Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm sick of working retail. [View all]Bernardo de La Paz
(48,999 posts)15. Maybe it is a better allocation of resources.
Save in person retail for where it counts, such a personal fit in clothing or where actually seeing and touching an item makes a difference to choice (produce and meat, for example).
There is a societal benefit if driving to malls is reduced and replaced by trucks delivering dozens of packages for the same expenditure of fuel. Suppose for example the mall is four miles away where the car occupants buy three items; compare that to a delivery truck that spends four times as much fuel (lots of stops and starts) but delivers a dozen items in one mile. That might be 3 items per tenth gallon for the car, but 12 items per tenth gallon for the truck.
Many times people just go to malls for entertainment and to bother retail staff with little intention of buying.
I don't need to drive some number of minutes to see and finger a disk drive box in a store to be able to purchase one, and in fact on line there is a much vaster selection and choice for me to get more exactly what I want. I recently bought a disk drive and a 32 inch monitor online. But I do drive once a week to a grocery store and once a week to a farmer's market. If I lived in a huge city of 10 million people, there might be a single store with that large a selection of disk drives that I selected from, but odds are it would be a median distance of a half hour drive to get to.
It is probably better that fewer people sooth boomer egos in retail stores and more sooth boomer bodies in assisted living facilities. There is a declining need for the former and a rising need for the latter.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
53 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
I'm not going to debate a blanket bald terse straw man statement. . . . nt
Bernardo de La Paz
Sep 2018
#20
My five paragraph discussion is not a single terse bald straw man statement.
Bernardo de La Paz
Sep 2018
#23
But Trump says everyone is doing great and wages are rising and we're all happy at our jobs!
smirkymonkey
Sep 2018
#8
No. The distribution of wealth & income is the problem, not the company size.
Bernardo de La Paz
Sep 2018
#16
Like restaurant servers, everyone should do both for a while to appreciate how hard it is.
Laffy Kat
Sep 2018
#28