October 21, 2012 2:00pm by David Farrar

Bring back the 1970s!

Matt McCarten writes:

We know abstractly that in our capitalist economic system it’s the natural order of things that big corporations eat smaller businesses to grow bigger still.

When we see the human cost it’s difficult to be so philosophical.

This is about the local store closing, as they couldn’t compete with a chain store.

And yes on a personal level it is very hard when any business owner has to stop trading as they can’t compete.

But pining King Cantue like for a return to the 1970s when the Government decided who was allowed to compete, is seriously misguided.

I recall in the 1970s and 1980s the concern that supermarkets would destroy the corner dairies, and many did close. But who wants to live in a country with no supermarkets?

But now it seems these corporates are moving to the next level of reducing costs and maximising profit.

Have you noticed how The Warehouse and supermarkets now expect us to check out and pack our own goods? If we insist on a checkout operator, do you notice the fewer stations and longer waits? Eventually, the only human we’ll see is a security guard making sure we don’t pinch anything.

Oh God, how awful. And Air NZ now have self-service kiosks and you can use e-passports to take yourself through customs. I enjoy doing it myself and happily accept the cheaper prices when I do. And sometimes when I am busy I get the supermarket to home deliver for me, which creates extra jobs the otherway. The moral of the story is not to pine for the 1970s, but look for new opportunities.