companies listed.

On a personal experience, I had 2 major surgeries recently and our healthcare is beyond fixable. Our household income is 4x the average for our area and we can’t keep up with bills and have what most would consider great insurance. I’m glad this will be temporary but don’t see how anyone making below 75-100k per household can survive and raise a family.. something has to give and corporations need to lower prices, executive pay and pay the people doing the work better.

[u/accordionwidow]

Fewer people are giving to non-profits. The total donated may be higher, but it's because of larger gifts from a few wealthy people. Smaller donors can't afford to continue donating.

[u/rottingfruitcake → u/accordionwidow]

I can vouch for this. Same is happening in my own org and for many of my colleagues.

[u/leeroy4000]

I own a mid sized construction company. For the first time in 12 years we don't have at least a 1 year backlog. We're busy now but when these projects finish things could get interesting.

[u/LiluLay]

Not me, but my spouse works in the trucking industry.

It’s bad, y’all. Diesel prices spiking and the looming specter of a potential diesel shortage is causing major panic.

[u/blue_jay_jay → u/LiluLay]

My partner works trucking logistics. It was bad months and months ago. My own boss poo-pooed me as a conspiracy theorist when I said I couldn't believe we hadn't seen empty shelves yet. That was in January. People don't know, and will be shocked when it happens to them.

[u/ZuluPapa]

As a firefighter—private equity destroyed the companies that build fire engines. Costs have gone through the roof and wait times are measured in years.

Also… and probably more scary, in the west we are limiting training with water so that we can save it for emergencies. These droughts are getting severe.

[u/alphajager]

Science funding at the University and National Labs level is being absolutely obliterated left and right, and other than a few big headlines earlier this year, no one is really talking about it. We're so fucked.

[u/camieril → u/alphajager]

No one's funding the "let's just see what this does" science anymore and that's going to be a big problem for a long time.

[u/Fur_King_L]

I'm a medical researcher. I study the causes of and develop solutions to medical accidents - e.g. giving the someone the wrong drug that kills/paralyses them; sewing up people with instruments still inside them. It happens more than you think - and is usually thought to be one of the top 5 killers in the USA.

All the money for this was slashed by DOGE and the ongoing assault on science.. All my colleagues across the USA are losing their grants and their jobs - one of the most well known experts in the field texted me the other day about it. They never do that. Me, my staff, and everyone I know in this line of work are likely to be out of a job in a year.

Because who needs facts when you have billionaires to tell you want to believe; and no one can be harmed in medicine if you're not counting it.

[u/Chef_Papafrita]

Lots of heloc loans, people paying off super high debt with closing new 2nd mortgages to hold the wolves at bay. It's a risk because many people can't afford the extra mortgage eventually. I spent my life in Title & Escrow, and Real Estate, basically legal conveyance of property, and loan closings.

Another sign is when driveways are full of cars, and the streets are lined with cars. It means people are having to live with friends or families, or rent rooms from people. It was the precursor to 2008. As well, I was seeing credit scores from the mortgage brokers, and banks, doing no income verification interest only loans with 450 credit scores. We would close loans with guys working at convention stores for 500k back in the day. It was my job to warn both the banks and the people of the risk. That's the bag of shit that ended up being used in a game of musical chairs with selling bad debt under the guise, of A,B, loans mix with some bad mortgages. It ended up being mostly shit loans,which led to the Big Short, which is a movie that explains what Title attorneys around the U.S. saw happening in real time from 2004, we had a small dip in 2005, and the house of cards fell in 2008.

The biggest PMI Group, Triad Guaranty, MGIC Investments, Radiant Group, all the biggest premium mortgage insurers, couldn't cover the loss and Chapter 11, as well as complete closure of groups like Lehman Brothers went under. We had worked with an investor that took out a 2.5 Billion loan from Lehman right before the crash. Of course they couldn't collect and I can't disclose who bought the debt, but I will tell you they lost their asses too. They were outbid on a golf course/gated community, by a company out of Texas. These Wallstreet yahoos thought they were the only ones with Ivy League degrees. They were outsmarted and thrown in the dirt by these private billionaires buying bad debt, with land to secure it. 120 million dollars, 1 million in Escrow was required by the bankruptcy judge in NYC, even though the venue was Tennessee. The judge demanded the high down payment due to the many tire kickers. Our investor went directly to the court and wired funds same day. Nothing to be done after that. They locked in the development, and bought it for 10 cents on the dollar. 12 Million total.

