# What professions are dead or dying? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038 "2010-12-13T21:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/41 "2010-12-14T06:11:42Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > People who have gone cruising before, particularly those who are familiar with a particular cruise line or ship, may be comfortable picking a cabin online. But many people aren’t. Perhaps not today, in 2010. By 2020 it won’t be much more complicated than selecting the channel of TV you’re going to watch. Travel agencies for vacationers are going the way of the dodo. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/42 "2010-12-14T06:13:29Z")
Incidentally, I think real estate agents are in for a very negative market correction. There will always be a need for some, but in a few years we won’t need nearly as many. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/43 "2010-12-14T07:11:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I once helped teach a group of railroad fireman (coal shovelers in engines) who were being retrained. (The deal the railroad had made with the union to allow them to eliminate fireman jobs required the railroad to keep all current firemen employed – either retrain them or pay them to do nothing.) > > So the railroad was retraining them to be mainframe computer programmers. I can see how they’d have plenty of relevant experience for their new task. How did it work out? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/44 "2010-12-14T08:08:58Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > [Cracked’s 6 Iconic Jobs That Are Going Away Forever](http://www.cracked.com/article_18759_6-iconic-jobs-that-are-going-away-forever.html) > tldr: > > 6: Fighter pilots > 5:Lifeguards > 4:Firefighters > 3:Optometrist > 2: Housekeepers/maids/butler > 1: Garbage man This is total bullshit. Not a swipe at **RandMcnally** , just at that article. It assumes that every community swimming pool has the money to afford a robotic lifeguard and every broke-ass municipal or rural fire department has the money to afford firefighting robots. The mechanized replacements for those things may work for some extremely rich person or organization who can drop the cash on experimental technology. It is a far cry from ever dominating though. Most people who need those will simply have to make do with the human version. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/45 "2010-12-14T08:11:32Z")
I dunno about book publishing… On one hand, those e-readers are pretty neat, and have distinct and obvious advantages. OTOH, my paper books don’t need to be recharged, can’t be taken away from me by the company that sold them to me (except if they hire a burglar to steal them), can actually be traded and resold (perhaps why publishers are pushing the e-reader thing so much?), and the method I use to read them won’t be obsolete anytime soon. It’s a toughie, as are magazines. Yes, there are websites for them, but there are some (especially the pencil game ones) that still aren’t quite right on e-readers. Ever try to do a rebus or picture-using theme crossword puzzle online? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/46 "2010-12-14T08:30:00Z")
If you drop your book into the pool, you’re out, what, ten dollars? Drop a Kindle in and you’re totally fucked. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/47 "2010-12-14T10:59:11Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I dunno about book publishing… On one hand, those e-readers are pretty neat, and have distinct and obvious advantages. OTOH, my paper books don’t need to be recharged, can’t be taken away from me by the company that sold them to me (except if they hire a burglar to steal them), can actually be traded and resold (perhaps why publishers are pushing the e-reader thing so much?), and the method I use to read them won’t be obsolete anytime soon. > > It’s a toughie, as are magazines. Yes, there are websites for them, but there are some (especially the pencil game ones) that still aren’t quite right on e-readers. Ever try to do a rebus or picture-using theme crossword puzzle online? In my experience, many of the jobs related to publishing are simply being translated to online. You still need editors, writers, researchers etc. But it’s mighty tough on the printing industry. Book shops, on the other hand… I don’t know how any of them are still in business. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/48 "2010-12-14T11:10:47Z")
TV repairman. Actually I guess those disappeared 20-30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/49 "2010-12-14T11:51:54Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Perhaps not today, in 2010. By 2020 it won’t be much more complicated than selecting the channel of TV you’re going to watch. > > Travel agencies for vacationers are going the way of the dodo. How long have affordable home computers been around- 15 years or so now? Yet I deal with disturbingly large numbers of people around my age (late 20s-early 30s) who have _no_ idea about them. At all. Given that, I would say that travel agents aren’t going anywhere for a while, but they will become a more specialist profession catering to a niche (or upmarket) market. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/50 "2010-12-14T11:58:40Z")
