03-11-2018, 07:35 PM
(03-11-2018, 01:20 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: There are many other retailers who at one time were household names which are now, if still operating, on life support. These include Sears, J C Penney, Radio Shack just to name three. K-Mart, once considered to be on the cutting edge of retail, is now on the verge of extinction. In addition, we have also heard some negatives concerning the restaurant industry. However, I personally believe this is a bit premature as most seem to be surviving OK. One thing that most have now done to compensate for sagging in-store sales is turning to delivery. Rather than hiring their own drivers they are partnering with one or more of the big three third-party delivery services: GrubHub, DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Restaurants have the peril of getting caught in a fad and being unable to escape the fad once it fades. Turnover in mom-and-pop restaurants has always been high. Gimmicks have a tendency to get stale fast.
Fast-food places are basically conveniences. So you couldn't cook a hamburger patty as cheaply as "Chez Mac"? No surprise. "Chez Mac" is really efficient in its use of labor, food, and materials. On the other side, the real top end has well-heeled customers who buy high-end foods and drink with inflated mark-ups. Those will not get hurt. I would guess that the middle market is most vulnerable, especially those places that sell overpriced, mediocre food. I will not name names. As with such once high-profile retailers as Montgomery-Ward, Mervyn's, Tower Records, Circuit City, Blockbuster Video, Borders, and Woolworth's so it was with Howard Johnson's, Steak and Ale, Chi-Chi's, and Bennigan's. Or airlines like TWA, Pan-Am, Eastern Airlines, and Braniff. these companies over-expanded in the expectation that greater volume of sales would solve their internal faults (the inner faults grew as quickly as the revenue), the companies made poor choices in locations, or failed to adapt to changing demographics and consumer tastes. Betting that a high-profit activity such as consumer electronics would remain such ignored that a company like Wal-Mart could get in and cut profit margins for companies that got complacent about costs of doing business.
People are finding that they can get microwave-suited entrees at the nearby grocery store cheaply, cook them quickly, and have them when they feel the urge. They can get all sorts of choices, including allegedly exotic fare. No lines, no tips, and plenty of choices.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.