Tag Archives: oil boom over in Dickinson North Dakota

Dickinson North Dakota Is In A Transition Period

January 18, 2018Uncategorizedeconomy in Dickinson North Dakota, guide to Dickinson North Dakota, housing in Dickinson North Dakota, Information on Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil boom in Dickinson North Dakota, oil boom over in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

It may be obvious to most of the people who are living here, that Dickinson, North Dakota is going through a transition period. However, people who live elsewhere in the United States have no way of knowing what is happening in Dickinson right now.

Dickinson, North Dakota experienced an Oil Boom that occurred from 2007 through 2014. This was Dickinson’s third Oil Boom. The first Oil Boom took place in the 1950s, and it was due to the discovery of oil in North Dakota. The second Oil Boom occurred from approximately 1978 through 1983. This third Oil Boom was due to advances in hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling technologies that allowed more profitable oil extraction in North Dakota.

What killed this third Oil Boom in North Dakota, was the price of oil dropping from over $100 per barrel down to $40 per barrel. When the price of oil was over $80 per barrel, it was profitable for oil companies to perform exploration, lease oil well sites, drill, and produce oil. When the price of oil was down around $40 per barrel, oil companies didn’t even want to pump very much of this oil out of the ground because they wouldn’t be making any profit from it.

Supposed reasons for the price of oil going from over $100 per barrel down to $40 per barrel, were over-production and over-supply in the U.S. It is more likely that the over-supply of oil and the price drop was due to intentional flooding of the oil market by OPEC producers in the Middle East.

The number of operating drill rigs in North Dakota went from over 200 during the Oil Boom, to less than 50 currently. Many oil field jobs went away. Less surveying, less road work, less site work, fencing, cattle guards, containment barriers, tank batteries, water hauling, sand hauling, drilling, directional drilling, fracturing, casing, wireline, work over, pump jacks, automation, controls, tanks, pipelines, welding, mechanics, electricians, roustabouts, truck drivers, less everything.

By the end of 2016, I would say that 60% to 80% of the oil field jobs had gone away. Most of the out-of-state workers returned to the states where they came from. It was not just that most of the oil field workers lost their jobs, could not get a replacement job, or could not get a job with overtime hours like they used to have, it was that all of the oil field workers knew that they could not afford the cost housing in North Dakota, and it was not very pleasant living in North Dakota because it was cold, there was no where to go, nothing to do, and there was a shortage of women.

Even by the end of 2014, after many new large apartment complexes and new hotels had been constructed in Western North Dakota, the cost of housing was still very high. In Dickinson, even up until the end of 2015, there was a large extended stay hotel on I-94 that had a banner advertisement on their building for rooms starting at $700 per week.

There was a lie going around the United States that everyone working in the oil field was making over $100,000 per year. This was far from being true. In the more than five years that I have lived here, I have only met three people who made more than $100,000 per year working in the oil field.

The $700 per week for the extended stay hotel room, most workers in Dickinson, who worked in retail, fast food, restaurants, or service industry, did not have a take home pay of $700 per week. The semi-skilled workers, construction workers, laborers, and roustabouts, had a take home pay of about $700 per week after taxes. This led to people sleeping in their cars at WalMart, sleeping in a tent in people’s backyards, and sleeping in the bushes where they could. This is not an exaggeration, I know all about this, myself and my friends lived like this.

Some of the cheapest old one-bedroom apartments, if you could even find one, rented for $1,500 per month, with one month’s rent security deposit, first month’s rent, and last month’s rent due at lease signing, that’s $4,500 due up front. Most of the workers who came to North Dakota did so out of economic desperation, and they didn’t have $4,500, which led to them sleeping in their cars at WalMart, the truck stop, etcetera.

I am re-telling all of this now, to paint the picture of why everyone who came to work in Western North Dakota during the Oil Boom, was so ready to leave when the Oil Boom was over. It was not just about jobs going away, it was about how unpleasant and difficult it had been living in North Dakota.

The lie had been told that everyone working in the oil field was making over $100,000 per year, in order to lure an abundance of workers to Western North Dakota, most of whom would be paid less than $16 per hour. These workers would fill the retail, fast food, restaurant, hospitality, and service worker jobs, but they would also fill every house, apartment, basement, cabin, trailer, hotel, and motel.

