Not if it is run by the government and served by leasing agreements, periodically renewed, for the good of all.
REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 12:50 PM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] Mike Gurstein is presently dealing with an email nightmare and so is offline for now Seems that some anti trust or anti competition laws might be violated by this behavior. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of D & N Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 12:26 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Mike Gurstein is presently dealing with an email nightmare and so is offline for now Now, however, competition is changing in that companies like WalMart demand that a specific product not be sold to any other company but theirs and guarantee a specific amount of purchasing of product per year. They are doing this at an increasing rate in the "organic foods" vein now while lobbying gov't for reduced organic criteria even so far as seeking the inclusion of GMO's under the banner of organic because there may be no pesticides sprayed on that crop. Does that drive down the price or make certain a specific profit is always there for the company while allowing a product to leap ahead of the competition because of guaranteed sales and therefore become a guaranteed investment vehicle? D. On 26/02/2012 7:11 AM, Arthur Cordell wrote: > Ray, > > There were lots of externalities in the "old days". Positive externalities. > Sellers who knew the products and who would explain this or that. And most > who cared that you bought what would meet your needs. Try asking a question > at one of the box stores. Or even in "department stores". > Competition has > driven down price and driven out service. > > Arthur > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ray > Harrell > Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 3:12 AM > To: [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, > EDUCATION' > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Mike Gurstein is presently dealing with an > email nightmare and so is offline for now > > I wasn't thinking about a person on street. I was thinking about the > issues I have buying from small local businesses and how much more expensive > it is for me with small business needs to purchase what I need. I purchase > much of what I need from larger stores on sale and can even return > them most > of the time. It is definitely cheaper for me to buy on line given the cost > of transportation to and from stores in NYCity. It's impossible to carry > what I need on public transportation most of the time. Books, computer > items, music scores, music supplies are all cheaper online. I miss the > great music stores in NYCity. They were fun to browse but I have a > much larger selection and cheaper from the web. There are other > problems with home based businesses like mine but the small shops are > really for exotics. > What I miss most are the old specialty neighborhoods where it was fun to > browse from one store to the next for special items. But it was more > entertainment and it took time that I could spend working. Interesting > thoughts about all of that. Haven't thought about it in a long time. > > REH > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike > Spencer > Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:15 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Futurework] Re: Mike Gurstein is presently dealing with an > email nightmare and so is offline for now > > >> Well said. > Thank you, Arthur. > >> A sober reflection on the way in which entrust valuable information >> to unseen business people. >> >> You are saying shop local. For food and computer support. > Well, yes, but not as a purely economic strategy. As a stand-alone > specifier, "local" is...what? A number of miles? A township or county > boundary? > > The date is, well, sometime before cars, paved roads and > electrification were commonplace. Clem Warren and Daniel Wells > are farmers who live several miles apart. The meet one day in the > market town: > > Dan: What say, Clem. > > Clem: Mornin', Dan. > > Dan: Been thinkin', Clem, I owe you for them oak planks. > > Clem: Naw, Dan, what about that shoat you gimme after my sow died? > > Dan: Well, I don't think about that. What about that load of > firewood when I was laid up with... > > Clem: Dan, now you just wait. How long we been doing this? > > Dan: Dunno, I guess going on forty year or thereabout. > > Clem: Call it square? > > Dan: (After a pause...) Call it square! > > And they go about their business. > > REH> He's also pointing out that shopping local is very expensive for > REH> a small businessman. > > Not sure I get that. Because a businessman, with the financial clout > to do so, can buy goods from away low and sell them locally high? So > if I buy lamb from my neighbor who has a little on-farm butcher shop, > I cut into the > profits of the supermarket who has frozen New Zealand lamb for the > same price? > > Buying data services locally puts you in the same situation as the > home owner mentioned in the Atlantic article who took out his mortgage > at a local > bank run by somebody he went to school with. The bank manager has fiduciary > responsibility to the bank but feels community responsibility for customers > that he knows as friends and neighbors, acts accordingly. If your > data services are an essential part of your living, you want the same > personalized attention that you yourself give to your own professional > affairs, to your tools, your workmanship or your own health. You > don't get > that by price shopping, especially not when (as a correspondent on > another venue wrote to me), > > Remember: It's the 21st century; all products are crap. )-: > > You get that by knowing the people you deal with. > > The "products are crap" remark arose because I just bought a new flat-screen > monitor and I hate it. I'm taking it back to the small biz guy I > bought it > from Monday. I expect that he'll take it back with full refund in > order to > keep my good-will. But if he won't, I'll sell it back to him for > whatever he offers because it's a low-end item and I know he can't > afford to lose money on it. And I'll do that to keep > *his* good-will. He's solved computer problems for me in the past for > a few > bucks, well below shop rate for his time. So I may, in the end, buy a > monitor from a big box store. Or I may get the local guy to find me a > good used CRT that won't be as horrible as the flat-screen one is. If > he does that, whatever I pay him will likely be all profit because > he'll have gotten > the CRT for free as junk from somebody whose belief that the flat > screens are ultra-cool outweighs his critical eye for quality. > > > FWIW, > - Mike > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
