Category Archives: Business & Marketing

Online grocery shopping

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Online grocery shopping has been around for a while but I haven’t paid much attention. I have lots of time and tend to impulse-shop. But as I look for ways to avoid unnecessary exposure to crowds, I decided to give it a try.

Gerbes Supermarket (a Kroger brand) is about ten minutes from my house. You can shop via desktop browser or from a mobile app and they’ll deliver ($10) or you can schedule a time to pick up your order ($5). Looks like they’ll ship an order but I’m not sure that’s available locally.

I downloaded the iOS app and started shopping. Not the greatest UI I’ve ever seen but not bad. I found it a little confusing when updating my order but that might have been my lack of familiarity. I chose a pick-up window and they texted me reminders as well as notifications when one of the products I selected was out of stock.

Our local store has three pick-up “stalls” (parking slots) with a phone number to let them know you’re waiting. A nice lady came out with my groceries and a list showing an item that was unavailable as well as a substitution (If I didn’t like it they’d take it back and adjust my credit card charge).

This seemed like a pretty good deal for five bucks. There will be times when I want to roam the aisles but for now, I’ll avoid the masses.

The Golden Years

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The Future of America is a pretty depressing headline but the alternative was “The Golden Years.” I should say up front I know nothing about these two people so everything that follows is baseless speculation. I took the photo standing in line at the local Burger King. The young (20-something?) man was showing the woman (60+) how to use the cash register. Let’s call them Opie and Aunt Bee.

A job “flipping burgers” long ago achieved cliche status and it’s nothing new to see a “senior citizen” behind the counter. As I watched the woman concentrate to figure out the register I couldn’t help thinking, “This woman is not doing this because she’s bored. She needs this job.” And she’s competing — to some extent — with people 40-50 years younger.

We’re told the jobs that built the American Middle Class in the previous century are gone or going away. Can there be enough fast food jobs (or their equivalent) for all of the young people with only a high school education and the growing army of seniors who didn’t save enough for retirement?

I didn’t see them at our local Burger King but McDonald’s has been replacing counter registers with self-serve kiosks. I’ve been thinking of “flipping burgers” as a job to be avoided but perhaps it will one day be a coveted gig.

Impossible Whopper (August)

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Burger King started serving the Impossible Whopper nationwide yesterday so my friend George and I drove to a nearby town to try one (our Burger King was destroyed by a tornado earlier this year but will re-open next month). I haven’t had a beef hamburger in six years so can’t say I remember what one tastes like but the sandwich BK served up was mighty close. I’ll be eating these a couple of times a week.

Calling card

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“A visiting card, also known as a calling card, is a small card used for social purposes. Before the 18th century, visitors making social calls left handwritten notes at the home of friends who were not at home. By the 1760s, the upper classes in France and Italy were leaving printed visiting cards decorated with images on one side and a blank space for hand-writing a note on the other. The style quickly spread across Europe and to the United States. As printing technology improved, elaborate color designs became increasingly popular. However, by the late 1800s, simpler styles became more common.”

“By the 19th century, men and women needed personalized calling or visiting cards to maintain their social status or to move up in society. These small cards, about the size of a modern-day business card, usually featured the name of the owner, and sometimes an address. Calling cards were left at homes, sent to individuals, or exchanged in person for various social purposes. Knowing and following calling card “rules” signaled ones one’s status and intentions.” (Wikipedia)

Somewhere along the way these evolved into “business cards” and titles and fax numbers and addresses were added. Before contact databases it was common to have huge collections of these little pieces of cardboard.

When I retired I tossed a couple boxes of these (I think I shredded them). And then I realized how handy they can be. Instead of jotting down a phone number or email address on a scrap of paper that will be quickly lost, I keep a few of these in my pocket.