Amazon rose as a juggernaut in the marketplace and many competitors scratch their heads and say, how can we compete? The casual observer might think Amazon will never lose their dominant position.  

A hundred plus years ago people said the same things about Sears.  Sears was a dominant retailer, and other companies struggled to compete. America was different then.  Sixty per cent of the people lived outside of cities. Sears marketed itself as “the cheapest supply house on earth.”  Similarly today, Amazon markets itself as the least costly option for buying goods.

Many years ago, Sears sold homes in catalogs.  These homes were a popular option from 1908 through the 1940, selling 70,000 homes. The customer would order one of several housing designs, and the prefabricated materials would arrive at the customer’s location. Everything from screws, nails, wood and shingles was included in the package. I have a family member who purchased one and still lives in one of these homes.  When I visited a few years ago, I was amazed at how good the home was designed and how well the house held up over many years of use. 

One may think the day of the mail-order house is over, but not true. Recently I came across some information on Amazon, the online store that helps you find almost anything is now selling homes. I found packages between $5,000 and $65,000 for all kinds of do-it-yourself kits ranging from a small vacation cabin to a 1300 square-foot home.

King Solomon wrote, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, NIV)

A recent study of 2,000 millennials, commissioned by Endoca, showed an interesting list of what caused stress in their lives: 

1. Losing wallet/credit card
2. Arguing with partner
3. Commuting/traffic delays
4. Losing phone
5. Arriving late to work
6. Slow WiFi
7. Phone battery dying
8. Forgetting passwords
9. Credit card fraud
10. Forgetting phone charger
11. Losing/misplacing keys
12. Paying bills
13. Job interviews
14. Phone screen breaking
15. Credit card bills
16. Check engine light coming on
17. School loan payments
18. Job security
19. Choosing what to wear
20. Washing dishes

As I grow older, I reminisce about how times always seemed better in the past. King Solomon understood this issue when he wrote, “Don't long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10, NLT)

However, consider that toilet paper wasn’t invented until 1857, relatively recent in the history of man.

Richard Russell compiled a list of basic living conditions in 1904, conditions familiar to my grandparents. When one longs for the good old days consider these facts:

I’ve covered the subject of automation several times.  I see how automation continues to increase.  A phrase I’ve adapted is “if something can be automated it will be.”  I ran across an article in Bloomberg about how HaiDiLao [DG1] International, owner of Hot Pot Restaurants, is developing robots to replace chefs and wait staff.  You can read the full article here: https://bit.ly/2FbTHGF