Weekend August 11, 2018
Cost Effective, Maybe, Maybe Not
Robotization is taking many forms. But I am not sure this is as cost effective as the firms’ who are adopting these methods believe. Surely the most aggravating is the robot voice adopted by, yes, AT&T. Attempt to call them and Mr. Robbie the Robot answers. Supposedly voice recognition kicks in and one gets a response. The caller is then subjected to this ridiculous sound of a non-existent computer beeping as though something is happening. If, as often, Robbie does not understand, it is the caller’s fault and one is in a helpless loop with no human intervention in sight. How demeaning and insulting to a paying customer is that?
Wal-Mart in a never-ending attempt to boost sales, built a medium sized grocery in an upscale neighborhood nearby. Apparently hopes were high as there are dozens (make that over one hundred)of empty shopping carts in the cart bay. And by golly it is q1uick and easy as there are very few shoppers in the store, so parking is near the door. But the imagined revenue targets are surely missed by the proverbial country mile. Why is this? There are never more than two humans who will check out the purchases on a register. The other aisles are do it your self scan the item. That sort of works but requires two more employees standing by to approve alcohol sales and re –set the machine when interruptions occur. My guess is that this model will never be more than a large convenience store. Shoppers will duck in to grab a few items which they will check out themselves. But rare is the shopper filling the cart with a week’s worth of supplies. Shoppers simply will not spend the time checking themselves out for numerous items. Hire some help and watch sales soar.
Meanwhile the US Stock market is way ahead of the world markets. The US SPX fell from 2,860 to 2,540 at the end of January. Since then it has climbed back to 2,860 Where is previously collapsed. But the Vanguard Foreign ETF VEU has not regained its former high. Not doubt this is partially due to the strong US Dollar and tariffs imposed on commodity exporting countries. But it is not realistic to think the US stock market can outdistance the rest of the world all by itself. Mark Hulbert recently noted the US market is as overvalued as in years 2000 and 2007.
Crude oil prices have retreated form their upper channel resistance to the lower channel support around $67. And price has done this in spite of the strong US dollar.
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