# What are some good examples of recent buggy whip \[manufacturer\] obsolete items/jobs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897 "2008-05-19T21:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/1 "2008-05-19T21:14:48Z")
For those not familiar, “buggy whip/buggy whip manufacturer” is a term used in business/marketing kind of like “widgets”. It’s an item or job that was once much in demand but with changing technology is no more. On the sitcom _30 Rock_ Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) has an on-again/off-again relationship with “The Beeper King”, a jerk who still sells and leases beepers and won’t accept they’re all but gone. It really does seem recent that beepers were all the rage, some people having several of them. Of course next year TV antennae will be obsolete. In a few years most people you speak to won’t even known what “rabbit ears” were other than something that distinguished a type of rodents and allowed them to hear. A friend recently bought a needle for his LP player. It had to be special ordered and cost about $20. At one time they were sold in any K-Mart or other department store for a couple of dollars. What are some other beeper salesman jobs or turntable needles jobs or items that have gone with the wind in the past quarter century or less? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/2 "2008-05-19T21:16:37Z")
Modems. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/3 "2008-05-19T21:17:31Z")
I don’t think there is that much call for key punch operators any more. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/4 "2008-05-19T21:23:01Z")
Missed edit window: Movie rental stores Camera film manufacturers Record stores ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/5 "2008-05-19T21:25:12Z")
Distributor caps. Litmus paper. ETA: **silenus** , we’re not allowed to say _that_ about film, here… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/6 "2008-05-19T21:27:49Z")
I remember when slide rules disappeared, when hand-held calculators became cheaper then them. Film cameras are about to go, except for some very specialised uses. I think even the cheap disposable ones will be knocked out of business by cheap digital cameras and by telephones that also work as cameras. And, as a librarian, I have to mention card catalogues. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/7 "2008-05-19T21:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] I remember when slide rules disappeared, when hand-held calculators became cheaper then them. [/QUOTE] Which is good because to be honest I could never figure out how to work the things. > [@](#): > > And, as a librarian, I have to mention card catalogues. There was a sad article a few years ago that had pictures (wish I could find them) of card catalogue cabinets literally in landfills with other garbage. They took up so much space that most libraries couldn’t even keep but one or two of them for keepsake value (and usually those were kept for the old records that hadn’t been entered into the database yet). I’m always surprised though at how many students under 25 remember them; apparently a lot of high schools (especially the smaller private ones like Catholic schools that aren’t of the _Ecole de Riche_ variety) apparently still use them. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/8 "2008-05-19T22:03:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Of course next year TV antennae will be obsolete. In a few years most people you speak to won’t even known what “rabbit ears” were other than something that distinguished a type of rodents and allowed them to hear. [/QUOTE] If you’re talking about the digital broadcast conversion, rabbit ears will work fine for picking up the new digital signal. It’s the interpretation of it, the TV tuner, that needs changed out. All us getting our TV through coaxial cables (Cable/Sat/etc) will be just fine - they’ll keep converting to analog for us. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/9 "2008-05-19T22:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] In a few years most people you speak to won’t even known what “rabbit ears” were other than something that distinguished a type of rodents and allowed them to hear. [/QUOTE] Rabbits are lagomorphs. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/10 "2008-05-19T22:49:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Record stores Record stores are still around. Lots of people collect LPs. OT, that lagamorph nitpick was classic. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/11 "2008-05-19T23:19:18Z")
[QUOTE=cainxinth] Record stores are still around. Lots of people collect LPs. [/QUOTE] So? There are still buggy whip manufacturers around, too. But the business is still considered dead, or at the very least zombified. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/12 "2008-05-19T23:38:37Z")
Check clearinghouses. The various federal reserve banks have had to lay off a lot of people in recent years, and according to a guy there I talked to, they more or less figure they will be the last people in the business when it’s only a few old ladies writing mortgage checks. Small electronics repair. Not much worth paying a skilled tradesman to repair, anymore. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/13 "2008-05-20T00:14:32Z")
Typewriter manufacture. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/14 "2008-05-20T00:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=araminty] Rabbits are lagomorphs. [/QUOTE] I beg to differ. I’ve owned rabbits many times and I have never once seen any of them morph into Iago or any other villain or Spanish lake. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/15 "2008-05-20T00:35:00Z")
I was just reading [this book](http://http://www.amazon.com/Going-Gone-Vanishing-Americana/dp/B000IOEQCG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211243516&sr=8-2) this weekend–very interesting for anyone interested in vanishing Americana–both concepts (like blue laws) and objects (carbon paper and rotary phones). ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/16 "2008-05-20T00:56:15Z")
[QUOTE=winterhawk11] I was just reading [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Going-Gone-Vanishing-Americana/dp/B000IOEQCG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211243516&sr=8-2) this weekend–very interesting for anyone interested in vanishing Americana–both concepts (like blue laws) and objects (carbon paper and rotary phones). [/QUOTE] Fixed link ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/17 "2008-05-20T01:00:27Z")
Why will rabbit ears be a thing of the past? Is the USA phasing out aerial TV broadcasting completely in favour of satellite/cable? I hadn’t heard that. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/18 "2008-05-20T02:59:04Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] So? There are still buggy whip manufacturers around, too. But the business is still considered dead, or at the very least zombified. [/QUOTE] [But to the surprise and delight of music executives, increasing numbers of the iPod generation are also purchasing turntables (or dusting off Dad’s), buying long-playing vinyl records and giving them a spin.](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702369,00.html) I don’t know where I’d go to get a buggy whip, but there are at least 6 good record stores within 20 minutes of my house. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/19 "2008-05-20T03:10:00Z")
[QUOTE=cainxinth] I don’t know where I’d go to get a buggy whip [/QUOTE] They are now known as “driving whips” or sometimes “coaching whips”, as accessories in the equestrian sport of driving (Prince Philip famously does this). [http://www.drivingessentials.com/Whips.htm](http://www.drivingessentials.com/Whips.htm) [http://www.kee-port.com/drivingwhips.htm](http://www.kee-port.com/drivingwhips.htm) [http://www.smuckersharness.com/pg65.html](http://www.smuckersharness.com/pg65.html) > **[New Page 4](https://www.steedwhip.com/driving_whips2.htm)** [http://www.rideanddrive.co.uk/access/pages/whips1.htm](http://www.rideanddrive.co.uk/access/pages/whips1.htm) And of course… > **[Amazon.com: Intrepid International Driving Whip, 53-Inch : Sports & Outdoors](https://www.amazon.com/Intrepid-International-Driving-Whip-53-Inch/dp/B000FFDVLU)** > > Driving Whip This Driving (Gig) Whip has a white handle and white lash. The shaft is black. Comes in a 53 length. Perfect for those shows or outings. Shipping is FOB, actual charges will be added at time of shipment. Perhaps “obsolete” for everyday use, but still a fairly energetic industry, as niche hobbyist industries go. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897/20 "2008-05-20T03:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Why will rabbit ears be a thing of the past? Is the USA phasing out aerial TV broadcasting completely in favour of satellite/cable? I hadn’t heard that. [/QUOTE] No. In February 2009 in the USA, all over-air signals will become digital. The antennas will still work, but if you have an analog-input-only set, you will need a converter box to convert the signal from digital back to analog. Cable hookups will not be affected, neither will satellites. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-examples-of-recent-buggy-whip-manufacturer-obsolete-items-jobs/449897.md?page=2)