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I personally still prefer a shopping basket to a shopping cart, it “allows” me to buy less stuff, so less money spent. It’s also nice that with less stuff bough

I personally still prefer a shopping basket to a shopping cart, it “allows” me to buy less stuff, so less money spent. It’s also nice that with less stuff bought you can take the tram or even take a walk on your way home afterwards, no need for a car-ride.

whimsicalism 4y ago
Do you not cook for yourself very frequently? Are you single or just don't have kids? I seriously don't see how people who cook frequently for more than just 1 person get by without a cart without considerable inconvenience.
- gernb 4y ago
  Think most of the world shops without carts. They just go more frequently and probably live in a situation that makes that easier. (public transportation where there's a grocery store at most every stations ... Japan or nearby ... most of Europe)
- numlock86 4y ago
  You just shop on a daily basis. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I did this for a few months right after work, which was in walking range. Eventually I went back to "shopping big" once every week after I moved and switched my employer, though. But it's doable.
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    ah yes, the considerable inconvenience part of my comment. e: I know that a lot of people do this (often because they don't own cars), but having lived in cities my whole life and done both approaches at various times, the infrequent large shipping trip is much faster when amortized over two weeks. and for those saying all my produce is going to be spoiled or I must just be eating processed foods... absolutely not.
    - I-M-S 4y ago
      Do you live in a suburban environment? Because where I live it's not unusual to pass the grocery store every day while walking back home and buy groceries for the day. It's only for the big shopping trip on the weekends that I use the trolley (and even then the trip is done on foot).
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        Why do you have the big shopping trip on the weekends? I have never lived in a suburb in my life, I am maybe 2 minutes walking from a small grocer and 5 from a larger. Still definitely save time (and money) by shopping big biweekly at the large grocer.
        I-M-S 4y ago
        My spouse works regular hours and it's easier to carry stuff with two people. You are probably right about saving money by buying in bulk. Unfortunately then storage becomes a problem (we live in a small space).
        pessimizer 4y ago
        > 2 minutes walking from a small grocer and 5 from a larger I'm not five minutes from my own front door i.e. if I decide to go grocery shopping, the process of leaving my apartment takes at least five minutes.
        whimsicalism 4y ago
        I agree, this seems to be bolstering my own point though.
    - intsunny 4y ago
      > ah yes, the considerable inconvenience part of my comment. Maybe in suburbia. In cities without insane rents and healthy work/life balances (IE: not NYC), there are often many grocery stores that make regular grocery shopping quite easy. (And rather fresh.) Also regular grocery shopping means that people aren't loading up carts with 40+ items and in turn need 10 minutes to check out. Grocery shopping becomes a non-item and promotes healthier inside cooking.
  - lelanthran 4y ago
    > You just shop on a daily basis. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe you walk to the shops if they are close enough? If not, that sounds wasteful. Personally I try to spend as little time in the store as possible, so when I am in there I'll take extra of whatever keeps just so that I don't have to be in the store again any time soon. Better to spend an extra 5m grabbing everything for the next week than to come in again in two days time.
  - Telemakhos 4y ago
    I used to shop on a daily basis. Lately, though, I cannot know that food I want will be available on a daily basis, so I buy in bulk when it is available. This week diet soda is not on the shelves, but at least jumbo eggs are, and that’s rare. I only have this problem on the west coast, so I suspect it’s a local distribution issue; I’m looking forward to moving back to the east coast, where groceries are more plentiful.
    - richiebful1 4y ago
      I haven't spent much time on the West Coast, but this surprises me. California is the real "Garden State" in terms of produce production. Can other people verify this or offer a theory why this would be the case?
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        Grass is greener on the other side? The bountiful produce production is mostly more noticeable in SoCal/central valley than in SF.
      - astrange 4y ago
