Frogger, RIP.
Seinfeld ping. If you want to be on or off this list, yada yada yada . . .
Posted on 10/04/2007 1:52:15 PM PDT by Lorianne
Determining which industries aren't long for this world may seem easy enough. But some types of businesses, such as telemarketing, are surprisingly hard to kill. And then again, other industries, probably the ones you're sad to see go, can't find a way to survive.
So start setting up your office pool, because here are our picks for 10 businesses facing extinction in 10 years.
RECORD STORES: Record stores are closing in, well, record numbers. One of the most prominent music retailers, Tower Records, shut down all 89 stores last year after concluding it couldn't withstand the onslaught of online music stores and chains like Wal-Mart, which can offer lower prices and sell other items to offset the smaller number of CDs being sold. Odds of survival in 10 years: Great, if you consider Wal-Mart a record store.
CAMERA FILM MANUFACTURING: This probably isn't the best business to get into right now. According to The Chicago Tribune, from May 2006 to May 2007, the volume of prints made from digital cameras grew by 34 percent. Film camera sales, meanwhile, fell by 49 percent, while digital cameras sales continued to grow--by 5 percent. Of American internet users, 70 percent own a digital camera; another survey shows that 70 percent of Canadians now use a digital camera. Odds of survival in 10 years: Some entrepreneurs who specialize in making camera film for amateur photographers could possibly make a living.
CROP DUSTERS: They'll be around in 10 years, but likely not in their present form. The average age of the typical crop duster is 60, the number of crop dusters is dwindling, and the profession can be dangerous. Just several weeks ago, an Arkansas crop dusting company was ordered to stop flying in Iowa after spraying farm workers with a fungicide; 36 farm hands in a cornfield had to be decontaminated by a hazardous materials crew. Odds of survival in 10 years: The type of crop dusting plane that chased after Cary Grant in North by Northwest will have almost certainly gone south. Farmers say that they'll always need crop dusters, even though new technologies have made them less important than in the past. But commercial airlines are increasingly taking business away from the small, independent crop dusters.
GAY BARS: As The Orlando Sentinel noted in a recent article, around the country gay bars have been going out of business as gay men and women have been gaining greater acceptance in society. What used to be a hangout for people who felt unwelcome elsewhere is becoming less necessary.
Odds of survival in 10 years: As with many industries, the very best of them will endure; the rest won't.
NEWSPAPERS: Some people thought they were through when radio and TV news came about. Even after the fax machine revolutionized offices, some people predicted that everyone would have their news faxed in, since that would be quicker than relying on a newspaper. But the numbers have been falling precipitously since the 1990s when the internet came on the scene. In the past year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations twice has posted drops averaging 2.1 and 2.8 percent over six-month periods. Newsrooms across the country have been hemorrhaging staff.
Odds of survival in 10 years: They won't disappear; they'll be on the internet. We don't recommend startups investing a lot of money into a printing press plant.
PAY PHONES: In 1997, there were more than 2 million pay phones in the U.S.; now there are approximately half as many. There are probably always going to be certain places like airports and hotels that offer pay phones, as long as there are people who don't own or can't afford cell phones. Because phone kiosks on the streets are a favorite for drug dealers, who don't want to have their own numbers tapped and tracked, cities are shedding them.
Odds of survival in 10 years: They'll be around, but won't be anything to call home about.
USED BOOKSTORES: They've been closing fast, and those that are still open are relying on what's making them obsolete: the internet. A used bookstore used to be the place to find that beloved, out-of-print children's book you used to read 17 times a day until your little sister flushed it down the toilet. Now you just type that title in a search engine and order it within minutes. Odds of survival in 10 years: Some of them will still be eking out an existence, but the handwriting is on the wall.
PIGGY BANKS: You may chuckle, but as we continue gravitating toward a paperless society, it's not difficult to imagine a day when piggy banks no longer exist.
Odds of survival in 10 years: Sure, they'll probably still be a few around--in antique shops.
