Businesses You're Amazed Are Still Around

[roadman65]

GFS, a wholesale food outlet that is a chain, but one of their stores in Orlando seems to not have many cars in its lot whenever I drive by it.  It amazes me that they have not closed this particular location's doors already.

[Pete from Boston]

I find that our generation is oddly picky about things. See, the fact that we seem more into craft beers than our parents generation.

I'd rather grab a Bud Light and eat at McDonalds. Maybe I was born 20 years too late.

Let's get one thing straight — the core items that make up the McDonald's menu are lousy things for you to eat, particularly with any kind of frequency.  The biggest problem is that a basic meal at McDonald's has most of the calories you need in a day.  It is not what I would call nutrient-dense, and it's generally very high in fat.

So before you formulate your defense of McDonald's, account for all of this.  It's a pretty lousy choice.

Is Chipotle a better choice? It is still, as you put it, fast food, but it is made up far more of grilled rather than fried meats, fresh vegetables, and low-fat ingredients, so yes.  As I said, they really could do better with portion flexibility, but there's nothing stopping you from getting half of something and saving the rest for later.

It's true that there's much more of a market not just among the so-called millennials for more diverse, interesting, and healthy food choices.  You are the first person that I've heard that sounded like they were complaining about this. 

[thenetwork]

When I worked in retail and for a small town government, I had to often go to the bank to get change or to break large bills into smaller ones. That's about all I ever use a bank for. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually interacted with a human at a bank.

And with Online Banking, you can honestly order your checks online now.

Speaking of getting change from a bank, there was a bank back in Cleveland -- Third (World) Federal Savings -- that refused to break a $20.00 bill because I did not have an account there... hence the addition of "World" to their title.    I know there are banks & credit unions that only offer services to actual ATM card carrying customers, but it's the simple trading of legal US tender for crying out loud -- not an elite country club.

I bet if a 10-year old non-customer brought in a piggy bank full of change, they'd have no problem giving them $20 in paper currency for their $20 in coins.

[1995hoo]

I went into a bank I did not patronize when I received a check from their accountholder and it bounced. I received the check image back from my bank and went over to his bank and showed it to them and said he swore up and down that he now had enough money in his account, so I wanted to know if I could just cash it there to eliminate hassles. They said sure and they checked his account, confirmed he had the money, and gave me the cash.

[J N Winkler]

Part of it is atmosphere, and the dislike my generation has of the low risk/low reward proposition. I don't totally get it, but people my age want everything to be an "experience"- maybe it's due to the recession and wanting to get more bang for our buck, I don't know. Chipotle has done a much better job positioning itself as a place you go to have an experience- the food is well presented, the stores look neat, it's a better atmosphere. From what I've observed, Millenials for whatever reason are not comfortable spending a small amount of money to get something mediocre- they either want a lot for very little money, or they want to spend a lot to get a lot, but they have to get a lot.

There are some ongoing changes in consumption habits that started before the millennial generation came on the scene.  People in the "Greatest Generation" and the one immediately following were urged to work toward marriage, children, and a single-family house on its own plot of ground, furnished with durables that were thought to hold their value over time, often obtained on hire-purchase:  good furniture, crystal, flatware, appliances like TVs or refrigerators, etc.  The bottom has fallen out of that approach to living since it demands a continuous supply of easily buildable land within convenient commuting distance of jobs, which is now essentially gone in every major metropolitan area in the US.  Condominiums, loft apartments, etc. (often as a result of gentrification) are important components of the housing mix as a result, and these have a lot less room for durables.  Demand for the high-end, costly stuff has evaporated (who, outside the one-percenter class, seriously considers buying real-wood Ethan Allen furniture or Waterford crystal anymore?), while prices for the durables that are useful for day-to-day living have dropped to the point where they can almost be treated as disposable (a refrigerator is a far smaller fraction of household income even for an underpaid millennial in 2015 than it was for a working-class family in 1940).  Younger people are far more encumbered by debt (not just because of skyrocketing tuition, but also because of a broader cultural turn toward household debt) and thus far less financially secure than their parents were at the same age.  For the Girls generation it makes a lot more sense to put money into experiences as these are completely portable and thus can survive multiple rewrites of the life plan to meet financial realities.

McDonald's...it's McDonald's. The food is what it is, the stores aren't going to be memorable, it's just food. What my generation seems to struggle with is the fact that there's nothing wrong with the fact that it's just food. McDonald's isn't going to blow your mind, you're not going to remember every time you've eaten at a McDonald's, but you will get a decent, filling meal very quickly and at a low price. That has value.