When the Oil Boom was over, all of the local people, the business owners and the property owners said, “Oh, it’s coming back. Hold on now, it’s coming back.” The kind of lying that got people from all over the U.S. to come to North Dakota looking for work, was now being done to try to keep everyone from leaving. But the Oil Boom didn’t come back, it was over.

By 2017, the occupancy rates at the newly completed large apartment complexes and the old apartment buildings, was approximately 50% or less. The occupancy rates at the RV parks, hotels, and motels, was approximately 20% or less. Rents began to decrease quite a bit, as there became competition amongst property owners and property managers to get tenants into their buildings. Home prices decreased also.

By 2016, some of the non-oil field businesses in Dickinson that I recall closing were, Wild Cat Pizza, Hobby Artz, Superior Laundry, The Pita Pit, and Evolution Fitness. By the end of 2017, some additional businesses that closed were Sears, JC Penny, one Family Fare grocery store location, Total Workforce Solutions, and the Elks Lodge vacated the upstairs of their own building to move into their basement.

By 2016, some of the few restaurants in Dickinson that had previously been open 24 hours, ceased staying open past midnight. For a time in 2016, all of the grocery stores and WalMart in Dickinson no longer stayed open 24 hours. Now WalMart does stay open 24 hours most of the time.

In 2016, many local young people who had graduated from high school in Dickinson or Dickinson State University during the Oil Boom and found employment right away, now had to move out of state to find employment in Montanna, South Dakota, Colorado, and Arizona.

By 2016, many entrepreneurs who had moved to Dickinson to start a business or a service during the Oil Boom, began closing down in order to move away and start over again in another state. By the end of 2017, there appeared to me to be another wave of entrepreneurs shutting down in Dickinson, to move away and start over elsewhere.

What inspired me to write this particular blog post about Dickinson going through a “Transition Period” right now, are two things. Three of the most visible and active members of the Dickinson community, three entrepreneurs, have recently announced on Facebook that they are moving away.

For these three people, I thought that Dickinson was their life-long home, they were so entrenched in everything, and so active in everything. It wasn’t until I read that they were leaving, and I then looked into everything that they were doing recently, that I realized that they had been trying to earn money doing several different jobs outside of what they normally do, in order to make money. I didn’t know that they were struggling, because I wasn’t paying attention.

In 2016 and 2017, I had to work at several different jobs outside of my normal job, in order to make enough money. Some of these jobs were physical labor jobs 12 hours per day, every day, for weeks. Some of these jobs were physical labor jobs for 15 hours per day, with an additional 2 hours of drive time each day. So I can understand that these three entrepreneurs were having a shortfall of money in Dickinson, because I have too, but I didn’t know that it had come to the point that they have to move away.

The second thing that inspired me to write this blog post about this “Transition Period” in Dickinson right now, is the theft and crime. In 2017, in Dickinson, there has been so much theft, crime, and drug overdoses.

In Dickinson this past year, there has been a great deal of vehicle, trailer, equipment, and tool thefts, again, and again. Thefts from businesses, homes, job sites, garages, and parked vehicles. Dickinson had very little theft prior to the Oil Boom, and even during the Oil Boom up until 2016. The theft in Dickinson now, is comparable to what goes on in a very bad neighborhood in Phoenix, Tampa, or Dallas.

There have been many drug overdoses in Dickinson this past year, with several fatalities. I can’t remember hearing about this amount of drug overdoses and fatalities during the Oil Boom, or anywhere else that I have ever lived.

What I think that the correlation is, between everything that I have described in this blog post, is that so many jobs have gone away in Dickinson, that people have coped by moving away immediately, moving away after trying to wait, moving away after trying to work additional jobs, staying and continuing to work multiple jobs, and other people cope by stealing and using illegal drugs.

The Mood Right Now In Dickinson, North Dakota

April 18, 2017Uncategorizedeconomy in Dickinson North Dakota, information about Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil boom over in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, the mood in Dickinson North Dakota, what are people in Dickinson North Dakota like, what is Dickinson North Dakota Likename withheld

Right now, it is the middle of April 2017. After a long and cold winter, it appeared that it was going to warm up, and the sun was going to come out. This past week, I tried several times to sit out in the sun on the back porch wearing shorts and no shirt, in order to try to get a tan. I look better and I feel better when I have a sun tan. Even though the clouds came, the wind picked up every day, and the temperature sometimes dropped into the 50s during the day, I still got a tan.

