by Gilbert B Norman
eolesen wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2024 11:16 pm It's almost as tectonic as the paradigm shifts that moved people away from trains and into personal vehicles or planes. The same shift that saw people move away from physical media for their video and music entertainment to streaming. The same shift that has seen the news and entertainment moving from print media to tablets and phonesWell, Mr. Olesen, you've certainly established to what extent I am "out of the chain".
Although "I've given up on Amtrak", with last ride being #52(the day Kobe Bryant was killed), I still have traditional CATV and only have MAX for streaming because its's included with a HoBO subscription, But I never watch it as the picture is very "compressed" on my '08 vintage TV. My phone is an '18 vintage Samsung S9 that I'll keep until the battery dies (I got rid of the landline during '17), and I listen to the news on AM radio (sorry if I think it's downright dangerous to be walking around plugged into headphones), as well as have my daily home delivery of the printed Times and Journal.
But then, I'm 83yo; and trust me, volks, "it ain't cheap" to be stuck in your ways.
But then, if you "think I'm bad", my former neighbors (he's deceased, she's 86yo, in a nursing home, and according to the kids, "wouldn't know me from Adam anymore"), at the end, they still had rabbit ears atop the roof, the phone was rotary dial, and the only reason they had a cell phone was that the kids bought and pay for it, so they could keep better track of their whereabouts. The house has now been chopped down.
My reason for relating all of this is that I concur with Mr. Olesen that times do change, and even if there are slight upticks such as the action Amazon has taken with their professional and technical staff, the WFH trend is in place. I further hold that even if COVID did not occur, the "writing was still on the wall". So far as commercial real estate developers go, while some office buildings can be converted to residential units (there will still be "a pull" for both young people and retirees to reside in the "center city", Loop, downtown, whatever), most cannot and I think to be such an investor today is like unto being told to "never sell your stock in the Pennsylvania Railroad".