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Occupations - Disappeared
- Thread starter norfolk brummie
- Start date
Richarddye
master brummie
Eric, I think they went the same way as the "punch card" operator............Replaced by electronics!
Richarddye
master brummie
Reading through this thread was mot interesting, I noticed all of the occupations that had disappeared but over time and somewhat gradually.
Last year we went to an Apple store to buy my wife a new computer. We took with us her Mac pro (I'm not an Apple person) and wanted to transfer her information to the new computer. It was like we had taken in an ancient relic, most of the Apple folks had never seen one or knew how to turn it on!
In fact the manager went on to say that they could not do anything for us but give us the name of a person working in his basement.
I think the occupations will continue to change at an increasingly faster rate........
Just thinking out loud!
Last year we went to an Apple store to buy my wife a new computer. We took with us her Mac pro (I'm not an Apple person) and wanted to transfer her information to the new computer. It was like we had taken in an ancient relic, most of the Apple folks had never seen one or knew how to turn it on!
In fact the manager went on to say that they could not do anything for us but give us the name of a person working in his basement.
I think the occupations will continue to change at an increasingly faster rate........
Just thinking out loud!
I used to teach my pupils that having transferable skills would make them more employable in the future. When jobs become defunct people need to avoid becoming deskilled and must try to draw on any, and all, skills they have acquired. This advice is becoming more and more relevant today. The other thing I used to stress was that all experience of work was important for acquiring knowledge and skills.
“Scavengers” - this is what they would have done. Viv.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Not quite disappeared, but almost. Viv
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Radiorails
master brummie
I can't speak for Birmingham - the only delivery people I ever saw were the regular milk, bread, coal. beer and mineral water vehicles. Some of these post ww2 were still horse drawn but many slowly gave way to motor vehicles or ceased altogether.
In smaller towns there were other delivery people such as fish carts - usually straight from the local boats/fish market - paraffin sellers, fruit and veg carts and so on. These were often a boon to those who could not walk far or were otherwise housebound. If people had cars and not many did until the early sixties, they would most likely be used by the man of the house to get to his place of work or do his job.
With the post war expansion of housing - even in small places - non motorised vendors could only reach a small number of their customers. The cause for their customer loss was that many town centre houses became shops and the occupants moved out to the new residential areas.
Now it seems that many of those shops have gone and the premises are dwellings once more. I guess Covid could increase that happening.
In smaller towns there were other delivery people such as fish carts - usually straight from the local boats/fish market - paraffin sellers, fruit and veg carts and so on. These were often a boon to those who could not walk far or were otherwise housebound. If people had cars and not many did until the early sixties, they would most likely be used by the man of the house to get to his place of work or do his job.
With the post war expansion of housing - even in small places - non motorised vendors could only reach a small number of their customers. The cause for their customer loss was that many town centre houses became shops and the occupants moved out to the new residential areas.
Now it seems that many of those shops have gone and the premises are dwellings once more. I guess Covid could increase that happening.
pjmburns
master brummie
The only caller I can remember with a horse drawn cart was the rag and bone man. I can remember pestering my Mother for things to take in the hope of getting a goldfish.
Bread and milk were electric floats and coal was a lorry. I was fascinated by the ones with scales on the back for weighing the coal. My job was to count the sacks.
Bread and milk were electric floats and coal was a lorry. I was fascinated by the ones with scales on the back for weighing the coal. My job was to count the sacks.
Richarddye
master brummie
Janice, I never got a goldfish but do the remember the milk and bread man in horse drawn carts.
mw0njm.
Brummie Dude
mw0njm.
Brummie Dude
Radiorails
master brummie
In the Co-Op Dairies 1940's thread there is mention of milk floats pulled by horses both in Hall Green and Shirley. I think many horse drawn deliveries lasted longer after WW2 due to petrol and some other fuels being in short supply as they were imported. Fodder and coal was home produced.
Richarddye
master brummie
Seems like mine came from the Bull Ring or near there. Regardless they did not seem to last very long! Today we would say operator errorI don't think I ever got one off the rag and bone man either. I think my parents bought me one in the end to stop me pestering
Bob Davis
Bob Davis
They do Timpsons with High Street and supermarket outlets still have shoe repair key cutting and sometimes dry cleaning operations. In your time in the UK they were shoe shops.
Bob