Through the winter, I had been going to the West River Community Center several times each week to walk and run the indoor track. In between laps, or after all my laps were completed, I would do six sets of pull ups, sit ups, or push ups. My physical condition is about the same or better than it was when I was 10 years old, 16 years old, or 26 years old. Sometimes I do feel physically older though, partly because I am heavier, and partly because I have less energy.

Because it is Spring, because I have been exercising and my health is good, and because I don’t have a wife or any children, I feel about the same as when I was 10 years old, 16 years old, or 26 years old. I am looking forward to riding my mountain bike, going kayaking, and going to the beach.

Sometimes at night I go to a bar or restaurant in Dickinson in order to get out of the house where I live in Dickinson. The owner of the house is about twelve years older than me, but he acts like he is in his eighties because his attitude, outlook, mental health, and physical health is so bad. His complaining, whining, drinking, and acting like an old man starts to suck the life right out of me, and I have to get away.

I feel much better when I leave the house at night to go somewhere. However, my good mood in getting out of the house, and it being Spring, is brought down when I get to where I am going in Dickinson. I was used to everyone being in a glum mood this winter because it was so cold and grey. For the past couple of weeks, when the weather has been much nicer, when I met people that were in a bad mood, I attributed it to these people having problems.

However, for the past week, when I have gone to a particular bar and restaurant, I have noticed that everyone, both the employees and the customers, are in a bad mood. I have met some high school girls, some young women that recently got engaged, some that recently got married, and some that recently got divorced, and they are all in a bad mood. I am sick of all these women being in a bad mood, and being no fun at all.

I know some of these women, and every one of them seems like their problems overwhelm them. Both the customers and the employees, the young women and the older women, seem like their problems have eliminated any fun, joy, and happiness in their lives. What they have in common, is that they all appear to be scared. They appear to be scared about money and employment.

They are scared about money and employment, regarding themselves, their boyfriends, their fiancees, their husbands, and their ex-husbands. They have on their mind, are they going to stay at the job they have now, are they going to make enough money, will they lose their job, will their hours be cut, will they stay in the same apartment, will they lose their apartment, will they leave Dickinson, will their boyfriend, fiancee, or husband leave Dickinson to work elsewhere?

I have known, and have been writing for a year and a half, that the oil boom is over in Dickinson, North Dakota. I have been writing for a year and a half, what the history of oil booms in North Dakota has been. The oil booms last for about seven years, then they go away for about twenty-five years. I have described over and over again, that the land owners and property owners gouged all of the out of state workers so bad on housing, raising housing prices 400% to 500%, that all of the out of state workers made up their minds that they were going to leave North Dakota as soon as the oil boom was over.

I guess that this prevailing bad mood in everyone in Dickinson now, is the realization in everyone that they are going to have enormous financial problems.

Imagine this, when everyone was employed in Dickinson, and working overtime, they went and rented the apartment they could afford, bought the house they could afford, bought the vehicle they could afford, and bought the jewelry or toys they could afford. They didn’t buy less than what they could afford, they spent up to the limit of what they could afford. Now when people have lost their job, or are working reduced hours, how are they going to pay for everything? What are they going to lose, and when?

Some of the people that are here now in Dickinson, moved here from Michigan, Oregon, or Idaho just a few years ago because they went broke or were nearly broke in the state where they came from. After two years of getting back on their feet financially a little bit at a time, they can now see their financial downfall coming again.

I am not in a bad mood now, because I have been angry and disgusted at Dickinson all along, for the past six years, ever since I first came here. I have written over three hundred blog posts complaining about Dickinson. Every time something bad happens to me in Dickinson, I write a blog post, sometimes two blog posts a day, and then I feel better. I saw all of this coming. In fact, something that cheers me up, and makes me want to stay in Dickinson, is the chance to see everyone in Dickinson get what is coming to them.