I respectfully beg to differ on the "decent" and "value" parts.  Yes, the purchase price is low, but because McDonald's food is quite high in fat and sodium and low in micronutrients, it is more likely to cause low-grade digestive upset (often experienced as a general feeling of sluggishness) than healthy food prepared at home.  McDonald's perhaps does not stand out in a diet that consists largely of restaurant food, which in general tends to be higher in fat and sodium than food prepared at home, but I can assure you from personal experience that Sausage McMuffins stick out like a sore thumb when compared to a staple breakfast of cooked oatmeal.

For millennials and Generation Xers on the road, smartphones make better dining options far more accessible compared to McDonald's than was the case in the past.  If you are travelling and want to find somewhere to eat in a strange city but don't want to default to the Golden Arches, you can simply load TripAdvisor on your phone and find out which non-chain restaurant in your price bracket has the best reviews.  This whittles the advantage McDonald's and its chain brethren have in accessibility down to late night in small towns where most of the good locally owned eateries have closed by 8 or 9 PM.

Millennials also have more of an incentive to eat healthily because they are headed into a health-care cost trap.  Medical care has always been expensive in the US, but it has never been more expensive as a proportion of GDP or household income than it is now.  Obamacare is a promise of cost containment that increasingly seems empty, with no likelihood of being replaced with anything better if it fails.  Meanwhile, the march of medical technology means that life-enders are more likely to be rich people's diseases like cancer, which are easier to catch early and treat, but also inflate the risk of medical bankruptcy.  Millennials have to look down the road at a system which is likely to be able to pay for their grandparents' end-of-life care, but not their parents' or their own, so there is no real appeal to storing up trouble for the future by eating at McDonald's.  This leads to a lot of pickiness not just about fast-food options when dining out, but also organics versus "bog standard" at the grocery store.

[jeffandnicole]

A traditional meal at McDoanlds would give you about half - not most - of your calories in a day.  http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf

Yes, it's not the healthiest part of your day.  In fact, nearly every other fast food restaurant out there...no, make that nearly every other restaurant out there...has choices that would easily exceed a normal meal at McDonalds.

McDonalds gets picked on the most because they're the biggest.  But all things considering, they're not the most unhealthiest.

[Pete from Boston]

A traditional meal at McDoanlds would give you about half - not most - of your calories in a day.  http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf

Yes, it's not the healthiest part of your day.  In fact, nearly every other fast food restaurant out there...no, make that nearly every other restaurant out there...has choices that would easily exceed a normal meal at McDonalds.

McDonalds gets picked on the most because they're the biggest.  But all things considering, they're not the most unhealthiest.

It varies based on age, size, metabolism, etc.  For me, though, a Big Mac, medium fries, and a medium Coke has most of the calories that I need in a day.

Yes, you can eat badly at a lot of places, not just McDonald's.  There is no reason to limit any of this commentary just to them.  But really, in the end, the point is that traditional fast food is a lousy option for healthy eating, and this is not helping its declining sales figures.

Anyone hoping for a life without chronic diet-related disease has to set the bar higher than "You could do worse than McDonald's."

[texaskdog]

I find that our generation is oddly picky about things. See, the fact that we seem more into craft beers than our parents generation.

I'd rather grab a Bud Light and eat at McDonalds. Maybe I was born 20 years too late.

So tired of these people who wet themselves over anything "IPA" like they are 100 times better than the average beer.  Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

[kkt]

To me, the reasoning is more "If I'm going to splurge on food that's bad for me, it should taste a whole lot better than McDonald's".  McDonald's is not the best fast food, or the cheapest.  So it's maybe once every couple of years when I'm in a strange place and don't have time to search for something better.

[Pete from Boston]

I find that our generation is oddly picky about things. See, the fact that we seem more into craft beers than our parents generation.

I'd rather grab a Bud Light and eat at McDonalds. Maybe I was born 20 years too late.

So tired of these people who wet themselves over anything "IPA" like they are 100 times better than the average beer.  Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

It's good to know what Mr. Austin thinks about what I drink.  It'll inform my decision-making next time.

Some people wet themselves over cars, guns, sports... some freak out about inanity like road sign fonts.  Some of us go nuts for special beers.  Takes all kinds, as they say.

But really, thanks, Stone Cold.  Good to know you're taking an interest. 

[Brian556]

Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

Did you not think that IPA is paying Mr Austin to say this?

This is called "product placement"...The placement of advertising within shows...and it is really getting annoying.

Subway is the biggest on this. They have cast members of multiple reality shows including "The Real World", "American Pickers", and "Pawn Stars" eat their sandwiches during the show.

In the "Big Bang Theory", they constantly plug products or services, often in the from of jokes. It's annoying that the scripts of shows are modified to include these advertisements.

[empirestate]

Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

Did you not think that IPA is paying Mr Austin to say this?

IPA isn't a company, it's a style of beer.

But yes, I believe there's a lot more to the enjoyment of beer than this one style–but there's another thread for that!

