For me, one of the most annoying things about shopping in stores is that I’m forced to drive to a big box store like Target or Walmart because they’ve forced the local stores out of business, destroying traditional downtowns and walkable neighborhoods and making people need a car to get anywhere. Did they fix that?
I go to Europe and I see people just living in the normal areas and outside of the tourist. Zones. They look relatively happy, they don’t smile insincerely and they look healthier. Very few people are obese. Just your few grandmas, may be a few of them, but that’s it. I’m not trying to fat shame. It’s actually to the contrary. The stress levels of these horribly paid jobs and the crap food that people have to consume to survive is what makes us so unhealthy. I go to the thrift store. I buy stuff at the thrift store. Sometimes it’s better quality. There is so much shit in America. Useless shit. And you can’t blame China because somebody’s in charge of importing this garbage. And when we had more markets that were open and not overpriced, we could get better quality if we knew what we were doing. Just remember, when they try to blame China, there is some douchebag on a computer, weighing out the cost benefit ratio, and always going to the lowest common denominator, which is fucking you. You can’t just rely on people to do the right thing, especially when you live in a culture that just robs and steals from each other. We are so individualistic, it’s disgusting. I feel like it’s 28 days later and I’m the character laying in the grass. You know, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse and I look up in the sky and I see a plane flyover. It’s like the rest of the world is just moving on while we in America are on a whole other journey.
The fix is to legalize the construction of more of these walkable neighbourhoods which are the most desirable places to live (so developers could make a lot of money with relatively small plots of land) yet are illegal to build because city governments have regulated them into oblivion.
Were those little stores actually affordable to people on the bottom half of the income scale? Grocery stores are a great example. I would go bankrupt trying to shop for groceries at the corner store. People complain about the chains but I don’t recall small grocery stores ever being affordable.
I got love coffee. One of my favorite coffee places is this place called Upper Cup in Columbus, Ohio. I order beans from them, and I was able to talk to the owner. He didn’t seem like an anti-social, and when he told me he inspects the farms from time to time and sees who he imports from, so it’s ethically sourced, I believed him. Let’s just say he’s a lying bastard and I was fooled. His coffee is still better than Starbucks. I hated Starbucks before it was cool. I hated Tesla before it was cool and it wasn’t because there were a bunch of genocideers. It’s because they’re trash. They’re absolute trash. The issue is the herd mentality. Yet we are rugged individuals and very selfish as a culture. For some reason, this type of mentality ends up creating a herd which is contrary to what their own self-perception is. I think it’s just a collective self-hate that’s going on here and people too stupid to see. It’s a motherfucking paradox.
It’s true they can charge cheaper prices, and that’s why they’re able to put other stores out of business. The problem is, there are a lot of large-scale negative effects, but the decision of shopping there is usually beneficial on an individual level. It’s the “tragedy of the commons”.
In my last few trips to the local Home Depot, the self checkout machines have worked fine but the human helpers have insisted on being helpful. They’re fine though, lol.
I swear Home Depot and Lowe’s are the fucking worst when it comes to their checkout. That alone makes me go to a local hardware store let alone the fact that they know what I need most of the time.
For me, one of the most annoying things about shopping in stores is that I’m forced to drive to a big box store like Target or Walmart because they’ve forced the local stores out of business, destroying traditional downtowns and walkable neighborhoods and making people need a car to get anywhere. Did they fix that?
