RV Travel Corrects Last Week's Article On Industry Shipments

Above, a new RV being transported taking a break at the Jamestown, New Mexico Flying J. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last Sunday, RV Travel posted an article that suggested that the RV industry may be blowing smoke in regards to new RV shipments to dealers and new registrations in various states. I posted a blog about this.

The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) saw the article and got a hold of RV Travel and pointed out flaws in their analysis.

Today, RV Travel posted a correction after taking a good hard look and doing a lot of number-crunching.

Even though they erred and had to post a correction, it is refreshing that they did so in light of all the fake news that's out there. It shows that RV Travel has integrity to admit when they were wrong.

They have posted their correction article and the begin it with:

Last Sunday we published a piece comparing wholesale shipments of RVs to actual registrations of RVs. We covered a six-month span, March through August, comparing statistics for both 2020 and 2021. The title of the story suggested that the RV industry might be blowing some hot air. If you poke somebody with a stick, you can expect a reaction. On Monday, an official from the RV Industry Association (RVIA) requested we take a closer look at our statistics and print a correction. It took a lot of time and number crunching, but the correct figures have shed new light on our premise.

Mea culpa

Please consider this a formal apology to you, RVtravel.com readers, and to the RV industry. This is truly a case of, “some people, when they mess it up, really mess it up big.” I, Russ, admit to being no statistician. But with my trusty 10-key, I labored through stacks of industry-provided numbers and, well, bottom line, really messed up my addition and subtraction. The information we provided you was just plain wrong. I’m embarrassed, to say the least. The thought of misleading readers – even though not in any deliberate way – troubles me deeply.

To read the full article, go here.