If You Have To Leave Dickinson Or Watford City To Go Work Out Of State, Part II

September 5, 2016UncategorizedDickinson, North Dakota, economy in Dickinson North Dakota, economy in Watford City North Dakota, going to work away from home, going to work out of state, leaving Dickinson North Dakota, leaving Watford City North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Living in Watford City North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Watford City North Dakota, oil boom over in Dickinson North Dakota, oil boom over in Watford City North Dakota, recession in Dickinson North Dakota, recession in Watford City North Dakota, Watford City North Dakotaname withheld

I am writing these two blog posts, Part I & Part II, about having to leave North Dakota and go work or look for work out of state because this information is necessary now. There are very few job openings in western North Dakota right now. I spent this Labor Day weekend in Watford City, and it was like a ghost town. On Sunday and Monday, the long drive into town on 25 mph Hwy 23 Business, I might have seen one or two other vehicles

In my previous blog post, Part I, I wrote that I recommend taking a truck or SUV out of state instead of a car if you are able, because you will be safer in a larger vehicle. I wrote that you should have some kind of sturdy trunk or lock box, chained to a car seat. You are going to need to take your social security card, birth certificate, laptop computer, check books, firearm, and extra cash with you, so you had better have a lock box to put things in, and one that a thief can’t break your vehicle window and take.

I also wrote in my previous blog post, Part I, that you should plan on sleeping in your vehicle while you are traveling to get where you are going, rather than trying to stay in a motel every night. Once you get to where you are going, you had better be constantly observing what kind of neighborhood you are in. Before you get to where you are going, you need to look at a map closely and make note of all the little towns that surround where you are going.

For instance, surrounding Dallas there are the smaller suburbs of Euless, Richland Hills, Westlake, White Settlement, Watauga, and many others. Some of the areas around Dallas are really bad, and you needed to know where they were so you could avoid them, or if you drove into a bad area accidentally, you would know how to get back to a safe area. At first, not knowing my way around Dallas, I stayed in an extended stay motel about twenty miles north of Dallas in the smaller college town of Denton.

If I ever have to go to work in a big city again, I would try to stay at an older mom & pop motel a good ways outside of the city. The new extended stay motels that have been built in and around cities for workers that are just arriving or only staying for a couple of months, they cost about $700 per week, $2,800 per month, which is too much, especially if you don’t have a job.

An older mom & pop motel outside of a city will probably cost less, and if you explain to the owners or managers what you are trying to do, and you do what you said you were going to do, find a job, the owners understand that you are not there to party or deal drugs, and can be very reasonable on weekly rent. I stayed at a mom & pop motel owned by a Korean husband & wife in Colorado for several months, and at a mom & pop motel owned by a Mormon husband & wife in Arizona for several months. The motel owners were always there, they knew what was going on, who everyone was, and it was very safe, secure, and inexpensive compared to new extended stay motels, or apartments.

Yes, I stayed at older mom & pop motels for months. I really enjoyed staying there. I was in a new city, I didn’t know what the city was like, what the people were like, where I would find a job. But I didn’t have to worry about high rent, rent deposit, a lease, or utilities. When I did start a new job, I knew when managers or co-workers started acting pushy or crazy, “O.K., start acting crazy, I don’t care, I’ll just leave.” And I could just leave.

I mentioned in my previous blog post that you do not want to bring your wife, girlfriend, or children with you when you go to work out of state. At first while traveling, you will be sleeping in your vehicle to save time and money. Then, when you get to where you are going, you need to find an older mom & pop motel, and explain to the managers or owners what you are doing, your family is back home, you are by yourself. Your wife or girlfriend would not want to stay in an older motel outside of a city. Your wife or girlfriend may think that you need to get an apartment. No! Absolutely Not!

When you have to go to work away from home, your financial outlook is probably not good. You need to quickly find a job, spend as little money as possible, and start saving money. When you begin a new job, management and co-workers may not like you. You may not be smart enough, knowledgeable enough, quick enough, good enough, or well liked. You could lose your job in a week, or a month, and not ever see it coming. So save your money, spend as little money as possible. Do not sign an apartment lease! You have no idea what is going to happen with your employment. Let your wife and children stay back in North Dakota if at all possible. Depending on what happens in the first city that you try, you may have to try to find work in a different city, or in a different state.

If You Have To Leave Dickinson Or Watford City To Go Work Out Of State, Part I

For the past seven months while working in Watford City, I have seen several of my neighbors move out and move away each month because they lost their job. During the past several weeks I have been looking at the internet job site Indeed.com, and the North Dakota Job Services website, for job listings in Watford City and Dickinson, and there are very few jobs. Yes, there is a similar job advertisement for Registered Nurses that gets repeated over and over, but there always is. Lately there is usually a job listing for a heavy equipment mechanic, an electrician, a welder, and a truck driver, and I mean one listing for one position. The amount of jobs advertised for Watford City and Dickinson is probably the same as, or less than Bismarck, Fargo, or Billings. At this time, more of the out of state workers will have to return home, start over again in some other city away from home, and maybe even some local Watford City and Dickinson residents will have to leave and go to work out of state.

