mdyetmetaphor.com

Michael's Metaphors of Life Journal

mdyetmetaphor.com header image 2

Virtual Midnight Madness: A 24/7 State of Mind

April 26th, 2014 by Michael Dyet

Hmmm, how long will it be before bulldozers move in to level the obsolete shopping mall?

I’ve had a story idea kicking around in my mind for several years. It would be the story of a man who never leaves his home. He has cut off all contact with the outside world and created a safe haven within the four walls of his house. The dramatic possibilities are intriguing.

We are not far from the day when it will be quite feasible to live that way. Today alone three news stories emerged that show how far along the spectrum we have already progressed.

Case in Point #1: OfficeMax Grand & Toy has announced that it is going to close all of its retail stores across Canada. No, they are not going out of business. It’s just that customers are not walking through the door any longer.

Only three per cent of the corporation’s sales come from their bricks and mortar stores. All the rest comes through the online channel. After 130 years of selling face-to-face, their business model will now be 100 percent virtual.

Case in Point #2: A retail technology consulting firm study found that online grocery sales could reach 17% of total U.S. grocery sales within the next decade. The shift in shopping preference is being led by affluent customers with plenty of money, but not enough time, and by millennials who are by nature online oriented.

Case in Point #3: Canada Post is offering e-commerce software solutions to small businesses to help them make the jump to online and grow their business. Those who come on board will earn incentives on Canada Post shipping services.

Sidebar: Canada Post is the poster child for automate or perish. Snail mail volumes are shrinking. The federal agency has no choice but to develop online offerings.

There is no getting around the fact that business is increasing being funneled through the Internet. The crowds waiting at the door for the store to open for the midnight madness sale are transforming to bytes gathering at the web portal for 24/7 access to the online shopping cart.

I envision a day when the big shopping mall around the corner from my apartment building will be bulldozed. Two massive buildings will take its place. One will be filled with state-of-the-art computer servers processing billions of orders per week. The other will be a giant distribution centre from which products will be picked, packed, loaded and delivered by faceless drones.

I do not know if I will see that day in my lifetime. I hope not but, it is quite possible. I have no doubt that somewhere there is a think tank of millennial tech geniuses mapping out that very scenario and putting the first virtual building blocks in place.

I conceived of my story of the totally self-sufficient, never-leave-the-house, recluse as a metaphor for our depersonalized world. But I think I have waited too long. Metaphor is dissolving into reality and losing its cache. Virtual midnight madness is now a 24/7 state of mind.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.

~ Subscribe to “Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm” at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the “Subscribe to this Blog: How To” instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.

 

Tags:   · · · · · · No Comments