Is high tech making a new class system ,I think so .

[pris993]

33 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

So, you got me thinking about our local Supermarket.  There are normally 3 or 4 lanes staffed by real people and the lines can be 10-15 min.  And I always "love" watching a lady (yes, this is a sexist comment) watching as her items are rung up, and then she (OMG..a sexist pronoun) will start to look through her purse to find her money or credit card (as everyone stews in the line) There is also the lady (we have not seen any men do this) who still slowly writes a check at the Supermarket (some folks actually still fill out a check).  Meanwhile, there are 10 self-service counters (supervised by a single person) which seldom have a line.

 

There have already been rumors of some stores and supermarkets charging extra for folks who use human cashiers (or possibly giving a discount to those using self-service).  There are already a few lower cost airlines that charge extra for those who need human assistance.  With the increasing cost of labor coupled with labor shortages we are likely to see an acceleration of the trend to have folks pay more for not using tech.  Just consider this has existed for years at gas stations that charge more per gallon if you want an attendant to fill your car (assuming you can even find an attendant).

 

Hank

Interesting, I am in the SF BAY AREA, the home of high tech, have not seen markets adding service charges here.  Regardless, I like personal service, I am retired, have time to shop when it is not busy which is what I usually do.  

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

Personally, I absolutely love the self-checkout. I can get in and out in a minute or two. Meanwhile, the cashier lines will take forever as it almost never fails to be behind someone with a full cart, has questions about everything and its price, can't get their payment ready, etc. Saving 15 minutes in a line is easily worth me putting something in a bag in 2.

 

I am retired. I am never in a hurry. I have my smartphone to occupy my time if the line  is long. 😀

[Steerpike58]

On 11/12/2022 at 9:49 AM, slidergirl said:

In regard to hiking being the last non-tech activity:  Many of us use our phones for the GPS and apps with trails and weather information.  iPhone-size solar chargers keep the phones going.  

 

I too use my smartphone on my hikes; it's great to 'track' the hike to see how far you went, how many calories burned, etc. Also serves as a great resource when you want to return somewhere ... "I only have 2 hours ... can I manage to get to the top?" (look up my hiking history and see how long it took me last time ...). . Also I do a lot of solo hiking and I can share my location with my partner at home in case problems occur. 

 

On 11/12/2022 at 9:49 AM, slidergirl said:

 

I bought a little Bluetooth keyboard to use on the go with my phone or tablet (Keys to Go).  When I'm sitting down and doing my texting and emails, it helps soo much that I don't have to one-finger type on the phone.  

It's worth trying 'voice to text' also. Google seems to do an amazing job of understanding my commands, and I can comfortably dictate messages.  Issuing specific commands to an 'app' is not so easy, but it's an evolving technology and getting better all the time. 

 

[Steerpike58]

12 hours ago, davecttr said:

I have a tablet but carrying it around with me is not an attractive option. Onboard my carried items are an handkerchief, reading glasses for menus etc and my cruise card. Handkerchief in trouser pocket, cruise card and spectacles in shirt breast pocket.

My smartphone has a very effective 'magnifier' app that lets me read menus perfectly!  I used to carry a magnifying glass but gave it up. 

[Steerpike58]

With all this talk about technology and discrimination against the aged/disabled, I have to mention our recent experience on Viking.  My partner is hard of hearing, and relies heavily on 'closed captions' on the TV. We were very surprised to discover that the TV in the room did not have the option for CC (or subtitles, which are different but similarly useful for movies). 

 

I can understand that adding CC to in-house generated content may be an issue, but when they carry a broadcast from CNN or a movie, those media items already have the CC / subtitle information built into the stream, so they have little excuse for not displaying them.  

 

We don't go on a cruise to watch TV, but winding down for 30 minutes at the end of the day is still a reasonable activity. 

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Meanwhile, the cashier lines will take forever as it almost never fails to be behind someone with a full cart, has questions about everything and its price, can't get their payment ready, etc.

Or just wants to "chat" with the check out person🙄

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Or just wants to "chat" with the check out person🙄

🤦‍♂️, yes and even worse are the customers that chat afterwards with the bank teller. (And I still do not understand with all the new technology why every transaction at my bank now takes longer than ever.)

[Sea42]

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

🤦‍♂️, yes and even worse are the customers that chat afterwards with the bank teller. (And I still do not understand with all the new technology why every transaction at my bank now takes longer than ever.)

Can't help you with that one, I haven't been inside a bank in years!

[CTGirl74]

30 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

🤦‍♂️, yes and even worse are the customers that chat afterwards with the bank teller. (And I still do not understand with all the new technology why every transaction at my bank now takes longer than ever.)

As a former bank teller (I'm now in the back office), tellers feel the same way about chatty customers. I didn't mind it as long as the chatting was while I was processing the transaction; however, I inevitably had the lingerers. Most of the time I could move them on fairly easy just by telling them I need to take the next person and "have a nice day." But there was always someone who needed to tell me everything they'd done that week, talk about their great/horrible family, their health issues, etc. They were very difficult to get moving and I'd have a line of people glaring at us. At that point, I'd move to the next window and tell the next person I can take them. Meanwhile the customer is STILL at my window, chatting away. I always tried to keep in mind that maybe this is the only social interaction they get all week, but it was difficult sometimes.

[Hlitner]

The bank teller issue got me thinking (dangerous).  Despite having accounts at 2 credit unions and 1 bank, it has been more than 10 years since I have ever used a teller.  All my banking is online which makes it quite easy for us to take long trips (measured in months) and deal with banking issues.  A very nice aspect of electronic banking is that it can be done 24/7 from anywhere in the world.   In fact, I have not even entered a bank in over 10 years.  No reason.

