How To Improve Your Local Economy

You’re probably already wondering just by the title what RVing and improving the local economy have to do with one another. Remember the old saying for recycling “Think globally but act locally”? Well, there you have it.

We live in a global economy. There’s no doubt about it. America has lost jobs, industries, manufacturing processes, even agriculture! But Americans are resilient and as always we’ll apply our resources, creativity, and infrastructure in the right direction to turn things around. How do I know that? We always have. So, I have faith we will again and so do a lot of other Americans, because I get their emails, tweets, and hear their discussions about it.

Here are some suggestions for what each of us can do to help stimulate our local economies and how what we do, impacts our local economy. If you think about it, you can probably come up with even more of them.

Keep a positive attitude. The news is full of doom and gloom. If we spend all of our time listening to it, we’ll get too depressed to get out of bed and go to work – what’s the use, right? Come on people! Turn that attitude around and say, “Today is a new day, let’s get the American spirit back and get rolling!” We can’t control the whole world. But we can control what we do, where we go, where we spend our dollars, to what charities we donate to, and more! So, let’s focus on what we can do!

Spend your vacation dollars locally. When you vacation, camp, or RV closer to home, you not only save fuel costs and travel time, but you support a local business. Why does that matter? Because that local campground or hotel hires your neighbors, friends, or family members, purchases goods and services from local companies (like the ones you or your friends might own or work for), they pay into local tourism and tax programs, support community activities and festivals, and support local community charity programs, and more. When you shop, camp, or vacation near your home, your community benefits. It’s that simple.

Shop at the Campground where you camp at instead of driving to a chain store. Before you tell me about how high campground store prices are, remember that the campground is there to provide you a convenience. Their prices might be slightly higher because they can’t purchase the same truck-load quantities as large chains do and they have to pay fuel surcharges on their deliveries, but they save you the time, wear and tear on your auto, and the fuel costs of driving to town. Often, their prices are more competitive than you think, because their goods are higher quality than chain stores. This is especially true when buying propane, firewood, and other goods. People go to town to buy propane and come back to the campground and find out that the campground’s price was the same or less. Not only did they spend the same or more for the product, they wasted the time, wear and tear on their vehicle, and fuel to go to town to get it. Remember, again that when you’re shopping at that campground you’re supporting the jobs and the people who work there, the local trucking companies, fuel stations, and local companies that supply those goods and services. Your whole community benefits.

Support the businesses that advertise in the campsite map and support campground events. These local businesses understand the impact RV’ers and campers have on their business and their local economy. So make sure you tell them that the campground recommended them to you. You’re likely to get better service and discounts if they offer them. In addition, it’ll help them realize the impact that advertising or supporting campground events has on their business. They’ll pay attention, because it effects their bottom line!

Buy your RV locally. Again, when you support your local RV Dealer, you’re likely to get better service when you need it. You don’t just get an RV; you create a relationship. They’re more likely to value your business because they know if they do, you’re likely to come back RV after RV. Again, it’s people in your community that work there. It’s your community that benefits from the employment, taxes collected, and local charities.

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables locally where you live and where you vacation. When you buy locally, you get fresher products (which are of course healthier for you and your family) but you also support the local farmer who grew them and the suppliers he supports. Those businesses: the local feed store, equipment dealer, milk processing plant, etc. all benefit. You can easily see how it grows! (Pun intended!)

Spend your entertainment dollars locally. When you go to the local concert, eat at a local restaurant, buy clothes or jewelry at the local small-town store, go to the movies, or bowling, etc. you’re supporting your local economy. Those are local jobs, local taxes paid, local charities supported, and on and on. Again, the neighbors, friends, and relatives working in those fields benefit!

Go green. The more we make our homes lower energy users, the lower our local energy bills will be! Turn lights off. Replace bulbs with compact fluorescents, in the RV use new LED replacement bulbs, and don’t burn your awning lights all night. Take only one vehicle when you go RVing or camping. The more we reduce fuel consumption, the lower the fuel prices will be! Recycle! The more we recycle the more room in our landfills that we save, the better our environment. If we all did these things, just think of the impact we’d have!

Support local charities & community projects. When we keep our charity dollars closer to home, our local community will look better, work together better, and be ever more successful. Local charities provide scholarships to local teens, supports our local volunteer fire departments, our local blood banks, local disaster funds, and much, much more. There are many ways to lift our local communities. We can donate money, or get involved and volunteer! Charity organizations always need both!

As consumers, we have a huge impact on our local economy with how we shop, where we shop, and what purchases and choices we make. We can choose to support our local economy, or we can choose to do what is easiest or cheapest. In making the wrong choices, we really hurt ourselves in the long run by damaging our own local economy. When you think about the impact that you can make, and what that means to people you know, then the answer is clear and possibilities are endless, if we just think globally and act locally.

By Robyn Chilson
Robyn & her husband Tim Chilson own & operate Brookdale Family Campground in Meadville, PA You can contact her at robyn@brookdalecampground.com