[jeffandnicole]

Product Placement is a age-old method of advertising.   M&Ms lost out big in E.T.  Read up on that one!

[The Nature Boy]

I find that our generation is oddly picky about things. See, the fact that we seem more into craft beers than our parents generation.

I'd rather grab a Bud Light and eat at McDonalds. Maybe I was born 20 years too late.

So tired of these people who wet themselves over anything "IPA" like they are 100 times better than the average beer.  Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

Yeah, this is a problem. Beer is beer and I'm not going to blow half of my living budget to have some. I've seen people drink IPAs and other craft beers to get drunk, which sounds like an insanely expensive proposition. I'm also not a huge fan of the strong taste of a lot of craft beers.

And I'm not defending McDonalds or anything and I rarely get fast food unless I'm on the road. I'm just pointing out that if you're going to object to McDonalds on some moral ground then you should probably avoid Chipotle or really anyone else in the fast food market. I'm not complaining about my generation's food choices, just providing an explanation for why Chipotle is up and McDonalds is down. McDonalds food is terrible for you and I would not recommend anyone eat there with any frequency but I would say the same for fast food in general.

[J Route Z]

Pathmark and Kmart have a 1970s or 1980s vibe whenever you walk in. Also JC Penney's.

[Pete from Boston]

I find that our generation is oddly picky about things. See, the fact that we seem more into craft beers than our parents generation.

I'd rather grab a Bud Light and eat at McDonalds. Maybe I was born 20 years too late.

So tired of these people who wet themselves over anything "IPA" like they are 100 times better than the average beer.  Stone Cold Steve Austin says that on his show all the time "oh my God I went out to eat and they didn't have an IPA"

Yeah, this is a problem. Beer is beer and I'm not going to blow half of my living budget to have some. I've seen people drink IPAs and other craft beers to get drunk, which sounds like an insanely expensive proposition. I'm also not a huge fan of the strong taste of a lot of craft beers.

And I'm not defending McDonalds or anything and I rarely get fast food unless I'm on the road. I'm just pointing out that if you're going to object to McDonalds on some moral ground then you should probably avoid Chipotle or really anyone else in the fast food market. I'm not complaining about my generation's food choices, just providing an explanation for why Chipotle is up and McDonalds is down. McDonalds food is terrible for you and I would not recommend anyone eat there with any frequency but I would say the same for fast food in general.

Not moral grounds, just a reasoned choice.

[Pete from Boston]

Pathmark and Kmart have a 1970s or 1980s vibe whenever you walk in. Also JC Penney's.

Interesting factoid: Pathmark (Supermarkets General Co.) was a member of the ShopRite co-op that pulled out in the 1960s.  Something tells me they bet on the wrong horse.

I honestly can't believe A&P is still around.  They have some nice stores, but they've gone through 566346874 store "concepts," they have gone from a nationwide empire to an almost minor regional player, and they still struggle.  They don't compete on price, maintain a lot of their old stores that are typical in size for the 1970s in markets that have otherwise gone over to super-sized supermarkets... I just don't get it.

[Stephane Dumas]

Despite some locations closed, there still some KFC(Kentucky Fried Chicken) aka PFK in French who still menage to exist here in Quebec. KFC lost some ground to local chains like Normandin and St-Hubert.

[cjk374]

Pathmark and Kmart have a 1970s or 1980s vibe whenever you walk in. Also JC Penney's.

Interesting factoid: Pathmark (Supermarkets General Co.) was a member of the ShopRite co-op that pulled out in the 1960s.  Something tells me they bet on the wrong horse.

I honestly can't believe A&P is still around.  They have some nice stores, but they've gone through 566346874 store "concepts," they have gone from a nationwide empire to an almost minor regional player, and they still struggle.  They don't compete on price, maintain a lot of their old stores that are typical in size for the 1970s in markets that have otherwise gone over to super-sized supermarkets... I just don't get it.

WHAT??  The Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. STILL exists?!?!?!?!?  W O W !!! 

[Pete from Boston]

They do, and own other brands like Pathmark, Waldbaum's, and more:

http://ap.apsupermarket.com

[Pete from Boston]

Have the 2-3 (varies from year to year) Howard Johnson Restaurants been mentioned yet?

Along those lines, it was a shock to me to find out that Ground Round franchisee locations still exist, somewhere.

[DandyDan]

Another I'd like to add is Amtrak.  Here in Omaha, we get one eastbound train and one westbound train a day, both at a ridiculously early time of day, and it seems like it would be easier to either drive to your destination or fly if you are going to Denver or Chicago.  Amtrak does not help you get from Omaha to Des Moines, or Kansas City, or Sioux City, or Sioux Falls, or even Grand Island.  The only person I knew who regularly used Amtrak is dead.  I realize there may be a market for rail transport on the east coast, but everywhere else, it seems to have faded away.

