In today's fragile economy, all it takes is one person to make changes in how they spend money, and the trickle down effect can be felt even farther down the line.

Mike Martino is a regular customer at Rail City Garden Center in Sparks. He and his wife Debbie always purchase plants and flowers for the yard, but since the economy took a dive, the Martino's have scaled back on impulse purchases.

"My wife and I talk a lot more about how we're going to spend our money, and it may curtail some of the spontaneous spending." Now, Mike says they plan out how much they're going to spend, and are more conscience of what they're buying.

That means Paul Hollis with Rail City Garden Center has to change the way he does business. His inventory is down, and Paul no longer orders as much. He says, it's hard to find that balance between stocking the shelves without sinking too much money into items that won't sell. Paul says, the one bright spot is shoppers are still coming in, a good indicator of economic improvement.

"It has to come up. We're very optimistic that it's going to come up. We're making some adjustments we're trying to find things customers need to have."

But if Paul's orders are down, that means fewer deliveries to his store. Truck drivers don't want to drive without a full load, and Paul is doing his best to make sure freight costs aren't passed on to the customer, so they will keep coming back.

So truckers either drive with half empty trailers or wait until they're full. Either way, that's less money for them. Dan Walker says many truckers have gotten out of the business because they can't make enough money, so he's actually picking up more work.
Even though the job is less profitable, Walker says at least he's still working. "I'll keep trucking at least for now."