| Tuesday, September 02, 2003 |
Retro Chic...Grocery Shopping
 Taking a moment to commisserate with Catboy over grocery shopping woes. I had to write in support of Catboy. I didn't used to mind shopping, but I've grown to dislike it intensely.
First of all, we haven't found a store here in Washington DC that truly has everything I like and want. Second, the stores here are always crowded no matter what time of day or day of the week we go. Third, people seem to be getting ruder or at least less considerate of others when they shop. I truly strive to be thoughtful of others and watch where I put my cart or how long I contemplate items so as not to be in anyone's way, but the same courtesy isn't often returned. I won't go into examples, but know that I could. Finally, we live in an apartment on the 4th floor of a garden walk-up -- that means lugging everything up 4 floors/8 landings. Active or lazy, there are only so many trips one can make up the stairs, then down and out to the parking lot and up again! The bagging habbits of the modern grocer seem to increase the challenge. This brings us to today. We had decided that we going to grocery shop--"were" is the operative word here. I spent a couple hours picking out recipes and putting together the whole list since it is essentially time to restock the cupboards. We started talking about a co-worker who said she loves to shop. "Of course she does," I said, "she owns a home and doesn't have to make a pilgrimmage just to schlep her groceries from the car to the kitchen." We started joking about having her do it for us. Eventually, the topic turned to online grocery shopping, and we got curious about the cost and convenience. It turns out they DO deliver on the weekends--convenient--and for orders of $100 or more, which ours is sure to be since we haven't done any real shopping in probably two weeks, the charge is only $4.95--affordable. AND, if we choose the largest delivery window on Saturday, they'll drop another $2 off the charge. The list is already made so all I'd need to do is plug in the items. We decided that we will at least try the service out. It probably won't be a regular habit, but it could be a big hand when restocking our shelves after we've old Mother Hubbarded it a while. And I can review the service for all my loyal readers--yes, both of you. I think it comes down to how much your time is worth to you. We now buy a lot of things online for the convenience and time savings so we can spend our time on things we consider more valuable. The 3 hours (minimum) it would take us to get to the store in NVA traffic, park, grocery shop in a crowded store, check-out, battle traffic back and then haul all of it up 4 stories is worth $2.95 to me. Besides, in the olden days having your grocer deliver to your front door was the norm...so really its retro chic, no? [ ] |
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