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When you go to the store

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by logical1, Oct 30, 2019.

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  1. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    The only problem with WalMart is that their produce only has a two day shelf life.
     
    Margot2, Nov 3, 2019
    #126
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  2. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps Trump can tell everyone it's a Chinese hoax, that will make it all better.

    Where did the right get these ideas that pollution is necessary for prosperity, efficiency is unpatriotic and science anti-American? They're going to kill us all, and with fundamentally Un-American concepts, the kind of things we once made our fortune by opposing.
     
    Aleksander Ulyanov, Nov 3, 2019
    #127
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  3. Blaster3

    Blaster3 Well-Known Member

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    and much of their seafood comes from vietnam, i know many vets that refuse to buy it because of agent orange contamination
     
    Blaster3, Nov 3, 2019
    #128
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  4. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    Mostly I buy paper products at WalMart..
     
    Margot2, Nov 3, 2019
    #129
  5. Lesh

    Lesh Banned

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    Actually the cotton gin was hugely important in making slavery necessary in the US South. The gin removed seeds from the bols at an incredible rate...creating the "demand" for picked cotton (for which there was no machine yet)

    That is a perfect example of what is happening here.

    There will still be a need for human labor...but employers refuse to pay for that labor since it is low skilled and needs little training
     
    Lesh, Nov 3, 2019
    #130
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  6. BigSteve

    BigSteve Banned

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    Publix is fantastic. Yeah, they're a bit more expensive than some others, but their level of customer service should be a model for all other grocery stores. If you ask any employee where to find something, they won't tell you what aisle it's on. They'll take you to the item you're looking for.

    Two weeks ago my Mom, who is 85 years old, called me from the local Publix asking me to come get her. As she was going through checkout she started to feel a bit light headed and shaky. The folks at Publix got her a chair, sat her down and offered to call EMS (Mom declined). The Manager had an employee get Mom some water and then stay with her until my girlfriend and I got there. I really appreciated them doing that, and I honestly don't know that other grocery stores in the area would've done that.

    Mom's fine, by the way...

    Self-checkout means that you can go into a store, get what you needed, pay for it and leave and never have to interact with an employee. SUre, there are times when I avail myself of those in other grocery stores, but that's not Publix. They take customer service way too seriously and want to ensure that customers enjoy the level of customer service they provide.

    Publix is ranked #12 on Fortune Magazine's list of 100 best companies to work for in the United States...
     
    BigSteve, Nov 3, 2019
    #131
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  7. BigSteve

    BigSteve Banned

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    What if you need some extra cash on a Sunday?

    If you get cash from an ATM on a Sunday, what cashier is out of a job?
     
    BigSteve, Nov 3, 2019
    #132
  8. Nightmare515

    Nightmare515 Ragin' Cajun Staff Member Past Donor

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    Yeah, they do. While we may eventually get to the Star Trek type society where money doesn't exist and virtually everything is automated that will be a long way in the future and the road along the way will have one major flaw.

    It won't happen overnight, and during the transition to that fictional society what's going to happen is people who ARE working will be supporting the ones who are not. We already have that problem now and it'll only get worse as we automate more and more things and remove people from the workforce. So these skilled laborers who are tasked with keeping society running by maintaining the machines for example are the only ones working while everybody else just lives off of the fruits of their labor.

    That entire bolded quote is exactly how so many people today think, mainly the youth. "The nonsense of earning a living". As if yes you should be allowed to just exist and do nothing and be taken care of because working the majority of your life away instead of using that time to have fun isn't fair. The problem is that it never actually works that way. There is no such thing as actual free anything, even in a society where machines do everything SOMEBODY has to maintain those machines. Meaning somebody is working while "you" benefit from their labor while contributing nothing.

    We may very well get to there at some point in the future but the road will be rough and I doubt it'll actually be allowed to happen. We already have a society to where those who work are taxed to directly support those who don't or can't work. The road to that fantasy Utopia will simply be the number of people not working expanding daily while the number of those who are working decreases daily and those who remain in the workforce will be supporting the ones who aren't. It'll take a massive culture shift in world society as a whole before folks even allow that to become a reality.
     
