Poverty in North Dakota oil patch

I wonder how many people are living in the Walmart parking lots in Dickinson and Williston this summer?

Type in oil as a keyword on the North Dakota Workforce Services website and you'll find hundreds of listings.

 

Walmart in Williston had a major issue with truckers this summer. They had 20-30 parking and sleeping over night. Got to the point that 3/4 entrances were blocked by trucks. Walmart corporate policy doesn't allow it. They got in trouble two summers ago for not doing anything to stop it. The local paper ran a photo of the trucks this summer, corporate got wind of it and supposedly threw a fit. The next day they installed a clearance bar at all entrances.

Now the lot is full of small campers and RV's.

And there are approximately 8,600 in the man camps right now. This is in a county with a population of 23,000 in the 2010 census.

 

Prostitution is a very lucrative business right now in the oil patch.

 

Just one of the ways we were comparing what's happening now in western North Dakota to the mining boom that hit the Pacific Northwest about 125, 150 years ago.

When payday comes, the oil men (and miners before them) certainly have ways to spend that cash.

Of course, I would HOPE the safety standards for workers in the oil patch are a bit better.

 

Meth is another popular way of spending that money.

Also a fan of man camps: Bears.

 

This sounds like an early version of Fort McMurray, Alberta. The camps have evolved and are more like college dorms. The big oil companies operate air charters in and out rotating workers.

A buddy of mine worked as an RCMP for 5 years there so I got to hear all about the drugs and fights. One of the reasons Alberta has the highest STD rate in Canada.

 

They weren't fucking the bears, were they?

 

What kind of bears are you talking about?

 

Just the cougars.

 

I have a problem with this statement. You said something similar in another thread, I believe the Irene one.

I disagree that supplies are ever "rushed" in during an emergency situation. That might be the case for an emergency situation you have found yourself to be in, but that is not what I have ever experienced for a single one of the hurricanes I have been through. Supplies simply do not get rushed in at times like that, no matter how much you like to believe that they are.

It is ridiculous to think that price gouging for water, or propane, or gasoline is okay when these are things that people need just to stay alive.

 

Well if they need it that bad, it increases the market price of the commodity, so they will pay more.

The miracle of the marketplace. Rational self-interest at work.

 

I'm sorry, but you're just wrong.

Higher prices prevent people from hoarding. They dampen demand and people self ration.

They also provide an incentive for companies to divert goods from unaffected areas to affected areas.

This happens all the time. The fact you're unaware of it doesn't make it false.

It's why bottled water, gasoline, plywood, or whatever don't run out for more than a day or so.