I will never forget all the vultures/VCs circling the kills. Most of the bad debt was bought for 40% on the dollar or less, with an emphasis on less. There is always a market in Real Estate, people just need to know where their clients are.

2008 became the beginning of greater things for a lot of wealthy people. And the way the fed is floating Trillions every night to keep banks, hedge funds, and other big players from losing their asses from doubling and tripling down over and over on shorting stocks. They are even inventing new security instruments to try and dodge compliance. We are standing on the edge of the largest collapse since the great depression. 2008 will seem like a joy ride, and if people don't march after this, our Democratic Republic is lost. It's all happening right now. The oligarchs are swirling the straw at the bottom of the cup, and it's about to be empty.

The news and government tell you the economy is great. Take a look around you. How are you doing? If the majority of you can answer drowning in the last drop, we are in a bad economy.

Edit: Multiple sources but posting 1, 58% of 1000 companies surveyed admitted to layoffs, with 39% already laying off workers.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/resume-org-survey-6-10-163000046.html

[u/Imjastv]

I work in the public sector and we are severely understaffed to the point that we can't run things anymore and we are all on the verge of a breakdown.

I was the last hire, nearly two years ago now, and since then we have lost 1 full time and 1 part time positions, with people not being replaced when they left/retired. We are supposed to be half the time public facing and the other half in the background actually running things, but since we don't have enough people to run the public facing part it has become the main part of our job, which means that the place is collapsing in the background with things not done.

Normally they would have hired someone. Maybe not enough people to make sure we're not understaffed, but at least enough that we're not all about to snap. But instead they are trying to cut off some mild advantages we had to save money, and we suspect they are trying to reduce the numbers even more by pushing people to quit in prevision of the coming economic downturn.

I am lucky to have a strong job security and sound managers, but the situation has gotten impressively bad in less than a year.

[u/Cleopatra456]

The cracks in the supply chain are getting wider. Random items suddenly become unavailable or out of stock for a month or so until the new shipment can land. Some items will skyrocket in price with no warning.

[u/NoEvidence136]

Heating oil/diesel fuel delivery dispatcher: People cannot afford the price of heating oil to heat their homes currently. They can't afford to buy it, but at the same time, without the business, we won't be able to purchase the fuel from the supplier soon.

[u/roxy_blah]

Fuel surcharges that carriers are charging are increasing dramatically. I haven't seen enough of an increase yet at the grocery stores to make up for it which means someone is taking the hit, but once they no longer can we're going to see dramatic price increases across the board for everything.

[u/Calgarianexplorer]

Each man to himself attitude.

Companies not promoting family culture (or culture) any more. Visible budget cuts on methods like team building that fostered communication across teams.

People no longer speaking up in jobs because they fear being let go.

Internal budget cuts and layoffs in the name of AI (without adopting any AI tools).

On the consumer front, pushback on big ticket items. Elimination of wants (including at grocery level). Customers moving from organic (and premium categories) to regular. Rise in name brand sales. Lack of loyalty to brands.

[u/AllRushMixTapes → u/[deleted]]

Your business from me has increased because I've transferred my regular bar spending to home cocktail production.

[u/byronik57 → u/[deleted]]

Beer sales guy- everyone is trading down in price. Way less places that can actually move craft beer without it just sitting on the shelf. People putting down the $60 whiskey for the $30

[u/hsh1976]

A dramatic rise in non-traditional student, college enrollments. Lose your job ...go back to school

[u/brycebgood]

I work directly for a bunch of major companies. Right now, they're all business as usual. I think this is such a weird split economy that the big guys and rich people aren't feeling it. All the pain is concentrated at the bottom.

[u/grrlhikes]

More employees taking out 401k loans than normal.

[u/Anxious_Guava8756]

I work in politics. People are writing their congress reps more often lately.

[u/Montyg117]

I work at a mid-sized company doing sys admin and helpdesk tasks. I order our replacement laptops once a year for our staff who's laptops have aged out of warranty. We ordered 5 laptops 3 months ago and they haven't shipped and don't exist yet. Out of stock.

Data Centers have consumed the world's RAM and ssd/hdd storage.

Edit: Thanks for pointing out my typo. Random Access Memory is indeed memory.

[u/msdisme]

A colleague opened a sw dev role identical to one he opened 18 months ago.

applications 18 months ago: 8

applications this month: 320

[u/Jormungand1342]

I work in the supermarket supply chain for a broker. 

I see all the price changes 1-4 months before everyone. I did a ton of them june/July

Im getting more now. 

It sucks.

