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It's highly situational, but speaking broadly the US usually it's a "5 minute drive vs a 25 minute walk" situation. But even if you live 5-10 minutes from the
by snovymgodym 3y ago
It's highly situational, but speaking broadly the US usually it's a "5 minute drive vs a 25 minute walk" situation.
But even if you live 5-10 minutes from the supermarket many people will still drive because everything is designed around people driving. For example, it's very common to lack sidewalks and even when there are sidewalks, protected crossings can be sparse.
So a 10 minute walk to the store can involve you having to walk in the street or in the mud and grass, cutting across the street where there's no crossing signal, and having to walk through a busy parking lot to actually get to the building.
And even once you're in the store things are designed around cars. The size of packaging and the quantities that people normally buy in are based on the idea that Americans take their car to the grocery store once a week and fill their trunk space with groceries.
- orangecat 3y agoThe size of packaging and the quantities that people normally buy in are based on the idea that Americans take their car to the grocery store once a week and fill their trunk space with groceries. Yes. My grocery store often has sales where you have to buy 5 of a large and/or heavy product to get the discount. As a pedestrian I have to either forego the savings or have an awkward trip home.
- grzm 3y agoIn some countries it’s more common to have items delivered, which can work in cases like this.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoDoesn't that just mean someone else is doing the driving?
- grzm 3y agoIt’s not a one-for-one replacement for at least two reasons: each shopper doesn’t have their own delivery vehicle, and the number of shopping trips that require vehicles is less.
- JoshTriplett 3y agoExactly. We'd be substantially better off, in terms of total quantity of driving done, if the standard practice was to have groceries delivered. Grocery stores could then be optimized around that, and eventually some of them could stop catering to in-person customers entirely, reducing expense and waste.