 

Part of my transition to electronic banking became necessary when DW and I started taking very long trips.  Initially it was a challenge to figure out how to handle banking, bills, mail, etc.  But experience is a great educator, and we learned how to easily pack-up and leave with very little notice (which has resulted in us getting some amazing last minute cruise deals).  When talking with other cruisers most of us have developed similar systems.  I still remember the first time DW and I did an independent trip to Europe (it was 1989) when we had to go to a local AAA office and have them send some "cables" to a few hotels in order to secure reservations.  Now, it is relatively easy to make all our reservations (including booking a cruise), plan itineraries,  have a GPS device, make and receive phone calls, etc. all with a single iPhone!  Tis amazing.  And then there is our Kindles that can hold hundreds of books.  Life has sure become easier.

 

Hank

[davecttr]

On 11/13/2022 at 11:26 PM, Sea42 said:

Or just wants to "chat" with the check out person🙄

That 'chat' at the check out is the only conversation that many elderly people will have that day. All is not fun being old. Some supermarkets are under pressure to increase the number of manned check outs.

[ldubs]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:41 PM, ilikeanswers said:

 

To be fair there are certain medical conditions that make touch technology very difficult to use. My father use to work with computers so he is fairly technologically adept but his condition means phone screens don't respond to his touch and his voice is unrecognisable by those virtual assistant apps so mobile phones are difficult for him to use and not by choice. I have modified his phone so it is better suited to his condition but unfortunately many apps don't support these modifications. I understand that people like my father are a tiny minority and for a lot of these companies including cruising it would not be profitable to make more disabled friendly apps but I do still find it a bit sad that society doesn't want to carve out a little space for these people☹️. 

 

For everything we do, there are always going to be at least a small subset of outliers.  I sure agree that to the extent we help those folks, the better we are.  

[ldubs]

On 11/12/2022 at 4:32 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

Have you considered using a tablet instead of a phone?  The larger size makes it much easier to use apps. Even full sized ones fit easily into a carry-on pocket.

 

I think that is a worthwhile option.  Some of the new iPads with the remote keyboards looks remarkably compact.  

[ldubs]

On 11/14/2022 at 4:25 AM, ontheweb said:

 (And I still do not understand with all the new technology why every transaction at my bank now takes longer than ever.)

 

If you mean doing something while physically at the bank it sounds like you are not using the "new technology".  

[ldubs]

I'll give up my yellow hi-liter when they pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

 😁😁😁

 

 

[klfrodo]

2 hours ago, ldubs said:

I'll give up my yellow hi-liter when they pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

 😁😁😁

 

 

Adobe Acrobat allows you to use a yellow hi-liter to hi-lite sections of a pdf file you deem important

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

If you mean doing something while physically at the bank it sounds like you are not using the "new technology".  

Ok, you tell me how your new technology allows me if I have several $20 bills to turn them into 5s and 10s. Does your magic do everything smartphone do this and I am just not aware of it?

[klfrodo]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Ok, you tell me how your new technology allows me if I have several $20 bills to turn them into 5s and 10s. Does your magic do everything smartphone do this and I am just not aware of it?

easy. Just stop carrying cash. Vending machines accept electronic transfer of money. Gas stations, laundromats, convenience store, taxis, even my grandson who mows my lawn has a Venmo account to transfer money into.

The only reason why we aren't a cashless society is because of the resistance to technology.

Edited November 15, 2022 by klfrodo

[Mary229]

23 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

The only reason why we aren't a cashless society is because of the resistance to technology

Ummm, not the only reason🤣

[ontheweb]

33 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

easy. Just stop carrying cash. Vending machines accept electronic transfer of money. Gas stations, laundromats, convenience store, taxis, even my grandson who mows my lawn has a Venmo account to transfer money into.

The only reason why we aren't a cashless society is because of the resistance to technology.

Maybe this is true where you live. But, for instance, I know laundromats where I live only take cash.

[klfrodo]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Maybe this is true where you live. But, for instance, I know laundromats where I live only take cash.

You can keep making excuses and bringing up individual outliers for days.

Reality is that technology is here and is expanding at a meteoric rate.

You have 2 options.  Accept it and try your best to keep up with it, or deny it exists and go down kicking and screaming. Either way, the technology train has left the station and neither you nor I nor anyone else can stop it.

[ontheweb]

22 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

You can keep making excuses and bringing up individual outliers for days.

Reality is that technology is here and is expanding at a meteoric rate.

You have 2 options.  Accept it and try your best to keep up with it, or deny it exists and go down kicking and screaming. Either way, the technology train has left the station and neither you nor I nor anyone else can stop it.

That does not take away from there are still places that only take cash.

[cruisemom42]

25 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That does not take away from there are still places that only take cash.

 

True -- but they are becoming fewer and fewer. Even with your laundromat example, I'm pretty sure that the next time they have to buy new machines they'll get the ones that take cards.

 

In many of the Northern European/Scandinavian countries, cash transactions are virtually obsolete.

[Mary229]

My laundromat has an app.  I operate the payment and cycles from my phone.  It alerts me on my phone and holds my reserved dryer.  

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

You can keep making excuses and bringing up individual outliers for days.

Reality is that technology is here and is expanding at a meteoric rate.

You have 2 options.  Accept it and try your best to keep up with it, or deny it exists and go down kicking and screaming. Either way, the technology train has left the station and neither you nor I nor anyone else can stop it.

Right, there is no place for anything but technology. I went to the doctor today and had wax cleaned out of my ears. Talk about low technology---they put a bib on you and then have you hold what looks like a mini bed pan by the ear being cleaned and shoot water into it. I don't know why they do this intead of aiming some I-device at you. 

 

Of course, you would have done it differently. Why go to the doctor when you can do e-med. And it would have told you to load the clean ear wax app on your smartphone.