I pass by the occasional store in ghetto-like neighborhoods where signs proudly proclaim “BEEPER SALES”.
I still see cassette recorders and VCRs in stores, although their regular use by the masses are long past their twilight.
There’s a typewriter repair shop a few miles from my house.
The market for ashtrays seems to be disappearing. During my childhood in the 1970s, large ashtrays were on practically every horizontal surface in a public place, and the 'rents had more hubcap-sized ashtrays around the house than I can remember. Now, the only ashtrays I see for sale are little plastic bowls barely a few inches in diameter.
Shortwave radio is rather pathetic compared to my youth, when every country seemed to be on the air with fascinating programming. Now it’s mostly religious broadcasting, survivalists, the same old anti-US tirades from Radio Havana, and newscasts from a few major countries.
With the number of cars that have standard DIN-sized openings in the dashboard disappearing from the roads, and the quality of factory car stereo systems far superior to what was being offered 10 years ago, the selection of aftermarket car audio equipment has plummeted in recent years. What’s out there is far more “blingy” than the more neutral design seen a decade ago.
There still has to be a few dial-up bulletin boards out there. There’s still a few Gopher sites holding out.
Not only will they not be phased out but they may reduce subscription TV. when I switched to digital I gained 6 stations in my local area. I expect that to increase next year when digital transmission is mandatory. If local stations pick up channels like A&E and the History channel to broadcast then I predict a change in subcription demographics.
Tetraethyl lead, the lead additive for gasoline, is still being manufactured by Ethyl Corporation (where my grandfather worked for most of his career).
Tetraethyl lead is used to produce leaded gasoline, which is now only used for antique cars and some piston aircraft engines.
Dot matrix printers seem to be hanging on, if only because some businesses still use multi-part documents that require a signature. But they have to go eventually, don’t they?
I knew a guy that was a stripper, and he was phased out. A stripper worked on opaque films at a print shop. The stripping is all done electronically now.
Yes, but record stores just morphed into CD stores. Same product, just a different medium. The question is, will MP3s now end CD stores?
Manda JO beat me to small electronics & TV repair. These use to be common, now they are very rare.
Toys stores have really died out with the low price pressure from chains like WalMart and Target. KayBees just went under and they were the last small chain in my region. ToysRUs is the only chain left in my area. On the other hand, this trend has helped the small higher scale Hobby Shops that sell more collectible type toys.
I used one to print shipping labels for the company I used to work in the Tape Library for. However, finding parts for it when it went south was getting harder and harder.
I was going to say Milk Delivery Dude, Diaper Pick Up Guy, and Phone Operator. My neighbors had home delivered milk growing up, and now I just found that I can, too. I haven’t seen a diaper truck in forever, but I know the restaurant next to my store has their linens outsourced, so I guess diaper pick up still available. Technically, I’m pretty sure phone operators don’t exist, at least like they used to. For instance, we dial now, and repairs are done at terminals which serve a local office, not necessarily with the person making the actual connection (which isn’t done by hand anymore). Phone operators are now directory assistance, though I’m not exactly sure what they do beyond finding phone numbers.
make that ALL piston aircraft. I can’t get lead-free aircraft fuel anymore. When I was running an O-235 in my plane I had to use TCP to scavenge the lead out.
The evidence is strong. With Tower Records’ bankruptcy and Virgin closing it’s store, there are no big music CD stores left in Chicago.
The need for these will continue if only for guitar amps. Modern recording studios are, for some reason, filled with equipment from the 40s, 50s and 60s. But in general consumer electronics is built by robots and repaired by humans, and it can easily cost more to repair than replace.
Similarly, there’s not much market any more for stat cameras, stat processors, amberlith or rubylith.
It’s pretty stunning what the technological changes have done to publishing. Fifteen years ago, you wouldn’t bat an eye at the thought of needing to spend $20,000 on a stat camera and lenses. Now, you can’t even give the things away.
I use a film camera and a digital camera. I hope it doesn’t become too hard, too soon to get my film processed and printed. I like keeping a roll of film for a few months, forgeting what the pictures are, and being pleasantly (or sometimes unpleasantly) surprised when I get the pics developed.
I am still very unhappy that Polaroid is phasing themselves out. I’ve taken pictures of my incoming Sunday School class every September for 15 years now; looks like I’ll have to get my daughter to show me how to use my digital camera, then bring it home and print the pix out, instead of being able to show them to the kids right then and there.
I badly want a card catalogue. My girlfriends cousin has one in her office that she uses to file bills and such (hey, why not?) and it just looks awesome in there.
I think beepers are still hanging on in the medical profession. I’m wearing one right now (I’m in IT at a hospital). My wife and all the other doctors I know still carry them. We have the kind that can get short text messages, but even so… People I meet still make fun of me for having one on my belt.
I’ve been told that workmen used to go around house-to-house sharpening knives and such for people. I’ve never seen anyone do that, but I take at his word the guy who described it to me. Anyway, aside from people like meat cutters and chefs, who has their knives sharpened anymore? The little grinder does it well enough for my purposes.
uhhh…you can do the same thing (even more easily) with a digital camera. …
After dumping a million pics onto your computer, wait a couple months, and then you rediscover a folder labelled “pics from Sunday’s trip”. Huh, gee, i don’t remember that…and surprise ensues.
I was going to mention that. Beepers seem to have found a niche in the medical/health care sector.
I had to do “beeper duty” in my exotics, equine, anesthesia, surgery, medicine, and emergency rotations. Hated their sound, even when I was not on the block anymore, if I heard one around me I would freeze and look around.
