What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime

What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.

As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.

That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.

Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.

Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.

Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.

Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.

That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.

Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.

Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.

My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.

Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.

And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.

All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:

• Farm eggs

• Fresh vegetables

• Cow’s milk

• Freshly baked bread

• Coal for our open fires

Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.

Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.

Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.

Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.

My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.

The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.

Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.

Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.

People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.

In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.

Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.

• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.

• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.

• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.

On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.

Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.

We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.

Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.

My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.

5 Tips To Help You Purchase An Air Purifier For Your Business

Today, businesses around the world are getting back to normal after the pandemic. However, there is still a lot of risk of airborne transmission of bacteria and viruses. Due to wearing a mask and staying away from people, most people have become weaker as far as immunity is concerned. Therefore, they are unable to protect themselves against respiratory viruses, such as the common cold and flu. If you are in this situation, we suggest that you invest in a good air purifier. Given below is a description of 5 tips that can help you purchase the best unit.

Technology

We suggest that you go for the best technology to cover your needs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), air purifiers with HEPA filters can help you capture tiny particles of COVID-19. As a supplemental treatment, you can also go for germicidal ultraviolet light.

The good thing about HEPA filters is that they are made to capture more than 99% of airborne particles. They also have a high filtration capacity.

Strong Airflow

According to CDC, your chosen unit should have a powerful fan for the best circulation of air in your home or office. In other words, you cannot use residential units in your office or other commercial building. The reason is that they have weekend fans.

The point is that high-powered fans create a lot of air pressure. The idea is to make sure that there is enough airflow for proper air circulation across the whole place. For a commercial, you may want to invest in a medical-grade air purifier.

Reputation

Reputation is another major factor that you must consider. If you want to purchase a business air purifier, we suggest that you don’t just buy from any reputable brand. What you need to do is consider independent scientific testing performed in real-life situations. Besides, these tests should be done at a reputable center for validating claims.

Besides, you may want to consider case studies and get in touch with a few quoted customers in order to know about their experience. As a matter of fact, most buyers can happily share their views about the products that they have purchased.

So, you may want to read the sustainability credentials of the manufacturer before making this purchase for the first time.

Cost

You may want to purchase these devices as if you are going to make an investment. You may not want to take it as a cost or expense. Unlike a residential air purifier, hospital-grade units are far more expensive. Therefore, you may want to consider the cost factor before setting your project and purchasing these units for your business needs.

Conclusion

Long story short, we suggest that you consider these essential factors if you are going to purchase an air purifier for your business for the first time. The idea is to ensure that you get the best product that will cover your needs and stand the test of time. Hopefully, these five tips will help you make an informed decision.

The Urgency in Deploying Network Security Appliance For Small Business Networks

Information is a business asset, like other valuable business assets, that must be protected against any threats. In medium to enterprise business networks, the management of the information security is a must. In small business networks, generally the organizations lack of competent security experts that should manage the information security. Therefore the choice of the deployment of small business network security appliance is a must for small organizations.In large enterprise networks, they have many layers of security protections including the endpoint security, the management of information security and policies which must be enforced to all business unit groups. Unlike large scale business or enterprise networks, in small organizations – generally they do not develop the management of information security in place. This is generally due to lack of IT security expertise which does not compare to the assets that must be protected. Any layers of security that should be deployed, depends on how critical your information assets is. Therefore, they mainly focus in securing the endpoint security.The entry point of the private network generally where all the internet threats are coming from, the intruders or the hackers as well as the malware will start to attack the vulnerabilities they found. Therefore, small business network security should concentrate in protecting the entry point by any types of secured firewall appliances. There are many security appliances available in the marketplace you can consider to use for your organization.The following are some of the small biz network security appliances you can consider to use for your small organizations. DSD-150 is designed for home or SOHO networks that use broadband internet connection.DSD-150 Security applianceD-Link DSD-150 internet security adapter is an all-in-one network security which is designed for home and small business networks. With this single device connected in the entry point of your broadband internet connection, you have a complete protection including network protection, firewall protection, virus protection, spyware protection, identity protection, pop-up blocker, SPAM blocker, and parental control – all in a palm-sized box.DSD-150 is suitable for home and SOHO network security which has 4 computers or more. Installation and configuration is easy, DSD-150 has 2 Ethernet ports, WAN port must be connected to the modem (RJ-45 LAN port), and the LAN port must be connected to the wireless router.CheckPoint Safe Office 500CheckPoint Safe Office 500 is a small business network security – a total internet security appliance for small to medium sized business networks. If your organization is lack of security personnel, don’t worry – trust the network security to this CheckPoint Safe Office 500 that can protect a network of up to 100 users from any types of network threats.Safe Office small business network security appliance delivers proven and integrated security, networking and connectivity features right out-of-the-box. Safe Office offers a simple, affordable and reliable solution to keep small business networks protected and connected.The following shows main features of the Safe Office security appliances:Web filtering, integrate best-of-breed Web filtering using an extensive database of categories and associated URLs. You can also create web access policy and also a custom web rules to block or allow access to specific websites and URLs
VPN and remote access, this feature is suitable for your traveler workforce to connect to the business network securely via public internet.
Network access control, ensuring that both LAN and WLAN users securely sign on before gaining physical access to the network.
Integrated a wireless access point to allow wireless network connection securely that supports the Super-G and Extended Range (XR) standard, enhancing the range and network speeds of the wireless access point.
Integrated ADSL modem (optional) to support download of up to 24 Mbps. This will simplify the initial deployment.Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security AppliancesCisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances is a powerful solution for small business network security as well as for medium sized business networks. Cisco ASA 5500 all-in-one solution for your business security which combines the proven technologies from Cisco PIX 500 Security Appliances, Cisco IPS 4200 Series, and Cisco VPN 3000 Series concentrator.Cisco ASA5500 is a built-in security solution which integrates the function of hi-grade firewall, IPSec VPN, and or intrusion prevention (IPS).Deploying small business network security is a must for small organizations for high performance network protection against any types of Internet threats. Endpoint security appliances such as CheckPoint Safe Office 500 or ASA 5500 series are perfect security solutions for small biz.By Ki Grinsing