Oregon Public Broadcasting

Consumer confidence statistics are slowly inching up, after months of belt-tightening. And yet, there's plenty of evidence that Oregonians are still keeping spending on a tight leash – even for their most commonplace needs.

For our occasional Hard Times series, April Baer recently caught up with one of the people we've been following, who sees those consumer trends first hand.

Joe Levy : "How's it going today? Seventy nine cents."

Joe Levy's behind the counter at this Southwest Portland 7-11 three days a week. We first met him watching the kids while his fiancée Bonnie Warren went to work as a certified nurse's assistant. He's not crazy about the job, but it does give him the time he needs for the kids – and no day care bill.

What's more, it gives him a front-row seat for some of the most basic principles of consumer behavior, like how to keep your customers coming back during a recession.  

Joe Levy   "Lots of them just come and get the refill every day, every single day. It's pretty crazy."

The refill, is of course, that cornerstone of cornershop business, the Big Gulp: a full liter of sweet, carbonated gratification.

April Baer: "What'd that guy just order?"

Joe Levy "Soda refill, Double Big Gulp. It's 64 ounces. You buy one for $1.59, and at 79 cents a refill, they come back every single day. Every single day, a couple times. Lotsa people come more than once."

Sometimes they buy something else, sometimes they don't.

Joe hasn't quite worked out whether the repeat business is a sign of ingrained habits that people can't break even when times are hard, or the need to ferret out a bargain, even if the cheaper buy is something that's not very good for them.

Of course, if your taste runs more toward lottery tickets, Joe can accommodate that, too.

Joe Levy "Both today?"

Tim Noble  "Just a five dollar Megabucks."

Tim Noble is one of Joe's regulars. He's a software engineer who's managed to keep his job during the recession.  But he's looking for more.

Tim Noble  "I'm getting  a Megabuck ticket."

April Baer: "Have you been buying lottery tickets for a long time?"

Tim Noble  "Yes, for a very long time, even though the economy's going sour. There's always hope!"

April Baer: " Do you come in here a lot?"

Tim Noble "Three or four days a week."

April Baer: "Do you buy anything other than lottery tickets?"

Tim Noble: "No!"

Joe Levy  "I'd say one out of every three people buy a lottery ticket. Seriously."

April Baer: "Has that changed at all – over this year? Spending less money on lottery tickets?"

Joe Levy  "I'd say more. You know, trying to win it the cheap way."

April Baer: Do you think the people coming in here might be spending their money on other things?"

Joe Levy "Yeah. Very much so."

Customers' buying habits are one indicator of how the economy is doing. The customers themselves are another.

Dan Fickers "My name's Dan Fickers, with Western Waterproofing."

April Baer: "How's business?"

Dan Flickers: "It was a little slow at the beginning of the year, but it's picking up. A lot of people are re-doing a lot of their buildings and stuff like that, refurbishing, instead of buying new."

April Baer: "What kind of stuff do you buy here?"

Dan Fickers:  "Snacks, food, beer. Refreshments!"

April Baer: "Have your purchasing habits changed as the economy has changed?"

Dan Fickers: "Yes it has we actually cut back, eat at home more. Just kinda cut back – not buy the big hot dog, buy the smaller hot dog."

Darryl Hanberg: "My name's Darryl Hanberg I've only started buying from here since I started working here."

Hanberg gestures with one massive tattooed arm to the oil change place next door.

Darryl Hanberg:  "And the only reason I have this job is because one of my very good friends is the manager. I used to be in construction. I was out of work for almost a year. It just - overnight, it just literally stopped."

Hanberg comes in on his work days and asks for any day-old sandwiches Joey has in the back room. They're cheaper, and Hanberg says they taste almost as good as today's.

Darryl Hanberg  "My outlook is bleak. It'll probably be two years or so before it picks back up. In the meantime, I'm changing oil, making a third of what I usually do."

Joe says as bad as the economy's gone, sales of beer and wine are still going pretty strong. There's one  other vice holding its own.

Joe Levy  "Prices just went up on cigarettes a few days ago. Twenty cents."

April Baer: "Anybody complain about them?"

Joe Levy  "They complain, They still buy them."

April Baer:  "Cigarettes."

Joe Levy:  "Yes."

April Baer:  "Recession proof? Will people still buy cigarettes when they don't have much money?"

Joe Levy  "Yeah!"