Discussion: very thoughtful...and somet...

very thoughtful...and something else to consider: the means of production of typical Costco products.

Someone has to transport food and medicine from point of sale to point of use. I have trouble seeing why it would be worse for the common good to pay someone to do it than to do it yourself. Probably better in terms of minimizing crowding in stores and the number of people forced to interact face to face.

Hmm, I don't know anything about Costco production vs any other retail store. The Costco model doesn't lend itself to local farm-to-table style, but on the other hand, our Costco does stock coffee from a local roaster (Mayorga) which I think is only available in this area, so there is at least some local awareness.

The food was delivered to us in those used carboard crates you always find stacked up in the front of the store, which seems fine. The Costco model does involve packaging on everything, but it seems like the proportion of packaging to goods is smaller as the volume gets larger.

Is that like you get more banana vs. peel the larger the banana is? Yes, I have actually thought about this.

I wrestled with this thought, too. I was trying to do an instacart shop at a nearby Wegmans so I could go pick up at curb. Eventually gave up due to being far more cumbersome than just pushing a cart around the store and loading it myself. I did wonder if the person filling the cart for me would be someone who's there anyway or if they're bringing in additional workers for this. Eventually decided to skip it and just go there in person at 7 AM when they open.

Woke up early yesterday and wondered about the much smaller grocery store that's even closer. Quick check of their website revealed they're now opening at 6 AM. Got there about 6:20 and there were fewer than a dozen shoppers there. Good distancing practices in evidence and got everything on my list except meat and yeast. On the way out I met someone coming in who said people were waiting in line to get in to the Wegmans just down the road. Glad to have dodged that.

Next trip I'm going to try the 60+ hour at Walmart. I need to bring fresh items to family members in higher risk groups than me who aren't going out at all.