bigjoey

9 hours ago, tassojunior said:

In fairness gasoline, a huge inflation factor, is in the stratosphere at 3.50 a gallon and the supply chain is broken in many other industries and commodities. The administration keeps saying this a temporary inflation. Maybe a silver lining will happen if anti-inflationary measures are taken just as the supply chains get fixed and gas comes down.

I'm already noticing the labor shortage getting overcome with a new Amazon Go by me with no cashiers or scanners, Chipotle and Shake Shack treating me better if I order online for ready pick-up on a shelf, Pollo Campero giving me discounts to do the same, and McD's  giving me a free large fries everyday to order online and pick up (I resist that one).

I don't think all prices that went up during the pandemic will go back down but i am surprised at how fast the market corrects itself one way or another. Escorts have even dropped back down from 300-400 to 250-300 (the market slowed a good bit after clients spent all their lockdown saved money).

Always a silver lining. 

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.

10 hours ago, BSR said:

Did you ever go to Lamars before it got sold?  The old Lamars donuts would turn all of us into Homer Simpson.  The new Lamars tastes meh, like any other donut.  Forget 20%, I'd pay a 200% increase for a dozen of old Lamars donuts.

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.

10 hours ago, bashful said:

Growing up, most of our back yard was a garden.  Potatoes, celery, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, corn, strawberries, rhubarb, plus a pear, plum, peach, and apple tree. 

My father was out there everyday in the summer, and when things ripened, it was eaten, or my mother put it away for later by freezing, or more often canning. She also baked using a lot of the fruit.  One of her favorite things to do, and she was a great baker.

My folks didn’t make a lot of money, but all six of us ate well.

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.

13 minutes ago, samhexum said:

I'm sure most of the men on this site will agree with you completely.  😁😎🤑🤣

Thanks.  I corrected it.

9 hours ago, sniper said:

If it means the workers who pick my food aren't living in what amounts to slave-like conditions, I consider the higher prices a fair tradeoff.  The continual grinding down of the bottom half of our workforce finally hit a hard limit.  I don't think professionals have any clue how abusive the working conditions of these people are.  I worked in retail in HS - had a union, there was a process for requesting not to be scheduled on certain days, once the schedule was set  you were getting paid for those hours even if they sent you home because it was a slow night.  Now they expect people to be available all the time, if it's slow they send them home with no notice and they don't get paid, etc.  Those jobs are no longer a step up to the middle class, they're a trap in the lower class.  

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

7 hours ago, Rudynate said:

Of course designer foods like artisan bread and pastured eggs cost more, because the cost of production is so much higher than mass-produced food.  My husband and I buy those, and we willingly bear the increased cost.  But there have been huge increases in the prices of mainstream, mass-produced food that just don't really add up.    Prices shot up at the beginning of the pandemic and have stayed high.  Another thing that surprises me is how the supply chain seems to have been permanently disrupted.

 

I am positive that some grocers are gouging.  for example, we buy Daves Killer Bread.  At Safeway, it is costing about $8.00 for a loaf.  At Lucky, a little more than a mile from Safeway, the same loaf of bread costs about $6.50.  Big difference.  And I could go on and on about price differences between Safeway and Lucky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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.

4 hours ago, Jarrod_Uncut said:

Good historical notation! 
 

And I’ll just play Devil’s advocate: I understand there a certain amount of inquiry or potential time waste involved when dealing with merchants. Even now, I try not to waste business’s time, but I may walk away from a business I inquired about. It’s a hard (yet conveniently easy) world out here for customers: there’s choices and options on every corner, money is unpredictable, there’s fear, there’s reluctance, you want the best service for your money…it’s hard out there. 
 

But: we as sex workers give out SOOOOO much free info beforehand. We shouldn’t be made to feel like we have to high pressure sell a client into keeping an appointment that HE reached out to arrange. We’re not going around calling them, they’re calling us. Which means: by the time they reach out to us, they should have done enough research to feel content with following thru (except lack of rates and DETAILED rate structure in our ads, which are the biggest threat to the client/escort initiation right now): eliminating any doubts.

Problem is: many of these guys don’t take the time to read our ads and get the necessary info. They look at pictures, and then click the number. As if it’s supposed to be that simple. 

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:

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.😥

51 minutes ago, Charlie said:The price of food is also affected by the cost of growing it and transporting it to buyers. Most of us shop at supermarkets because that's that's the only place where we can get fresh vegetables all year round where we live. The alternative is to live on your own farm and hope for a good year weatherwise.

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.)

12 hours ago, sync said:

Just about everything.  😣

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.

2 hours ago, WilliamM said:

I have been looking at a retirement home for  a while now. Many have one and two bedroom apartment at the highest level of competence.

But, I am far more used to assisted living, or the more common, nursing homes. One of my closest friends had  Parkinson's. I learnedt from him life was still very much worth living dispute   Quite significant challenge 

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.

24 minutes ago, WilliamM said:

People go  into debt because of predatary lending, depressions like 1929,  spouse killed in wartime when a wife is now the breadwinner and the full time mom

Many people would disagree about the characterization of self inflicted wound

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

10 minutes ago, E.T.Bass said:

Birds of a Feather looks nice, but not sure I could live at that elevation (>7000 ft).

 

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/
😇

2 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

and unfortunately we're paying the consequences of out addiction to fast food...

Enjoy your toys kids... they won't become vintage and help pay for diabetes, obesity, etc. 

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😀.”

12 hours ago, BnaC said:

I can’t believe that delivery folks would be denied bathroom access….but I guess, nothing surprises me in NY

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.

6 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

Gotta keep those shareholders happy. To hell with corporate responsibility and child health. McDonald's has been talking about improving happy meals for long before this announcement. 

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🥲.

On 9/24/2021 at 2:20 AM, rvwnsd said:

It really isn't simple. Recycled materials are not as easy to come by as one might think. NPR recently aired a piece about the difficulty associated with recycling plastic and using recycled materials to make new plastic stuff. Apparently, there are so many various compounds used when making plastic that it is very hard to separate them during recycling. Then there's the notion that "virgin" plastic is so much less costly than recycled plastic. 

Think of it this way: We have been drinking water and peeing it out for millions of years but we still haven't figured out how to get around the "ewww" factor of drinking recycled water. (That is, purified water extracted from sewerage)

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:

6 hours ago, BSR said:

Living on a cruise ship would be a zillion times more fun than an assisted-living center.  As the article points out, it might even be cheaper.  But I wonder about access to doctors.  I saw a feature on Mama Lee on YouTube, and lucky for her she's in excellent health.  On the rare occasion that she has a minor health problem, the ship's physician can take care of her.  But most seniors need much more medical care, for example, the thread about prostate cancer elsewhere on this forum.  No matter what course of treatment a man with prostate cancer pursued, he'd have to abandon ship until remission.  Many seniors deal with chronic conditions that require a specialist's care, far beyond anything a ship's doctor could provide.  But hey, if your health allows you to do it, why not live on a cruise ship full time?  Even if you have to abandon the lifestyle at some point, you'll have a helluva good time until then.

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.🏆🥇