Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[univibe88]

Paychecks? On paper? What a novel idea!! Almost everyone i know, that works, gets payed electronically now... No more haveing to take the check to the bank to deposit it... Even my parents pension checks go right in to the bank account..

For that matter, how about paying bills with paper checks. I as much as I can with online bill pay and get annoyed when I have to dig out the check book.

 

[Kassia]

For that matter, how about paying bills with paper checks. I as much as I can with online bill pay and get annoyed when I have to dig out the check book.

I dont write many either nowadays... Most of my stuff is payed online or with preauthorized payments...
I've had problems with checks being stolen out of the mail, Twice!, i might add which resulted in having to actaully go to the bank to close out the account, sign a bunch of paper work and open a new account.. It's a huge PITA, if you ask me..

 

[dhermann1]

How about pay envelopes

I think my first full time job, making more or less minimum wage, I got about $48.50 in cash in a little yellow envelope. It was about 2 1/2 inches wide and maybe 4 " high. It was preprinted, a totally standard item any company could but, with my pay and deductions written by hand. We're talking about 1965.

 

[DerMann]

Paychecks? On paper? What a novel idea!! Almost everyone i know, that works, gets payed electronically now... No more haveing to take the check to the bank to deposit it... Even my parents pension checks go right in to the bank account..

Well... I had the option to get direct deposit set up, but by the time I got around to ordering new personal cheques, I only had one month yet and it would take two pay periods (one month) to take effect.

This past summer I worked as a contractor for my aunt's company (a non-profit organisation with branches across the nation), and they did not have an electric payment system (my aunt brought my paycheque home with her's).

Now that I'm in college, my college pays me with direct deposit. As a college student, it's better, as my bank is bank in Texas and would probably take a week or more to get deposited. When one is requested to put in for, erm, uh, relaxing libations, yeah, a cheque in the mail will not put cash in the pockets of an able upperclassman.

When people could actually visit a branch of their bank by walking to it, paper pay cheques would be one's best bet. My bank, USAA, as I said, only has one branch in San Antonio, Texas, and even when I lived in Texas over ten years, I never once even saw the actual building. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather have a bank that refunds all of my ATM fees, has a decent APR, and has a very well designed online portion than a local bank with several branches. Times have changed.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I thought of another. Things bought C.O.D.

 

[DerMann]

I thought of another. Things bought C.O.D.

When I was a kid I always wondered what the commercials meant by "Sorry no COD."

It wasn't until I started looking through old Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs at my local library that I realised that most, if not all, goods purchased through the mail were purchased by COD.

That's a really interesting one, as it's not so much a thing as it is a service, much like full service petrol.

 

[univibe88]

When I was a kid I always wondered what the commercials meant by "Sorry no COD."

Me too!

 

[John in Covina]

Wanted Posters at the Post Office!

 

[David V]

Placing a long distance call through the operator.
Party Lines.
12oz. bottles of Coke as standard.
Monoral recordings

Are watches you must wind still made?

 

[Ripper]

Wanted Posters at the Post Office!

They still have them at the Post Office here in Colorado.

 

[Fletch]

[C.O.D. is] a really interesting one, as it's not so much a thing as it is a service, much like full service petrol.

Now that you mention it, what's happened to...service?

 

[John in Covina]

They still have them at the Post Office here in Colorado.

*******
Some traditions die hard in the old West!

I can't recall seeing them out this way at any P.O. back in Copiague, NY I noticed they were missing during one of my visitis every 5-7 years.

 

[Kassia]

Wanted Posters at the Post Office!

We never had those in Canada.

 

[Kassia]

Now that you mention it, what's happened to...service?

Not enough people in the work force = bad service..
At least thats the case here in Canada... Everywhere, and i mean almost everywhere are looking for staff.. Some places even close one day a week due to staff shortages..
One cement company here even hired workers from Jamaica when they didn't get enough qualified tradespeople to work on a big project(bridge).

 

[Fletch]

Not enough people in the work force = bad service..
At least thats the case here in Canada... Everywhere, and i mean almost everywhere are looking for staff.. Some places even close one day a week due to staff shortages..
One cement company here even hired workers from Jamaica when they didn't get enough qualified tradespeople to work on a big project(bridge).

Can't find the people to hire? Or can't afford to hire them for the going wage?

We got rid of a lot of customer service down here because of costs and mass-market focus.

 

[John in Covina]

Nudniks

Now that you mention it, what's happened to...service?

Service seems to be a very costly thing in the eyes of business.

It is as rare as hen's teeth in some places.

But in other places where they haven't heard it's too costly to provide, you can still get it some times.

In many retail situations the person on the floor assisting with sales has little or no knowledge of what they are handling. Have you ever named something, given an alternate name, described its use only to have the sales person indicate they have never seen one at the store. Later you spot the item a little further down the isle? :eusa_doh:

Usually and with out malice I will show the item to the person I asked and say Here is what I was looking for and re-iterate its use. Hoping to educate the poor nudnik.

 

[Fletch]

It's a problem when retail companies are so totally numbers-driven. They have to hire cheaply and control their people as tightly as their costs, and that means you don't want employees who are too smart.

 

[Kassia]

Can't find the people to hire? Or can't afford to hire them for the going wage?

We got rid of a lot of customer service down here because of costs and mass-market focus.

Lack of people to hire, especially here in Western Canada..
You have to remember that Canada is the second biggest ( land area) nation in the world but only has a population of about 31 million..
They are even closing schools due to lack of inrollment.. The baby boomers are retiring and the young people are not having as many kids...

Hiring migrant workers to do the jobs is almost unheard of here in Canada.. We have a large Asian and East Indian population where i live and even they (East Indians) have and to hire workers from Mexico to work on the farms.

So when i put in that QUALIFIED tradespeople are hard to find i mean it..

My dh works for the Fleet Departmant of our electrical utility company and when they put out an ad for 9 vehicle tradesperson(mechanics) positions they had 3 people apply.. For the first time in the history of the company, about 30 years, they hired apprentices.. And then they only hired 3 of them...
Advertise for 7 jobs.... Get 3 who are qualified and 3 that are training = 6 more workers... Not 7.. Only half of which are fully qualified... It costs a company alot of money to train a mechanic..
Here on the west coast there is a huge construction boom too.. Partly caused by the work being done to get Vancouver & Whistler ready to host the 2010 Olympics..
Right now i live in between 2 large bridge projects with many others in the works in our province.. It's a great to be in the cement and gravel business!! As i understand it, Alberta is booming too and since there is still a need for oil and gas will continue to have a good economy for years to come..

 

[Fletch]

And is it too hard for qualified immigrants to enter Canada?

Hell, if things get as bad as some predict, you might have Americans trying to get in...

 

[Dr Doran]

Lack of people to hire, especially here in Western Canada..
You have to remember that Canada is the second biggest ( land area) nation in the world but only has a population of about 31 million..
They are even closing schools due to lack of inrollment.. The baby boomers are retiring and the young people are not having as many kids...

People shortage? Perhaps I'll move there, then, especially if a certain duo wins the American presidential election ...