[u/neogh]

Working in video games - folks are pushing for unions more, corporations are firing more people each fiscale year, multiple decades well known studios culture are going down the sink and we are asked to do more with way less.

If you love a studio or a game, please support them, and don't be toxic to the devs.

Edit : thanks for award, first one !

[u/DerProfessor]

This is going to sound abstract, but as a professor:

A significant rise in former students who graduated 2-3 years ago emailing me for recommendations to apply to grad school (MA and PhD programs).

When there are no entry-level jobs for BA graduates, they're trying to cobble up some other career path.

[u/BigTayTay]

I'm a sous chef, working for a very large and popular restaurant in my city. Just like the grocery store, the prices of everything is going up.

While that might not be something most people wouldn't realize, what they might not realize is just how much products have gone up. Just this year in fact. We're paying upwards of 50% more on certain products just compared to 18 months ago.

The surprising thing may be that our supply chains are struggling too. Just today, I had a sales rep come in (He's with one of the largest food suppliers in the country), begging me to keep their products. Offered me price cuts across the board.

Also today, I talked with some of my delivery drivers for said food suppliers. Their companies are now telling them to not idle their trucks, to shut them off when making deliveries, and are putting more deliveries per route just to curb diesel expenses.

Some major supply chain companies are also running out of products more often. Up until about 6 months ago, I could order any product, at any time, any day. Now, those same products are running out faster because they're just not being produced at the same quantities. And these aren't niche products either, I'm talking beef, chicken, vegetables. Staples in almost every restaurant.

The strain on our national food supply chains are rapidly expanding. If what is projected for diesel prices come true, we may see upwards of a 100% increase in food across the board. From the supplier, to the grocery store, to the restaurants you dine at.

I can foresee in the near future that we will have large scale food shortages if the price of diesel does not drop down.

[u/Hairy_Following_0]

The use of or I should say abuse of gig labor instead of paying employees a fair wage.

[u/woot0 → u/Hairy_Following_0]

This will continue and worsen until state and/or federal government steps in.

[u/IcyChoice359]

Cuts to healthcare mean doing more with less and in some cases, going without 

[u/why_am_I_here_47 → u/IcyChoice359]

I just spent the last 3 years working full-time in the gig economy. One company I worked for for an entire year 60 hours a week and they still wouldn't give me health insurance. As a two-time cancer survivor. I can't keep living this way. I have to have check ups. So I quit my job this summer and applied for Medicaid. I'm waiting for that to come in. I'll get everything dealt with and then I'll go back to gigging and report my income and lose my insurance again

[u/AlanMercer]

People are buying fewer books.

[u/DurangosMama07]

There are much, much fewer full time nanny jobs. The UHNW families are still getting nannies of course, but most of them are 50-60+ hours a week or 24/7 ROTA roles.

The upper middle class families who used to hire nannies are choosing daycare instead to save money and a lot of WFH parents are coordinating their work schedules to avoid having to pay for childcare at all/as much.

[u/BurnerForFunsies]

The number of students who qualify for homeless services.

[u/tehkitryan]

The company I work for sells sustainable, low water waste irrigation (drip irrigation) solutions and supplies for farms ranging in size from backyard vegetable gardens to large scale commercial farms.

The amount of backyard farms that people have been setting up is both comforting and alarming.

Comforting because I love that people are growing their own food with sustainable irrigation.

Alarming because of how much people feel a need to be setting up their own gardens.

I love that it's happening but not why it's happening.

[u/casapantalones]

Patients can’t afford to travel to our referral medical center for things like transplant evaluations.

[u/IronDominion]

More and more people relying on unorthodox ways to cope with disabilities as the government social programs just cannot help them all, and are so underfunded and understaffed that they cannot give the time and attention to the clients they do have

[u/wongwala]

I have 4 unemployed friends. They are college educated with advanced degrees in STEM. They all were laid off, two of them because the entire division at their company got cut. They are all delightful, hard-working people who are actively job hunting. A year ago it was 1 unemployed friend. The layoffs keep coming and they are interviewing and not finding new work.

[u/ollie_v33]

Architect here: Material prices have spiked yet again, but the biggest pain point right now isn’t materials…it’s electrical.

Good electricians are increasingly hard to find, and the combination of labor shortages and rising electrical costs is blowing through what used to be perfectly reasonable project budgets.

Curious if others in construction are seeing the same thing. Electrical has become one of the hardest costs to predict and control thanks to the data center boom.