TELEMARKETING: The good news for people who hate telemarketing calls is that the industry may finally be dying; the bad news is that it may take a while. Telemarketing has been hit hard by the national Do-Not Call list that was established five years ago, and sales have been stagnant, but the industry still managed to bring in $393 billion in revenue last year. Some of this is due to clever marketing. This includes holding raffles at shopping malls; when you sign your information, you agree to accept calls from the company running the contest and its partners. Cell phones are exempt from automated telemarketing calls, but not from individuals calling. Then there are occasional windows of opportunity: The national Do-Not Call list is set to expire in 2008, unless you remember to register again.
Odds of survival in 10 years: They'll be here. Humbled, more impotent, but probably still here.
COIN-OPERATED ARCADES: With Nintendo Wii, casual gaming online and the Xbox 360, the video game arcade industry is thriving, but not the standalone brick-and-mortar arcades. For those of you who thought arcades were already dead, they still exist--at movie theaters, miniature golf courses and other touristy spots--but it seems only a matter of time before they vanish from the landscape. Ten years ago, there were 10,000 arcades in the nation, and now the number is close to 3,000, according to the American Amusement Machine Association. Revenue from arcade game units brought in $866 million last year, which sounds good until you consider that in 1994, the industry was pocketing $2.3 billion and that the profits are only still high because it costs so much to play a game.
Odds of survival in 10 years: Game over.
That’s not true. Some of those students are north african.
I’ve certainly not felt a great urge to shell out huge sums of money to go watch movies in a theatre since we purchased our widescreen/bigsceen HDTV home theatre.
I would like to add:
neighborhood grocery stores.
Neighborhood liquor stores.
Neighborhood candy stores.
neighborhood public swimming pools
goodrich dairy
bicycle repair shops
Lawnmower repair shops
The first three might be extinct already. For instance, I havn’t seen a neighborhood store that specialized in candy for at least 20 years. I remember neighborhood grocery stores that were literally houses converted into grocery stores. Same with liquor stores and gun shops and lawnmower repair shops. These are extremely rare nowdays. When I was a kid, if your bike got ran over by a car, you could take it in to a shop and they could fix the whole thing without replacing any parts except maybe the spokes. They were pretty darn near a blacksmith. Try finding a bike shop like that nowdays.
We have the Bridge To Nowhere...
Cheap art, and compulsive education!
Got those now...
I’m not an expert photographer, but I’ll bet that regular film will last a long time.
Most professional photographers already are using digital. The economics of digital are far superior to film.
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When you’re putting a album or shoot together there is no substitute for quantity ,,, you may have some absolutely great shots but most will be so-so ,,, to get GREAT results you need plenty of material to pick and choose from ... you get that with digital... just imagine you’re a baby photog... would you want 50 or so shots from a (bulk loaded 35mm) or would you want thousands of images from a digital video where you can strip the best stills ..
Exactly...also, we still have horses, too.
When I was a kid, if your bike got ran over by a car, you could take it in to a shop and they could fix the whole thing without replacing any parts except maybe the spokes. They were pretty darn near a blacksmith. Try finding a bike shop like that nowdays.
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They’re on their way out for sure ... the only bike shops I know are all “boutique” shops with brands like “Specialized” ,, the $60-$150 Chinese built bikes at Walmart have made them disposable products... The last bikes I bought were at a police auction at $2 each and I got only high end machines with high strength frames and medium quality or better running gear...
Frogger, RIP.
Seinfeld ping. If you want to be on or off this list, yada yada yada . . .
Somehow, I don't see American Airlines displacing Ed's Aerial Service...
I would say the yellow page book is on it’s way out. I haven’t picked up a telephone book in a year, I always google everything.
FATALITY!
Gotta watch the whole thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ3FYzNSvyY
Dude, I can’t wait for the flying car (or do I have to wait until all these businesses go out of business?)
Thanks for the ping, Larry.
“Elvis Impersonation, Inc will go out of business sooner or later too. Don’t believe it? How many Rudy Vallee impersonators do you know?”
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Not the King, nossir. Elvis impersonators will go out of business when Benjamin Franklin impersonators do.
Some American personalities are indelible.
But the item was about camera film manufacturing. How many companies make vacuum tubes for when yours blows out? Last I heard there were two -- one in Russia and one in China and I think the Russian one closed up in the last few years as well.
An outdated institution can last for years with public funding - - your tax dollars at work .
Nothing lasts forever I guess. My husband’s great grandfather was a harness and buggy maker and we know what happened there.
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