'll make one more comment and then I'll be done. IMO, there is an obvious disconnect between what younger people think of our profession and what grocery retailers are starting to warm up to again. Their are thousands of available meat cutter jobs in the right areas and with some solid credentials you can make a decent living. Instead of spending 80k at UGA, and praying for a job at IBM, some of these kids could do okay with a good grocery company. 

Machine you are right about this, you remember back when the meat man was highly thought of but then they enclose us away from the customer, In doing that we loss a couple generations of  young people that didn't know we existed lol Plus you know the big 4 could care less if we exist before they want to cut and pre pac it.

About a year ago I check out the ads in America for meat cutters, we are about 4800 short. I feel the same as you about young people today, we should get our trade schools open back up, train them well and let them make a good living with companies like, the Fresh Market, Whole Foods and Sprouts