This whole no-car biznass is going just fine. Mostly because I live in a city that has adequate public transportation, my office is three miles from my apartment and I ride my bike all over town. Friends have been gracious enough to drive for longer journeys. Somehow, it works out. I'm lucky. I also joined ZipCar and have used it twice since last December (1x a month - an average I'd be happy to maintain!) - once to go on a beautiful hike at Point Reyes and I shared with my BFF and fellow Zipster, on New Year's Eve. Both were full-day trips and included some sort of major shopping extravaganza at the end (Trader Joe's/Target). But I've also found that I'm doing a lot of shopping online (slow cooker and space heater... both online purchases). And shipping fees are like this extra ugh at the end of the online transaction. Until a wise friend in Chicago (who has a similar bike/public transit/ZipCar kind of lifestyle) pointed out that...
Shipping cost < ZipCar trip < Car ownership
Genius. Of course, I'm totally guilty of buying online when I could go to a local store. But then I'd have to actually ENTER a store or a mall, which is generally not fun. (But has been on occasion, as witnessed by CP and HW.)
and...
Shipping cost < missed out fun.
Let's not discuss greenhouse gas emissions due to shipping vs. missed out fun.
1 comment:
Wow, this is so me! (Except I bus and walk instead of bike).
I hadn't really made the connection, but I have been shopping a TON online lately. That makes so much sense. And I am really feeling the not shopping locally guilt. I went into Green Apple the other day to buy A Homemade Life (which is awesome btw) and mentioned offhand that I had almost bought it online. He thanked me so many times for coming in and reminded me that doing so keeps them in business. Definitely made me want to do more shopping in person - though I have been super addicted to buying really cheap DVDs and CDs on half.com (cheap shipping, too. Not to be an enabler).
I am loving ZipCar as well! My friend told me there's a big discount in the Green Zebra book so I need to check that out.
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