        Groceries aren’t that good in NYC because they won’t allow enough warehouses to be built; IIRC this leads to produce being older and sometimes spoiled in stores. Other places on the east coast do have better groceries than NorCal and proximity to farms doesn’t seem to matter that much. Which makes sense; “eating local” and “farm to table” are not actually real things, wouldn’t be good for the environment if they were, and are mostly products of green meme boomers’ wishful thinking.
      - gkop 4y ago
        I live in the bay, we have fabulous and abundant groceries. Maybe other parts of the state are different.
    - randallsquared 4y ago
      Things randomly not being available really underwent a step change that hasn't been reversed in the period since 2020. The best solution to that which I found, in NYC, was to order as much as possible through Amazon Fresh (really Prime Now was better, but for whatever reason they killed it in favor of the worse version). The benefit of that is that it only takes a moment to check if things are in stock, and if they're not in stock, it just won't let me order them. If they are in stock, I bulk order (best example is, as you said, diet soda). Until I moved out of Manhattan recently, the absolute best shopping experience was Gorillas, which had the "not available in the app if it's not available in real life" experience of Fresh, but also delivery in near real-time. I have started meals, found that I was missing an ingredient, and ordered it through Gorillas with no disruption to the meal prep time.
  - Markoff 4y ago
    that seems horribly inefficient considering wasted time on the way to/from shop and time spent in queue waiting at checkout, so instead of doing this 1-2x a week you spend like 3 times more time on these fixed items and let's ignore the promotions especially for bigger packages/bulk purchases I don't think it's really doable unless you are single and you have big chain right on the way from work, otherwise small shops in convenient location next to your house will charge you premium compared to big discount chains
- rglullis 4y ago
  Because urban planning in North America is totally broken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    Sorry, but there is no world in which shopping at the grocer every day is more convenient than shopping once every 1.5 or even 2 weeks or so. I live in a dense city and very close to grocery stores, this is still true.
    - tjoff 4y ago
      There is, it costs less than 10 minutes per day extra and you get quite a bit of freedom from it and at the same time don't have to figure out every meal in advance and can adapt at the last minute. Bonus: I don't have to take the car either.
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        I do think people being reluctant to plan their meals is a large part of why this is less common (also most people don't seem to cook as much as I do so it might not add up as much). but stated otherwise, you are saying that my getting a big order saves me 2 hours every time I do it. 10 minutes is also almost certainly an underestimate, assuming you live a 5 minute walk from the grocery store.
        tjoff 4y ago
        Well, the time and inconvenience to plan for two weeks easily surpasses two hours for me. And having to take the car. Sure, I'd pick a cheaper place with greater options when I go big but that is also a very small price to pay for the convenience. No, it takes less than a minute extra walk from my daily commute (walking), the rest of the nine minutes are to compensate for traversing the grocery store multiple times and wait in line at checkout. If I expand it by another ~4 minutes I have other options as well. If time was of extreme mindless essence I'd also take the bike.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Personally I'd upgrade that to shopping 'offline' at all. As a result when I do go to a supermarket myself for something it's not enough to warrant more than a basket, but man is it a nightmare having to actually 'search' for stuff instead of just typing it into a box!
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    I have personally found that as someone who eats a lot of vegetables that online shopping is not tenable for produce selection, your mileage might vary. sometimes I do something really ridiculous which is get a pickup order for my non-produce items and then go into the store just to buy the produce.
    - OJFord 4y ago
      I do too, it's fine in my experience. Occasionally I get something that I think 'surely there was a longer-dated or better-knick one, this isn't the one I'd have picked myself', but in such cases they just refund it.
- robonerd 4y ago
  A basket worth of food lasts me about five days. If I were shopping once a day, I think a basket of food could feed five for a day.
