It really is a type of fraud when you think about it, they knew the stores were understaffed, by intention, so it's not an excuse. Part of this does fall on the customer, since they can verify the price at checkout, but, the executive teams can't try and re-direct the blame.

It absolutely is.

PlayStation->PlayStation 2-> PlayStation 3-> PlayStation 4->PlayStation 4 Pro -> PlayStation 5-> PlayStation 5 Pro makes sense.

Xbox->Xbox 360->Xbox One S OR Xbox One X->Xbox Series S OR Xbox Series X on the other hand, makes no sense and isn't intuitive to figure out which one you want.

I think the promotion of a Lunar mission is more to give NASA some $ to spread around to their long term partners.

And the NASA-derived mission is just flailing in the dark, what a mess.

Come on, The Grapes if Wrath passage about burning the pigs and soaking the mountains of oranges in kerosene while guards stand over them with weapons so that the poor starving people canâ(TM)t get them?

There is always been more than enough, but capitalism requires suffering

Your landscaper having a degree in botany makes a little bit of sense. At least in Europe where they value quality. Not that you don't get good landscaping in America, but the equation is slightly different

'replace' with what?

Definitions. AI will take the place of non-AI in much of the corporate world. Already begun. Film at 11.

First, university education is not a monolith. Technical degrees from institutions that actually teach the subject matter have value - engineers still engineer, theoreticians still work out theory, these sorts of degrees and others have real value, even in the AI future.

Second, universities that teach 'soft' subjects, liberal arts, etc., have a more difficult value proposition. And it has been, at least at prestigious institutions, connection. That is, connection to the influential, the gatekeepers to profitable employment. In fact, it is more dependent on the prestige of the institution than the quality or caliber of education. Without choosing moral or political sides, influence, connection, prestige, access to the higher-paid careers.

Only that isn't working as well as it is sold. Certainly the institutions in next tier down have less and less to sell, and placement statistics show this. Much of this is the reality of corporate employment today, if you're not an NGO, government agency or affiliate, or political influencing entity, you got very little work to offer. The starting pay is lower, the career prospects dimmer, it's not good for the English Lit major unless they present something unique.

Connection to employment was always the driver. And connection to classmates used to be rungs on the career ladder. For the most recent generations, that is failing because they are not connecting to classmates. And this fellow classmate connection always was expected to become the future career connection, even if it was merely a reference.

This all points out a deeper problem. Recent generations of entry-level employees are too often socially inept. They have a hard time fitting in, and while it is popular sport on /. to rail about corporate ineptitude, immorality, and unethical existence, you should fit in before you go about remaking the corporation. Or, put more bluntly, you need to be in there to change from the inside. But the incoming generations are so inept that they are stalling their development, or worse, risking the process skipping them entirely. Just as we get reports of teaching degree programs that fail to teach how to teach, many business administration programs fail to teach how to get along. And you get bull in a china shop entry-level recruits that take a while to figure out what the game is, much less how to play it.

Connection? Well, a final note. University campuses have become battlegrounds, where the most innocent remark becomes a microaggression, the transgressor is expelled, and he perception of justice is the purpose of the institution. I don't advocate eliminating codes of conduct , but if universities cannot even employ due process and fair play, they are defective. No wonder they are making their student bodies into islands.

"If AI could replace humans, it also replaces corporations.'

AI will not replace corporations, it will become the corporation.

Disability has moved from a verified medical condition that presents with obstacles, to, I feel sad because I do, and therefore, I need the red carpet treatment.

What does it take to be diagnosed with ADHD or ADD? Nothing, there is no hard diagnosed line you have to pass. You don't need an MRI, or fMRI, you can claim you are ADHD or ADD, and almost no doctor will push back. It's one of the holy grails for the lazy and self-entitled. “Occasionally, my mind wonders doc!”, “Oh, well, you certainly have advanced ADHD, better get you on meds and write an IEP for you, this is dire.”

What does it take to be diagnosed Autistic? Again, nothing, you don't like the sound of your disgusting classmates chewing food with their mouth open, you have autism because that bothers you. You would rather not acknowledge reasonable social norms, like waiting until people are done talking, oh boy, you have advanced autism.

Depression / anxiety, triggers, everything is basically an excuse for being a reasonable human. The more left leaning you are, or were told you should be by your parents, the more likely you have these imaginary conditions.

