Itinerant Air-Cooled

. . . . . . . '05 . . . '06 . . . '07 . . . '08 . . . '09 . . . '10 . . . '11 . . . '12 . . . '13 . . . '14 . . . . 2015
Visits .... 52 ...... 32 ..... 35 ....... 46 ....... 37 ..... 57 ....... 54 ...... 48 ...... 48 ..... 57 ....... 68
Gross .. 15.9 ...11.5 ... 11.9 ...15.7 ... 13.1 ... 23.9 ... 20.0 ... 19.4 .... 22.0 ... 26.1 .... 30,430
Fuel ...... 3.9 .... 2.4 ..... 3.0 .... 4.0 ...... 2.6 ..... 4.0 ..... 5.3 ...... 3.5 ..... 4.0 ..... 4.9 ...... 2,858
Ldgng ... 4.0 .... 2.3 ..... 2.7 .... 3.4 ..... 2.9 ..... 4.8 ..... 4.6 ...... 3.4 ..... 3.8 ...... 4.7 ...... 4,056
Net/Call 152 ... 207..... 174 ... 179 .... 213 .... 265 .... 194 ..... 262 ..... 293 ..... 289 ...... 344

Total Miles ................................... 22,755 ( +360)
Actual Work Weeks .............................. 26 ( +5)
Average miles to each call ................ 316 ( - 83)
Average fuel expense per call ............ 42.00 ( - 44.00)
Average fuel economy ......................... 23.2 mpg @ 2.95/gallon ( + 6.3 mpg)(- .80 cents)
Average lodging expense per call ...... 59.64 ( - 22.36)
Average net income per week ............ 900 (+116) @ 2.6 ( - .1) calls per week
Average weekly income over year ...... 468 ( + 139)

Some unexpected efficiencies this year, a great assist from lower fuel prices and less reliance on lodging this summer. I did remove the cross country banzai from my statistics when I drove from Colorado to New York for the Goodbye House party (thus actual miles on Chloe since first call was 26,121 miles.

Most importantly, this Itinerary was an epic, a joy, some hard discomforts, beautiful nights, and I enjoyed my customers more thoroughly than ever. I hope to be able to continue this thing into the foreseeable future.
Colin

I don't know why I enjoy these "wrap up" posts so much. It might be the transparency that pretty much every other business lacks. Or it could be the fuel economy figures.

What determines your lodging requirements? It seems that your number of calls going up could have increased your fatigue, especially driving ten miles per hour slower all summer...? Imagine that but now with a bed in your car!

Sleeping in MY Volkswagen this weekend,
Robbie

Lodging requirements are often dictated by heat, humidity, degree of filth incurred at a call.
My sense of smell is diminishing . . . and my Tide/Motel6 bucket-bathing has evolved to a high art of refreshing results, yaHUHH.

As I ploughed through the billions of gas receipts and checked off each and every one against the credit card statements, and double-checked that everyone is paid up, I was able to run the entire summer through my mind all over again. That was some amount of traveling, and the thought that Chloe's little connecting rods and pistons did all that, and that those used Yuma head exhaust valves opened and closed 50,413,530 times at near 1,000* just blows my mind. Better yet, the intake valves opened and closed 50,413,530 times, too. If they had opened and closed just 50,413,531 times, I would have pieces of metal scattered all over the storage unit floor . . .

Amskeptic wrote:...those used Yuma head exhaust valves opened and closed 50,413,530 times at near 1,000* just blows my mind. Better yet, the intake valves opened and closed 50,413,530 times, too. If they had opened and closed just 50,413,531 times, I would have pieces of metal scattered all over the storage unit floor . . .

2007 Results Just In! . . . 17,343 hits
2008 Results Just In! . . . 6,370
2009 Results Just In! . . . 8,140
2010 Results Just In! . . . 3,836
2011 Results Just In! . . . 10,737
2012 Results Just In! . . . 4,382
2013 Results Just In! . . . 3,550
2014 Results Just In! . . . 5,262

2015 Results Just In! . . . . . . 127

We appreciate all three remaining members of this forum.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

2015 Results Just In! . . . . . . 127

We appreciate all three remaining members of this forum.
Colin

I'm still here, and I don't even own an ACVW no more....

