re: Anyone worried about losing their job? Anyone already lost their job?

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Oil in the shitter.

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Im thinking workers in the oil field might be okay dealing with a slowdown - Relatively speaking to other sectors of the economy. Reason being, the oil field folks just went through this a few years back and have some experience how get through it.

And last time no one gave a frick about them. In fact people were cheering. No gov’t hand outs and free checks to make ends meet.

If you made it through 2014 O&G slowdown, you will be fine through this

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If you made it through 2014 O&G slowdown, you will be fine through this

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I'd like to think that's the case, but this go round is a little bit different for O&G folks. 5-6 years ago, if you got """laid off""" you had the option of going to another industry for employment. This time, nearly every sector is facing a pretty tough road ahead. To add to that, many in my position are 1099 contractors with their own LLCs, which means filing for unemployment isn't an option for us. $24 oil as of this morning and if it drops ~1$ every day, it'll be at $0 in less than a month...nobody makes money at zero. I've been told to "keep on keeping on" as of yesterday, but it's evident we're all living on borrowed time.

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And last time no one gave a frick about them. In fact people were cheering

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Yeah this was hard to deal with and still is for me. "It's a boon to the economy! You're killing the environment! You knew what you were getting yourself into! You deserve it! Buncha stupid rednecks buying toys!" I've saved, invested, and paid down debt since I started working in this industry right out of school, I set 30% of my income aside for taxes, and save/invest anywhere from 20-50% depending on the month. It's funny to think that O&G is a bunch of overpaid, irresponsible white trash on oil rigs but there are so many more people employed by this industry who are responsible, well-educated, and hard-working - accountants, lawyers, engineers, administrative personnel, sales folks. My entire time in this industry has never been a boom, I've never gotten benefits, and have worked at a fast and furious pace because the looming threat of a layoff is always hanging overhead and they're always looking for the weak to cull. Problem is, most companies have cut deep and to the bone. In 2014, companies had to cut back on per diem and cancel their elaborate Christmas parties...in 2020 they'll be lucky to keep the electric bill paid.

On a similar note, I think it's funny that gas is now cheap and yet nobody is allowed to really go do anything - no travel, no vacations, no going out, no eating out (unless it's your wife). Kind of an amusing "Monkey's Paw" situation.

ETA: Additionally, I think people don't realize that the cure for low prices is low prices. Nobody knows for sure what will happen, but this cratering of oil prices is caused by OPEC+ not agreeing to extend/renew/increase production cuts plus low demand due to the Coronavirus (over)reaction. We know the second one is temporary - it may take a month, 6 months, or a year but things on the demand side will be back to normal, maybe even moreso because people will be champing at the bit for things to do after being holed up for awhile. As to the OPEC situation, that may or may not be temporary. I know KSA and Russia need prices which are 2-3x higher than they are right now in order to balance their national budgets. They claim they're "comfortable" with prices where they are, but those two nations don't exactly have a reputation for honesty and transparency. It may be $24 today and 2 months ago nobody would have thought that was possible, but that could mean it'll be $240 a year from now, which nobody thinks as possible. Nobody knows nothin'

I haven't had a customer in six days of work. I'm so fricked.

I am not worried about the short-term affect of this on the company. We can float payroll for the next few months without taking on new loans, and our buildings are paid off so we can always get new loans.

My concern is we only have 1 location; where as, our major US competitors have a few overseas locations. And, our international competitors are not seeing the same shutdowns/restrictions we are seeing. So, if we are closed for a few months, it will open the door for some of our competitors to step in and service our customers. Once they start doing that, we have to assume we will lose a %age of our existing business for the near future (especially some of our newer clients). That could affect us tremendously for the next few years, and I am not sure how much the owner will want to extend himself if we lose 20+% of our business.

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I'd like to think that's the case, but this go round is a little bit different for O&G folks.

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Yeah, it isn’t “easier” because of 2014, LOL. I got laid off in 2017 but managed to find another job (same industry) pretty quickly but only because I had connections which could help. I’m out of those.

And the O&G industry contributes much more to this economy than some people realize.

Outside sales in the rental industry...was told to limit f2f with customers and work from home. Not sure how long that will last.

Thursday last week everyone at my firm went to 1/2 time and 1/2 pay. Friday afternoon I went to 0 time and 0 pay.

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I see a tidal wave coming and all I've got is a canoe. It can be done, but I'm going to have to paddle my canoe pretty hard.

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That's the best way I've seen it expressed. I'm stealing it.

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You can go down to Mexico and do the hammer challenge

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