  - Markoff 4y ago
    that depends on size of basket nad things you buy, 2-3 bags of chips easily fill smaller baskets and I dont think you could survive on that long, let alone family, same with milk boxes for instance
    - leetcrew 4y ago
      chips are one of the least space-efficient foods you could possibly pick. they're not particularly good for you either. I definitely would not recommend feeding your family chips for a whole week, whether or not they fit in the basket. this is actually something I like about shopping into a basket. it forces me to be more intentional about my food choices. instead of a ton of snacks, I buy simple ingredients that can be combined into lots of different meals. it also prevents me from overflowing the pantry of my small apartment. I typically allocate two thirds of my basket staples (milk, eggs, pasta, canned tomatoes, canned beans, rice) and top off the remaining third with whatever fruits/vegetables look good and possibly some chicken thighs or a nice steak. this is enough to feed myself for two weeks, though I could go as much as three if I go heavier on the staples. obviously how you choose to shop is up to you. but you can fit a lot of healthy ingredients into a single basket if you're strategic about it.
- paganel 4y ago
  Like other people have said, I shop on a daily basis, there’s a store close to us which is open every day and the price difference compared to other, bigger stores which are located just outside the city is not that big. It’s me, my SO, our dog and our cat, it’s pretty doable, fresh produce and fresh fruits every day (especially now, as the summer comes) is pure heaven. We’re not big meat nor processed food consumers, and ordering take-out food is oftentimes comparable (if you add in the opportunity cost of the time and energy spent cooking).
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    Do you live in SF? If so, I'm curious what neighborhood. > ordering take-out food is oftentimes comparable I find people who do the daily shopping thing tend to order more take out than people who do the bulk shopping thing. it might have to do with them skewing younger though
    - gkop 4y ago
      Think Gus’s family of markets in SF. And independent markets like Golden on Church St between Duboce and Market. Other Avenues in the Sunset. And countless ethnic markets across the city. All these will be quicker to get in and out of than a Safeway or a Whole Foods.
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        Stores like Golden charge for the convenience. Most people in SF live more than 5 minutes walk from a Gus's or equivalent. Gus's are not faster than a Safeway or Whole Foods in my experience, ethnic markets definitely are.
        gkop 4y ago
        I’m so confused by your comments. How are you carrying your groceries home? Full-sized shopping cart implies car. Car in SF, on the median, means calling an Uber, renting a Zipcar, moving another car in a tandem garage, operating a stacker, or finding a new street parking space when you come home - this shit takes time. Plus, parking at the store is often its own sport. Versus just popping into the green grocer on your way back from whatever other walking or bicycling errand in the second most dense city in the US.. Also, what do your taste buds and nutritionist say about the value of produce freshness?
- axiomsEnd 4y ago
  I have 6 medium-sized shops, 2 shops selling only vegetables, 6 small shops selling basics and ready-to-eat meals in 10 minut walk radius. This is a lot, but in other parts of town you will probably have at least one medium and one small shop open between 6-22. It's in city, but most villages in here often have similar situations. So I would say it depends on country.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  I do the same and I have 2 kids. Not using a cart allows you to gauge the weight of everthing and it is especially useful if you walk or cycle to the supermarket. Now I am working from home so I just go several times a week, I definitely don't mind doing that as the first thing I want to do when I stop working is having a walk or a bicycle ride outside. Before I used to do that when commuting back home.
- hansthehorse 4y ago
  That's why I've always called them bachelor baskets.
- MrLeap 4y ago
  35 pounds of butter will provide enough calories for you to walk to space. Butter based diets make a basket life for even a family of 14 trivial. Think about it. https://what-if.xkcd.com/126/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/126/
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
goosedragons 4y ago
Me too. It's been frustrating since the pandemic started and all the grocery stores near me used that as an excuse to remove them. The high end one has them back but not the others.
danaris 4y ago
