20170217 (shucking)

Ordinarily houses this close together, with sidewalks and porches, were by regulation to receive mail individually to receptacles mounted near each entrance door (remember mailboxes?).

Today mail even to tightly-sited new houses is placed in common "cluster boxes." You fetch and deliver home.

“No, you do it.” The sharp-pencilled

Guys are winning. They have

Categorized and computed the

Cost and value of every motion.

Who thought watching or reading

“Cheaper by the Dozen” a new

And somewhat terrifying world

Was underway? Frederick Winslow

Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth,

The masters of the “Efficiency

Movement” were effecting an 

Industrial revolution on the 

Workers themselves in their 

Quest to rid them of any and 

Every wasted effort. Their

Dream of deriving efficiency

Increases in human labor

Comparable to those stemming

From the use of machines was to

Yield better, cheaper goods 

And services with lower

Investments and higher profits.

Not only was it good, it 

Was good for you. Workers, 

They thought, would work

“Smarter not harder” and benefits

Would rain down upon both

Labor and Capital alike.

Well profits went up but the

Tasks were no easier. Generally

Reforms meant “speed-ups” 

Just as the unions complained.

Motions repeated with exacting

Precision stressed joints, tendons, 

And muscles which would

Not be relieved by occasional

Variations. So while metal parts

Could function endlessly in

Exactly the same fashion until

Fatigue introduced errors and

Ultimate failure meant stoppages,

Their human counterparts wore

Out much more quickly. Many 

Couldn't adapt. Injuries multiplied

As dissatisfaction mushroomed.

Thus grew employers' desire for

Machines over people (e.g., the 

Wannabe Secretary of Labor, 

Andrew Puzder, that is except for 

Virtually naked buxom women). 

They don’t tire, call-in sick, get

Pregnant (or sass or complain

To EEO we might add). Treating

People like machines leads to

Preferring real machines despite

People uniquely offering

Creativity, adaptability, and that

Customer service--congeniality.

But modern efficiencies are not

Extracted from employees alone.

Now customers get to pitch in:

Self-checkouts are one notable 

Example soon to be followed by

Volunteering to come in evenings

And Saturdays to stock shelves and 

Unload trucks. Same thing with 

No home delivery by the mailman.

Instead of him walking in the

Snow, rain, and gloom of night--

"No, you do it."

c. 2017,  J.S.Manista