bigjoey

Markets do tend to correct themselves over time which is why central planned economies have always failed. Everything seems to be moving faster today including how businesses react to the labor shortage. Automation is quickly replacing labor as you note. My local CVS earlier this year put in two self checkouts. If you do not order online and go into a McDonalds, you place your order on a large screen. AMC theaters has put in self purchase screens to buy tickets as well as buying them on line. My local post office has a self-service station. However, this is not new, I remember when elevators all had operators and what an amazing thing it was to go to Hartzfeld’s Department Store on the Plaza in the 1950’s when they put in the city’s first fully automatic elevator. The elevator had a speaker that called out what was on each floor like the old human operators did. Clearly, it did not take much to impress this young gay boy😀. I remember when at a gas station, men would come out and check your oil, wash your windows, fill up your tank, check your tire’s air pressure and perhaps even offer to vacuum the interior😱. Long gone. https://youtu.be/G5iypuYl4E0 https://youtu.be/hGfCwJWCbwk

Yes, I use to go to the original Lamars on Linwood. I haven’t had a glazed donut in decades so I don’t know about them now. However, the original ones were amazing.

A local Kansas City donut chain (17 company stores) is raising prices 20%. Watch for other fast food chains to raise prices or add more automation. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/lamars-donuts-price-increase.amp

That’s how I grew up: there was always a vegetable garden. I think part of that may have been a hold over from WWII “Victory Gardens.” Also, it was the days before air conditioning and people spent more time outdoors. Excess produce, especially tomatoes and zucchini were brought to the office and shared with others who wanted them.

Thanks. I corrected it.

Those who pick your food will shortly be machines. Human pickers are too costly to keep the price of food within reach. The future is here: https://youtu.be/M3SGScaShhw https://youtu.be/gHVA_FyXvPk

If enough people saw the higher prices of Dave’s Killer Bread (aside: I buy their English muffins❤️) at Safeway and switched to Lucky, Safeway would see sales drop and: lower price or drop a now slow moving product. Connivence is one thing but a price difference that large should not exist for too long from stores that close.

I think you missed the Talmudic nuance: intent. If the person who seems to be a buyer has no intent to actually make a purchase but is really only “window shopping” for entertainment, that is wrong. If a potential buyer and seller do not reach an agreement for legitimate reasons, that is OK. A practical application: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3227508/jewish/May-I-Shop-in-a-Store-and-Then-Purchase-for-Cheaper-Online.htm

Sorry for your experience but welcome to the world of commerce where customers are not all ethical and can abuse “merchants” (you are selling your time and skills). How long have potential customers been abusing merchants? At least since ancient Babylon😱. The Talmud which is about two thousand years old prohibits a potential customer from wasting a merchants time👍😇. From this ruling, it can be inferred this customer action was a problem in Biblical times! Sadly, the problem continues to this day.😥

We are use to getting fresh vegetables all year long. Growing up, fruit and vegetables were seasonal. Strawberries and asparagus first appeared in the Spring. Watermelon was a Summer time treat. Blueberries were late Summer and Fall. Avocado was unknown to me as a child. Today we are spoiled and expect everything to be available anytime. This expectation adds to costs as we get fresh fruits and vegetables from far away places. This non-seasonal eating costs more due to transportation costs as well as adding to the environmental damage from transportation. If we ate both seasonally and locally, the environment would benefit and our food costs would be lower. WE are part of the problem of both the high cost of groceries and damage to the environment. (Yes, I like strawberries all year long and avocado toast in the morning.)

While the Fed and Treasury are saying that inflation is “temporary” my guess/opinion is it is not. For example: 1-wages are going up at a good clip due to a labor “shortage”; the higher wages may bring more people into the workforce with a higher labor participation rate but those wages will not go back down. 2-utility costs are going up as more renewable energy comes into our energy mix; that energy costs more and will not get cheaper. 3-The Biden administration wants higher corporate taxes. Some of that tax burden will fall on customers and result in higher prices (economists vary as to who pays what percentage of corporate taxes but some falls on shareholders, some on employees and some on customers). 4-global supply chain changes will add to costs. As companies move away from China due to political tensions it will take time and costs to do so. Some “food” items like candy come from China but many items you buy at the grocery store are non-food items made in China. Some factors like transportation costs may be temporary. Some commodities will go down as well as up in price like eggs or beef. However, processed foods will have the same factors as listed above that will ratchet upwards.

