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.

Understanding Pharmacy Technician Job Description – Is It Right for You?

For those looking for an interesting profession in the medical services field, becoming a pharmacy technician or ‘PT’ can be a great option for the right person.It is a detail-oriented job in a growing industry, so there are many opportunities available all the time and estimations are that job availabilities will continue to increase over the next few years.Before deciding that becoming a PT is the job for you though, it is important to have a good understanding of the pharmacy technician job description in order to decide if this is the type of work desired.With a good knowledge of what this profession requires in regard to jobs performed, interested students should be able to enroll in school or training in confidence that this is what they want to do afterward.Pharmacy Technician Job DescriptionAlthough there are numerous setting where PTs can work such as hospitals, retail pharmacies, outpatient and inpatient centers and more – all of which will have some specific duties – their main job is to provide assistance to the registered pharmacy on duty. Most of the time this includes tasks such as:- Receiving prescriptions to be filled, either from retail customers or from hospital staff, for their departments;
- Counting, packaging and labeling prescriptions;
- Dispensing medications to customers in retail environments;
- Dispensing medications to patients and/or nursing staff in hospital environment;
- Accept payment for prescriptions;
- Overseeing medication inventory;
- Keeping medication inventory records;
- Ordering and stocking medications;These duties usually make up the bulk of what a pharmacy technician does, although in retail PTs usually handle other retail duties as well, such as general stocking and straightening, customer assistance throughout the store, and even discussing with customers the use of their medications.In specialty settings like compounding pharmacies, duties would likely include assisting in mixing medication formulas like ointments, syrups and other medicines that are sometimes specially prepared, then shipped to retail locations, or to patients themselves.Working at a compounding pharmacy especially requires the hand of a skilled technician who is very detailed, since this involves understanding medication dosages and mixing prescription strengths.Then, there are also positions at companies that manufacture medicines where job duties include things like quality control and packing and shipping medicines to hospitals, retail stores and other pharmacies that sell medications.Differences in Pharmacy Technician RolesAlthough many times a “pharmacy technician” job will get lumped under that one title, there are actually different classes of PT. There are positions where the technician works very closely with the licensed pharmacist and can do more detailed and technical jobs like compounding and delivery of medications to hospital patients or staffs, and then there are positions where the technician mostly sells already-prepared prescriptions to customers, and other more routine tasks.In some places such as the US, these positions are not always recognized as being different, but based on schooling and certification, they can be very different. A schooled PT holds the title of Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) and usually qualifies to apply for more technical jobs in the field.Those without their CPhT many times will only be considered for the less-qualified, retail positions. In the UK and some other countries, there are specific job titles that mark the differentiation:PTs are those who have fulfilled the higher schooling and job experience requirements while Pharmacy Dispensers are those who are qualified for mostly selling medications to patients in a more retail setting. Technicians are able to give medication advice to customers as well while Dispensers are not.Salary Differences Depending on Pharmacy Technician Job DescriptionBased on the differences in pharmacy technician roles, there are generally differences in salary as well.The less skilled positions – while they can still command a respectable salary that is considered at least average by most healthcare professions on this level – earn between 25 and 50 percent less than the skilled, certified pharmacy technicians, with salaries that can reach as high as the upper $50,000 per year or more.This is something that potential pharmacy technicians should definitely consider when trying to decide on which schooling to take.With this look at what a current pharmacy technician job description entails, it is hopefully easy to see that while the bulk of job duties any pharmacy technician should expect to perform are similar, there are some definite differences.Based on job experience, schooling and position held, some pharmacy technicians will perform more exact tasks, so their need to take their position very seriously is paramount.Also, depending on the job, amount of time spent working with the public directly will vary. Understanding all of this can be a good aid in deciding which type of schooling to enroll in, and what type of professional position is favored.

Why Your Business Needs Digital Marketing Services

Modern world screams technology from every angle, people are well occupied with their busy and demanding schedules, and don’t have time to look out for different brands, products and upcoming projects through the means of offline marketing, such as: paper-based newspapers, books, communication methods and traditional TV and radio broadcasts. In the current scenario internet and mobile phones are the most picked method to share any information, so when the term Digital Marketing is discussed, customers can access the information any time and any place as per their convenience. Internet and globalization have shrunk the world to an axis point, where people from all over the globe can access the information via computers, tablets or mobiles. Digital marketing is indeed a blessing for the business owners, where they can influence the image of their companies via digital marketing and can reach up to a larger chunk of customers globally.You Should Do Digital MarketingIn the era of technology, where Smartphone rules our life, we feel bound to access the product details online only through, mobiles, computers or tablets. A business turns does not mean the huge traffic on the product website, but that traffic converting to leads or boosting the sales. Online Marketing, is a tool which works on your customer’s psychology with the attractive content, ads followed by various other marketing tactics, Digital Marketing tools and techniques provide business owners the best chances for competition, survival and even for the business boost.Asking Price The first and the foremost reason to opt for digital marketing is, but obviously the cost-factor, which is quite economical, being compared to traditional offline marketing methods. To illustrate the fact a TV ad or newspaper advertisement can cost huge and with no guarantee of being noticed by everybody, on the contrary an email or social media campaign, can reach out to a mass population globally. Reliable Customer’s FeedbackAnother benefit, which really suits the need of the business, is the real-time and reliable customer feedback and reviews to upgrade the services with time. With digital marketing pattern business owners don’t need to spend excessively on surveys and customers’ feedback, but the unbiased information can be attained through internet marketing and ultimately win the customer’s trust. The better revenue growth expectancy of either small or medium enterprises can extend to 4 times much better by using digital marketing techniques, since it lets the product available to go larger and farther reaching markets both locally and abroad.Brand RecognitionOnline Marketing proves beneficial for the brand reputation, with satisfied customers and their real-time feedback, business owners can reach to other potential set of customers. This helps the business owners to make the brand reputation go viral as expected, further opening new doors of opportunities for reaching bigger markets and attain business growth.Conversion OptimizationSince the current era is turning more digital, than people do have the access over their gadgets at every time and business owners can remain available with their product, regardless of their time-zone restrictions and ultimately a larger reach to the consumers would lead to conversion, because the consumer would get what they are looking for a per their convenience. Without conversion, all the traffic would mean nothing and all the other marketing efforts would end in despair. This is the sole reason, why business owners put more efforts towards the digital marketing campaigns.Key Digital Marketing ToolsDigital Marketing can be done in various ways, below mentioned are a few of the major keys, although with the upcoming innovative technology methods, more would be added to this list.

Websites and SEO content

Blogs

Internet banner ads

Online video content

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

Email marketing

Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.)
When a customer walks into a shop, the first step he/she follows is to inspect the product and then might leave without buying anything. Undeniably a larger number only come and go and very small groups make a buy. Even if the product website receives tons of website visitors daily or weekly, but none of them ever convert, then it’s alarming, because it leads to clear indication that the business will also cease to exist. Digital Marketing helps the business owners to utilize the tried and tested marketing tactics, which not just attract the superfluous traffic, but highly potential target traffic and would ensure the survival of the business.