Mar 7, 2015

Stereo Demographics

On the way back to Red Wing from the Cities today, my wife and I decided to stop off at the local casino, Treasure Island, just to see what the place looks like. I’m not a gambler, but I thought it might be nice to check out another of the area’s music venues. What a flashback. Smokers decorated every area of the casino, including the non-smoking areas. The average age had to have been at least 60. Lots of old guys with pony tails and old girls with piles of starched blue hair. It looked exactly like a crowd at a Harley Davidson event. Exactly. so exactly, in fact, that on the way out a group of old folks in biker vests and paraphernalia came lumbering into the casino.

9 comments:

Troubadour said...

No interest to visit casinos for that very reason, smokers. I do find it interesting how profitable casinos are targeting such a small demographic/minority, but maybe that demographic is greater than I realize.

T.W. Day said...

It won't be for long. Between the suicidal lifestyles, the poor math skills, and the age demographics, casino customers are like Harley customers (or Fox News viewers): old, unhealthy, economically disadvantaged, and unlikely to be followed by the next generation.

Anonymous said...

You just can't STFU about Fox News, can you? There's always a drive-by comment waiting in the wings, when it has nothing do to with the subject that you're forcing through the sausage grinder of your worldview.

Give it a rest, man. You may just live a bit longer.

Unknown said...

God forbid that a news outlet provides a differing viewpoint.

Paul Y said...

God forbid that a news outlet actually gives real unfiltered news!

T.W. Day said...

God forbid that a "news" organization provides news instead of uninformed opinion. However, to the point.

This article does a pretty good job of describing the "typical HD" customer: http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1552&context=honors_theses.

To me, the interesting line is "The average income of a Harley motorcycle buyer was $85,000 in 2009. Of these buyers, 34% had a college or graduate degree and over 75% of buyers had at least one year of education beyond high
school." While $80k/year seems like a lot, it feels a lot like being in California during the 1980s when people in that same income bracket were buying $250k houses at 14% interest. At the time, I was in that income bracket and could not figure out how someone making $80k could afford a $3000 house payment. In 2007, we all learned that they were paying their bills with credit cards at 20+% and leveraged 2nd and 3rd mortgages. That's just math disability, not real wealth.

T.W. Day said...

My comment on the Fox News view age is not "world view," by the way. It's not only known fact but something Fox is desperately trying to fix: http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/section-4-demographics-and-political-views-of-news-audiences/

Anonymous said...

WTF? Why would someone ask you to SFU on your own blog? Isn't the point of reading this to get a different "world view?"

T.W. Day said...

You guys are killin' me with all of these acronyms. Once I retired from industry, I gave 'em up. It's words or nothing for me.