I know one woman who claimed ADHD and autism, was told she did not have them by a doctor. She then paid thousands of dollars to get privately tested, and the results proved she did not have either condition. She still claims both, and blames the doctor and the test being incorrect, and says it's triggering. Does she have them? No, objectively not, she's just a boorish pig of a human, who is “woke”, and therefore thinks irresponsibility and a lack of accountability are the calling cards of greatness.

I hear all the time, “I have ADHD”, or “I'm autistic”, nope, you're irresponsible, lazy, lack accountability and never take ownership of your faults. How many times have you heard someone say: “I really want to sleep in on the weekends.” followed by “I feel so lazy for not getting anything done.”. You woke up at noon, and made non-stop excused on why nothing could get started, and then wonder why nothing got done. Whereas I got up at 6:00am, and got everything done by 11:30am, now can spend the rest of the day doing whatever I want.

Should we get into Ozempic craze? It's the same BS, you think your inability to control your diet, and get active is a disability which needs medication. If you just cut out the 9 rounds of dense carbs you had in the form of pasta, and sugar loaded dressing you pour like fountains over your “salad”, guess what might start happening? “I've tried dieting.”, no, no you didn't. You made a solid grain and carb meal plan, that was packed with dense energy, then, sat on your fat ass because you were too tired to do anything. Hell, I know people who claim: “I'm prediabetic.”, what? You don't have diabetes, so you require a diabetes medication for what? Cut the carbs, boost the protein, cut the fruit, which is just a sugar source, and either go into a calorie def, or, start lifting weights 3x week, and BAM, guess what "major disability" disappears.

Exactly! If I need kitchen stuff, like sponges, a strainer, drain plugs, that's where I go, and maybe for the odd Island Bar, which is a Bounty Bar knock off. I don't buy food, food there, but all the surrounding ones do have several isles of groceries, and you could buy a pantry full of items if you wanted. I'm not sure if they have milk, never noticed, but I don't buy food food. Maybe the odd bag of chips if I'm with my daughter, but again, it's for one-off things, at least for me.

Right, but that's not an excuse, since you could automate the tag changing automatically. How many times do you call into a customer service line and hear: "We're experiencing higher than normal call volume!", so often that if I said every time, the very rare exception is in the noise. You can't always have "higher than normal", that's not how averages work, in the same context: "We understaffed, slashed hours, misclassified employees, and stole labour, so it's their problem." doesn't work either. You hear this pass the buck style excuse all the time, and once you know the problem exists, you have a very short runway to fix it, and keep it mitigated.

Agreed.

Do you think they care about $600k? Dollar stores fit an odd segment, either you need something random you know your dollar store has, which is the only time I go, or, you're poor and need single use small format things to get by. In either case, their best option for making money, is to steal it, and the best way to steal it, is to show you one price, and charge you another, that's higher. They will always use the excuses that staff are overworked, or, staff are expensive, or, it was an accident, but none of that is true.

If they cared, they could force price compliance automatically using e-paper tags. The fact they don't deploy modern solutions to a known issue, means they don't want to solve it. The real solution for consumers, you need to pay attention to what price shows up when a product is scanned. That sounds obvious, but almost no one pays attention.

They'll gladly pay $600k, to steal millions, and no government or regulatory board is ever going to make a fine high enough to be a deterrent. Imagine hitting Dollar X with a $250 million fine, plus, 10-years of independent oversight through a fully isolated third-party monitor. That's a deterrent, $600k is the government giving the wink, "awful, you shouldn't have done this, I hope a cheque doesn't fall out of your coat as you leave *wink *wink".

'In my entire life, I've never paid for something by check and been told I couldn't take my purchase until the check cleared'

Your life experience does not match mine. Vehicle purchases especially, unless I used a cashier's check, I would wait for delivery and title. I've mailed checks for merchandise and been told I will not see shipment until the check clears.

And a classic check purchase fraud is to overpay, request a refund, on a bad check. You left holding the bag for a bad check, out the refund money you made good.

In fact, look for online car dealer experiences, and you find this exact fraud is common. Most dealers know better.

Just not my experience. You are fortunate.

I buy CDs I want (and do not already have) anywhere, yard sales, Goodwill, etc., because I prefer to *own* the music I want. I use streaming services for convenience, since Google mangled my online libraries, but if I wanted to I could stream off of a self-hosted gadget.

I've kept a portable CD player just in case, and my portable Minidisc recorder is still important to me, along with a stock of blanks.

Owning is underrated.