Jeff Stahler for January 08, 2017

Along with all the jobs.

Bricks and mortar may pummel my bones…..but online shopping will kill me…..

Some say that’s progress……………

I say that’s cruel……..

Apologies to Midnight Oil

Some cloud turbulence.

Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sear’s etc are like the ideologies of the political parties … rigid, unyielding and stuck in the old ways of doing things.

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In a way, things are going full circle, my grandparents house on their farm was from Sears and many of the items in their house were from catalogs. The difference is that, then, the goods were made locally, now, we have a global market. The world is a different place since Nixon went to China. It is hard for some to make the shift from manufacturing to service, but there is more money to be made. It is very hard for a society that is making the transition from tangible to intangibles and and an entirely different set of skills are needed … frustrating for those who are unwilling to learn new ways and very profitable for those who willing to do a little work.

I prefer ‘dumb’ appliances that don’t report on me.

I still go to some brick and mortar stores, but they must pass a couple of tests first: (1) They must be local. I will support local small business. (2) They must not be in a mall. I will never ever ever go to a mall. I don’t care what shop is in that mall, whatever is in the shop, I don’t need badly enough to go to a mall.

If I want something and I can’t find it locally, e.g., our local bookstore closed, I will as a last resort go to Amazon, or directly to the manufacturer. Otherwise if I don’t need it, I don’t buy.

The only thing that’s driving me to shop online is the fact that shops won’t order in the things I want anymore. They stopped doing it a few years ago, I don’t understand why. It’s as if they’re setting themselves up to lose my business on purpose. Employees actually TELL me to go buy it online, even though I don’t want to do it that way.