I want to give some recommendations and warnings to people who are not experienced in having to leave home and go to work out of state, and give some reminders to those who do have to have to look for work out of state from time to time.

I can not warn North Dakotans strongly enough that it will not be easy or safe going to look for work out of state. When I went to look for work in Dallas, Texas in 2012, the very first night that I was there in a motel, someone took a utility knife, shoved the blade in my truck tire and broke it off. I believe that it was this angry black guy, who somehow didn’t like the Idaho license plate on my truck, thinking that Idahoans were racist. People in Texas don’t even know where Idaho is on the map. If you recall from the national news in July of this year, a black man shot six white police officers in Dallas. You had better believe me that in Dallas and Houston, which are about 40% Black, that they don’t like Whites, and that they will rob you and assault you as if you were in Somalia, especially, especially because you are White and have a North Dakota license plate.

You need to obtain a concealed weapons permit while you are still in North Dakota, before you leave to go to try to find a job in states like Texas, Arizona, Colorado, or Florida. Most states honor other states’ concealed weapons licenses. Traveling in an area with an out of state license plate, being unfamiliar with the area, is very dangerous. When you are driving, at a gas station, at a restaurant, or at a motel, you are very likely to be the victim of robbery or a theft. If you are from North Dakota, I don’t know how I am going to make you understand how prevalent crime is outside of North Dakota, and how likely you are to be victimized while traveling out of state. You need to have a firearm on your person, and in your vehicle, but you need to have a concealed weapons permit because you are more likely to be stopped by the police and have your vehicle searched with an out of state license plate.

When you go to work or look for work out of state, I recommend that you take a truck or SUV instead of a car if possible, bigger is better up to a point. There are several reasons for this. One, when you are in traffic and unfamiliar with the roads and highways, people will let you change lanes and try to stay out of your way more when you are in a larger vehicle. Two, when you are unfamiliar with roads in an area, and you make a mistake, with a larger vehicle people make an extra effort to move out of the way and not get hit with your vehicle. Three, if you have an accident, with a larger vehicle you are more likely to have a vehicle that has survived the accident and you can continue trying to find work, rather than having a car that is destroyed and having to take a bus back to North Dakota.

What I have done for the past fifteen years, whether in the backseat of my truck or the backseat of my SUV, I have a large sturdy trunk which has a padlock, and the padlock has a chain which locks the trunk to a seat frame. A thief would have to break my vehicle window to unlock the door, but the thief could not carry away the trunk because it is chained to the seat, and it would make a lot of noise and take a while to beat the trunk open. What crack heads and meth addicts are looking for, are certain items that are easy to grab out of vehicles, typical items in plain view: pocket book, wallet, check book, CD collection, radar detector, laptop computer, briefcase. I try to keep valuables and things that I don’t want to get stolen, locked in the trunk in the backseat.

I hope you know that you are going to have to sleep in your vehicle mostly when you are going to work or looking for work out of state. When you are driving a long way, it is better to pull into a rest area and sleep for a while when you get tired, and when you feel like driving again, drive. Planning on staying in a motel while trying to get somewhere is like planning on wasting time and wasting money. If you try to get your money’s worth out of your motel, you are just wasting time there. It doesn’t matter that you are wrinkled when you are trying to get where you are going, and if you look a little rough it probably actually keeps people away from you when you are traveling. You do want to get cleaned up as much as you can before you meet people regarding your employment.

I didn’t say anything about it, because I wasn’t thinking about it because I am not married, you don’t want to bring your wife or girlfriend with you when you are going to look for work out of state, because it will not be fun or pleasant. If your family’s financial outlook is bad enough to where you have to look for work out of state, you don’t want to take your wife or girlfriend with you and try to make it a pleasant trip, because it will cost you about four times as much: stopping at restaurants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; staying at a “nice” motel every night.

I will cover this in more detail in Part II, but you absolutely need to leave your wife and children behind when you go to work out of state, and for at least several months after you begin working. If you don’t do it this way, you will very likely end up worse off than if you hadn’t gone to work out of state at all.