Shopping for groceries used to be the universal social encounter. Human beings have to eat. And a central market developed where to buy food. Eventually A&P invented the supermarket. But the social aspect held on. Amid the apples and the fresh cod we chatted up our lives with neighbors. That was then.
Technology keeps making those encounters obsolete. The latest development, reports The Wall Street Journal, is to have groceries delivered in Sweden when the folks are away. The front door is opened with a smartphone. It's a pilot program operated by Post Nord AB and ICA AB.
Those having their groceries delivered that way or even through the less advanced form of having to be there when the truck comes have cut off one social channel. Sure they can share recipes for cooking that food on Facebook. But those chance encounters with Monica and her husband Carl in the pet food aisle will never happen again. One day we realize: We haven't talked with Monica and Carl in years. Actually, our in-person social circles keep shrinking.
That's why in my business I make it my business not to order office supplies online. I go to the store to purchase in-person the toner and copy paper for the printer. In Arizona we can bring out dogs in the store. I run into other businesspeople. And my dog gets to butt-sniff.
The more that I am out there the more my business grows. There seems to be a correlation with keeping the human side open and the ability to develop new business. After all, we sell to human beings, not to artificial intelligence.
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