"Richard" wrote in message
...
On 01/04/2020 09:32, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 31/03/2020 19:29, thescullster wrote:
Hi guys

I was pondering whether this virus would be the last straw for the
small high street shops.

So many people being coerced into isolation.
The inexorable rise of the on line supermarket supremos delivering
to the door.
I expect that many who were previously running scared of the
required technology have grasped the nettle in the face of the
alternative.

To counter that, there have been some local food suppliers
offering a similar more personal service, when the shelves of the
supermarkets have been stripped bare.
If we do voluntarily or by dictate become more parochial/insular
going forward (in an effort to become more resistant to this sort
of infection as a society going forward), then maybe there might
just be a place in our towns and villages for the essential foods
and services.
The older I get the more appealing local shops become.
I would rather pay a bit more and buy locally than travel miles to
a supermarket, get cheaper stuff but spend the difference on
petrol.

Phil


In my day we studied economic geography, and were able to answer
questions like 'why does Bradford exist?' in terms of the relative costs
of labour and transport and power. (These days it exists because of
government policy: there is no reason for it to actually exist still)

Supermarkets exist because the costs of car ownership fell dramatically
in the 1960s to the point where buying regular shopping from a place
further than you could walk with two heavy shopping bags became cost
effective.

What has happened since is that mail order and in particular the Internet
has given access to a wider variety of goods at lower prices than the
high street shops. Hence te rise of Amazon and the demise of WH Smiths
etc..

Remember the goods have to get to where you are somehow. The corner shop
cannot hold the level or variety of stock that online or centralised
large supermarkets can. The only thing it can do is offer a localised
service for basic essentials, or , as increasingly happens, as a local
distribution or pickup point for online deliveries.

What I think will happen, is that employers who find that not only has
their work got done better, but also cheaper, by people working from
home, will continue with the practice thus reducing the load on the
national grid, and transport links.

The fact of the matter is that the way we produce and distribute material
goods is woefully inefficient and uses far more labour than it needs to
and also far more energy and materials. BUT it has been the policy of
socialist governments to increase labour 'create jobs' rather than
'create wealth'. There is no doubt that we could create just as much
wealth and get it to people with far less waste of energy and labour than
we do currently, but the problem there is that the Left sees 'jobs' as a
way of redistributing that wealth.

We probably need a solution to that question rather than more corner
shops...

The "socialist" governments have come about for the need to accommodate
growing populations.

Pity about Japan which doesnt have a growing population.

There really is only one solution to all of this.

Thats bull**** too.

On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 05:57:19 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


The "socialist" governments have come about for the need to accommodate
growing populations.

Pity about Japan which doesn¢t have a growing population.

??? Are you now claiming that also Japan (in addition to your "socialist"
Norway) is socialist, you senile idiot?

There really is only one solution to all of this.

That¢s bull**** too.

That's what you keep spouting on these groups NIGHT and DAY, you sleepless
senile pest!

--
addressing nym-shifting senile Rodent:
"You on the other hand are a heavyweight bull****ter who demonstrates
his particular prowess at it every day."
MID: