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In rural America their often is no bus. In the city I grew up in they had no busses until a local company paid for the first one simply to get the poorer emplo

In rural America their often is no bus. In the city I grew up in they had no busses until a local company paid for the first one simply to get the poorer employees to work reliably because it was impacting production. There are still many places in America where you either walk or you own a car, period. When the car breaks down and you need parts.. you walk. Worse there are no sidewalks. When the snow is a foot deep you risk frostbite and hypothermia.

dmitrygr 11mo ago
This is also nonsense. Instacart is too new for anyone over 18 to have somehow not died of hunger if they live out of reach of food if they had no way to get food before Instacart’s existence…
- mapontosevenths 11mo ago
  Cars breakdown. Bodies become injured. The weather gets bad. Babysitters get ill or quit. Many things can leave a person temporarily or permanently unable to fetch their own groceries. Many of those things happen to the poor more frequently. They at least have more severe consequences when a person is poor. For example, a middle class person can just buy a new tire when one goes flat. A poor person may have to walk for a few paychecks.
  - dmitrygr 11mo ago
    And your point is that before Instacart all those people died of hunger? Please!
    - mapontosevenths 11mo ago
      No. I was replying to a parent comment that said: > You just take the bus to the store, because you don’t pay extra money for someone to go there for you. You don’t have that money. They said this in response to a comment comparing the cost/benefit of instacart vs overpriced shrinkflation products from Dollar General. Neither alternative was starvation. The alternatives under discussion were Dollar General, Instacart, and the bus. I pointed out that the bus is often not an option, because the person who advocated it seemed to be using it to dismiss the fact that instacart groceries from a real grocery store are cheaper than buying them from a place like Dollar General which is objectively true.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 11mo ago
  The point is that it is an option they have which subtly costs them significantly more money than it advertises. It makes itself appear to be a roughly equal option with a known, easily calculable fee. It can be budgeted, and might for someone working long hours who doesn't have the time to walk however far or travel however long on public transit to get to the grocery store and back (or who simply sees a roughly equal option which saves them a lot of time). The reality is that the algorithmic prices are always higher than they'd be in store. InstaCart would never lower their prices below what's in the store, algorithmically or otherwise; they would have to foot the difference. Using software hides these price increases, especially when the nature of it means the customer won't be in the store to see the differences in real time. (They could enlist help but why would they even think to do that?) It seems to be a reasonable option even though their grocery bill will (apparently) be about 7% higher. That could seem the same as prices rising; it's surely noticeable and will make them drop a couple items from their cart but they can still checkout. Their cost would remain consistent over time and with actual price increases while always being that barely significant amount more. All while they believe they know exactly how much their decision is costing them.

dmitrygr 11mo ago

This is also nonsense. Instacart is too new for anyone over 18 to have somehow not died of hunger if they live out of reach of food if they had no way to get food before Instacart’s existence…

mapontosevenths 11mo ago
Cars breakdown. Bodies become injured. The weather gets bad. Babysitters get ill or quit. Many things can leave a person temporarily or permanently unable to fetch their own groceries. Many of those things happen to the poor more frequently. They at least have more severe consequences when a person is poor. For example, a middle class person can just buy a new tire when one goes flat. A poor person may have to walk for a few paychecks.
- dmitrygr 11mo ago
  And your point is that before Instacart all those people died of hunger? Please!
  - mapontosevenths 11mo ago
    No. I was replying to a parent comment that said: > You just take the bus to the store, because you don’t pay extra money for someone to go there for you. You don’t have that money. They said this in response to a comment comparing the cost/benefit of instacart vs overpriced shrinkflation products from Dollar General. Neither alternative was starvation. The alternatives under discussion were Dollar General, Instacart, and the bus. I pointed out that the bus is often not an option, because the person who advocated it seemed to be using it to dismiss the fact that instacart groceries from a real grocery store are cheaper than buying them from a place like Dollar General which is objectively true.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 11mo ago
The point is that it is an option they have which subtly costs them significantly more money than it advertises. It makes itself appear to be a roughly equal option with a known, easily calculable fee. It can be budgeted, and might for someone working long hours who doesn't have the time to walk however far or travel however long on public transit to get to the grocery store and back (or who simply sees a roughly equal option which saves them a lot of time). The reality is that the algorithmic prices are always higher than they'd be in store. InstaCart would never lower their prices below what's in the store, algorithmically or otherwise; they would have to foot the difference. Using software hides these price increases, especially when the nature of it means the customer won't be in the store to see the differences in real time. (They could enlist help but why would they even think to do that?) It seems to be a reasonable option even though their grocery bill will (apparently) be about 7% higher. That could seem the same as prices rising; it's surely noticeable and will make them drop a couple items from their cart but they can still checkout. Their cost would remain consistent over time and with actual price increases while always being that barely significant amount more. All while they believe they know exactly how much their decision is costing them.