The internet, Unemployment, and your convenience

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, nor am I sure if this has been discussed before. In either case, do what must be done.

So today I was watching current events around the world, as well as the numerous commercials. One commercial that stuck out in particular, was for the "Nook", and how convenient it was compared to a regular book. It got me thinking about the potential ramifications of this.

What happens to the book stores, and all those employee's, if everyone had a Nook and could just bypass the bookstore all together? Seems to me like a lot of stores would close.

and of course I took this line of thinking further. Since almost everyone has a debit card, credit card and so on, what if the internet age took us to the point where we wouldn't have need of supermarkets, restaurants, etc.
What if we just got on the web, went to walmart or target .com, ordered our groceries for the week-month with UPS or fed ex delivering? or if places like Outback started doing nothing but taking orders, cooking, and delivering food. seems like the wait and bus staff would be out of work.

I guess my point in short is, what happens to the economy, entitlement programs, and unemployment, if you take the middle man ( stores, etc) out of the equation. Everything delivered to your door, your Nook/Ipad, etc.

Could our desire for ease and convenience hurt us in the long run?

Think of all the jobs that would be created in packing and delivering those groceries....sorry..I just really hate grocery shopping.

reply to post by Stovokor



Maybe you should stop eating then? Im fairly certain we could technically do away with 75% of jobs just by creating new systems of automation or robots to do the jobs. Maybe we could start focusing as a species on other things, including our own well being.

Whens the last time you been to a bookstore?

It is a ghost town in their with all 2 employees and 1 customer...

Kind of like what happen to the newspapers, and the dinosaurs..

Also you only need a 2 lb laptop to carry all the books in the world.

Don't have to use a nook..


if places like Outback started doing nothing but taking orders, cooking, and delivering food. seems like the wait and bus staff would be out of work.


Wouldn't work 1. gas prices

2. people go out to eat so they don't have to clean or serve themselves.
If they want what your suggesting they normally would order a pizza
or take out chinese.. Feel me?

reply to post by hillynilly


I was at the library last week. And, it wasn't packed full, but not dead either. It may have something to do with my library offering classes for GEDs, and free computer/internet usage (which was where most of the people were gathered). There was still a number of us Nook-less saps browsing the book shelves, though and many had kids making full use of the children's section.

The point I'm making is the death of the library will be hard to manage IMHO, though admittedly not impossible..It seems to being slow going at any rate..

I sure wish I lived somewhere I could have groceries delivered. Pizza and stuff like that is OK once in a while but a restaurant delivering menu items reasonably would be nice. Right now you can have local cab pickup restaurant orders for $10.00 so you have to order large mult-meal orders.

I like the convenience of Kindle like devices and clothes ordering online. If local Walmart delivered it would be great.

if we could get tobacco shop and liquor store to deliver also, it would be perfect.

Heck, I only go out every 3-4 weeks and only buy gas and wash car every 4-5 months. If everyone delivered I wouldn't have to go out at all or need a car except for real bad hurricane evacuations.

It's another example of how the economic system is inherently flawed, like how it's bad for companies to manufacture a product that is so reliable that consumers feel no need to buy another one (planned obsolescense).

Or how the development of automated machines allows certain jobs to be done more efficiently and economcially but at the same time leaving the people who did the job unemployed.
You would have thought the advancement in technology would liberate the human race but in the current economic system it does the exact oppsite, thus why this system needs to go in order for the human race to progress.
The economic system hinders progress in a variety of ways as well as being incredibly wasteful.

I think we will eventually end up like the folks on the Axiom in Wall-E where robots take care of our every need maybe with a pass through Surrogates along the way

Yes, you've opened a pandora's box of thought here. But realize, the money has to flow. If outback went delivery, those staff would become additional cooks/drivers. On down the line, who is uploading these books to digital form?
Don't get me wrong, I know where you are coming from, but employment would shift to other aspects.

For instance, did you know that many company vehicles are not allowed to carry spare tires/jacks?
Yes, they wait for however many hours for some tire delivery/change company to come to the rescue. I see it as totaly useless, being that people have been changing their own tires since there were cars, but it's a "safety issue". But it needlessly facilitates the exchange of money in return for service.

It's going to happen in every aspect of life, regardless. It is the way of the future, and there is no escape. Anybody with an ounce of self reliance will be considered "damaged goods". Why take the risk of doing what an independant contractor can charge more for and accomplish? You don't have the proper training!

The convenience of technology is a farce, those who pay for intangible collections deserve to be taken for all they are worth. They will be left in the end with less than nothing.