And what about when you're buying a 28-lb box of kitty litter, or a 30-lb bag of kibble? Or, heck, even just a gallon of milk? That basket gets pretty heavy pretty fast, depending on what you're buying.
- elliekelly 4y ago
  Some stores like Target and CVS have wheelie baskets now. They look like this[1] or this[2] and you can use them either handheld or roll-along but I’ll admit they’re a bit cumbersome to carry. For me, at least. Maybe they’re the perfect size for bigger/taller people. [1]https://thefixturezone.com/shopping-basket-on-wheels-with-pull-handle.html https://thefixturezone.com/shopping-basket-on-wheels-with-pu... [2]http://m.thai.groceryshoppingtrolley.com/sale-3255999-colorful-plastic-rolling-shopping-basket-with-wheels-55l-plastic-shopping-trolley-baskets.html http://m.thai.groceryshoppingtrolley.com/sale-3255999-colorf...
  - tssva 4y ago
    Several years ago stores in my area deployed the wheeled baskets but I seldom saw people use them. They have almost completely disappeared and been replaced with double tiered small basket shopping carts. If available this is my preferred cart of choice. I shop for 1 1/2 people so these small carts are able to hold a week's worth of my groceries.
Markoff 4y ago
And how exactly shopping cart force you to buy more stuff? Do US shopping carts have some built in device giving electroshocks unless they are filled to certain capacity? I decide whether I take cart or basket depending on my shopping list, obviously if I am going to buy heavy things I am not going to carry it around shop in basket or if it's one of those shops with very small area behind checkout it's better to put stuff back to cart. Best compromise is bigger basket on wheels (which can be pulled) for medium purchases, no need to bother with coin, no need to carry heavier stuff in hand and no need to return it back to inconvenient location plus in theory it gives you time to organize your grocery later after checkout. Btw I don't have car, so I carry everything in backpack, either big (50-60L) or medium one (~30L) and eventually lighter things (bread/cakes/chips etc) in big plastic bag, cart vs basket have again nothing to do with this. By your logic you should take with you only limited amount of cash, if you have such bad self control that you need to limit yourself with basket size and honestly I think you should seek some psychological help if your self control is that bad.
- elliekelly 4y ago
  I think your comment is over the top and unnecessarily rude. No, parent commenter doesn’t need “psychological help” because they prefer to use a basket over a cart in order to buy fewer items. But, in case you’re actually curious about why someone would say such a thing: https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-shaped-our-buying-habits https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-sh... It’s also addressed pretty early on in the posted article.
- bombcar 4y ago
  If you go to Costco, you see almost everyone using a cart checks out with a full cart - if they reduced the size of their carts they’d likely reduce the average purchase amount, which indicates the size of the cart helps their sales. Still got room? Might as well buy it!
  - MisterBastahrd 4y ago
    Well, sure. People generally go to Costco about twice a month. Costco is a bulk goods store, and you pay for the ability to shop there. It'd be sort of stupid and wasteful to go to Costco to pick up one item unless you're just really into rotisserie chickens.
bombcar 4y ago
People used to use carts that looked like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shopping-Cart-with-Accessory-Basket-in-Black-SC38/303369926 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shopp... though perhaps not as heavy duty. Quite capable of bringing home a week’s worth of groceries in one go. If you live within walking distance of a store and don’t like shopping daily, buying your own cart (of a different style/color than the store’s) can be a great deal.
- umpalumpaaa 4y ago
  Access denied
- belter 4y ago
  Your link is not working but I think you meant this? https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/e1f8af99-7af9-45ee-8fdd-ae44760e3e0d/svn/milwaukee-janitorial-carts-sc38-64_1000.jpg https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/e1f8af99-7af9-45e... https://946e583539399c301dc7-100ffa5b52865b8ec92e09e9de9f4d02.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/34068/11034322.jpg https://946e583539399c301dc7-100ffa5b52865b8ec92e09e9de9f4d0...
  - Izkata 4y ago
    They did; your first link is the exact same product image.
lazyant 4y ago
I find the wheeled basket that you move like a carry-on the best option; small so you don't buy a lot of stuff, nimble (can get around shopping carts) but don't have to strain your arm and hand after you put a gallon of milk.

