4 ms·
This list is terrible for its omissions. The most important: * Local bank branches, thanks to Direct Banking (e.g. HSBC Direct, ING Direct) * Local realtors,
by Empact 17y ago
This list is terrible for its omissions. The most important:
* Local bank branches, thanks to Direct Banking (e.g. HSBC Direct, ING Direct)
* Local realtors, thanks to the likes of http://redfin.com http://redfin.com
* Local and Community colleges, thanks to the likes of http://straighterline.com http://straighterline.com
* Credit cards and Banks as the sole distributor of unsecured credit, thanks to the likes of http://prosper.com http://prosper.com
And so on...
- streblo 17y agoI think this article was talking more about cultural aspects being killed, not physical things being killed.
- anigbrowl 17y agoWhy the downvotes? He makes good points about the distribution of services becoming as centralized and commoditized as manufacturing. Not that this is bad, but it's certainly changing our lives substantially.
- ryanwaggoner 17y agoSome of those things are interesting, but they're hardly very influential at this point. Are there fewer local bank branches today as compared with 10 years ago? Maybe (though I'd like to see the data), but is it due to online banking or just industry consolidation? Are there fewer realtors? Almost certainly, but it's also almost certainly all about the real estate bubble popping, and virtually nothing to do with Redfin. Are local and community colleges being killed by straighterline.com? Ummm...no. Maybe someday, but not now. College attendance is actually probably up as compared with 10 years ago. Prosper.com and other P2P lenders are interesting, but 99.9% of people have never heard of them and still rely on credit cards and banks for unsecured credit, so they're hardly killing anything.