Packaged Life [stuff]
Jan. 3rd, 2025 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterOne thing I definitely did not miss about living here, is what it takes to get a range of kinds of stuff here. We might as well be back in Texas, in that regard.
Three examples:
1. Ordinarily I'd prefer to get various bike parts directly from a local bike shop. They can usually order just about anything and have it delivered to the shop once or twice a week. In this case I'd go over to the shop to ask about getting a pile of spare brake pads and the replacement trailer arm. But with the closest bike shop permanently closed, getting to the next-closest bike shop is too time-consuming, because this would be a double trip, one to discuss the item(s), another to actually obtain it/them. So instead I've ordered the part from Burley and paid for shipping and packaging material.
2. The shoes that I wore almost every day during my sabbatical have completely worn out, after about 5 years of heavy use, and unfortunately for me, the company that makes them no longer sells them in black. I know that Seattle has several good shoe stores where I could go in and have a reasonable chance of finding a replacement, but any of the potential places I might go out here are about a minimum 45-minute or hour bike ride away (to say nothing of how long it would take using public transit). And potential places are an unknown quantity, so I might find myself at a store where everything is cheap and ugly and the wrong kind of shoe. Shoes are definitely a category of thing where it's helpful to try on the merchandise in person. But once again, because of the above, I've bought shoes online once again.
3. I've become very opinionated about plastic storage bins, having bought and used and dealt with so many different ones over the years. Finding what I actually want for sale in a physical store would be like winning the lottery at this point. Specialty shops for this kind of thing are generally only found in major urban areas, but again, it's definitely not worth the time or expense for me to go down to NYC or over to Boston to buy yet another set of plastic storage bins.
Buying plastic storage bins online and having them shipped to me in a big box always feels like the worst of these fiascos.
And the thing that always makes matters worse, is not all places will offer USPS options, nor will they all offer less expensive but slower options, for cases where I might be more willing to wait.
In December, the one larger local art supply store put out a plea to people because there were concerns the business might not be able to survive financially anymore. Sadly, the one time I rode my bike out there convinced me I don't ever want to try and ride a bike there again in the future. Not only is it at least a 45-minute expedition, but the store itself is on a busy 4-lane road with only sporadic shoulders or sidewalks.
So I've ordered some very basic puff paint online instead.
There aren't even any halfway-decent thrift stores in town. Anything that exists is in the 'burbs, and with limited time it's hard to work up the motivation to ever go out there. The shopping in the 'burbs out here is mostly big-box chain stores, with a small number of other businesses sprinkled in. So it feels like a slog and a punishment to even go out there.
The one store that might become worth a periodic visit, is an REI that recently opened up in one of the local malls. But once again, attempting to bike to that mall is TERRIBLE, so that will also be a bus expedition, and only on rare occasions. I might eventually venture forth on a quest for new cross-country skis, for instance.
I really don't enjoy the mental overhead associated with this stuff.
Three examples:
1. Ordinarily I'd prefer to get various bike parts directly from a local bike shop. They can usually order just about anything and have it delivered to the shop once or twice a week. In this case I'd go over to the shop to ask about getting a pile of spare brake pads and the replacement trailer arm. But with the closest bike shop permanently closed, getting to the next-closest bike shop is too time-consuming, because this would be a double trip, one to discuss the item(s), another to actually obtain it/them. So instead I've ordered the part from Burley and paid for shipping and packaging material.
2. The shoes that I wore almost every day during my sabbatical have completely worn out, after about 5 years of heavy use, and unfortunately for me, the company that makes them no longer sells them in black. I know that Seattle has several good shoe stores where I could go in and have a reasonable chance of finding a replacement, but any of the potential places I might go out here are about a minimum 45-minute or hour bike ride away (to say nothing of how long it would take using public transit). And potential places are an unknown quantity, so I might find myself at a store where everything is cheap and ugly and the wrong kind of shoe. Shoes are definitely a category of thing where it's helpful to try on the merchandise in person. But once again, because of the above, I've bought shoes online once again.
3. I've become very opinionated about plastic storage bins, having bought and used and dealt with so many different ones over the years. Finding what I actually want for sale in a physical store would be like winning the lottery at this point. Specialty shops for this kind of thing are generally only found in major urban areas, but again, it's definitely not worth the time or expense for me to go down to NYC or over to Boston to buy yet another set of plastic storage bins.
Buying plastic storage bins online and having them shipped to me in a big box always feels like the worst of these fiascos.
And the thing that always makes matters worse, is not all places will offer USPS options, nor will they all offer less expensive but slower options, for cases where I might be more willing to wait.
In December, the one larger local art supply store put out a plea to people because there were concerns the business might not be able to survive financially anymore. Sadly, the one time I rode my bike out there convinced me I don't ever want to try and ride a bike there again in the future. Not only is it at least a 45-minute expedition, but the store itself is on a busy 4-lane road with only sporadic shoulders or sidewalks.
So I've ordered some very basic puff paint online instead.
There aren't even any halfway-decent thrift stores in town. Anything that exists is in the 'burbs, and with limited time it's hard to work up the motivation to ever go out there. The shopping in the 'burbs out here is mostly big-box chain stores, with a small number of other businesses sprinkled in. So it feels like a slog and a punishment to even go out there.
The one store that might become worth a periodic visit, is an REI that recently opened up in one of the local malls. But once again, attempting to bike to that mall is TERRIBLE, so that will also be a bus expedition, and only on rare occasions. I might eventually venture forth on a quest for new cross-country skis, for instance.
I really don't enjoy the mental overhead associated with this stuff.