whimsicalism 4y ago

Do you not cook for yourself very frequently? Are you single or just don't have kids? I seriously don't see how people who cook frequently for more than just 1 person get by without a cart without considerable inconvenience.

gernb 4y ago
Think most of the world shops without carts. They just go more frequently and probably live in a situation that makes that easier. (public transportation where there's a grocery store at most every stations ... Japan or nearby ... most of Europe)
numlock86 4y ago
You just shop on a daily basis. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I did this for a few months right after work, which was in walking range. Eventually I went back to "shopping big" once every week after I moved and switched my employer, though. But it's doable.
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  ah yes, the considerable inconvenience part of my comment. e: I know that a lot of people do this (often because they don't own cars), but having lived in cities my whole life and done both approaches at various times, the infrequent large shipping trip is much faster when amortized over two weeks. and for those saying all my produce is going to be spoiled or I must just be eating processed foods... absolutely not.
  - I-M-S 4y ago
    Do you live in a suburban environment? Because where I live it's not unusual to pass the grocery store every day while walking back home and buy groceries for the day. It's only for the big shopping trip on the weekends that I use the trolley (and even then the trip is done on foot).
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      Why do you have the big shopping trip on the weekends? I have never lived in a suburb in my life, I am maybe 2 minutes walking from a small grocer and 5 from a larger. Still definitely save time (and money) by shopping big biweekly at the large grocer.
      - I-M-S 4y ago
        My spouse works regular hours and it's easier to carry stuff with two people. You are probably right about saving money by buying in bulk. Unfortunately then storage becomes a problem (we live in a small space).
      - pessimizer 4y ago
        > 2 minutes walking from a small grocer and 5 from a larger I'm not five minutes from my own front door i.e. if I decide to go grocery shopping, the process of leaving my apartment takes at least five minutes.
        whimsicalism 4y ago
        I agree, this seems to be bolstering my own point though.
  - intsunny 4y ago
    > ah yes, the considerable inconvenience part of my comment. Maybe in suburbia. In cities without insane rents and healthy work/life balances (IE: not NYC), there are often many grocery stores that make regular grocery shopping quite easy. (And rather fresh.) Also regular grocery shopping means that people aren't loading up carts with 40+ items and in turn need 10 minutes to check out. Grocery shopping becomes a non-item and promotes healthier inside cooking.
- lelanthran 4y ago
  > You just shop on a daily basis. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe you walk to the shops if they are close enough? If not, that sounds wasteful. Personally I try to spend as little time in the store as possible, so when I am in there I'll take extra of whatever keeps just so that I don't have to be in the store again any time soon. Better to spend an extra 5m grabbing everything for the next week than to come in again in two days time.
- Telemakhos 4y ago
  I used to shop on a daily basis. Lately, though, I cannot know that food I want will be available on a daily basis, so I buy in bulk when it is available. This week diet soda is not on the shelves, but at least jumbo eggs are, and that’s rare. I only have this problem on the west coast, so I suspect it’s a local distribution issue; I’m looking forward to moving back to the east coast, where groceries are more plentiful.
  - richiebful1 4y ago
    I haven't spent much time on the West Coast, but this surprises me. California is the real "Garden State" in terms of produce production. Can other people verify this or offer a theory why this would be the case?
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      Grass is greener on the other side? The bountiful produce production is mostly more noticeable in SoCal/central valley than in SF.
    - astrange 4y ago
      Groceries aren’t that good in NYC because they won’t allow enough warehouses to be built; IIRC this leads to produce being older and sometimes spoiled in stores. Other places on the east coast do have better groceries than NorCal and proximity to farms doesn’t seem to matter that much. Which makes sense; “eating local” and “farm to table” are not actually real things, wouldn’t be good for the environment if they were, and are mostly products of green meme boomers’ wishful thinking.
    - gkop 4y ago
      I live in the bay, we have fabulous and abundant groceries. Maybe other parts of the state are different.
  - randallsquared 4y ago
    Things randomly not being available really underwent a step change that hasn't been reversed in the period since 2020. The best solution to that which I found, in NYC, was to order as much as possible through Amazon Fresh (really Prime Now was better, but for whatever reason they killed it in favor of the worse version). The benefit of that is that it only takes a moment to check if things are in stock, and if they're not in stock, it just won't let me order them. If they are in stock, I bulk order (best example is, as you said, diet soda). Until I moved out of Manhattan recently, the absolute best shopping experience was Gorillas, which had the "not available in the app if it's not available in real life" experience of Fresh, but also delivery in near real-time. I have started meals, found that I was missing an ingredient, and ordered it through Gorillas with no disruption to the meal prep time.
- Markoff 4y ago
  that seems horribly inefficient considering wasted time on the way to/from shop and time spent in queue waiting at checkout, so instead of doing this 1-2x a week you spend like 3 times more time on these fixed items and let's ignore the promotions especially for bigger packages/bulk purchases I don't think it's really doable unless you are single and you have big chain right on the way from work, otherwise small shops in convenient location next to your house will charge you premium compared to big discount chains
rglullis 4y ago
Because urban planning in North America is totally broken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Sorry, but there is no world in which shopping at the grocer every day is more convenient than shopping once every 1.5 or even 2 weeks or so. I live in a dense city and very close to grocery stores, this is still true.
  - tjoff 4y ago
