So here it is near the end of 2017 and reports are that Americans will be purchasing their gifts online at record totals. Oh, it is so much easier that way. Well, maybe it is, but let me fast forward you to a conversation between a husband and wife in the year 2025 (8 years from now).

 “Oh hi honey, how was your day? Not so good.  I tried to call four places, got put on hold and forgotten at 3 of them and the 4th didn’t speak any English. Then I went to my favorite lunch place, ordered my food and had to wait ten minutes for the box of food to come down the shoot.  It was cold by then. I wish I could complain to someone about that. On my way home tonight I must have hit 20 potholes in the streets. When is the city going to do something about these potholes? So honey, are you still going shopping tonight? Yep, I’m headed upstairs to place my orders now. Yesterday, the delivery truck broke down, probably because of those potholes you were mentioning”.  End of the 2025 conversation.

So he was put on hold with no response. That’s because there was no one to answer the phone. He couldn't complain about his lunch because there was no one there to complain to. He hit those potholes because the city has no money to fix them because they no longer collect sales taxes since fewer things are being purchased in the city. Do you see what is happening now in 2017?

In a few years we may all be reliving this conversation. Oh, online buying maybe convenient, but tell that to the thousands of people who work in retail who are staring at unemployment in the future. Think of those people, where are they going to work? Think of the future vacant buildings, will anything ever go in them again? Think of your infrastructure, your city policing and firefighting? How will a city be able to afford the services we all enjoy now? What will our future be like?  I think you already know the answer.

So go ahead and buy online, but don’t complain about no one answering the phone, the cold food you get, the potholes in your street and the slow response time from police and firefighters.  We made our online purchased bed, now we have to sleep in it.

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