[FRIAM] Getting You Libertarians' Goats

[Steve Smith]

> Yes, online shopping does seem to be directly analogous to mall and big box shopping, engine oil right next to the organic apples! What's not to love?
Seductive it is.  
> More importantly, monopolies like Amazon demonstrate, once again, that the computer is less flexible than the humans using the computer. Their undermining of Etsy with "handmade" is a great example. I use Etsy to buy from locals.
I try to use Etsy, but the lines between Etsy, Amazon, eBay and
AliExpress are getting blurred enough I lose track.   I recently bought
a handmade longbow for Mary via Etsy from what felt like a proper
one-man shop, but when I couldn't raise them to change the shipping
address (my bad) and ask them to tiller it for a slightly higher draw
weight (Mary's amazon physique had already mastered a 35# training bow),
I could get no response whatsoever, so I started looking around and
discovered that they also sold on Amazon and the "shopfront" there made
it evident that they'd transcended "family business" to something
bigger... still probably cottage-industry scale.   When we got the bow
(never got an acknowledgement but they DID ship it to the right address
and it DOES appear to be a 45# draw to my feel) the finish and packaging
suggested that they were turning out tens of these a day... not the same
as a factory, but not the same as a guy or gal sitting in front of their
fireplace shaving down a stick into a bow.   This is all nit-picking if
I"m criticising this vendor... whoever/whatever they are, I'm happy for
them and they got my order right, and *I* was the one who wanted the
product for $60 when there were *plenty* of (mostly SCA/Reenactor)
options for $200.    I still "shop" Etsy for what feels like righteous
products and both of my creative adult daughters have Etsy shops where
sometimes some of their creative products get sold...  
>  The narrative we were fed for "online shopping" was a diversification of vendors with a unification of end point (your door). [⛧] But what we end up with is a unification of vendor (Amazon), through an exploitation of workers and institutions, to a unification of destination.
I *still* find myself thinking "I'll check Amazon for that" when I
really mean "I'll check ONLINE for that" and then veering away from
big-box stores online for one reason and small independents for others
and settling on Amazon.   I have *forced* myself to use Amazon Day
delivery (condense any orders within the week to a single delivery day)
and Smile (small donation to non-profit of my choice), but that feels
more like guilt-amelioration than anything.
>  This hearkens back to wealth inequality and the permanent underclass capitalism requires.
I'm always game to hear about what *have to be* myriad alternatives or
variations of the reality (manic hypercapitalism) or the ideal (mere
free-market capitalism) we live in. 
> I think it's a mistake to desperately optimize away from "needing" anything.
That was just a knee jerk toward "getting ready for the apocalypse"...
it's easier to tune up skills and establish personal infrastructure
(herd of chickens) when you aren't starving in the dark.
>  But maybe it's purely philosophical. 
I think it is *partly* philosophical... and can maybe be more well
explored in the abstract hindsight of just what each of us would do if
we know what we know now, but found ourselves on the Titanic just as it
hit the iceberg.   We have a few hours to sort ourselves out from top to
bottom, what do we do?   Anecdotally, the "Orchestra Played On" and I
admire/respect that.   As well as those who worked hard to get the
lifeboats in the water without more loss of life and supplies than
neccessary.   But not so much the ones who had already picked out the
best ones, hoarded extra supplies aboard, and then got there first and
fought off the "women and children" that might have competed with them
for those supplies as they caste off with an elite crew aboard (my
apprehension of what a modern Libertarian would do).
> Part of the reason I prefer the local hardware store is because the people in there help me solve problems, regardless of whether I buy anything. Of the box stores, Lowe's seems the most interested in problem solving, but still not good. The local hardware (and feed) store people seem to get a real kick out of it when I come in with a problem to solve ... e.g. hanging a movable welding screen from a > 20' ceiling. The people at the box stores could not care less.
I enjoy my current local hardware... my previous local hardware tended
toward "overhelpful".    There are hardwares virtually everywhere who
typify the best of these things, and I am thankful for them.  I have not
visited, but hear great things about Arandas across the Street (Hickox?)
from the TuneUp in SFe.  Independent Bookstores, Farmers Markets and
Coffee Shops and even Grocers the same.  But the imbalances in "the
Market" make it hard, just as "one-stop shopping" at the big-box, mall
(or even mainstreet) and now Amazon is seductive if not always in one's
best (broad or long-term) interest. 
> That social interaction, along with the pub, are about all I really get in meat space. Were I as creative or handy as you, I wouldn't need/have that social interaction at all.

/au contraire/... my "handiness" just means that I have *more* projects
in the pipeline with *more* (maybe not) interesting challenges for my
local hardware.   I really wish for a similar "electronics"
equivalent...  Radio Shack is defunct (and hadn't been much good for
that for decades) but some of the big cities may still have their own
variations (I can't remember the classic names of such in Silicon
Valley?).  You mention Maker Spaces below.

I may be making up a big batch of homemade salsa from my tomatoes,
onions, garlic, and green chiles, but I'll still pick up some other
peppers, limes, avocados and cilantro from my local market.  

I may be using creek rock (instead of some industrial-store-bought
facade material) to face the foundation of my sunroom, but I'll still
buy the stucco-mesh, cement/mortar at my local hardware.   And maybe,
just maybe, if those were not available, my sunroom would still get a
nice facade of rock, but the mud-mortar/chinking would need annual
maintenance, and would flat *disappear* in a decade or so if *I* went
away, which might be better for all concerned.

