Scan Here For Firewood. Now.

Take the above photo of a hastily scrawled plywood sign as...a sign of the times.  I can only imagine how many "smart phones" Santa delivered yesterday!

Lately, I'm seeing more and more purchases being made his way.  Those boxes with the wacky scan pattern are popping up all over the place! In TV commercials, in print ads.  You could have scanned the box on Christmas Eve to contact NORAD, and track Santa (but I believe in Bob Williams). Now, my local guy who sells firewood in his front yard has jumped on the bandwagon.  I love technology.  And speed is the thing!  But....in an already increasingly less-than-personal world (where people text rather than talk on a phone, as just one example), what does it mean when you don't need cash, or even have to talk to your local merchant to buy...of all things...a log for the fire?