Bus conducters. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/51 "2010-12-14T12:50:02Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Book shops, on the other hand… I don’t know how any of them are still in business. New bookstores, I generally agree… Kinda. (For fiction, yes, but I don’t see a lot of the smaller non-fiction stuff getting released in e-book form.) Used bookstores? Until e-readers have that book that hasn’t been in print for a decade, and you can trade/resell your “old” e-books to other people… (Like that’ll ever happen…) Or actually, now that I think about it, maybe what we need to take it to the next level is an “independent” e-reader, one not directly connected to any publisher or bookseller. Or else the big companies will push e-readers mercilessly, to deliberately stifle interest in older and used titles, which don’t generate profits for them. Now THAT would be a shame. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/52 "2010-12-14T13:43:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Does any place still have milk men? We still have a local dairy that home delivers their milk, butter, etc. The milk is in returnable glass bottles. > [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > This is total bullshit. Not a swipe at **RandMcnally** , just at that article. It assumes that every community swimming pool has the money to afford a robotic lifeguard and every broke-ass municipal or rural fire department has the money to afford firefighting robots. The mechanized replacements for those things may work for some extremely rich person or organization who can drop the cash on experimental technology. It is a far cry from ever dominating though. Most people who need those will simply have to make do with the human version. Pssst, Argent Towers: are you at all familiar with [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com)? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/53 "2010-12-14T14:36:05Z")
My first thought was telephone answering services. Before answering machines and cell phones, people use to hire companies to answer their phones and take their messages while they were out. Googling reveals there are still some out there, which really surprises me. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/54 "2010-12-14T14:54:45Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My first thought was telephone answering services. Before answering machines and cell phones, people use to hire companies to answer their phones and take their messages while they were out. > > Googling reveals there are still some out there, which really surprises me. My doctor’s office has somebody answering the phone when they’re closed - I don’t know if it’s a general service or what. There also used to be asstons of clipping services - there may still be some, but I’m sure they’ve gone the way of the dodo mostly. Mostly I know them from _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_, which is funny because it’s a bit related to what I do. ---
**Author:** ![banjoDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/55 "2010-12-14T15:58:04Z")
Unless you have a huge place with the state-of-the-state-of-the-art gear to record major label albums, business has been drying up for the last few years. Acceptance of inferior sound delivery systems like .mp3, Garage Band and freeware recording programs that enable a musician to become their own engineer, and the local music scene paying less money for gigs are all contributing factors. After working freelance for over 13 years, I have gotten myself a day job. 'Nuff said. David ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/56 "2010-12-14T16:17:49Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My first thought was telephone answering services. Before answering machines and cell phones, people use to hire companies to answer their phones and take their messages while they were out. > > Googling reveals there are still some out there, which really surprises me. Ugh. I wish there weren’t any left. The refueler at our airport uses them. “Hello please leave a message.” “Um, are you a recording or a real person?” “[chuckle] I’m real.” “Ok, I’d like to order Jet A1 for Zulu Zulu November, full aft cabin tanks, and mains and auxes to the bugs.” “Zulu what?” “Zulu Zulu November, ZZN.” “Is that an aircraft?” “Yes.” “Full aft cabin tanks and mains and auxes to the… bugs [dubious]?” “Yes, the bugs.” That’s a condensed version because I can’t be bothered writing out the entirety of a typical conversation with them. At least they read it back so you know they got it right, but it’s a painful process. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/57 "2010-12-14T16:19:18Z")
Traditional ink on mylar draftsmen. If they even exist at all anymore. Sort of miss it myself. Lots of cool gadgets. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/58 "2010-12-14T16:34:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Kinko’s won’t be going anywhere until the places that provide wi-fi also start providing printers. Right. Kinkos may be losing the “need to copy 1-2 pages” sort of work with home printer/copier/faxes being so affordable, but for larger copying jobs, specialty printing etc. they’ve got a niche. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/59 "2010-12-14T16:35:56Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Kinko’s type places. I don’t quite get this. Yes, the world is going increasingly paperless, but so too are companies increasingly outsourcing what printing they do. I can’t see these places really receding anytime soon, though they may need to continue to take on more missions to prosper. > [@Sampiro](#): > > Eventually perhaps but I think it’s more than wishful thinking on my part that they have at least another generation; they’ve done a good job of redefining themselves kind of like secretaries redefined themselves after most bosses learned to type and do word processing. Actually, secretaries are becoming increasingly rare, at least in my work milieu. We used to have several once upon a time, but as they’ve retired or posted to other positions, they simply haven’t been replaced. We’ll need to remodel their area soon–our one surviving executive secretary (who is about 5’1, 100 lbs.) looks like she is drowning in the desk space that used to accomodate four women. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038/60 "2010-12-14T17:48:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Incidentally, I think real estate agents are in for a very negative market correction. There will always be a need for some, but in a few years we won’t need nearly as many. We were wondering about this just the other day. Real estate agents still jealously guard their online listing through MLS, but I can see a day coming when you do all the searching yourself, and just call up an agent to either get you in the doors to look at the houses or just to do the paperwork and negotiating. Either way, I do agree that their jobs are likely to be changing significantly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-professions-are-dead-or-dying/564038.md?page=4)