Retail is going to do poorly as long as they carry products that are not made by their customers. No work for the customers mean they can not buy. Why is retail stocking things made in China they are not their customers. Retail has cut their own throats.

Quote from: lisagurl on January 02, 2009, 08:49:52 AM
Retail is going to do poorly as long as they carry products that are not made by their customers. No work for the customers mean they can not buy. Why is retail stocking things made in China they are not their customers. Retail has cut their own throats.

Retail, like everybody else, bought into the whole "Globalisation" song and dance. Here's hopefully where they start learning it's sustainable production that matters, not exponentially increasing consumption.

Mina.

Some experts are predicting an up to 25% failure rate for retail in the first quarter of this year.  Some major brand names, CostPlus, RiteAid, and others will be bye-bye very fast.

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 09:48:58 AM
Some experts are predicting an up to 25% failure rate for retail in the first quarter of this year.  Some major brand names, CostPlus, RiteAid, and others will be bye-bye very fast.

I heard the same stats for they UK on Sky News or the BBC ( I Surf ... ) this morning. They're literally expecting boarded-up shop windows on the high streets.

Mina.

Yeah, its going to be hard for people without real world skills.

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 10:08:05 AM
Yeah, its going to be hard for people without real world skills.

I think that describes a good many of us. Me included.

If you had to do damage control now from the position of having been in IT or Retail or some other contracting sector, how would you go about it?

Mina.

Start taking plumbing classes?  But really, all that real, hand's on, crafted by hand stuff is going to be important, and become more so.  Car dealers, going out of business here quite quickly, will not need salespeople, but people hanging on to their cars longer and longer will need mechanics.

Being a recent college grad, I'm worried about finding a job.  Right now I'm working at a local grocery store and just barely making ends meet with whatever hours they give me.  I'm hoping I can find a job in activism since I have my BA, but with the way the economy is going I don't know how non-profit groups are going to be affected.  I've worked really hard for my education, I hope it wasn't a waste...

Education is never a waste, just depends on how you use it.  And the not-for-profit world is hurting real bad even as we speak.  That's among the first things that people stop doing.

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 11:06:41 AM
Education is never a waste, just depends on how you use it.  And the not-for-profit world is hurting real bad even as we speak.  That's among the first things that people stop doing.

Well, I majored in Women's Studies and minored in Sociology.  But I consider myself a pretty smart woman, I have leadership skills, I'm articulate in how I speak and write, and I have a lot to offer any employer.  Unfortunately I don't really have any skills doing hands-on, crafting, etc.  I'm more of a people person, I don't really like building things.

Quote from: fae_reborn on January 02, 2009, 11:05:03 AM
Being a recent college grad, I'm worried about finding a job.  Right now I'm working at a local grocery store and just barely making ends meet with whatever hours they give me.  I'm hoping I can find a job in activism since I have my BA, but with the way the economy is going I don't know how non-profit groups are going to be affected.  I've worked really hard for my education, I hope it wasn't a waste...

Well sweetie, your skills might actually be quite useful. People are going to be doing alot more locally, and that takes a certain amount of planning and organisation and fundraising, which I'm sure was a big component of your studies. you might not be able to get into non-profits as such, but thinking on a smaller scale you could work as a community organiser doing local markets and freecycling events and the like.

Mina.

I'm hoping things get smaller and more local. This trouble could aid the development of actual communities. I like the idea of people sharing personal warmth. As for the shops, five big high street names finished this week, and the one I worked for was cut in half. I plan to use my charm, imagination and good sense to get through this, because I'm no where near skilled enough to make things.

I don't think its going to be as much about making things, at least at first, as it will be to keep the things built running, and to convert them to more useful work.

Quote from: mina.m->-bleeped-<-ie link=topic=52511.msg326545#msg326545 date=1230916850

Quote from: fae_reborn on January 02, 2009, 11:05:03 AM
Being a recent college grad, I'm worried about finding a job.  Right now I'm working at a local grocery store and just barely making ends meet with whatever hours they give me.  I'm hoping I can find a job in activism since I have my BA, but with the way the economy is going I don't know how non-profit groups are going to be affected.  I've worked really hard for my education, I hope it wasn't a waste...

Well sweetie, your skills might actually be quite useful. People are going to be doing alot more locally, and that takes a certain amount of planning and organisation and fundraising, which I'm sure was a big component of your studies. you might not be able to get into non-profits as such, but thinking on a smaller scale you could work as a community organiser doing local markets and freecycling events and the like.

Mina.

That's what I'm thinking Mina, but I couldn't put it into words, thanks!  I'd love to do local community organizing and doing sustainable development, that's always been a passion of mine because I hate globalization and the big-lot stores and everything that capitalism has done to us.

Sustainable development is more of an engineering, physics and biology question and problem in the end. 

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 12:14:28 PM
Sustainable development is more of an engineering, physics and biology question and problem in the end.

True, but all of those still have to be done by people working together.

Mina.

Quote from: mina.m->-bleeped-<-ie link=topic=52511.msg326614#msg326614 date=1230920321

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 12:14:28 PM
Sustainable development is more of an engineering, physics and biology question and problem in the end.

True, but all of those still have to be done by people working together.

Mina.

Yes, but I meant 'sustainable development' in the sense of people coming together and figuring out a way to do things differently and on a local level.  That does involve engineering, physics, etc. but I was thinking more along the lines of being an organizer of all that.  I don't have a background in any of those fields, but I can certainly organize those that do and come up with a general plan/course of action for how things might work, and then the engineers, etc. can figure out how it would actually work.

a general plan/course of action for how things might work, and then the engineers, etc. can figure out how it would actually work.

More or less, it works exactly the opposite.

And, it is being done, and being worked on by lots of people right now.  Many groups are preparing for a world greatly changed.

Quote from: tekla on January 02, 2009, 10:08:05 AM
Yeah, its going to be hard for people without real world skills.

Even with real world skills it's going to be hard if half the people in your region are without work and they can't afford to pay you for your work/products.

Z

At the rate we're going we might skip that pay deal and go straight to barter.