10 March 2011

buy-buy

i hate to shop. i get confused and claustrophobic in stores, especially the big ones. i can never find what i want. and, in this neck of the woods, i have to drive too-long distances to purchase many of the things that i need.

ah, but online shopping - that's different! the ability to quickly find exactly the items i'm looking for, however obscure. so many choices. shopping in the daytime or nighttime, in pajamas or sweats. even coupons! but my favorite aspect of buying online is tracking the packages. seeing when my purchases leave the company, what cities and states they travel through in transit, what time they arrive and leave destinations, what day they'll be delivered to me - this is the part of the shopping experience that intrigues and fascinates me the most! perhaps all this speaks to my age, me a child of the sears-roebuck catalog. to be able to have such buying power amazes me still - and to have it work so well! the only drawback i see to online shopping is the yards and yards of bubble wrap that come in many packages. even though it's fun to pop, even though it's mostly air, it's still too much plastic for me. the only thing that's worse? styrofoam peanuts!

11 comments:

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

I am queeen of online shopping....especially around the holidays.....but yes, the packaging is a whole other story, isn't it?!

Star said...

Sigh...not much online shopping in Italy, yet, except--Thank the Cosmos!--for groceries, because of the high postage costs and the--sigh, again--unreliable postal service. Some things I can't get in Italy, I can't buy online because the company doesn't sell/ship overseas. Other things I *could* buy online, but the international postage is so expensive, it's often more than the object being purchased. My mom routinely teases me with all her marvelous, priced-to-go, no postage online shopping in the States. She also eats a 7-grain hot cereal, which I adore but can't get here, in front of me on Skype. With not just bananas, but also fresh blueberries, which she can get cheaply in season because they're in the northwest. Here, they cost two arms and two legs. Man, oh man!

Tabor said...

But star...you have freshly made pasta, all kinds of great veggies and fruit that are used IN SEASON and not picked un-ripe from Chile.

Anonymous said...

First, I love online shopping so much I'm jealous of Star for her online grocery shopping. What a luxury! Keep the bubble wrap & let The Little Girl jump up and down on it!

C.E.R. said...

The peanuts make me nutty too. However, our local UPS store takes them and recycles them. :)

~she~ said...

I also love watching the tracking websites! Another good thing about online shopping is it keeps people like my FedEx husband in business! Talk about job security in a failing economy!

R. J. said...

I agree that online shopping is less stressful and likely more successful. The exception for me is shoes or clothes. I have to try on things or spend too much postage returning stuff. That too is a drawback of online shopping--shipping and sales tax.

Anonymous said...

I have never yet done any shopping online!
Unless you count downloading books on to my Kindle.

I'm WAY behind the times!

Irene said...

I like online shopping too. I don't like going into stores that much. I like hassle free shopping and having things delivered to my apartment. I even buy clothes online. The packaging can be a problem, but it depends on what you buy. There seems to be a lot of wasteful material that I don't know what to do with. All the plastics! I feel bad about throwing that in the trash.

Gail Underwood Parker said...

Ahhhhh.. What would I do in a wintry storm before Christmas without my amazon.com options???? Or those times that I suddenly remember a grandchild's birthday or friend and can quickly send a surprise?
I,too enjoy "watching" the packages come closer and closer via tracking. But, I admit, that I am far more prone to impulse buys online than in a store. It seems backward I know, but it is true for me. I have to be careful, because it is such fun to surprise people and be able to do it the moment the idea strikes, without having to brave a mall, or the icy roads, or getting a babysitter. I just think the idea, and in 5 minutes the package can be ordered and on its way. -sigh-
Gail Underwood Parker
www.upbeatsanddownbeats.blogspot.com

Catherine Grace Life Photography said...

I am SO with you on the shopping thing and not loving it...It's a good thing my husband likes to shop. Not the norm I know. :) Online shopping though is a completely different animal...I love it! lol