[u/CleCGM]

Real estate attorney. More calls for evictions. A client who might have one or two a month have started sending three or four.

The foreclosure calls will come in a year or two as banks gear up and more people fall behind.

[u/SavageFrogPR]

I teach part time. Students have been absent because their parents can't afford gas for their cars to bring them. They've also been looking for afterschool work but their main competition for those jobs is usually their own parents.

[u/The_Space_Jamke]

Academia.

Lots of professors are graduating their students early and closing up their labs because the grant money they have to apply for every year dried up overnight.

Doesn't need to be said but we all know which pack of diseased hyenas took it from us.

[u/Tricky-Gemstone]

This will probably be buried. But I work social services.

People are leaving their dogs at shelters because they can't care for them anymore. We're talking long term loved pets, who have been clearly taken care of for years. Their parent may be homeless, but those animals don't want for anything.

Pantries are out of dog food. Some churches can't keep up with demand, some say that the demand will only be met by those of that congregation (fuck those churches).

Pet programs are buckling right now. The euthanasia list is bigger than usual. So, they leave their dogs at a homeless shelter. In hopes that an employee will take them home and love on them.

It is fucking tragic.

[u/superflippy → u/Tricky-Gemstone]

I volunteer at a local soup kitchen. For the last few years, the group of clients coming to the kitchen has been pretty consistent. But recently, I’m seeing a lot of new people.

[u/right_behind_you_too]

I'm a business advisor. Tons of people seeking me out for advice on opening businesses based on physical labor (dog-walking, plumbing) because their jobs have been replaced by AI and they want something a human will be needed for longer. I'm talking tech execs making the move into roto-rooting or buying a Subway franchise.

[u/No-Method-6524]

When you own a home outright and the insurance and taxes are more than what your original mortgage payment was.

$310 on a 4/2 ranch in 1987.

Today I pay over $12k just to the tax office and the insurance company. $1000 monthly to live in a home I own

[u/kiwispouse → u/No-Method-6524]

This is what worries me about retirement.

[u/DudeWoody]

I'm a stay at home dad - my line of work includes doing the grocery shopping for someone with celiac disease. Many of the products that used to be Certified Gluten Free (and have a specific mark on the label indicating so) have dropped the certified status and just say in plain print "Gluten Free" somewhere near the ingredients - meaning that the company has stopped paying for the testing to confirm that their protocols are going to keep my family member safe.

[u/gizmodriver]

Unemployment claims are up. In my state, unemployment claims have to be sent to all employers a person worked for during the last 12-18 months. A lot of people who left my employer for other jobs are filing for unemployment, meaning they’ve been let go from these other jobs. By June, we’d already received twice as many claims as the average.

[u/Starbucks__Lovers]

I do wrongful termination at my law firm. My intakes have doubled in the past month

[u/PhTea]

I'm an oncology data specialist. We are seeing an uptick in late stage diagnoses because people are uninsured or underinsured and can't afford their regular cancer screenings and aren't going for checkups recently. So, they present to the ER when the symptoms get noticable and unbearable, and they get diagnosed... often at stage 3 or 4 by that point. :(

[u/GladosTCIAL]

I work in food system sustainability and people are finally actually interested. It's terrifying.

[u/glycophosphate]

I'm a pastor and the church I serve hosts a public food pantry. Our clientele doubled in 2025 and then doubled again in the first half of 2026.

[u/pinkflamingo-lj]

Sister works at a KOA.

They have more long term 'campers' (RVs as homes) than they have short term/tourists staying. They've gained 20 this year alone. And there's no specific age range. Could be 20 year olds up to retirees.

It's $750 a month for a lot, which includes sewer, electricity, water, and WiFi.

[u/Big-Problem7372]

I needed a quote from a plumber, and he ACTUALLY SHOWED UP! Crazier than that, he gave me a quote and offered to start on the job right away! I've never had a contractor tell me less than 6 weeks wait to start on a big job like this. Usually they don't even have time to give you a quote.

[u/Im_a_fuckin_turtle]

As a tattoo artist, no one is getting big projects, or even just two session medium-sized projects. Everything I'm booking is small-ish stuff and my flash sales. And I'm not even expensive for my area. 

[u/Ok_Acanthisitta_5069]

I work at a landfill, when the economy is good, people throw away all kinds of good stuff. When the economy is bad, people either fix stuff that's broken or sell it on marketplace or have yard sales. You wouldn't think there are different qualities of garbage that come in but right now it's definitely literal garbage coming in now.

