Paul, We'd have given more than an old pony cart for your sister!!!! ESPECIALLY since she could have worked the horses with my Wife!


I believe different sets of amish have different rules regarding what they can and cannot do, use, employ. I know several in this area have a very good web presence, VERY good! There are others who do not.



Krystar: Interesting hypothesis! But, if you do nothing more than research the data are you really increasing the sales or utilization of the product? Does any of the above require "new economy" services to prosper?

do the candidates require new economy to prosper? no. however, are they AFFECTED by new economy. most certainly yes.

for amish tradesmen. near-amish towns most definitely have internet presence to promote their tourism. thus, indirectly the amish trade gets affected. that amish eletric fire mantle thing on TV. that's all over the internet.


here's a better example. pakistani/somalia gun black market. affected by internet? yea....cause there's youtube videos of people going to those places and buying things. that's "affected" by indirect marketing.

Diamond cutting machines have also been around for the better part of a century. The actual cut is made by hand by a skilled cutter. Diamond cutting has been around since about 1375, or approximately 600 years.

The pricing is communicated orally. Closing of deals is done via handshake. Money is wired, but that also predates the new economy.

Diamond advertising is the retail end of the business, this is not the same thing as wholesale trading, which is what I am describing.

I recommend the pecan pie with Schlag at Peter Luger's.

Sewage treatment.

They don't advertise. Unlimited supply regardless of the economy. People poop no matter what.

Girl Scout Cookies. Not sold online.

The Internet will likely effect everthing in someway. Sewage and water (thanks cstreit) are a great example of companies that do not require the Internet, but they will likely start accepting payments via the Internet soon if they have not already. Likely any monopoly will fit this bill.

Babysitter and or gardener probably does not currently use the Internet is most cases.

Indian tribe in the Amazon that has been observed so far, but not contacted - they HAVE to be trading internally, if not with some other unknown tribe, so that might qualify

I'll post pictures of the cart. My Sister would not only kick all our asses, as a former Solicitor in South Carolina, she'd own them.

More to follow:cool:

Based on your parameters, I'm sticking with ice cream trucks. Not the ice cream industry as a whole, just ice cream trucks - the spontaneous purchase of ice cream from a moving vehicle with cash.

Truck shows up at the distributor. Guy puts ice cream in the truck's freezer. Driver trolls neighborhoods for kidlets with cash. Might the trucks owner send an order via e-mail? Maybe or maybe not. Even if they do, is that paticipating "significantly in electronic commerce?" No.

Honestly, they probably track purchases via GPS, with a day and time stamp and a picture of the roofer at Lubes hootch.

The problem with the professor is that he gamed the problem...a better question would have been what industries/whatever have benefited from technological improvements from a certain date.

Fax machines changed business practices, using old telephone lines, so did ATM's, in the 80's...were they, "on line"? Much of commerce is done the same way as it ever was, only the accessibility, speed and format has changed.

Amish Furniture - Solid Wood Custom Made Fine Furniture Online, - Amish Direct Furniture

Sorry, the process is controlled via a central program and usually is web based.

Pay Pal isn't affected by the new economy, it is the new economy, yuk,yuk.
(he probably won't appreciate the joke)

Krugerands or other physical currency? Probably advertisable and affected by the price of electronic floating currency

Price of tea in China? Nope.

Something bartered or handcrafted?

Genetic propagation? It is just a molecular interaction , but could be affected by exteriour chemicals from modern society and health care.

I'm stumped

My septic system is based on the concept of gravity.

How about plowing snow?

There's a guy that drives around my neighborhood in the summer that sharpens knives, lawn mower blades, scissors, ect out of the back of his pick-up. Basically drives around clanging a bell to get your attention, and stops at your curb and sharpens your blades using a stone. Very skilled at his trade, and I'm sure has no ties to modern technology other than his truck.

I think the key is does the service/etc benefit from the use of that technology.

For instance, I'm an Oracle DBA, among other things. If I paid some kid to wear a placard in front of my house that said "Oracle DBA services within", you can technically say that I employ human billboard marketing, but it's not going to be effective. Entertaining, sure, but not effective.

Or, to look at it another way, would the business/service suffer if the technologies were taken away.

Street food vendor. Such as a hotdog cart, etc.

I had a friend who started one up, and it's got nothing to do with the internet. Food is purchased from Costco or the local supermarket, she doesn't advertise on the internet, etc. She found her cart in the yellow pages. I can't remember the last time I went online to find a hot dog cart; I walked by, the smell of cooking onions ensnared me, and the purchase was made. As a matter of fact, due to a divorce and craziness, she went without cel phone or cable or internet for three months during this, and it had no effect on her business.

Just because you may be able to Google and find some such vendor who built himself a website, doesn't mean it positively impacted his business, or had any impact at all. It's not like it's the norm for all hot dog vendors to have a website.



Personally, I think your prof was disingenuous in the way he phrased the question/statement. Based on that, and not the actual subject matter, i don't think there's a way to beat it. Mind you, that diamond selling seems close.

How about illegal drug selling? Considering the amount of cash spent trying to kill it off, it seems "significant", and it's not like you can go online and find your local coke dealer. (Except for the one in a million moron who posts on Craigslist and then gets busted by the cops, of course). Mind you, I'm assuming there's some silly "legality" requirement he forgot to mention.

I agree with your professor. Everything is affected more or less, direct or indirect.

Sorry, your talking old tech ;)

grave diggers, poop trucking, tree planting

Street Beggers...panhandlers...people who wash car windows at a stoplight?

Big money in "Ghost tours"...I bet they use the internet...but what about the "Ghost" that they seek?...;-)