    Nightmare515, Nov 3, 2019
    #133
  9. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The real control of what happens, what become commonplace and what disappears, is in the hands of the consumer. If nobody tolerated self-checkouts, they would not have lasted long. Of course consumers act as independent voters rather than a block- but in fact, we get what we will tolerate as well as what is offered that may help the merchant side. It's become harder than ever to find people with the right attitude for many jobs, particularly jobs interfacing with the public. Companies are trying to minimize the need for that with things like auto-attendants instead of live telephone staff. Unfortunately, it's one of the things technology is making possible that reduces the number of jobs that require lower skill levels. It is only going to get worse.
     
    spiritgide, Nov 3, 2019
    #134
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  10. ronv

    ronv Well-Known Member

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    Yep.
    But shift it must.
     
    ronv, Nov 3, 2019
    #135
  11. SEAL Team V

    SEAL Team V Banned

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    And public teachers are a perfect example of that low skilled minimal training profession.
     
    SEAL Team V, Nov 3, 2019
    #136
  12. Nightmare515

    Nightmare515 Ragin' Cajun Staff Member Past Donor

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    Exactly. These advancements that so many folks dislike are the direct result of consumer preference. If consumers didn't support this stuff, which means it's not profitable for the company, then the company wouldn't do it.

    Amazon Prime is a classic example of this. Them and big box stores like Wal Mart. Folks have been complaining about what Amazon is doing to business for years. Amazon Prime is a thing because consumers want it to be a thing. Consumers enjoy convenience, Amazon allows millions of people to sit on their couches in their pajamas and click buttons on their phone and have virtually whatever they can think of show up at their front door in 2 days. That's a service that people WANT. Not only do we consumers want cheap goods we want cheap goods RIGHT NOW. Amazon provides both, so in turn it kills off other businesses who cannot provide those services.

    Wal Mart's are the same way. Wal Mart has a long standing tradition of plopping down in a community and killing off the local business. Why? Because Wal Mart being as huge as it is can afford to sell consumer products cheaper than the mom and pop store. Mom and Pop can't compete with that so they tend to close down. Wal Mart didn't do that, the community did that. Consumers CHOSE to shop at Wal Mart instead of the local businesses because they WANT cheaper stuff.

    People don't WANT to wait in line at the grocery store with their basket of stuff for a human to scan and bag it for them. They want convenience, they can scan their own stuff in a fraction of the time and be on their way. They are CHOOSING to do that. Even in stores with multiple automated self-checkouts I have never once seen it to where where there wasn't at least 1 human staffed cashier there somewhere. People can still choose to go that route, but they are choosing not to.

    We always tend to blame greed and big business for things like this while ignoring the elephant in the room. The consumer drives the market, businesses give what consumers want which in turn earns them more money. There is nothing at all that says you HAVE TO shop at Amazon and have your TV delivered to you in 2 days. Nothing at all says you HAVE TO scan your own items in the grocery store. Consumers choose these routes and then blame the corporations for having the audacity to let them do that because it's killing jobs...
     
    Nightmare515, Nov 3, 2019
    #137
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  13. SiNNiK

    SiNNiK Well-Known Member

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    We never get produce there, HEB is the place for that. :)
     
    SiNNiK, Nov 4, 2019
    #138
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  14. Blaster3

    Blaster3 Well-Known Member

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    that's not entirely true, when biz decided to go the way of automation they also lessened access to human clerks/tellers/cashiers, what this did is forced the consumer to use the automation because people won't just walk away in disgust without their goods and the corps knew it, so in retrospect the consumer really didn't have a choice, other than not having foods & other needed products or standing in a line for several hours, not much choice is it.
    if those corps provided equal number of automated vs human access points then it'd be debatable.

    btw, now the majority of automated cashiers require payment by credit card only with just one or two that allow cash ( are in my area)... do you see the pattern here?
    we are being lead, de_facto told what & where & how to do things in our daily lives.
    wait, once we go cashless those in charge will control every aspect of your life, "sorry you can't buy those pretzels you're on a low salt diet", tax everything including the old phone you sold on ebay for 5 bucks, it's coming & we're being groomed for it ;)
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2019
    Blaster3, Nov 4, 2019
    #139
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