>  I used to get something similar at the book stores, not so much at Powell's, but the smaller ones. The maker spaces I used to go to had similar issues ... purchasing electronic components online is waaaay different than going to the local pack-rat dork vendor who would help you build the device with you.
Yes, like that.   I *barely* engaged with the Santa Fe Maker Space
before Covid shut everything down... they did host a DYI network of
mask/face-shield/PPE makers that I hooked a prolific 3D printing friend
into, but the interest I'd have in such would be for the interactions
you speak of.  I was gathering the spare powertools I inherited from a
few different places, to gift them when that came down.   That was one
aspect of SFx that I felt like we sort of got right... but it
could/should have been even moreso, fostering small-group engagement and
creative interaction.
>  So, it's less about only buying what you need, and more about social learning/production. Ebooks and online shopping just does not compare and I feel sorry for those who do all their reading, making, thinking, and drinking alone in their basements.
What's a basement?
> [⛧] We were fed that narrative for personal computers, media sources, music artists, etc. Each time, the oligarchs manage to find a way to exploit resources (including duped consumers) in order to funnel wealth to their passive investments.

Yes, we are duped consumers and sometimes I am proud to spend
significant personal resource trying not to be as much of a "duped",
while other times I resent the hell out of having to work so hard at not
being "part of the problem" (which of course, no matter how hard I try,
I still am).   Mary loves Starbucks' almond-milk Latte's and despite
having everything to make similar ourselves, I've fallen into the habit
of joining her in a Vente Almond-Milk Latte with an umbrella-on-top when
we are out, especially after an hour of swimming.   We just don't find
any other source of that particular drink (including our own version) as
satisfying.   With our wicked-cold snap last week we went further and
downloaded the Curbside App so we could order/pay online and have them
walk it out to us as we arrive (geeeze!) but there was a snafu today
trying it the first time and I ran through the order top to bottom only
to discover that this particular drink specialty has 20g of carbs which
happens to be my full daily budget on my (yes, once again... for 1-2
months every summer) Ketogenic diet.  Neither Espresso nor Almond Milk
nor Water have virtually ANY carbs...  so I asked the nice girl at the
counter (never got the app to work right) about it, she didn't know but
did pull out the (Starbucks brand) Almond Milk and sure enough IT had
20g of carbs and sugar was in fact second ingredient.   No *wonder* I am
eager for a "hit of Starbucks" after swimming!   Not a problem at all if
I wasn't trying to maintain ketogenesis!   Caveat Emptor!

You make me long for living in a healthy "neighborhood" with some of
these services within a short walk, and a chance at more like-minded
neighbors.   The Pojoaque Valley still has 3 identifiable "Tiendita"
shopfronts evident that have probably not been open for business since
the 50's (now part of the private homes/compounds built behind/around
them).   There were probably a couple more that have been razed or
refaced out of recognition along the way.   But would I walk 1/4 mile
for a quart of milk when I can drive 9 miles and get USB phone cord, a
Lotto ticket, some Twinkies and a 12pack of fancy beer also?  

Berkeley/Oakland had a few of these "neighborhoods" when I lived
there... though I rarely walked to any of them.  Our "corner grocery"
was an overfancy, overpriced Whole Foods which I *did* walk to.   It was
probably a 30 minute walk to the Telegraph section in one direction, and
30 minutes the other way to Rockridge...  but I very rarely walked
them... bah!    Mary and I are equally against bucket-lists, but on the
list we don't have is trying a few short stints (3-12 months) living in
a city as we get tired of tending chickens and gardens and trying to
ignore the neighbor's constant spraying of roundup and mowing their dirt
to a fine powder.   As a writer, that IS her work (finding more and
different stimulation and subjects) and my own work (such as it is) is
more remote-able than ever.   I'd like to do this *after* lounging in a
street cafe doesn't have to be a health hazard (to us or others).  Or
maybe we can just renormalize to whatever becomes the new normal in
those contexts.

- Steve

>
> On 9/14/20 9:30 AM, Steve Smith wrote:
>> I think "online shopping" in general has proven to be an effective
>> competitor to "mall shopping" as "malls" became effective competitors to
>> "main street", and I suppose "main street" to the old-school "general
>> store" model.    It is a reverse-backflow system where some aspects of
>> the "business" improve while others flail.   The mall has *everything
>> you want* compared even to a rich mainstreet selection, but you have to
>> drive out to the suburbs and hike across a 1000 acre parking lot, but
>> are rewarded by ambient entertainment, air conditioning and an
>> invitation to use them for senior exercise walks.
>>
>> Yup, but it felt like Elizabeth would like to "rain hell down on them"
>> like an early c20 Trust Buster if she'd gotten hold of the reins (for
>> better or worse).  
>>
>> I paradoxically drive past small hardware stores on my way to "the big
>> box" too often, though usually only when I am confident the local
>> doesn't have what I need, and after I've checked in on "do I really NEED
>> what I can only find at the big box".   Before COVID I studiously
>> eschewed *marts but still went to Target and Sams as if they were
>> qualitatively different (whilst also doing the calculus of the big-box
>> hardware store example when I could).  
>>
>> COVID had me going back to my DIY roots and trying desperately NOT to
>> think I needed ANYTHING from ANY of those places.... just as practice
>> for the Apocalypse, should it come (yes, it is still inevitable, just
>> not sure what time-scale).   Speaking of which, our flock of 8 hens is
>> finally producing 5-7 eggs a day which is only slightly more than we are
>> eating...   but now we have a racoon who jumped the 8' courtyard wall
>> (an interesting obstacle at best, not an obstruction for him) and shat
>> on the roof of our coop (knocked together from my hoards of salvaged
>> supplies) last night.   Time to double-down on fasteners and get the dog
>> habituated to the chickens (while in their coop at least)...   I'd
>> rather not have to figure out how to pass Raccoon Stew off to Mary as
>> vegetarian.
>>
>> <anecdote meant to reinforce the value and hazards of distributed
>> sourcing of goods and services>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20200914/8f1172f0/attachment.html>