Depends on what you mean by better off. I mean how much can you “save” on paper towels by going to Costco? $10-20 at most? Not even factoring in the cost of the membership and the hassle of going to the store.
$10-20 saved across dozens of product categories times 53 weeks in a year... Man, I grew up dirt poor, so my mind automatically calculates these angles, knowing that this is how I'll pay for my next vacation. However, I can see that not everyone thinks this way.
If you're not using Amazon, it depends how close you live to the store. A supermarket delivery truck should drive fewer miles making 10 deliveries than those 10 people would driving to the store. Some supermarkets here will also deliver in reusable crates rather than bags. Most have offered same or next day delivery for years.
I don't know any supermarket that would let you order just paper towels though...
Having moved somewhere not near a delivery point or a lot of large stores, the convenience of same-day Amazon Prime is hard to beat.
It made sense when I was living in China, along with maybe TP and bottled water. Here on the states it seems like shipping/delivery would make it uneconomical.
They do, it’s just a subscription plan instead. And the underlying cost is still there, so if it becomes uneconomical then the subscription cost will go up or go away.
You may be able to find a situation where you get someone else to subsidize your cost, but it’s certain to be temporary.
But in China it was like a few hours from order to delivery. And even if it is technically free with prime, it really isn’t....it just doesn’t feel sustainable.
I think whatever basis you have for that intuition is off. You're saying it's more efficient and sustainable for everyone to drive to the store in their own personal gasoline-powered vehicle, taking time out of their own busy days, than to have a little bit of cardboard wrapped around the paper towels and dropped off by a shared delivery truck dedicated to the task and taking an optimal route?
Each point of drop off ya substantial costs, so you would get dinged fuel for the delivery of paper towels even if they had other deliveries in the truck. In China, it only works because there are no trucks, heck, it could just be a kid from the corner store with a hand truck.
When you go to the store and buy stuff, you are usually getting a lot of things together going point to point with other things that need getting done, or you are walking to the corner grocery store with a shopping cart if you are lucky enough to be urban. Personally, the fuel cost for having paper towels delivered is substantially more vs me going to get them by myself (since I’m walking to the store with a stroller/cart anyways).
This, I guess, outlines a domino effect. I don't go to the supermarket for fresh food. It gets delivered to me by the supermarket, and if I can't be bothered to pick for myself, they'll deliver a selection based on my usual shopping pattern, and I know roughly what they'll deliver by default so e.g last week I didn't even open the app to check what they'd added to my order.
I couldn't imagine having to go to the shops every week.
I don't really get how this can work. Like I wanted to try those udon noodles that are next to the ones I normally buy this week. How do I tell that to Amazon? Or I didn't really like the kimchi last time so I wanted to try something new but instead of cabbage kimchi I bought radish kimchi because it was next on the shelf. But I wouldn't have known to search for that. Or the big avocados look better than the small ones. I'll get two of those instead of 3 of the large ones.
Do you still have this kind of product discovery with Amazon?
>I couldn't imagine having to go to the shops every week.
Why? Is it really so arduous to go out in public? To view a selection of products? To select your own produce? I am completely unable to comprehend how running errands is such an exhausting activity. Even when I was my most depressed, the times I would even turn down activities with friends, I still made it to the various stores I needed to live my life.
That's entirely missing the point. How much would you pay to have an extra 30 minutes with your kids or significant other? Or an extra 30 minutes on your hobby project? Or generally speaking doing anything other than buying paper towels at a wholesale market. That's how much your time is worth.
And our time is limited. Our kids are only living with us and wanting to play with us for scant few years. We're only young and healthy and able to do active things for scant few years too. The value of that time is more now than later.
If you're telling me that you would rather spend that 30min driving to Costco, dealing with parking, lugging that big pack of paper towels to the checkout stand, waiting in line, and driving back, all to save $2.50... that says a depressing amount about how much you value your life and the people you spend it with.
EDIT: Or you are actually so poor that the trade-off is "buy low price or don't don't eat next week," in which case I respect it. But then you wouldn't actually be shopping at Costco since it isn't the lowest prices.
Same here. Grew up poor, so I prefer to be aware of prices even though I have plenty now. Fun fact: 4 bottles of great beer at home = 1 glass of beer at a bar. And snacks are healthier too.
I grew up poor too. For the same reason I would always consider drinking at home a worse habit. So yes, that pint at the pub is much more pleasant than a 4 can at home.
Hmm. I think you're conflating issues. My parents didn't drink at all. But we were poor. Also buying 4 bottles/cans doesn't mean you drink them all at once. I'm with the parent comment... I can have FOUR evenings where I sit on the deck and sip a delicious beer (alone or with my wife and dog or a friend, etc) for the same price as a single pint of beer at a pub.
Of course, it's not a universal "or" - sometimes I want to sit a pub with people and try a single pint of beer I've never had before. The (great?!) grandparent point of comparing all these options is a reasonably healthy habit you can build, that often comes from experiencing poverty, and using the options available to you to avoid it in the future.
Yes, that’s what I meant. And “sometimes” I go to bars, too. Just not very often. It’s not even about poverty, it’s about not being stupid. For the same reason I have a coffee machine at home. Paid $800 (+$200 for 2 burr grinders) once, saved thousands by now, and my coffee is better.
You don’t need a membership for the pizza, same with Sam’s club! Though I think both pizzas have declined in quality over the years to make up for their identical price.
It’s not saving. I can go out of my house and buy a pack of paper towels in about 5 minutes. Using Alexa requires planning the magnitude of using Google Calendar for that.
