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Online Shopping

Slab

Slab

Occasional Tour Caddy
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While on my hols, I’ve been amazed (& a bit depressed) at the ease and speed of online shopping in the UK

Despite the obvious benefits it’s the ease at which frivolous, obscure, minor, inexpensive impulse buys can be shipped to door inside 24hours (and the infrastructure required to facilitate it) that depresses me

Tens of thousands of vans crisscrossing the country every day to bring me something just because I happened to be talking about xyz the night before and a quick google on my phone not only shows websites like temu/amazon etc that someone does actually make said item, it has already been made and shipped to UK & is sitting in some mega warehouse with the resource and equipment ready and waiting to get it to me in a matter of hours… all for the cost of a pizza!
Worse still I can do the same order actions an hour or two later for something else and a whole other separate delivery will take place!

I feel that had a bit more time &/or effort been needed on my part to acquire this ‘stuff’ I probably wouldn’t have bought at all and my life would not really be any the worse for not having it

Its (selfishly) great but environmentally/economically pretty depressing
 
You see i'm the other way around, I tend not to impulse when online shopping. As I can't see what it is I'd impulse buy, like I would in the shop.
Just get what I need and pick it up. Only thing I don't like is not picking my own fruit and veg.
 
Slab said:
While on my hols, I’ve been amazed (& a bit depressed) at the ease and speed of online shopping in the UK

Despite the obvious benefits it’s the ease at which frivolous, obscure, minor, inexpensive impulse buys can be shipped to door inside 24hours (and the infrastructure required to facilitate it) that depresses me

Tens of thousands of vans crisscrossing the country every day to bring me something just because I happened to be talking about xyz the night before and a quick google on my phone not only shows websites like temu/amazon etc that someone does actually make said item, it has already been made and shipped to UK & is sitting in some mega warehouse with the resource and equipment ready and waiting to get it to me in a matter of hours… all for the cost of a pizza!
Worse still I can do the same order actions an hour or two later for something else and a whole other separate delivery will take place!

I feel that had a bit more time &/or effort been needed on my part to acquire this ‘stuff’ I probably wouldn’t have bought at all and my life would not really be any the worse for not having it

Its (selfishly) great but environmentally/economically pretty depressing
Click to expand...
Progress is a wonderful thing......
 
All seems good to me - certainly saves shuffling around multiple shops looking for what you want , also the range of what you can get now is vast

There are still lots of outlets and shopping centres for those that want to spend hours wandering around
 
Slab said:
While on my hols, I’ve been amazed (& a bit depressed) at the ease and speed of online shopping in the UK

Despite the obvious benefits it’s the ease at which frivolous, obscure, minor, inexpensive impulse buys can be shipped to door inside 24hours (and the infrastructure required to facilitate it) that depresses me

Tens of thousands of vans crisscrossing the country every day to bring me something just because I happened to be talking about xyz the night before and a quick google on my phone not only shows websites like temu/amazon etc that someone does actually make said item, it has already been made and shipped to UK & is sitting in some mega warehouse with the resource and equipment ready and waiting to get it to me in a matter of hours… all for the cost of a pizza!
Worse still I can do the same order actions an hour or two later for something else and a whole other separate delivery will take place!

I feel that had a bit more time &/or effort been needed on my part to acquire this ‘stuff’ I probably wouldn’t have bought at all and my life would not really be any the worse for not having it

Its (selfishly) great but environmentally/economically pretty depressing
Click to expand...

Online shopping is a constant source of discussion in my house.

It would be a rare day we didn’t get a delivery of some sort.

Im sure it is a wonderful service for those that need it due to being unable to go shopping for whatever reason.

I have tried to convince my lot that they are missing out on social interactions by not going shopping together and how they can shop for clothes without trying them on blows my mind, the response I get is I’m a dinosaur and can always send it back.

Then on the odd occasion they actually go shopping together they really enjoy it and say they must do it more but then complain how many shops are empty/shut down.
 
Environmentally having a small amount of vans driving around rather than car parks at shopping centres/malls and town car parks being filled by single occupancy cars driven there to get one or two items rather than the hundreds per van, must be a good thing. Also holding a lot of goods in a central huge hub rather than distributing them to hundreds of smaller outlets will also save on distribution costs and stockholding.
Ordering a pair of laces online and getting them delivered might seem a luxury but it saves me driving on my own to the mall and hoping one of the shops there stocks the right length and colour (if they do not there will be another journey). Holding all the laces in one point and having it delivered by a van full of other deliveries that is in my area anyway is probably more efficient.
 
