Post A7gtUGo1nqQ823nnFo by drewzero1@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by drewzero1@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #A7gtUEMItx3URUoclM by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:22:48Z
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Naomi Klein's "No Logo" caused a sensation in 1999, but, Woolworths supermarket in New Zealand was already surfing a wave of anti-logo sentiment in *1982* with their "Plain Packs" range.The beginning of "store brands", really, but it was sold to consumers at the time as a populist/green anti-advertising, anti-waste measure.Very little in the world is new, which is why understanding history - or just having been alive for a couple of decades - can be helpful.https://canterburystories.nz/collections/archives/star/prints/1982/ccl-cs-9445
(DIR) Post #A7gtUEwSjVykFdjV7g by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:28:59Z
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The coin-operated Countdown supermarket trolleys in 1989 were probably Peak Lange-Douglas Era 1980s User Pays American-Style Libertarian HyperCapitalism though and fortunately the idea of surcharging shoppers, at the store, while shopping, TO shop has not yet been repeated.Though if it was tried again in 2021, it would definitely be done with a phone app, and it would tell you that you're a very good person for changing the world as it siphoned your wallet.https://canterburystories.nz/collections/archives/star/prints/1989/ccl-cs-9424
(DIR) Post #A7gtUFRerWvroOKPkO by vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de
2021-05-27T22:53:23Z
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@natecull did you not get the coin back after returning the trolley in NZ?We still have the same arrangement as some stores, its usually done more as a way to discourage the trolley being nicked and used for transporting of non supermarket items (by those who don't have cars and live nearby) or being abandoned/dumped in the river...
(DIR) Post #A7gtUFtfBPKlDFQmOm by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:55:10Z
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@vfrmedia I don't know! Maybe! That would certainly make a lot more sense.I just know I've never seen them around since then, because it's the most frustrating and silly concept I can imagine."Oh no here I am literally standing at the supermarket but welp I don't have any coins in my pocket to hire the trolley, I guess I won't give them $100 this week, bye"
(DIR) Post #A7gtUGN5Q0rygVCHGC by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:56:49Z
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@vfrmedia (This problem makes more sense when you realise that NZ was *very* early to adopt EFTPOS in stores, like 1983 or so, so not having coins in your pocket but being able to card-swipe a $100 purchase happened a lot more than you might think.)
(DIR) Post #A7gtUGo1nqQ823nnFo by drewzero1@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T23:41:15Z
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@natecull @vfrmedia Aldi has carts like this in the US, where the common conception is that it's a European idea! If you don't have a quarter you can go inside and ask a cashier to borrow one, I think they're pretty used to it since people don't tend to carry cash or change here either. The last year or so people have been putting carts away but leaving the quarters in them, which is nice if you tend to forget.
(DIR) Post #A7gtUHFKAMFrOiZang by izaya@social.shadowkat.net
2021-05-28T00:07:01.737645Z
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@drewzero1 @natecull @vfrmedia They've had them at Aldi in Australia for as long as I can remember toobut Aldi is a european chain so ???
(DIR) Post #A7gtUJ8J9PpZFXJ18q by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:33:00Z
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I don't think any of my American friends, to this day, would understand when I said that the 1984 Lange-Douglas New Zealand Labour Party government was a *left-wing* party that liberalised our culture far to the left of Clinton/Obama style American Democratic Party race and gender lines -- banning nuclear warships and paying massive land reparations to our Maori minority -- while also privatising our economy following the harshest dictates of 1980s Reagan/Bush economic thought.But it was.
(DIR) Post #A7gtUKgNOEg03UFjsm by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:36:21Z
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(Fortunately though, massive social backlash prevented Roger Douglas from completely destroying our public health system within their window of slash-and-burn Libertarianism in the 1980s, so we're still a little to the left of America on that. But they tried. Oh my lord, they tried so very very hard, and the National Party now keeps trying to do that again and again every time they're reelected.)
(DIR) Post #A7gtUMDNh0fgo8hbxw by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:40:11Z
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But anyway. The New Zealand 1980s experience makes me roll my eyes a lot at American culture wars.A party being branded "left" does not mean that it can't also be right-wing. And right-wing everything's-for-sale let-the-poor-starve economic policies are not at all correlated with conservative religion or cultural values. Nope. Inversely correlated, here.In 1984, it was the "right-wing" Muldoon who was our economic socialist, and it was the "left-wing" Douglas who was the Austrian economist.
(DIR) Post #A7gtUNnDpEw1haTkTA by natecull@mastodon.social
2021-05-27T22:49:25Z
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So basically, the 1984 New Zealand Labour party was "Californian" or "Silicon Valley" values: lots of left-wing cultural discourse (so with a rock-n-roll sense of righteousness) coupled with *extremely* right-wing economic policies (so with utter obliviousness to anyone injured).That combination did a huge amount of damage to our country. Damage that's still ongoing.Make of that what you will. Believe me or don't. But New Zealand has been where America is heading, and we got there in 1984.