I recently started using redbox for DVD rentals and I have to admit, it’s convenient.
As I was leaving a local supermarket, I happened upon the Blockbuster version and it gave me pause. Blockbuster was around for decades with brick and mortar stores, staff, management and everything that goes with that. How must these former employees feel about their livelihood being reduced to an ATM-sized portal?
The feeling of ex-empire is palpable from any distance. Yes the logo is familiar, but the grandeur of seemingly acres of movies at your disposal is lost. The human interaction is devoid. This is a new reality to so many people. Lets expand on this idea, shall we.
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Where else can we relegate a service to a 3x3 box? Pharmacies! No more embarrassment of presenting someone in a lab coat the prescribed remedy to your ailment. The screen will not judge me! Just make sure you wipe down the keyboard before you use it.
O.k., so maybe this is ridiculous, but it seems out of our hands.
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The public parking lot in downtown Mystic becomes an automated affair and it is out of our hands. Now if it were a square plot on its own, I could see the point of automating such a venture. Unfortunately for the people who live and work in the intertwined plot of Steamboat Wharf this will be anything but cut and dry.
Lets start with the businesses that are on all four perimeters. How conciliatory will this one-armed bandit be to the delivery driver who may want to patronize a business for lunch after making a delivery but cannot exceed the 20-minute grace period? What about the confused tourist looking for solace from bridge gridlock only to be stiff-armed for a credit card?
Sounds ridiculous? It's not-it's soon to become reality.
