The “just in time” mentality of the USofA may be too late.

This dodgy concept has always seemed like a contemporary riff on the notion that popped up in those old Greek tragedies: dues ex machina. Though some have argued that the “just in time” concept originated with Henry Ford (see wikipedia entry on this), the process really took hold in the USofA in the 1980s when the Japanese style of management and other notions of process and profit migrated here, to great corporate enthusiasm, from the orient. It appealed to the corporations greatly because it seemed to be a way to rapidly ratchet up profits. Corporate mentality determined that keeping an inventory of anything on hand was costly and in their view “inefficient”. It is, according to corporate mission numero uno, always easier and cheaper, both in terms of people (salaries=expenses=lower profits) and products (stuff=storage facilities=maintenance=people (see above)=costs or expenses=lower profits) to let someone else handle the storage and just truck the stuff at the last minute. All of this was able to happen because it was soooo cheap because oil/gasoline was soooo cheap.

“Just in time” affected and infected every phase of our lives since nearly everything we consume or do in the country is subject to the rules of corporate game playing. So we all got used to living not just from pay check to pay check but according the delivery schedules (“just in time”) of whatever it was we might need. People began motoring to the malls and supermarkets almost every day, not only to fill their empty lives with something to do, but because the became accustomed to living on a corporate schedule. True, there are some folks who stuff a week’s worth of shopping into one trip, but for many there is no option other than a daily trip to the urban equivalent of the watering hole: the supermarket. But the time's, they are a changing.

It is now estimated by many observers of these things, that at any point in time most supermarkets have no more than three or four days of supply of food available to put out on their shelves and racks. BTW: how much food do you keep at home, just in case? This question isn’t actually intended to ramp up fears, though it probably does that, it is meant to raise the issue of prudent planning. And what is true of food is true for almost everything else of any real value or need. The only things that seem to be exempt from this are crappy plastic products of all kinds, electronic gismos, and automobiles (particularly SUVs) which seem to be in almost obscene abundance everywhere. Have you ever had to wait for big-screen plasma TV? And there are certainly no waiting lines for Hummers anymore. Can't eat a Hummer, but you might be able to live in one. You might have to.

Besides the worrisome potential shortfalls of food, there is certainly a reason to be concerned about the availability of oil and gasoline, the principal lubricants of absolutely everything we have come to rely on. Continued escalation of the costs we seem to grimace and bear, but any interruption, disruption or actual shortages will send this country into a panic that will make the lines at gas stations in the 70s seem like a sedate tea and crumpets affair.

Personally, one of my biggest worries concerns heating oil. What are the supplies of heating oil for the winter and how much will the stuff cost? My gut tells me to worry about these things, maybe because no one who is directly connected to these issues really seems to be paying any attention to them; at least they aren’t paying any attention to them publicly. I may have missed some stories about this in the media, but I am, for better or worse, an addicted watcher of morning news, or at least ten minutes or so of the stuff.

There is intelligent life out somewhere however. And this time it is to be found in Shelburne, a small town in the middle of Massachusetts. There is going to be an open meeting at the Shelburne Senior Center on July 30th (a Wednesday) at 1:30 PM to discuss the looming crisis in home heating that will fall most heavily on the elderly this winter. The forum will address not only the immediate needs of people, but hopes to consider the entire scope of the problem which includes not only heating oil and its costs, but issues of food security, transportation and community relationships. Anyone within striking distance of this singular event should strongly consider attending. Let's hope it draws a real crowd. Though I will have to expend valuable gasoline to attend from so far away, I fully intend to make the trek to Shelburne to watch, listen and learn. Hopefully, there will be more forums like this around our state as people become more aware that now is the time to come together, to “re-localize” and uncouple ourselves as much as we can from corporate thinking and try to solve our own problems on our own initiatives. Such efforts may be “just in time”.