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In the current economy, service providers are no longer incentivized to provide ease of use. Everything is commoditized. Grocery shopping, banking, plumbers, au

by debacle 12y ago

In the current economy, service providers are no longer incentivized to provide ease of use. Everything is commoditized. Grocery shopping, banking, plumbers, auto repair, travel. We want it as cheaply as possible because we're all strapped. This creates time bloat on both sides - it takes longer to get what we want, and it takes longer on the other side to actually provide services. We're currently in an artificial starvation economy. When you're starving, it's important to conserve energy (or in this case capital) which means that things take longer than they should. You spend a few hours more to save a few dollars more, but, long term, the stress of being stretched causes impulse purchasing, which creates a positive feedback loop.

galfarragem 12y ago
We want it cheaper because nowadays is more difficult to make money. Nowadays is more difficult to make money because we want it cheaper. The busyness and time bloat comes from this. The perpetual looking for the best deal and the perpetual looking for work. The "bad guy" responsible for this negative loop in western world (besides ourselves): Mr. Globalization.
humanrebar 12y ago
> Grocery shopping, banking, plumbers, auto repair, travel Arguably, grocery shopping, banking, and travel are all easier than they has ever been. Plumbing and auto repair seem more or less the same to me, but car ownership itself is simpler due to improved quality of cars overall.
rab_oof 12y ago
It's like survival of the least terrible... And then standards of a country plummets and it becomes less competitive compared to an upstart that then disrupts them completely. Upstart is banned.
tsunamifury 12y ago
Its called 'Pain Optimization'. I think its the ultimate goal of a capitalist economy as practiced by Americans (and now parts of China). It doesn't create the best possible situation, it optimizes down to the least worst situation the super-majority of its participants will accept.

by debacle 12y ago

galfarragem 12y ago

We want it cheaper because nowadays is more difficult to make money. Nowadays is more difficult to make money because we want it cheaper. The busyness and time bloat comes from this. The perpetual looking for the best deal and the perpetual looking for work. The "bad guy" responsible for this negative loop in western world (besides ourselves): Mr. Globalization.

humanrebar 12y ago

> Grocery shopping, banking, plumbers, auto repair, travel Arguably, grocery shopping, banking, and travel are all easier than they has ever been. Plumbing and auto repair seem more or less the same to me, but car ownership itself is simpler due to improved quality of cars overall.

rab_oof 12y ago

It's like survival of the least terrible... And then standards of a country plummets and it becomes less competitive compared to an upstart that then disrupts them completely. Upstart is banned.

tsunamifury 12y ago

Its called 'Pain Optimization'. I think its the ultimate goal of a capitalist economy as practiced by Americans (and now parts of China). It doesn't create the best possible situation, it optimizes down to the least worst situation the super-majority of its participants will accept.