Arthur Wedge said:
🤷‍♂️

that’s a random irrelevance
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It is, but only if "those that want to spend hours wandering around" is also a random irrelevance with regards to the increase of online shopping.

Those who want to spend hours on their smartphones and laptops looking for things to buy, rather than get some exercise and social interaction, is not a random irrelevance, however.
 
Morning Alan, hope alls well me man. The bit you missed out on the online shopping was your £10 foreign tat that you didn’t realise you needed will normally end up at someone else’s house. 🤬
As has already been said, town centres are dying on there backsides because of modern shopping ways.
 
Eighteen years ago, when I retired, I managed a high street financial services branch with 27 staff.
Today I'm told they have 5/6 staff.
Naturally, I bank with them. Also, with Lloyds.
I've set foot in both just once in all that time.
Everything I need is on my phone and is dealt with speedily and instantly (leaving me more time for exercise and social interaction).
 
I much prefer online shopping. Specific thing you want can be ordered in 10 minutes rather than spending hours trawling round shops. Nearly always cheaper online as well. In the lockdown times I did get a little bit addicted to it as a parcel coming through the door was about the only thing you could look forward to - but I think I'm over it and back to normal now.

As mentioned above the 'buying on impulse' factor can be debateable. In a shop you might purchase something on a whim, lest you not see it again. Whereas online, research and comparisons can be done to select the right product for you before ordering.
 
Orikoru said:
I much prefer online shopping. Specific thing you want can be ordered in 10 minutes rather than spending hours trawling round shops. Nearly always cheaper online as well. In the lockdown times I did get a little bit addicted to it as a parcel coming through the door was about the only thing you could look forward to - but I think I'm over it and back to normal now.

As mentioned above the 'buying on impulse' factor can be debateable. In a shop you might purchase something on a whim, lest you not see it again. Whereas online, research and comparisons can be done to select the right product for you before ordering.
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Likewise.
Our town centre is struggling but, for years before online shopping took over, the shops were mostly full of tut that I neither needed or wanted.
I think I've become more selective.
Assuming we consume at the same rate now that we did years ago, I don't see how the crisscrossing mileage of delivery vans would be any greater than the mileage in the past of delivery lorries restocking the shops and the private vehicles of the shoppers transporting their purchases.
 
In the main I tend to only buy things that I need these days.
When it comes to online verse local shop- when I see the thing I want online at £5 with free delivery against £10 in the local shop for exactly the same thing and having to drive there..........
Give me a slightly different price and I may well go local.

One thing I certainly have given up on is clothing got to fed with poor sizing and having to return, with some companies having very poor returns procedures.
 
Very rare I buy stuff in store these days unless I need to. I hate going shopping and faffing about waiting for people etc.

I order what I want , usually comes in 1-3 working days and just makes life easier. If I do go shopping it tend to be an event a trip up town to make a day of it. Or I go to GoOutdoors and spend a fortune on stuff I think I need 🤣
 
The irony that you see mainstream high Street shops bemoaning the lack of foot traffic and customers yet push online only deals or hold no stock and so you are buying online anyway to pick up a few days later. If shops want people back on the high street then offer in store only deals
 
Tashyboy said:
Morning Alan, hope alls well me man. The bit you missed out on the online shopping was your £10 foreign tat that you didn’t realise you needed will normally end up at someone else’s house. 🤬
As has already been said, town centres are dying on there backsides because of modern shopping ways.
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Yet here, out clown council have spent millions trying to develop the town, and still every six months bring out yet another plan costing more money. Out of town covered shopping centres are the way forward. With places to eat. Look at the trauma centre. Rammed.
 
Voyager EMH said:
It is, but only if "those that want to spend hours wandering around" is also a random irrelevance with regards to the increase of online shopping.

Those who want to spend hours on their smartphones and laptops looking for things to buy, rather than get some exercise and social interaction, is not a random irrelevance, however.
Click to expand...

Why would you need to spend hours on a smart phone looking for things to buy ?
 
In the vein of this.

Somerset Council has decided to introduce parking charges on Sunday. The car parks are already only half full or so on a Sunday now they want to drive away even more shoppers.

It is no wonder that there are so many empty shops in the town which show no sign of having occupants when even the council do not want people going in to town.
 
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