The important thing is any facility be a continuum of care facility. That way they can accommodate any of your needs without a major disruption of your life. Good luck in finding an appropriate place; it is a difficult decision but can actually enrich your life.

Self-inflicted wounds are not mutually exclusive from wounds caused by other factors. BOTH of you are correct depending on the individual case.

It is really an independent living community where you would need to provide for your own care. Yes, you can age-in-place but you will need to find your own help for housekeeping, meals, nursing, etc.

Anyone met with him?

I do not eat red meat or fried food so I rarely eat “fast food” but there are some good healthy places out there. Some local but a few chains like Veggie Grill (vegan) that I patronize: https://veggiegrill.com/ 😇

I agree that we are paying for our addiction to fast food. But what about individual responsibility to eat healthy? In moderation, fast food is OK. We do not need to “super-size” our sugar enriched soft drinks or order a double order of fries. Mae West said something like: “Too much of a bad thing is good.” However, she was not talking about fast food but sex😀.”

It sounds like a temporary pandemic related thing with the restaurants generally closed (along with their restrooms) to the public. However, most restaurants have employee restrooms and there is no reason those should not have been available.

McDonald’s sells what people want. I remember about 7-10 years ago they came out with a healthy menu that was mostly salads. After about a year, they stopped because few people bought them. McDonald’s can sell all healthy food but if the people don’t buy it, there is little point. It is up to the customers to want products to which demand the company responds. I had a friend who worked for the Los Angeles School District in management for food service. He hated Michele Obama’s push for healthy lunches as the kids would not eat them and most of the lunches got trashed (they kept close track of what the kids would not eat). The kids would then eat a candy bar they brought from home instead of lunch. The push for healthy lunches had the unintended consequences of leaving the kids worse off with the candy bar lunches🥲.

Toys require virgin plastic because of the tight safety rules of what chemicals/elements can be in toys/children’s products and the low tolerance levels for the banned chemicals/elements like lead . Many of these banned chemicals/elements are OK for products used by adults and then show up when they are recycled. Virgin plastic is more expensive than recycled plastic (or was when I was working).

There are the beginnings of special facilities for gays: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/06/7-elder-communities-like-living-gayborhood/

Some of the cruise lines accommodate special medical conditions. For example, Crystal Cruise Lines had multiple dialysis machines on its ships👍. Some ships accommodate those motorized vehicles some people use for mobility. Some ships accommodate wheel chair bound people.

Not to post this as a joke but an alternative is living on a cruise ship. Many articles like this one: https://theweek.com/articles/837253/are-luxury-cruise-ships-new-retirement-homes?amp For cost: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4103123.html

Moving into a senior facility is often not a matter of choice but physical necessity. One of the main advantages is socialization rather than being isolated in a home or apartment. Such socializing is good for both mental and physical health. There are good and bad facilities. The good ones are great places to live with caring staff and can let people have a better quality of life than struggling in isolation in their own home. My father lived in a continuum of care facility that ranged from independent living to assisted living to skilled nursing to “memory care.” A resident got as much services as they wanted and needed. Until he died suddenly of an aneurism he never needed any special services beyond housekeeping and meals when wanted. My mother lived in another continuum of care facility with my stepfather. They needed more care and got nursing as needed. They lived in the independent housing part of the campus but after a hospital stay, they might have been in skilled nursing or rehab for a while, then assisted living and finally back to their independent unit. Normally, they had all their meals in their own unit but in the Winter, on bad weather days, they would have meals delivered to their unit. They loved the activities and socializing. They liked having weekly housekeeping and no maintenance worries. In my mother’s case, we had to force her out of her home into the senior facility. It became a move of necessity for both her and my stepfather as their home was just too big for them. After about six months, my mother told me: “I should have done this years ago” she was so happy with the senior facility.

Not only cute but very sexually talented. While I have not seen him in a few years, I did see him regularly for a few years and he was one of the best.🏆🥇