[SP Cook]

IMHO,

Sears, Penney's, etc. - These places have a real estate side to them.  Back in the day they were called "mall makers".  The would play the various developers trying to build a mall in your town off against each other.  Often ended up outright being given their stores.  When you cross from the mall into Sears, you often are crossing a property line.  The mall business model was to make all the money off the interior tenants.  When Sears, et al, own their stores and thus have no real property overhead, they don't have to sell a lot to make money.  Plus, back in the day, not that long ago, Sears, et al, would give ANYBODY credit, while universal credit cards like Visa, et al, were mostly for upper middle class travelers, etc.

McDonald's - Yeah, whatever.  The latest loonie toonie idea is "organic" (in its scientific definition, a meaningless term in this context, in the way the loonies use it, it means "fertilized with s*** and eaten up by pests, rather than safely treated with modern safe products") "local" (yeah, right, that makes economic sense) and, my favorite "Non-GMO" (people have been genetically modifying things since the dawn of civilization, none of the foods anybody eats were created by God, or evolved before man's rise (take your pick) in any form you would recognize.  They were modified by people over 1000s of years via the science of their times, and this continues.  This fad will pass, like all others, and McDonald's will still be there.  The current problem with the company is it committed the cardinal sin for a company.  It became ashamed of what it was.  Wants to cater to the wackos.  Nope.  Be what you are.  "We sell good healthful food at a low price that is a part of an overall diet over time is OK."  Nothing more, nothing less.  Let Starbucks be Starbucks, and be McDonalds.

Radio Shack - Digital stuff is not fixable.  RS used to be the place for parts.  You don't fix digital.  You toss it and buy another one.

Newspapers - Most newspapers are a shadow of their former selves in terms of staff and effort.  It is, sad to say, a dying industry.  In 20 years you will see about 100 serious newspaper across the entire country, and many will be owned by people who are not trying to make a profit, but rather have an axe to grind.

Beer - See McDonald's above. Craft beer is for a certain group of people.  People who really don't like beer but want to have a snobbish little clique to discuss how much more cultured they are than people who like beer are.  Augie Busch, Fredie Miller, and Adolph Coors got it right.  Oh, and Sam Adams is made in a huge stainless steel vat in Cincinnati by a big corporation and has NEVER been made in commercial quantities anywhere near Boston nor in the style shown in their ignorant commercials.  Give me that clean, crisp, taste of Beachwood aged American beer.  Keep your 100 times too many hops, your pumpkin seeds, you IPAs, and all your other goofy crap.  We all know you don't really like that stuff. 

Banks - You don't really need a physical bank all that much, but businesses do.  They are really just glorified communal safes.  Keeping them open does not really cost that much. 

USPS - Likewise, there is really only going to be a few times per year a regular person is going to need services from the USPS that require going to the building.  But its politics.  Nothing is going to change.

Lincoln - Back in the day if you were a "chevy man" you progressed towards a Caddy.  "Ford men" progressed towards a Lincoln.  Both were little more than a "badge engineered" version of the common person's base car.  Check all the options, change the grille, put in some leather, and, boom, a Crown Vic is a Town Car.  No longer are there that many "chevy men" or "Ford men" left.  Their 50 year long assault on the American consumer has left most people far less brand loyal, and more willing to consider the well-made alternatives to their grossly inferior products. 

Amtrak - Scam from day one.  Been discussed to death. 

[1995hoo]

Amtrak is indeed thriving on the East Coast, especially the Northeast Corridor. With all the TSA silliness and the hassle of getting to and from LaGuardia, it makes little sense to fly from DC or Boston to New York when the train takes you directly to Midtown, usually in less time than flying once you factor in getting to/from the airport, going through the TSA line, waiting at the gate, taxiing seemingly forever, etc.

For the rest of the country it is clearly a niche market.

[english si]

Beer

Your 'people who got it right' made 'beers' that, at best, taste of nothing (and normally taste of rancid rat piss - there's a reason the Americans have been pushing ice cold beers - cold hides the taste). Not only is the Lite beer movement about faux-beer for the people who don't like the taste of beer, but is a snobby move to pretend to be drinking beer, a mass market but traditionally artisan (rather than industrial) drink back across the Atlantic, to hide the truth that they are drinking something that tastes horrible just because it has alcohol in it. The irony is that it's a crappy alcohol delivery system, with low alcohol content.

Craft beer 'snobs' just want beer to taste like beer does elsewhere in the world. While they wouldn't call Sam Adams a craft beer, they don't care that Sam Adams is mass produced in Cincinatti, they care that it actually beer.

The McDonalds issue is indeed similar - neither, however, are snobbish reactions to low-brow cheap produce, but against stuff that isn't food/beer in a meaningful sense. McDonalds isn't nutrious, and Lite beer runs from the flavouring agent of beer - hops.