10 Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever (And 7 That Refuse to Die)

Major Tom said:
Really? That's interesting. I was under the impression we'd be getting more of them. I recently* read an article which claimed that the US Postal Service was looking into the possibility of installing more of these in some areas, so as to cut down on deliveries to individual houses, thereby making routes more efficient.

*Well, about a year ago.
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aja8888 said:
"Your Neighborhood Mail Collection Box (group box, not individual home)" - I doubt this. Every new development around here, and it's a pretty well off area, has central collection boxes with individual locked boxes for a group of homes.

Tom: we posted within a minute of each other on this...
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The article is about these, "collection" boxes.

Aldrich_Ames_mailbox.jpg
 
aja8888 said:
I think the people that think the manual transmission is going away just don't drive one or probably don't have the skill set to do so. I hear this frequently from young people who have never been exposed.
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I hope they don't go away--but there are at least three of us on this thread who drive them and fear that the opposite is true in the USA/Canada given the improvements in electronics...
 
aja8888 said:
I think the people that think the manual transmission is going away just don't drive one or probably don't have the skill set to do so. I hear this frequently from young people who have never been exposed.
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Now that automatics can shift faster, even many car aficionados who want maximum performance are opting for automatics. Manuals aren't t even an option on as many US cars today as they used to be. And...
gr-manual-transmission-300.gif
 
Midpack said:
Now that automatics can shift faster, even many car aficionados who want maximum performance are opting for automatics. Manuals aren't t even an option on as many US cars today as they used to be. And...
gr-manual-transmission-300.gif
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That chart just shows me that not much has changed since 1970. :facepalm:
 
Well if they really want performance maybe the should be looking at electrics. We can put a Vroooom vrooooom cassette in the player and jack up the base as we suck the doors off the 911's. ;)
 
aja8888 said:
The blue ones like you show are still populating Houston proper.
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Who said otherwise? Kiplinger said "will disappear," not gone, but ask them. :facepalm:
USPS said:
Nationally, the number of collection boxes declined by more than 12,000 in the past 5 years. Some customers have complained the U.S. Postal Service has gone too far and removed too many collection boxes in neighborhoods. They’ve also questioned whether this effort is saving USPS money in the long run.

It’s a tough balancing act for the Postal Service. Some collection boxes are barely used and are expensive to maintain. On the other hand, mail collection boxes are a visible representation of the Postal Service to the American public, and their disappearance has been noted. They also are reliable, secure, and convenient receptacles for mail.
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https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/where-have-all-collection-boxes-gone
 
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Midpack said:
Now that automatics can shift faster, even many car aficionados who want maximum performance are opting for automatics. Manuals aren't t even an option on as many US cars today as they used to be. And...
gr-manual-transmission-300.gif
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I had a manual not because it shifted faster, but because it gives you more control of the driving experience.
 
One down, nine to go...

Washington, D.C. Mar 29, 2017 – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) today reintroduced the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act of 2017 (COINS Act), legislation that would modernize our currency by moving to a $1 dollar coin, reduce the cost of nickel production and suspend the minting of the penny, which currently costs more than one cent to produce. These money-saving reforms, which have been studied and supported by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, could generate up to $16 billion in taxpayer savings.
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A few that come to mind...Digital single-frame only cameras, mechanical hard drives, the cable company (yay!), wired connectors in consumer products (headphones, speakers, video, etc.), dumb televisions, DVDs (aren't they dead already?)...
 
Ronstar said:
I hope not. I collect them. But then again, maybe that will make collecting them more interesting.
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There was a company here in Denver, Eastwood Printing that specialized in printing all the state highway maps. They also printed hiking maps and airline maps.

They are now out of business.
 
Ronstar said:
I hope not. I collect them. But then again, maybe that will make collecting them more interesting.
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And maybe more lucrative if you're ever so inclined...
 
2017ish said:
I will mourn the loss of a clutch pedal if I ever go back to an automatic transmission.
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Even though the new electronic transmissions are faster and more reliable, I'll still miss the manual transmissions when I finally sell my last one. (Still have 4 so that won't be anytime soon, unless my left knee fails me.)
 
Sojourner said:
All the ones on the Disappear Soon list seem reasonable to me... except #2: blackouts. I guess it depends on what the definition of "soon" is in this context, but I have serious doubts that occasional power outages here in my neighborhood will stop happening anytime soon. For that to happen, the price of whole-home batteries would have to drop substantially and/or the power lines running to my neighborhood would have to be replaced and re-installed underground.

We have, on average, around two long-ish (1+ hour) power outages per year in my neighborhood. While inconvenient and annoying, I don't see enough incentive for the power company or individual homeowners to invest a lot of money to completely eradicate this problem.
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Agreed!
 
I drove manual vehicles for years and don't miss it a single bit. It's not really "fun" and the computer does a better job anyway.
 
What will (sadly) never die, apparently, in the USA is the imperial measuring system (vs metric for the rest of the world...) :mad: :nonono:


... must be the wrench manufacturing lobby
 
euro said:
What will (sadly) never die, apparently, in the USA is the imperial measuring system (vs metric for the rest of the world...) :mad: :nonono:
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Yeah...when are you folks gonna finally join the modern system of measurement that almost all of the rest of the world uses??
 
Music Lover said:
Yeah...when are you folks gonna finally join the modern system of measurement that almost all of the rest of the world uses??
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Grams are so much easier! When I bake, the recipes that don't turn out well are usually the ones that use cup (volume) measurements. Volumes vary, but a gram is a gram.
 
Oddly enough, I am seeing a resurgence of 'ethanol free' gas around here. They are modifying most of the QT store (one of the largest gas chain store here in Atlanta) to offer it.
 
Music Lover said:
Yeah...when are you folks gonna finally join the modern system of measurement that almost all of the rest of the world uses??
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I worked in the US auto industry. We switched over to the metric system in the 80's.
 
Music Lover said:
Yeah...when are you folks gonna finally join the modern system of measurement that almost all of the rest of the world uses??
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Never! We crashed a billion-dollar space probe into Venus (or was it Saturn?) once because of a conversion error, but even that didn't move things along... instead, I guess, we focused on making better calculators :LOL:
 
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