and they never have exactly what you need either. the number of times i’ve come home empty handed and had to buy online anyway is rediculous
I go to Europe and I see people just living in the normal areas and outside of the tourist. Zones. They look relatively happy, they don’t smile insincerely and they look healthier. Very few people are obese. Just your few grandmas, may be a few of them, but that’s it. I’m not trying to fat shame. It’s actually to the contrary. The stress levels of these horribly paid jobs and the crap food that people have to consume to survive is what makes us so unhealthy. I go to the thrift store. I buy stuff at the thrift store. Sometimes it’s better quality. There is so much shit in America. Useless shit. And you can’t blame China because somebody’s in charge of importing this garbage. And when we had more markets that were open and not overpriced, we could get better quality if we knew what we were doing. Just remember, when they try to blame China, there is some douchebag on a computer, weighing out the cost benefit ratio, and always going to the lowest common denominator, which is fucking you. You can’t just rely on people to do the right thing, especially when you live in a culture that just robs and steals from each other. We are so individualistic, it’s disgusting. I feel like it’s 28 days later and I’m the character laying in the grass. You know, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse and I look up in the sky and I see a plane flyover. It’s like the rest of the world is just moving on while we in America are on a whole other journey.
The fix is to move to a super expensive walkable neighborhood in the city that everyone wants to live in and no one can afford
The fix is to legalize the construction of more of these walkable neighbourhoods which are the most desirable places to live (so developers could make a lot of money with relatively small plots of land) yet are illegal to build because city governments have regulated them into oblivion.
Were those little stores actually affordable to people on the bottom half of the income scale? Grocery stores are a great example. I would go bankrupt trying to shop for groceries at the corner store. People complain about the chains but I don’t recall small grocery stores ever being affordable.
According to the article, independent grocery stores were only 1% more expensive than the chains when the act was being enforced.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/food-deserts-robinson-patman/680765/?gift=QFVDFKVE3HQ31cU_KmT1dMoNepnmHxqTbYqKlK_hiUE
I got love coffee. One of my favorite coffee places is this place called Upper Cup in Columbus, Ohio. I order beans from them, and I was able to talk to the owner. He didn’t seem like an anti-social, and when he told me he inspects the farms from time to time and sees who he imports from, so it’s ethically sourced, I believed him. Let’s just say he’s a lying bastard and I was fooled. His coffee is still better than Starbucks. I hated Starbucks before it was cool. I hated Tesla before it was cool and it wasn’t because there were a bunch of genocideers. It’s because they’re trash. They’re absolute trash. The issue is the herd mentality. Yet we are rugged individuals and very selfish as a culture. For some reason, this type of mentality ends up creating a herd which is contrary to what their own self-perception is. I think it’s just a collective self-hate that’s going on here and people too stupid to see. It’s a motherfucking paradox.
I’m sorry, but what on earth does that have to do with independent grocery stores only costing 1% more than the big names in the past?
…Ooookay then
It’s true they can charge cheaper prices, and that’s why they’re able to put other stores out of business. The problem is, there are a lot of large-scale negative effects, but the decision of shopping there is usually beneficial on an individual level. It’s the “tragedy of the commons”.
https://ilsr.org/articles/robinson-patman-groceries-atlantic/
Someone on here pointed me to this excellent article.
<s> As with so many wonderful things in the US and the rest of the planet, it can be traced to Reagan era successes in the class war. </s>
Great article, thank you for sharing.
And on top of this, we have to ring up and bag our own stuff now. There’s always a line because someone doesn’t know how to use the machine.
Or the machine is having some type of stupid issues. I didn’t take anything off your stupid platform, why is the scale throwing a fucken fit?
Oh you’re trying to buy alcohol? Let me stop and fetch a human person to check you’re old enough. Siiiiigh.
I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten out of Home Depot without requiring assistance from the self checkout monitoring person. Their machines are horrendous.
In my last few trips to the local Home Depot, the self checkout machines have worked fine but the human helpers have insisted on being helpful. They’re fine though, lol.
I’ve had a fair number of trips for individual bolt, washer and nuts because I just need a couple.
I swear Home Depot and Lowe’s are the fucking worst when it comes to their checkout. That alone makes me go to a local hardware store let alone the fact that they know what I need most of the time.
How about an “email only” option for the receipt?
This morning the machine I was using decided to restart itself when I clicked “pay”.
“Did you bring your own bags?” “Yes.” “Please place bags in the bagging area… UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!”
laughs in European