Coopers, Cobblers, and Grocery Baggers

Grocery bagger showing why he is bad at Tetris

Below is a list of ten historical occupations, nine of which required years of training to acquire the necessary skills to succeed. Consequently, those who plied these artful trades took genuine pride in their work and stood behind the quality of their output. 

The tenth, grocery bagging, took almost no training and no more than a trace of conscientiousness to find success. Heck, I mastered it at age 16 after five minutes of instruction from a man who accidentally locked himself in the bread room later that same day. Despite the easy path to skill acquisition, I believe that my co-workers and I all took a reasonable degree of pride in our work. 

Somehow, all of the trades that required tremendous expertise have became obsolete* in the face of more efficient technologies, while grocery bagging has persisted. Even more surprising is the fact that grocery bagging has endured while grocery bagging skills (a generous term) have declined precipitously. My first-hand experience suggests that the field is now mired in a sea of feckless practitioners. No need to cite examples; I am sure my imaginary readers have observed this first-world problem on their own.

That's a logical contradiction, right? Shouldn't the skilled trades persist and the simple ones be replaced. Anyway, here's the comparative list:

1. Cooper - A cooper was a skilled artisan who made barrels and casks. 

2. Cobbler - A cobbler was a skilled tradesperson who repaired and made shoes and boots. 

3. Blacksmith - A blacksmith was a metalworker who forged and shaped iron and steel. 

4. Farrier - A farrier was a specialist in equine hoof care and shoeing. 

5. Milliner - A milliner was a skilled artisan who made hats. 

6. Wheelwright - A wheelwright was a skilled artisan who made and repaired wheels. 

7. Silversmith - A silversmith was a metalworker who specialized in creating silver objects. 

8. Bookbinder - A bookbinder was a specialist craftsman who bound and repaired books. 

9. Calligrapher - A calligrapher was an artist who specialized in creating decorative writing by hand. 

10. Grocery Bagger – A grocery bagger was a teenager who needed cash to keep his car running, had a modicum of spatial reasoning skills, and who understood that a gallon of milk could crush grapes. 

There are many ways to measure a country’s success. Some suggest that life expectancy is the best measure, others look at percentage of the population that lives above the poverty line, and a third group believes an index of self-reported happiness is the ultimate measure. The USA tends to fare ok on these measures relative to other industrialized countries; we’re not the best nor the worst. 

But if they ever start ranking based on grocery bagging, I fear we may be last.

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*Not sure about farriers