A friend of mine is having the deck around his house redone, as while the house isn't that old, the person he bought it from skimped in many areas and did things "cheap" and they fell apart. This time, it is being done well with the right weather-proof materials and by someone who knows what they are doing and, does it. There is a difference between knowing and doing and it is apparent in lots of trades.
This time though, the person doing the work has come via recommendation, with me being the recommender. The tradie doing the work is a person who was recommended to us by my sister-in-law, who had him recommended to her. He does great work and isn't excessively expensive, as well as being fast. Not only that, he has surrounded himself with other great skill tradies, with decent plumbers and electricians, as well as a handful of random people who can help out with odd pieces here and there.
A week back, my friend was saying how he is "collecting" good people who can do things well and it got me thinking about how we have become so reliant on specializations, outsourcing everything. For instance, as we were driving home today, we saw a robot delivery service in the city.
While I commented how silly it was just so people don't have to walk to store, my wife said it is good. For instance if people are sick they don't have someone to go for them. Which I get, but think about the society we have created, where there are enough people who are lonely that robot delivery is a usecase. It is actually very sad.
Then there is this little bit of information that was released today, talking about the top "non-food" deliveries from one of the largest delivery services in Finland. Non-food items make up about 20% of all of their deliveries.
Top 5 Wolt orders from the largest three cities.
Helsinki
- Cat litter
- Personal lubricant
- Flowers
- Covid test
- Cat food
Tampere
- Cat litter
- Personal lubricant
- Vibrator
- Covid test
- Pet hay
Turku
- Personal lubricant
- Painkillers
- Flowers
- Vibrator
- Covid test
lols.
Talk about lonely!!
Cat litter, lube, vibrators.
But in the article, something else interesting was mentioned and I assume that the places where these delivery services are a thing, it is likely a similar situation. Pretty much, all of the delivery people are foreigners and let's say, the type that don't blend in with the stereotypical Finnish aesthetic. A couple of times now when I have gone to pick up my takeaway food there has been some "miscommunication" as they have thought I am a delivery person. It doesn't matter that I am not wearing a delivery jacket, or carrying a delivery box, looks are enough.
"It's incredibly hedonistic, or pleasure-oriented, when you consider that it's often underpaid immigrant workers delivering the products to your doorstep. There's something colonial about the whole thing,"
Indeed. It is not that I see it as colonial, but it is interesting to note that this is happening in the same country that is looking to reduce the rights of foreigners in the country. There are a whole range of positions that a lot of people no longer want to do or can't do, but at the same time, they are limiting the options on who will actually do the roles. And, it isn't just in the low-paid areas like food delivery.
And it isn't just Finland.
In the US, I was reading that they have had to push back the building of an ice breaker that they need, because they don't have enough skilled workers that can handle thick sheet metal in the country. As everything is being outsourced to places where labor is cheaper, the skills have degraded to such a level in some areas that there is no one left to do the job. Similarly in Finland, I know companies that have to import welders from other places, because there is just not enough labor. In some cases, they are paying people to come out of retirement and do some niche work. She money is good, but most in younger generations just aren't that interested in getting a physical trade.
And, going back to the "lonely people" who are having their food delivered, there is more to it than that. A lot of people are less connected to their community and even a small group of people around them who they trust enough to rely on, or are willing to be relied on. The more narrow our skills become, the more disconnected we get, the greater the speed at which we drift away from each other and isolate ourselves into a life alone.
There is nothing wrong with being alone.
But, are people really choosing it, or is it that we have set up a culture where we don't have to interact with each other. We don't have to go to the shop, we can have it delivered. And when we do need to be around others, we are spending the time staring at a screen with earbuds in, so no one "disturbs" us and we don't have to be subjected to the randomness of the world. We can sit in that digital bubble and curate our existence.
We keep choosing a life of convenience in the moment, one where we can be the center of our universe and need not interact or help others, but how long does that last before we realize something is missing? Well, going on the increasing suicide rates and deaths from "accidental overdoses", shouldn't we be getting the message?
These few things mentioned here are not independent situations, they are part of a network of failings, where we have segmented ourselves across skills, because that is what is most convenient for business models - it makes the most money. And then, business models are built around offering goods and services that fill a specific niche, and the range is wide, so no one human individual can provide the same kind of level.
Cat litter, lube, vibrators.
Lacking intimacy?
What is the point of learning anything, since it is unlikely going to be "good enough" to compete with one of the focused skill providers? I can't build a deck as well as a professional tradesperson, but I probably can't please my wife as well as a professional tradesperson either.
Perhaps I should get a cat.
And my wife can have something else delivered.
Taraz
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