Technology is inevitable

I just got a huge idea. But I have neither the man power or computer science skills to make it happen. Therefore I will share it with you. When it happens (emphasis on the when) you will look back and see what a true visionary I am.

Fact: We are lazy. Another fact: We love technology. Adding a third: No one likes to wait in line. Put all of these things together and I have a plethora of genius ideas. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's true. As sad as this is, the generation that doesn't care for this new wave of technology is becoming thin. My grandma uses Facebook more than I do. That might be an exaggeration, but she is all over it. We, as a society, are constantly, and successfully, finding new ways to be lazy. Sorry for all of those commas. I probably could have worded that a little better in the time it is now taking me to apologize. We don't like work. We want instant results. We are a fast food nation.

Picture this. And every good idea has to start with those two words. You spend an hour at the grocery store browsing the aisles and then when you are about fed up with the world, have to stand in line for another 15 minutes. Here is my idea. Let's use Wal-Mart for the example. You can go to Wal-Mart's website and browse through all of their items in the store. Place the items in your virtual shopping cart. It would include an entire inventory of the store. You pick out what you want, you can do it at anytime, anywhere. You can grocery shop in the same fashion I am typing this blog. In bed with a laptop burning a hole through your stomach. So after this, you can choose to pay online by credit/debit card. You can set a time for pick up, or have it done immediately. On the other side, Wal-Mart will receive your order, go and get your items, and have it ready for you. There will be a separate walk in cooler for items such as milk and ice cream in case you get stuck in traffic or sleep in past your pick up time. All that's left is for you to show up, have them validate your credit card and ID (eliminating credit card fraud), you get your buggy of delicious treats and you are on your way. Total time spend inside of Wal-Mart: less than 5 minutes.

This does more than just open up the door for being lazy. This creates more jobs. Wal-Mart will have to hire more people to take care of all the online orders. They get the money to pay these new employees by the new customers they will get with the online system. I know plenty of people that will not set foot into Wal-Mart as it is now. But allow them to do all of the shopping online, and I'm sure they will. The technology is there. Best Buy and other places do online ship to store pickup. But as far as I know, there is not a store that allows you to fill a virtual cart and swing in for a few minutes and pick it all up. This will also shorten the lines for the people that choose not to online shop. This also opens the door for Wal-Mart to pay lower wages to these employees because tips will most likely be involved. Because on the website it will read, "Would you like to leave a tip for your item grabber?" And most people will probably do it.

Does it sound insane? It shouldn't. This is where life is headed. The world will soon be almost entirely virtual. I've jumped on from day one. But one day...this will be common place at every major store. And you will look back and say, "Didn't Matt already think of this?" Yes. I did. And that is for me to smirk about at a later date.