Interesting tidbit. Amazon opened its business in South Africa, yesterday.

[RockmartDawg]

This will be interesting to see how they handle shipping/delivery. It won't be possible to leave packages like they do here, as virtually all houses have gates or walls around them, always kept shut. I guess all deliveries will have to be coordinated, or use pick-up locations or something.

Amazon launches Amazon.co.za in South Africa

[Milldawg]

crazy how scary it is to live there now

[RockmartDawg]

crazy how scary it is to live there now
[/quote]

An extremely popular option today are complexes that are fully encircled by a wall, many/most with electric wiring on top, and with 24/7 security at the gate/entrance to the complex. There are two seen in this photo, which I took when we were walking to the store one day. The area is just a series of these complexes and they are all heavily filled.




We have family living in one of those complexes. We visited with them this past fall, and they ordered delivery several times while we were there. What they'd have to do is notify the guy at the gate that they had a delivery coming. Security would let them into the complex and they would bring it right to your unit where you live. I guess for the folk who don't live in complexes, they would have to do the same thing... coordinate delivery.

It is interesting in that the delivery option has created a nice little niche in the job market. One of the big grocery store chains is called Checkers. They hire guys to deliver on these little moped/small-cc motorbikes. 




Those particular guys have gotten to be a bit popular. The Checkers stores even made toys of the delivery guy and their motorbike.

[gulfportdawg]

Our oldest son works in Corporate Security at Amazon in Nashville. He told us he had to fly there but I can't remember when. He travels to S. Carolina, Atlanta, and some other SE state on a fairly regular basis. He's not crazy about a couple of the guys who work for him (lazy), but I think the higher ups are starting to listen to him more. Bezos has a racket working big time with his company.

[Toasty B]

 

[RockmartDawg]

Our oldest son works in Corporate Security at Amazon in Nashville. He told us he had to fly there but I can't remember when. He travels to S. Carolina, Atlanta, and some other SE state on a fairly regular basis. He's not crazy about a couple of the guys who work for him (lazy), but I think the higher ups are starting to listen to him more. Bezos has a racket working big time with his company.
[/quote]

I saw a graphic earlier that was showing who is the richest man in the world covering a span of decades. I think it may have started back in the 1960s or maybe a bit later. Bill Gates was up at the top for quite some time. It took a while but eventually he slipped out of 1st place. Then along came Jeff Bezos, and he basically rocketed to the top. I think, though, he got replaced by Elon Musk, who I think is the current top guy.

You are right, though, that Bezos is killing it. One thing Amazon did for a number of years that I really liked was that they offered a program by which you could designate a charity of your choice who would be given some miniscule fraction of a percentage of all of your spending on Amazon. There were probably millions of small charities getting money through this. Somebody had added our church to the list well before I knew about it. I did enroll into that, and I would get notifications of how much my purchases were helping the charity I had chosen. I'd even see how much they would receive when payment went out. It wouldn't be that large, mind you, just in the hundreds of dollars over the period of a year. But then Amazon announced that they were eliminating that program, saying that the money was getting spread too thin and wide, and that there were too many different recipients. They said they wanted to narrow their focus on a smaller number of charities, all who would be of their own choice. I can kinda figure what types of charities will be the exclusive recipients.

[Milldawg]

crazy how scary it is to live there now
[/quote]

An extremely popular option today are complexes that are fully encircled by a wall, many/most with electric wiring on top, and with 24/7 security at the gate/entrance to the complex. There are two seen in this photo, which I took when we were walking to the store one day. The area is just a series of these complexes and they are all heavily filled.




We have family living in one of those complexes. We visited with them this past fall, and they ordered delivery several times while we were there. What they'd have to do is notify the guy at the gate that they had a delivery coming. Security would let them into the complex and they would bring it right to your unit where you live. I guess for the folk who don't live in complexes, they would have to do the same thing... coordinate delivery.

It is interesting in that the delivery option has created a nice little niche in the job market. One of the big grocery store chains is called Checkers. They hire guys to deliver on these little moped/small-cc motorbikes. 




Those particular guys have gotten to be a bit popular. The Checkers stores even made toys of the delivery guy and their motorbike.


[/quote]
Wow, just incredible. I feel for those people, its like living in a prison.

[RockmartDawg]

crazy how scary it is to live there now
[/quote]

An extremely popular option today are complexes that are fully encircled by a wall, many/most with electric wiring on top, and with 24/7 security at the gate/entrance to the complex. There are two seen in this photo, which I took when we were walking to the store one day. The area is just a series of these complexes and they are all heavily filled.




We have family living in one of those complexes. We visited with them this past fall, and they ordered delivery several times while we were there. What they'd have to do is notify the guy at the gate that they had a delivery coming. Security would let them into the complex and they would bring it right to your unit where you live. I guess for the folk who don't live in complexes, they would have to do the same thing... coordinate delivery.

It is interesting in that the delivery option has created a nice little niche in the job market. One of the big grocery store chains is called Checkers. They hire guys to deliver on these little moped/small-cc motorbikes. 




Those particular guys have gotten to be a bit popular. The Checkers stores even made toys of the delivery guy and their motorbike.


[/quote]
Wow, just incredible. I feel for those people, its like living in a prison.
[/quote]

This (video, below) is the type of thing they have to constantly be aware of potentially happening. Things happen in broad daylight, right smack in front of countless numbers of people.

Aside from the security, you then have to factor in the rolling blackouts (they call it "load shedding") that take place most every day, depending upon which area where you live. Then some areas have started having "water shedding" where their water gets turned off for some periods of the day. That is a more recent/newer phenomena. All of this is 100% due to rampant corruption at multiple levels, which leads to infrastructure not being properly maintained, repairs going undone, stolen/damaged property not being replaced/repaired, etc. It's beyond ridiculous.

[Buddy Revell]

Rockmart:  I saw a graphic earlier that was showing who is the richest man in the world covering a span of decades. I think it may have started back in the 1960s or maybe a bit later. Bill Gates was up at the top for quite some time. It took a while but eventually he slipped out of 1st place. Then along came Jeff Bezos, and he basically rocketed to the top. I think, though, he got replaced by Elon Musk, who I think is the current top guy.
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Any how did that happen iyo? Could it be that his grandfather helped start DARPA and that you and everyone else is voluntarily giving away data that will eventually be used against you? That couldn't be it, could it?

[RockmartDawg]

Naawwww... no way. 

[Booneville Dawg]

You never know what might be lurking in the bushes:

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