Actually, I find that real quality footwear (assuming you get a good price to start) is less expensive that cheap footwear over the years. I bought a pair of handmade (and at the retail prices, it appears hand made by freaking elves) Heschung half-boots more than 20 years ago. I paid $200. I have had them partially resoled and some other work done on them, maybe $50. Not too long ago, I needed another pair of shoes like that, and picked them up at Target, paid $50. They lasted 2 years. That’s $25/year, as opposed to less than half that. And, the Heschung are hwaaaay more comfortable, and they look good too. Aldin, Mephisto and others are better known quality brands.
I don’t want to hijack the thread, but this is true of many things. My prime thing with this kind of attitude is really quality bed sheets. Sure, I could buy a set of 180TC ‘percale’ sheets at Wal Mart for $25.00, but I guarantee that within six months, they will be uncomfortable from pilling, and within a year, they’d fall apart. OTOH, the 1000TC Egyptian cotton set I buy for $120.00 will last me ten years, and feel luxurious the whole time.
Annual cost of cheap sheets: $25.00
Annual cost of good sheets: $12.00
A bargain.
India and a few places in Africa, from what I’ve heard.
Kinko’s no longer exists; it is now FedEx Office. Do you mean independent copy shops, or copy shops in general?
Real Estate agents – I don’t think the profession is entirely dead because it’s nice to have a professional guide you through the paperwork, but the days of asking 6% to sell a home are gone. A lot of the grunt work of touring home after home has been replaced by virtual tours on the internet. Ergo, their commissions will drop.
I have been on numerous cruises, done internal travel, and always arranged all the details myself, usually through discount travel sites. My grandparents obviously are not computer savvy and do still need a travel agent, but they won’t be around much longer, and even my parents will only turn to a travel agent if their travel is to a more questionable country where tourists don’t traditionally go (i.e. unusual parts of Africa and Asia).
I think real estate agents and copy places will continue to survive, just on a lower margin, for the reasons already stated. Even with virtual tours, there is still the negotiating and legal paperwork involved with buying a house, which isn’t something people do often enough that they feel comfortable doing it themselves. With places like Kinko’s there is always the giant copy job that has to be done even in so many of these ‘paperless’ companies, if for no other reason that to have a real signature on a variety of forms for legal reasons.
I assume the job of bike messenger in places like New York is largely a dead job these days. I see the job or receptionist disappearing pretty rapidly these days…
Why would copy shops in general be in any danger?
Well, I certainly use them less than I used to:
- when I need to make a dozen or two copies for a group meeting, my laser printer is fast & cheap enough that I just print the needed copies.
- I often send email or pdf’s to people, in situations where I used to run to the copy shop to make copies for everyone.
The copy places around here do a lot of other stuff though- printing in weird/large sizes (A3, A2, architectural plans, canvas, etc), binding, making banners and large signs, printing onto mugs and stuff like that. They also do a line in printing digital photos, too.
I don’t think they’re going anyway, at least around here anyway.