MethodicalSpark

I’m an employee in the U.S., working for a large international shipping company with a yellow and red logo. We’ve been struggling to maintain profitability stateside since the COVID shipping boom ended. Shein and Temu are basically keeping the U.S. operation afloat making up a significant double digit percentage of our revenue currently.

We can’t compete domestically as our rates are sky high compared to brown and purple and we’ve become overly dependent on these Chinese retailers. I’d say this is a good signal to find a new gig.

I’ve owned a lot of different vehicles over the years.

1998 Ford Taurus, 2002 Ford Mustang, 2012 Honda Civic Coupe, 2016 Honda HRV, 2017 Yamaha FZ-09, 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata, …and finally… 2023 Ford F-150 Tremor

My two favorite vehicles out of that list are the Miata and the F-150. I’ve lived both lives and they’re not comparable.

The Miata was a blast to take out into the country and find a series of twisty corners while banging through gears with the top down. I do miss having the wind in my hair and no particular destination in mind.

The F-150 is great because I’m building a house and need to haul loads of lumber and plywood. It’s also fantastic because I can take it off road and camp in the bed on vacation, getting to places the Miata could never go. It’s also pretty fun to drive with a lot of power.

Admittedly, when you get spirited with the pedal, you can hear the echos and screams of dinosaurs as their remains are incinerated expeditiously by the twin-turbo V6. Not the most environmentally conscious thing I’ve owned, but I disagree that trucks aren’t fun.

Pretty sure your average Super Duty buyer doesn’t care at all if their vehicle is made by a union or not. If anything they’re likely to be anti-union.

Somehow I knew this would be Crossroads… that’s my city alright.

Based on the images from Google Maps, there is or was a museum onsite as recently as three years ago.

I spent my childhood in a very rural area. I couldn’t wait to get away. I went to college and moved to a small-to-medium sized US city where I’ve now resided in the downtown area for over ten years.

The public transit is limited and the bus system is poor. Riding a bus to my job would take two hours each way, when driving takes 20 minutes. The jobs in my field are concentrated in the suburbs so I have no choice but to own a vehicle. Owning a vehicle in the city costs significantly more than in the suburbs or rural areas. I am unable to perform vehicle maintenance myself due to the unaffordability of homes here with garages or even off-street parking. My vehicle has been broken into multiple times. My insurance is higher and the cost to repair glass is a huge dent in one’s monthly income.

I have homeless people who jump the fence into a shared courtyard for my condominium and setup camp, leaving trash and other dangerous objects behind. The police come hours late if at all for these issues. My girlfriend gets catcalled and harassed by men who seem to spend all day propped against a building at the nearest street corner.

The most difficult thing for me to come to terms with is the fact that I’ve always dreamed of starting a business. My expertise is in physical industries. The kind where having a workshop or some land to keep equipment on goes a long way toward your success. Living in a city longterm would make that dream impossible.

Nothing in the city is free. It is impossible to exist here without each and every activity costing you something. Having everyone live in cities and use public transit is a wonderful thought, but it isn’t perfect.

I’m moving back to a rural area in a few years and building a house. It’ll be nice to walk outside, look up at the sky, have some peace and quiet, and just exist without being charged for it.

I smile every time I read this story.

Lemmy is basically the dark web to your average instagram user.

I’ve seriously considered this option for sure. These type of meetings at large companies really highlight how you’re just a number. You don’t expect it from your direct manager who should at least attempt to form a relationship with their direct reports naturally.

I spend about 10 hours a week on things like this and others where I’m supposed to constantly remind the company of my value. It’s all about bragging about your accomplishments and putting it in front of leadership. 25% of my time and 50% of my mental/emotional energy. I feel like my actual work suffers because of it.

The director of my department just announced a new initiative starting this year for something similar.

Once a month, we now have a two hour meeting where we need to prep and present a five slide PowerPoint to our peers. The slides are focused on project status, work accomplishments, personal development, a life update, and mandatory feedback given to one of our peers in front of the group.

So not only am I forced to share details of my private life to a bunch of people that I hate in a fucking PowerPoint, I have to single someone out with one thing they’re doing well and one thing they can improve.

I agree with your logic. It makes perfect sense to rent a vehicle for edge cases.

However, I disagree that you’re going to encourage mass adoption by asking people to change their lifestyle. A large amount of the US population views their vehicle as more than a tool to get to and from work. It’s an extension of their personality. Road trips might be part of that personality.

They’re sold on the marketing ideals of luxury, comfort, or adventure. They buy accessories for these vehicles like roof-racks for their luggage or campers/trailers to help them travel across the country while keeping that comfort of home. Tens of thousands of campers are still sold in the U.S. every year and EV’s are a nonstarter for towing more than 75 miles.

No one enjoys renting an unfamiliar Honda CR-V where the seat doesn’t feel quite right for long periods of time, there’s something sticky on the shift handle, the previous driver smoked in it, and you hear a plastic creaking sound coming from the back seat. You can’t quite figure out from where and it’s driving you insane.

Until EV’s can match the convenience and capability of ICE vehicles, adoption is going to be limited.

I thought in Ukraine it was closer to 2:1 due to poor Russian medical training and supplies.