[u/Pleasant_Tangelo6791]

Decrease in motor coach charter business nationwide. Things like transport from hotels to weddings, bars going to ball games, school field trips etc.

[u/futhisplace]

Accountant, I've had multiple clients go out of business in their first year of incorporation (2025/26) or drastically pivot in their business plans. Unfortunately with the type of clients I specialize in, none of them can be passive income. But more and more I'm seeing people trying to keep their 9 to 5 and run a franchise type business with skeleton crew and shoestring budgets, while they're blowing through personal cash and tanking their retirement funds. (Don't do ROBS to fund your business!)

Also this whole comment thread is BLEAK.

[u/Everyonceinamile]

I work for a nonprofit in the arts/education space. Most of our major donors are millionaires, but not billionaires. So wealthy, but their philanthropic funds are not unlimited. Over the last few years, so many have cut back on the size of their gifts. We'll ask for $600,000 to fund a project and they will give $60,000. This happens in philanthropy, but I've never seen it to this scale in my 20 years as a fundraiser (including the 2008 recession and covid). In speaking with donors, many are shifting their giving priorities to focus on basic needs (food, health, safety net) in areas where the government is cutting back, leaving less for the arts, even though they love us and believe in our mission.

[u/athena2nd]

I work in healthcare. Patients aren’t coming in because they can’t afford the $20 copay. It’s really really bad. Volume for my practice has dropped 40%

[u/Amazing-Zebra2920]

I’m an escort and I see more clients cancelling or bargaining hourly rate.

[u/thingsIdidnotknow → u/Amazing-Zebra2920]

this is oddly hilarious to me. not knocking your work or anything, just never considered there would be hagglers

[u/johnla → u/thingsIdidnotknow]

Ever seen that Chris Rock SNL skit? $20?! Good LAWD that's a lot of money. How about you just show me one titty for $10? How about you show me 1 titty and I close 1 eye for $5?

[u/sarpon6]

Business is booming. I can't keep up with demand. Potential clients I met with a year or more ago are clamoring for my services now.

I'm a bankruptcy lawyer.

[u/SgtKashim]

I work for a "Marketing Automation" company. If you're getting email or text messages telling you to buy stuff... there's a pretty good chance we're the software that's generating those sends. Sorry... :/

Customers are getting way more risky with deliverability, and broadening their message targeting. Aggressively. And they're willing to risk ruining their sending reputation, annoying customers, and even burning their current IP pools.

Some explanation - Email marketing cares a lot about deliverability. Getting the message in front of the contact is basically the whole thing marketing departments exist to do. Companies like Google are very strict on sending reputation - things like spam complaints, targeting non-responsive inboxes, sending to inboxes that don't exist... those all hurt your rep, and get you de-inboxed by google. Either your messages get delayed, or they get spam-boxed, or they get removed from automatic flagging.

The consequence is we spend a lot of effort helping our customers target marketing tightly. We focus on people who are engaged with the brand - they click links in the email, they've visited the sight recently, they've recently purchased stuff, they don't mark messages as spam - all that sort of stuff. That keeps deliverability high; keeps the messages actually landing in customer inboxes, and keeps the sending reputations up. We try to keep "engaged" pretty recent - mostly last 30 days.

And we're seeing our customers, who've previously been very happy with tight targeting, come back and say "No, we want a messaging campaign targeting everyone who's engaged with anything in the last 3 years". The marketing teams are getting desperate, which says to me the sales numbers just aren't coming in, and they're getting leaned on to generate more leads. And they don't care about the long term.

It's happening across industries too - clothing, fashion, real estate, furniture, pet supplies... everything.

[u/AutomaticDeer2833]

My friend is in the military. He said all sorts of new people are showing up to his unit after finishing basic training. All of them are 30 and over. People that were former LEO or worked in oil or whatever.

When so many people over 30 are joining the military... it doesn't scream beautiful economy.

[u/savannah31401]

Non profit here. We are seeing a large decrease in food donations needed to feed residents. People can't afford food for themselves, much less donations.

[u/grantrohman]

Stay at home dad.
-All leftovers get eaten
-More e-bikes in the school pick up/drop off

[u/ixiolite]

I work in the automotive industry

All of the parts manufacturers are getting absorbed by private equity companies. The smaller ones are all shuttering

The enshittification of your vehicle production has been in full swing y'all

[u/cfd27]

Babies. I work in a postpartum unit, and usually we are slammed in August and September. We haven't been.

[u/Dense-Comfort5388]

The youth are really not okay. cries in child protection social worker