Manual Labor

I’m always fascinated with the degree to which many tasks that are carried out in less developed countries are done with manual labor.  In a 30 min period, I must have walked past 20 different men and women who were city street sweepers, each with a small broom attacking a small section of a large sidewalk (or an entire plaza).  The trashmen sort trash by hand.  Delivery people load up hand cards and push heavy loads up the street for delivery to businesses.  My first thought we I see such things is to think “they sure do things the hard way”, but on further reflection it makes a lot of sense.  A single drivable street sweeper would put a lot of people out of a job.  It might be more efficient, but sometimes efficient isn’t the most important factor to consider.

The willow stick brooms seem to be quite popular.  I’m curious how well they work…