We are constantly exhorted to use public transport to reduce greenhouse gases and the use of fossil fuels. I am lucky enough to live in a suburb which is fairly safe to walk around in and is reasonably well served by trains and buses. I have a short, if steep, walk to a bus stop, which (sort of) connects with a train service. From my house I can get around all of Melbourne in one way or another, without the use of a car.
I am not trying to sound like a saint. I don't have a driving licence. When George is around I am only too happy to let him drive me where I want to go, or pick me up. But I try to do weekday things without expecting him to ferry me hither and yon.
One of those things is the grocery shopping, which up until now I have tried to do in one big shop per week. It;s a boring thing to subject the family to, so I prefer to do it on a Thursday or Friday, getting to the supermarket by bus and having the groceries delivered by their delivery service. It costs me a few dollars, and I can't get barbeque chicken (which I never buy anyway) or icecream delivered, but it is otherwise very convenient. (The icecream I get in monthly hits, with George's assistance). For the elderly and disabled with no-one to drive them, it must be a lifeline. For me, it is a necessary convenience for which I am prepared to pay.
Our household consists of two adults, two teenagers with hollow legs, and a dog. Because of the delivery solution, I tend to buy everything at the supermarket. We get through quite a lot of stuff every week. I have just been informed in a letter from my supermarket that they will no longer, as of next week, be delivering any cold items. Approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of my weekly shop is perishables - dairy, meat, fruit and vegetables. They will, of course, be charging the same amount as now to deliver half my shopping, if I continue to use this service.
The letter ends with the immortal line 'Just a couple more ways to make your shopping easier!' The exclamation mark is theirs, not mine.
This will make my life harder. I will either have to (a) rely on George more, (b) change supermarkets (unless the other one changes its policies to match), or (c) get a shopping trolley and change the way I shop. I haven't decided yet.
Coles Supermarkets, I'm ashamed to still own shares in your parent company. What are those people who really cannot change their ways going to do?
5 comments:
Damn them, it's like the endless phone waiting when they tell you that you are important to them, and then lay muzak.
I couldn't get around without my car, to walk The Labradors or get anywhere. We have terrible public transport here.
I don't think we have any supermarkets that deliver but I can see the advantages in the idea. Some of our services for seniors include a van to take them shopping, otherwise you are on your own.
Hauling a weeks worth of groceries in a cart sounds daunting.
Darla
Ironically, if you shop at Coles on line, they'll deliver everything - frozen, chilled, whatever. (Not an option for us on the little island, but I'm sure it's available in your part of the world.)
oh for real?!! I can't believe they ended with the bit about making your shopping easier! That is just too much!
Hope Woollies keeps playing the game, because (1) you can't fit a week's shop in your average Granny Trolley; (2) if you put 6l of milk in the bottom and drag it over the bumps & lumps they insist on sticking all over bus-stops, the lumps etc knock the wheels off the trolley; (3) you MUST lift it onto the bus etc by the sides of the handles, NOT the top (or the whole thing falls in half); (4) you can buy a 4-wheel 2 basket double decker trolley from Howard's Rip-Off World for about $150, and you can put more stuff in it, but the baskets slide about, and may fall off while getting on/off bus - bus drivers won't get down to help, as it isn't a pram.
If you can't get delivery, least worst solution is to do on-line for heavy or bulky stuff, and go to shop for specials, and f&v, where you want to pick your own!
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