I listened to a young musician friend tonight, explain why it is not their fault that Amazon can sell the same item for $15.00 less and deliver it to your door, nowhere to drive, than you can buy it from a retailer and somehow, it's their fault that the retailer is replacing their people with automation. Yeah, one thing feeds the other but back to the chicken or the egg, that omlet really doesn't give a shit. Time to rethink a bit. We've got wars by twitter, politics by propaganda, health care? I am not even going there. I am tired of the same old flag waving, we need mre military shit, only ones that really benefit from that are Halliburton and the like. Maybe it's time to crawl bck into my rabbit hole with Frank and the Moose, I can't seem to get a grip on this palate, let alone decide which colors to choose.
Sped of change, technology, changing social norms, Hell - Old Corps vs new Corps.... Really - there is no going back and you can't stop going forward. I wish I could post something positive. Maybe the best thing to do is shut off the tube.....
I think old geezers were making the same kind of complaints that the world was going to the dogs when newspapers started replacing town criers...The newsprint service was unfair on illiterates, and newspapers cost money for what town crier consumers used to get for free, and that most of the newspaper advertising was crap, and that the news was biased propaganda. On the up side, did the naysayers ever complain that wiping their bum on a town crier was so much easier than using newspaper? The Newspaper's obvious advantage over town criers....political satirical cartoons. it's a bit hard making sense of newfangled technological innovations, and also dealing with the socio-cultural implications of modernity...Fred Flintstone had it so much easier.
Well, it's like cable and all their commercials bitching because kids are paying a third as much to stream online with no commercials. They blame kids but it is their constant bombardment of advertising combined with non-competitive pricing that's tearing them down.
When you have people demanding $15/hr to work at mcdonald’s it pays to automate them out of the process.
I was talking to an old WW11 vet a few years back about the way things are going, this was before these millenials started hitting the circuit. He said that his parents were talking about the things going on in the world , and his generation coming up , he said they just have a way of working themselves out , it'll be ok . I can surely understand what he was saying , but I'm just not sure if we just let them work themselves out , what kind of shape we'll be in.
Agreed....most business models have their luddite supporters, but unless the business adapts to new paradigms, the chances are that they may go extinct....some faster than others. Early adopters take risks on unproven products and markets, but potentially they can steal a profitable march on their competitors.
When they only need 3 or 4 people to run an entire McDonald's at rush hour then they can afford to pay employees $20 an hour because they will be robot operators at that point not burger flippers and fry cooks.
Which of course is the point. Those 20frn operators can then be taxed to support the no longer working 10frn an hour former flippers.
Amazon sells it for less because they do not monitor the quality of their subcompanies, and a lot of times you are buying seconds, especially with blades.
I suspect what this means is quality will be going down on about every thing sold on line . Because I have noticed the same things too . I still prefer brick and mortar stores and I don't mind the higher price ,at least I very rarely have to bring things back . My time counts for something .
Last time I was in Amsterdam, a few months past, The newest McDs were known as "food-from-the-wall". You make your menu choices and pay via cash or card at one of a number of service panels mounted on the outside of a very small building. No windows or public access to the interior, although there was a covered seating area outside. When your order was complete a bell rang, and your receipt number flashed on a panel. You walked over to the sliding panel in the wall, punched in your receipt number, and voila - the door opened to allow you to extract your food. It takes a single operator with a van to completely operate, stock, and maintain ten facilities.
Amazon for the most part loses money on every box they ship. Bezos has other irons in the fire which DO make money so bottom line, Amazon makes money
I know with the knives and camping gear, I KNOW what the dealer price on them is...and uh, let's say that a lot of the buys are questionable at best.
Just bought some battery holders (10 cell AA with NiMH makes for a 12 volt battery) Bought them from Amazon as they were not to be found anywhere in Anchorage - and I spent a lot of time looking/calling. Found on set on line (not Amazon) they wanted $9 for a single unit. Two would have been $10. Single unit shipping to AK? Over $10. I bought 3 units for $11 each and no shipping on Amaz on - the package came via USPS, which is fine with me. So, I spent $2 more to save the almost $11/per unit shipping cost. Free or low cost shipping is why I use Amazon for these kinds of purchases... Sears is dead, they never got past paper catalogs. Amazon has replaced Sears..
If You’re Not Changing As A Person Then You’re Not Intelligent (According to Einstein) “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” — Albert Einstein May reflect the stagnation of some folks and their mind set. HK
Some change is good except when it costs people their jobs. I can see UBER having driverless cars in the future. Truck drivers will be replaced also. That may take a while. I had to go to Phoenix and noticed two driverless vans within three miles. Waymo? Or something like that. It was kind of unsettling. They did have someone behind the wheel though.
