Occupations - Disappeared

[Bob Davis]

Do comptometer operators still exist?
Bob

 

[Richarddye]

Do comptometer operators still exist?
Bob

Eric, I think they went the same way as the "punch card" operator............Replaced by electronics!

 

[Richarddye]

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!

 

[pjmburns]

As a former secondary teacher I was told years ago that the majority of pupils would end up in jobs which hadn't existed when they were born.

 

[cba]

As a former secondary teacher I was told years ago that the majority of pupils would end up in jobs which hadn't existed when they were born.

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.

 

[Vivienne14]

“Scavengers” - this is what they would have done. Viv.


Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Vivienne14]

Not quite disappeared, but almost. Viv


Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Radiorails]

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.

 

[pjmburns]

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.

 

[Richarddye]

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.

Janice, I never got a goldfish but do the remember the milk and bread man in horse drawn carts.

 

[pjmburns]

I 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

 

[mw0njm.]

“Scavengers” - this is what they would have done. Viv.

View attachment 149494
Source: British Newspaper Archive

i can do that i am a right scavenger
gi as a job

 

[mw0njm.]

Also long gone are the delivery men, including bread, coal, laundry man who collected dirty laundry and delivered it washed and pressed a few days later. I haven't seen a chimney sweep in many years although I believe a few still exist.
[/QUOTE] milkman petrol pump attendant.
these still exist here

 

[Radiorails]

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]

I 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

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 error

 

[sospiri]

Alan,

I lived in Knowle Road on the Sparkhill side of the River Cole and throughout the 1940s our milk was delivered via horse and cart.

Maurice

 

[JohnJames]

The Man from The Pru...

 

[JohnJames]

 

[oldbrit]

Cobblers, no one repairs holes in shoes anymore

 

[Bob Davis]

Cobblers, no one repairs holes in shoes anymore

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