What Services/Products Could We Lose in 2012?

As 2011 comes to an end, many are left looking at the past.

Each year new technologies and trends seem to kick out the old. One major storyline in 2012 could very-well be the death of the U.S. Postal Service.

With Facebook, text messaging and email fewer and fewer people seem to frequent the U.S. Postal Service. This year the post office announced that if they didn?t cut $15 billion from their budget by 2015 it would no longer be profitable. That has led to several thousand post offices throughout the United States being put on the chopping block. A decision is expected to be made by May 2012.

Still, with the holiday season fresh in many people?s memory some say it would be a shame to get rid of local post offices.

?I use it for Christmas cards, some bills, a little bit of communication,? said Patty Van Tine.

Of course, snail mail isn?t the only business we?ve seen dying recently. Few people use video rental stores. A look back at an old telephone book (does anyone use them anymore?) will show a plethora of rental stores. Today, a quick check of Google will send you addresses for Red Box rental machines.

?We didn?t want to go and buy it and not like it,? explained Sean Woolribge. ?That?s why we came to Red Box.?

Woolribge said he still goes to Blockbuster when Red Box doesn?t have the movies he likes, but admitted he sees fewer and fewer people joining him these days.

?I?d rather spend a buck,? said Woolribge.

It?s a trend Gustavo Lazare saw long ago. Ten years ago he owned a video rental store in Central El Paso. At the time when VHS tapes were thriving business was booming, but a few years ago he noticed a change.

?It started to slow down week after week,? said Lazare.

He decided to adapt. Now he owns Magestic?s, just across the street from the boarded up building he once rented to open his video store; nowadays he sells groceries in addition to rentals to stay afloat.

?The business as we know it is going to disappear,? said Lazare.

Ironically, in front of his store sits a pay phone. He says the phone was installed nearly a decade ago. He receives a portion of the proceeds from the phone, but says it too has gone the way of VHS tapes.