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In addition, if you are doing shopping which involves any significant volume of goods or groceries, carrying it on public transit is a real problem. The tenden

In addition, if you are doing shopping which involves any significant volume of goods or groceries, carrying it on public transit is a real problem. The tendency is to buy small amounts frequently at higher prices. If there are two or more in a small car, it's also usually less expensive. If the parking problem were forthrightly addressed, this, along with the increasing use of efficient Uber/Lyft/taxi, would greatly reduce traffic and associated pollution. Most of those cars are orbiting, looking for a parking spot. The half life of a parking spot is about 20 seconds.

kasey_junk 8y ago
The argument about buying “small amounts at higher prices” is really interesting to me. I recently downsized places for a much more walkable environment. Keeping less stuff in my house is a feature. One I was worried was going to cost me. But my budget has largely not changed. Any increase in costs associated with bulk buying are at least offset by lowered transport costs. It’s really hard to exactly account though. My instinct is that it is much more efficient for stores to warehouse things & me do JIT buying. I’d love to see research on it.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  I've moved to lean cooking (as in lean manufacturing, not healthy food). I don't really keep any food in the house, except for herbs and spices, and condiments. I don't keep anything perishable or frozen. Every day or so, I'll go to Aldi and get my vegetables for one or two meals. My food wastage these days is about zero. Conveniently I live practically next door to an Aldi so I don't pay a lot for my food, I'm down to $7 day or so as I've moved to a vegetable based diet.
abdullahkhalids 8y ago
Not really. 1. You can always get wheeled carts to carry your groceries. I take transit everyday and see a lot of senior citizens doing their groceries this way. If those frail 80 year olds who need sometimes a minute to get off the bus because they are so slow are happily doing it, it shouldn't be a problem for most other people. 2. In a walkable city, your shopping habits and life change. I live in the walkable (not downtown) part of my city. Usually I get off the train back from work, walk 5 min to the grocery store, buy 2-3 days of groceries easily carried in resuable bag and walk 10 min back to my home. This has been an excellent change over my past life because I am always able to cook with fresh ingredients and barely have to freeze anything or eat processed foods.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
saltcured 8y ago
When we were living in Asia for a few years, one thing we really liked was that larger supermarkets had free delivery service once you reached a minimum total at the checkout. We'd take a taxi to a mall, take care of any small shop purchases, perhaps have dinner at a restaurant, then finish with a tour of the supermarket in the basement. We'd fill a shopping cart with all the heavy items we needed for one or more weeks, sorting a few fragile or temperature-sensitive items. We would fill one or two bags to carry home with us immediately by taxi. The rest went back to the cart and got a delivery ticket attached at a service counter. Within an hour or so of us getting home, friendly supermarket staff would be delivering the remainder to our condo doorstep. Meanwhile, we had walkable, outdoor markets where we could grab produce or even some short-order carryout stirfry. So, we'd often grab just a few items at a time, lived with a much smaller refrigerator than we do in the US, and only did the supermarket run for heavy bottled/canned goods or the odd import item that helped with culture shock or homesickness.

kasey_junk 8y ago

The argument about buying “small amounts at higher prices” is really interesting to me. I recently downsized places for a much more walkable environment. Keeping less stuff in my house is a feature. One I was worried was going to cost me. But my budget has largely not changed. Any increase in costs associated with bulk buying are at least offset by lowered transport costs. It’s really hard to exactly account though. My instinct is that it is much more efficient for stores to warehouse things & me do JIT buying. I’d love to see research on it.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
I've moved to lean cooking (as in lean manufacturing, not healthy food). I don't really keep any food in the house, except for herbs and spices, and condiments. I don't keep anything perishable or frozen. Every day or so, I'll go to Aldi and get my vegetables for one or two meals. My food wastage these days is about zero. Conveniently I live practically next door to an Aldi so I don't pay a lot for my food, I'm down to $7 day or so as I've moved to a vegetable based diet.

abdullahkhalids 8y ago

Not really. 1. You can always get wheeled carts to carry your groceries. I take transit everyday and see a lot of senior citizens doing their groceries this way. If those frail 80 year olds who need sometimes a minute to get off the bus because they are so slow are happily doing it, it shouldn't be a problem for most other people. 2. In a walkable city, your shopping habits and life change. I live in the walkable (not downtown) part of my city. Usually I get off the train back from work, walk 5 min to the grocery store, buy 2-3 days of groceries easily carried in resuable bag and walk 10 min back to my home. This has been an excellent change over my past life because I am always able to cook with fresh ingredients and barely have to freeze anything or eat processed foods.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

saltcured 8y ago

When we were living in Asia for a few years, one thing we really liked was that larger supermarkets had free delivery service once you reached a minimum total at the checkout. We'd take a taxi to a mall, take care of any small shop purchases, perhaps have dinner at a restaurant, then finish with a tour of the supermarket in the basement. We'd fill a shopping cart with all the heavy items we needed for one or more weeks, sorting a few fragile or temperature-sensitive items. We would fill one or two bags to carry home with us immediately by taxi. The rest went back to the cart and got a delivery ticket attached at a service counter. Within an hour or so of us getting home, friendly supermarket staff would be delivering the remainder to our condo doorstep. Meanwhile, we had walkable, outdoor markets where we could grab produce or even some short-order carryout stirfry. So, we'd often grab just a few items at a time, lived with a much smaller refrigerator than we do in the US, and only did the supermarket run for heavy bottled/canned goods or the odd import item that helped with culture shock or homesickness.