    There is, it costs less than 10 minutes per day extra and you get quite a bit of freedom from it and at the same time don't have to figure out every meal in advance and can adapt at the last minute. Bonus: I don't have to take the car either.
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      I do think people being reluctant to plan their meals is a large part of why this is less common (also most people don't seem to cook as much as I do so it might not add up as much). but stated otherwise, you are saying that my getting a big order saves me 2 hours every time I do it. 10 minutes is also almost certainly an underestimate, assuming you live a 5 minute walk from the grocery store.
      - tjoff 4y ago
        Well, the time and inconvenience to plan for two weeks easily surpasses two hours for me. And having to take the car. Sure, I'd pick a cheaper place with greater options when I go big but that is also a very small price to pay for the convenience. No, it takes less than a minute extra walk from my daily commute (walking), the rest of the nine minutes are to compensate for traversing the grocery store multiple times and wait in line at checkout. If I expand it by another ~4 minutes I have other options as well. If time was of extreme mindless essence I'd also take the bike.
OJFord 4y ago
Personally I'd upgrade that to shopping 'offline' at all. As a result when I do go to a supermarket myself for something it's not enough to warrant more than a basket, but man is it a nightmare having to actually 'search' for stuff instead of just typing it into a box!
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  I have personally found that as someone who eats a lot of vegetables that online shopping is not tenable for produce selection, your mileage might vary. sometimes I do something really ridiculous which is get a pickup order for my non-produce items and then go into the store just to buy the produce.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    I do too, it's fine in my experience. Occasionally I get something that I think 'surely there was a longer-dated or better-knick one, this isn't the one I'd have picked myself', but in such cases they just refund it.
robonerd 4y ago
A basket worth of food lasts me about five days. If I were shopping once a day, I think a basket of food could feed five for a day.
- Markoff 4y ago
  that depends on size of basket nad things you buy, 2-3 bags of chips easily fill smaller baskets and I dont think you could survive on that long, let alone family, same with milk boxes for instance
  - leetcrew 4y ago
    chips are one of the least space-efficient foods you could possibly pick. they're not particularly good for you either. I definitely would not recommend feeding your family chips for a whole week, whether or not they fit in the basket. this is actually something I like about shopping into a basket. it forces me to be more intentional about my food choices. instead of a ton of snacks, I buy simple ingredients that can be combined into lots of different meals. it also prevents me from overflowing the pantry of my small apartment. I typically allocate two thirds of my basket staples (milk, eggs, pasta, canned tomatoes, canned beans, rice) and top off the remaining third with whatever fruits/vegetables look good and possibly some chicken thighs or a nice steak. this is enough to feed myself for two weeks, though I could go as much as three if I go heavier on the staples. obviously how you choose to shop is up to you. but you can fit a lot of healthy ingredients into a single basket if you're strategic about it.
paganel 4y ago
Like other people have said, I shop on a daily basis, there’s a store close to us which is open every day and the price difference compared to other, bigger stores which are located just outside the city is not that big. It’s me, my SO, our dog and our cat, it’s pretty doable, fresh produce and fresh fruits every day (especially now, as the summer comes) is pure heaven. We’re not big meat nor processed food consumers, and ordering take-out food is oftentimes comparable (if you add in the opportunity cost of the time and energy spent cooking).
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Do you live in SF? If so, I'm curious what neighborhood. > ordering take-out food is oftentimes comparable I find people who do the daily shopping thing tend to order more take out than people who do the bulk shopping thing. it might have to do with them skewing younger though
  - gkop 4y ago
    Think Gus’s family of markets in SF. And independent markets like Golden on Church St between Duboce and Market. Other Avenues in the Sunset. And countless ethnic markets across the city. All these will be quicker to get in and out of than a Safeway or a Whole Foods.
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      Stores like Golden charge for the convenience. Most people in SF live more than 5 minutes walk from a Gus's or equivalent. Gus's are not faster than a Safeway or Whole Foods in my experience, ethnic markets definitely are.
      - gkop 4y ago
        I’m so confused by your comments. How are you carrying your groceries home? Full-sized shopping cart implies car. Car in SF, on the median, means calling an Uber, renting a Zipcar, moving another car in a tandem garage, operating a stacker, or finding a new street parking space when you come home - this shit takes time. Plus, parking at the store is often its own sport. Versus just popping into the green grocer on your way back from whatever other walking or bicycling errand in the second most dense city in the US.. Also, what do your taste buds and nutritionist say about the value of produce freshness?
axiomsEnd 4y ago
I have 6 medium-sized shops, 2 shops selling only vegetables, 6 small shops selling basics and ready-to-eat meals in 10 minut walk radius. This is a lot, but in other parts of town you will probably have at least one medium and one small shop open between 6-22. It's in city, but most villages in here often have similar situations. So I would say it depends on country.
prmoustache 4y ago
I do the same and I have 2 kids. Not using a cart allows you to gauge the weight of everthing and it is especially useful if you walk or cycle to the supermarket. Now I am working from home so I just go several times a week, I definitely don't mind doing that as the first thing I want to do when I stop working is having a walk or a bicycle ride outside. Before I used to do that when commuting back home.
hansthehorse 4y ago
That's why I've always called them bachelor baskets.
MrLeap 4y ago
35 pounds of butter will provide enough calories for you to walk to space. Butter based diets make a basket life for even a family of 14 trivial. Think about it. https://what-if.xkcd.com/126/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/126/
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