Tim

Amskeptic wrote:2007 Results Just In! . . . 17,343 hits
2008 Results Just In! . . . 6,370
2009 Results Just In! . . . 8,140
2010 Results Just In! . . . 3,836
2011 Results Just In! . . . 10,737
2012 Results Just In! . . . 4,382
2013 Results Just In! . . . 3,550
2014 Results Just In! . . . 5,262

2015 Results Just In! . . . . . . 127

We appreciate all three remaining members of this forum.
Colin

Curious as to what you attribute the massive decline to? I've seen a lot of past regulars on The Samba vanish as well. I wonder if the classic VW owners pool is shrinking rapidly?!?!

I don't mean to seem obtuse ... but does "hits" = page visits? heck, I know i've visited about 3-5x a week....

Has the metric changed that it has gone down so far?

With the changes in how people access websites, I don't think you can count on phpBB to accurately track the view stats anymore.


in 2007 you had 35 visits and 17K hits on the 'results' thread.
in 2015 you had 68 visits and under 200 hits thus far.

If the trend is that more people are using the service, the declining number of views reading about the results don't really mean anything negative do they?

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:heck, I know i've visited about 3-5x a week....

trackers have gotten much better at counting only unique hits and not repeat hits from the same person (cookie)

wcfvw69 wrote: I wonder if the classic VW owners pool is shrinking rapidly?!?!

The total numbers are shrinking. Since beginning this forum, we have lost innumerable VWs to further rust, further accidents, exportation, and restorations that pull them off the road.

The forum software does not distinguish between platforms accessing the database. If the table is called, it is a "hit" or a "view" or a whatever.

We have lost the self-sustaining community interactions that drove people here to check out turk's latest insights in Free Speech, I have lost people touchingly thought of as friends but who were actually what is referred to in my old psychology days as propinquity-based relationships. The people I now call friends seem much more like friends, heck, we have shared some serious life events time here.

And this is all called the maturation of the internet,. The novelty of online communication has now become a more seamless aspect of daily life no further than your pocket or even watch. So, perhaps the air-cooled VW community has receded and these forums will be more of a brief check-in for technical information and occasional reports of restoration activity. That is fine by me.

So long as I have a 50-count summer itinerary, I will continue to be a presence here as unevenly as always. You all can drive the participation along as you see fit.

I was wondering if my interactions on theSamba stop traffic from coming over here?
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

wcfvw69 wrote: I wonder if the classic VW owners pool is shrinking rapidly?!?!

I have lost people touchingly thought of as friends but who were actually what is referred to in my old psychology days as propinquity-based relationships.

I had to look that word up.. Sheesh, you're like the Howard Cosell of VW forums...

Amskeptic wrote:
I was wondering if my interactions on the Samba stop traffic from coming over here?
Colin

I don't think so. Us hardcore, nut case, VW folks hit both sites. Clearly The Samba is the established air cooled VW site with it's HUGE classifieds that seems to get bigger each year. As I mentioned, you can see participation there seems to have declined. There were SSOO many regular contributors for years that don't go there much anymore. Sadly, some of the really good guys and excellent contributors with ton's of VW knowledge have also passed on. I also think go in waves with participation as well. Desertbusman use to be active but I guess he's burned out on the forums a bit. There's been times for me when I've not participated nor visited any VW forum for long periods. Life gets in the way frequently for many folks. I think you nailed it as well. VW's are and will continue to decline in numbers too.

Anyway..

wcfvw69 wrote:Anyway..

Exactly. The day awaits.
For example, I have that big pumpkin Westy chaotically "packed", with the cactus even, and am wading gamely into downtown Atlanta traffic on my way to Valdosta and points south in about 30 minutes.
Colin

All right...the Maiden Voyage, first of many. Good luck.

Keep an open mind with the Westy ... may be "chaotically" packed now, but think you find a place for everything. I always marveled at how efficient the storage and space was utilized in a Westy.