Rant about shopping locally

[Platapus]

I want to shop locally. I really do. I like the idea of supporting small businesses and supporting people local to me.

But retail merchants are just not getting the 21st century shopping environment.

I needed to buy four items. I decided not to hop online, but to give the local merchants a good chance. These were four simple mass produced items of a specific type. Unfortunately, these four objects would not be carried by any one merchant so I was in for some traveling.

I decided to take a day of vacation from my job. I recognized that shopping locally is time consuming and would probably take all morning. On the weekends, I am far too busy with important stuff to be able to waste hours shopping.

Rant 1: Selection. It may be just my impression, but in the past few years, the selection of products in local stores seems limited. I don't buy exotic products. But I do have some basic requirements. If I am lucky, a local store may have 2 different products to choose from and often they are almost identical. If I shop online, I may have a choice of 20 pages of products to choose from.

Rant 2: Prices. I understand that running a local store is more expensive than running an Internet distribution system and I am willing to accept a higher price to support a local business. But at the same time, I am a capitalist. I want to buy the mostest while paying the leastest. My willingness to pay a higher price to a local merchant only goes so far. It is not like there is a difference in quality as the local merchant is selling the same item as I can get online, just not as many. I am certainly not willing to pay higher prices for a product that is almost what I am looking for. I would rather pay a lower price and get exactly what I am looking for.

Rant 3: Availability. I understand that a local merchant can't stock all of the stuff that a distribution center can stock. I am willing to work with the local merchant by placing an order so that the local merchant gets my business. However, when I ask how long will it take to fulfill my order, I was told today "it will take about a week to a week and a half for it to be delivered to the store for pick up.

(expletive deleted)

What? A week and a half, and that's delivery to the store? Are they (expletive deleted) insane?

I could go right home, hop on line and get the same product, at a lower price, delivered to my home in two days.

And this merchant feels that I should pay more for the product, wait a week to a week an a half, and then still have to come to the store to pick it up? Really? That's, their 21st century strategy?

I am sorry, I want to shop locally. I really do. But I am not about to sacrifice time and money just to help keep them in business.

Not for a business that is selling the same mass produced products.

If it costs more, there is less selection and ordering takes 3-4 times as long as ordering on line, what is the value added to the customer by shopping locally? Don't say customer service. That's a thing of the past unless you are buying really expensive stuff.

I was at this one local store and inquired about ordering a product. The customer service person told me that I needed to go home and access their company's website and then call them with the product identification. It would then take a week and a half and I would still need to go to the store to pick it up... oh by the way, payment in advance.

Customer service huh? Uh no. If I am walking out of your store and going on a webpage, it won't be your company's webpage. It will be the webpage of a company that can deliver more for less.

The only thing I am shopping locally these days are for products that are produced locally. For everything else that is produced in another country (and what isn't these days?), I am dealing with the company that can deliver the product at a lower price, with more selection, and deliver it faster.

That's capitalism.

I wasted an entire morning of my vacation time, burned a few dollars in gas. Fought the famous North Virginia traffic and came home empty handed. 0 for 4. Could not find a merchant who either had my simple items in stock or could order them in less than a week for a higher price. This is in North Virginia which is not exactly out in the sticks.

If I had ordered the products first thing in the morning, there was a possibility I could have had them delivered later the same day. Certainly delivered to my home by tomorrow.

I really want to shop locally. But I don't want to support an obsolete business model. My local loyalty only goes so far.

End of Rant.