goosedragons 4y ago

Me too. It's been frustrating since the pandemic started and all the grocery stores near me used that as an excuse to remove them. The high end one has them back but not the others.

danaris 4y ago

And what about when you're buying a 28-lb box of kitty litter, or a 30-lb bag of kibble? Or, heck, even just a gallon of milk? That basket gets pretty heavy pretty fast, depending on what you're buying.

elliekelly 4y ago
Some stores like Target and CVS have wheelie baskets now. They look like this[1] or this[2] and you can use them either handheld or roll-along but I’ll admit they’re a bit cumbersome to carry. For me, at least. Maybe they’re the perfect size for bigger/taller people. [1]https://thefixturezone.com/shopping-basket-on-wheels-with-pull-handle.html https://thefixturezone.com/shopping-basket-on-wheels-with-pu... [2]http://m.thai.groceryshoppingtrolley.com/sale-3255999-colorful-plastic-rolling-shopping-basket-with-wheels-55l-plastic-shopping-trolley-baskets.html http://m.thai.groceryshoppingtrolley.com/sale-3255999-colorf...
- tssva 4y ago
  Several years ago stores in my area deployed the wheeled baskets but I seldom saw people use them. They have almost completely disappeared and been replaced with double tiered small basket shopping carts. If available this is my preferred cart of choice. I shop for 1 1/2 people so these small carts are able to hold a week's worth of my groceries.

Markoff 4y ago

And how exactly shopping cart force you to buy more stuff? Do US shopping carts have some built in device giving electroshocks unless they are filled to certain capacity? I decide whether I take cart or basket depending on my shopping list, obviously if I am going to buy heavy things I am not going to carry it around shop in basket or if it's one of those shops with very small area behind checkout it's better to put stuff back to cart. Best compromise is bigger basket on wheels (which can be pulled) for medium purchases, no need to bother with coin, no need to carry heavier stuff in hand and no need to return it back to inconvenient location plus in theory it gives you time to organize your grocery later after checkout. Btw I don't have car, so I carry everything in backpack, either big (50-60L) or medium one (~30L) and eventually lighter things (bread/cakes/chips etc) in big plastic bag, cart vs basket have again nothing to do with this. By your logic you should take with you only limited amount of cash, if you have such bad self control that you need to limit yourself with basket size and honestly I think you should seek some psychological help if your self control is that bad.

elliekelly 4y ago
I think your comment is over the top and unnecessarily rude. No, parent commenter doesn’t need “psychological help” because they prefer to use a basket over a cart in order to buy fewer items. But, in case you’re actually curious about why someone would say such a thing: https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-shaped-our-buying-habits https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-sh... It’s also addressed pretty early on in the posted article.
bombcar 4y ago
If you go to Costco, you see almost everyone using a cart checks out with a full cart - if they reduced the size of their carts they’d likely reduce the average purchase amount, which indicates the size of the cart helps their sales. Still got room? Might as well buy it!
- MisterBastahrd 4y ago
  Well, sure. People generally go to Costco about twice a month. Costco is a bulk goods store, and you pay for the ability to shop there. It'd be sort of stupid and wasteful to go to Costco to pick up one item unless you're just really into rotisserie chickens.

bombcar 4y ago

People used to use carts that looked like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shopping-Cart-with-Accessory-Basket-in-Black-SC38/303369926 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shopp... though perhaps not as heavy duty. Quite capable of bringing home a week’s worth of groceries in one go. If you live within walking distance of a store and don’t like shopping daily, buying your own cart (of a different style/color than the store’s) can be a great deal.

umpalumpaaa 4y ago
Access denied
belter 4y ago
Your link is not working but I think you meant this? https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/e1f8af99-7af9-45ee-8fdd-ae44760e3e0d/svn/milwaukee-janitorial-carts-sc38-64_1000.jpg https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/e1f8af99-7af9-45e... https://946e583539399c301dc7-100ffa5b52865b8ec92e09e9de9f4d02.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/34068/11034322.jpg https://946e583539399c301dc7-100ffa5b52865b8ec92e09e9de9f4d0...
- Izkata 4y ago
  They did; your first link is the exact same product image.

lazyant 4y ago

I find the wheeled basket that you move like a carry-on the best option; small so you don't buy a lot of stuff, nimble (can get around shopping carts) but don't have to strain your arm and hand after you put a gallon of milk.