One Positive: Big Ticket Items Getting Cheaper

[Hidden In Him]

Returning To A 19th Century Standard Of Living Soon?

This is actually a continuation to the above thread, hence why I'm including it in Eschatology, but there appears to at least be a ray of hope in that retailers are now building a surplus of big ticket items due to slowing demand, over-ordering, and supply chain complications.

For those wanting to buy stuff like home appliances on the cheap, looks like that window of opportunity may be opening up soon as never before.

 

[Hidden In Him]

He hits on something at 3:16 - 4:25 that I'm wondering might already be happening to some degree: Along with slashing prices, retailers may have to start laying people off soon, and this will likely be true across the entire economic spectrum.

If it happens, it will have a strange effect, sort of like living in the Twilight Zone. My wife and I went to an IHop restaurant last night, and while it advertised as being "open 24 hours," there were no lights in the parking lot and the lot was completely empty. I checked to see if the door was even open and it was, so we went in only to be told that due to low staff, they were only serving for take out. I've never seen that before; a walk in restaurant that's "take out only" during evening hours. He showed us his receipts for the entire day, and the restaurant served a total of six customers.

With fewer employees, people may encounter more and more instances where they walk into stores only to find no one there to help them. I've also noticed an increasing move towards automation at the same time. You can walk into some convenience stores now and simply use a self-checkout like they have at Walmarts. There's one clerk there only to supervise.

It's slowly becoming a different world; one that's more and more impersonal, and less and less customer friendly.