My New Shopping Normal

I’m done with Walmart. My shopping “experience” there is no longer conducive to even entering the building. Sure, we live in unusual times which call for unusual measures. And yes, I’m willing to comply with reasonable measures, but Walmart’s list of “musts” has gotten too long and too overreaching.

• You must social distance.
• You must enter aisles from one direction only.
• You must be surveilled while you shop.
• You must be video taped while you check out. 
• You must wear a mask.
• You must enter the store single file and be inspected for compliance before entry.
• You must pay with a debit, credit, or Walmart gift card.
• You must stack your groceries just so on the check-out conveyor belt. 

Now please, DO NOT rush to the comments to try to convince me how necessary these rules are. Or how stupid, selfish, and unpatriotic I’m being because I question the sanity of what’s going on. No, I’m not in “denial;” yes, I get that people don’t want to get sick. But I also get that we, the public, are being played. Especially, now that the data (the real data, not the stuff they report on the “news”) doesn’t support what’s being pushed on us. I’m more than willing to take reasonable measures, but we’re really pushing the envelope lately. It’s almost like those in power are playing a game—”Ha, ha, what can we get them to do next?”

However, that’s not the purpose of this post, and I’m not interested in discussing any of that in the comments. The purpose of this post is to examine something I’ve said in the past: that so much of what I do is out of habit, rather than reason. My Walmart experience is simply a vehicle to push me away from habit and toward my own new normal.

When it comes to shopping, I have a routine. I have a route. That routine has become so automatic, that I almost don’t need a grocery list. I know what I buy, and where, and I don’t really need to think about it. Changing the routine, however, requires changing my habits. It requires that I think about it. I had to ask myself, what do I get at Walmart that I can’t get anywhere else? Nothing really, and I actually buy very little there. I got into the Walmart habit because they supposedly have a good selection and the best prices. But do they really?

Selection everywhere has dropped off. I’m not talking about shortages from panic buying, I’m just talking about choices in general. Part of that has been the switch to more online ordering with free pickup. Stores like it because they don’t have to put out as much inventory. Now, with so many people having been forced out of work that manufacturing is understandably down. All those things add up to a smaller selection for the buying public.

Best prices? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been noticing for quite awhile now that Walmart does not have the best prices. Like other frugal shoppers, I know the prices for the things I buy, and there is actually very little that Walmart has the best price for. Prescriptions? People seem to accept it as “common knowledge” that Walmart has the best prescription prices. Something I’ve always done, however, has been to shop around before getting any prescription filled. I call local pharmacies and ask for the price on what I need. You know who always has the best price? Walgreens. This has been consistently true over two decades and three states. I suggest you do the same because there can be a huge variance in prescription prices depending on where you buy.

As I rethink my new shopping normal, I have to ask myself if we really need everything we buy. One of my long stated goals is to become less dependent on the consumer system. Ideally, that would mean producing for ourselves what we don’t want to buy. Realistically, it means learning to live a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle. It means rethinking our needs versus our wants. It means learning how to live without. Whether or not we can be successful at that depends on how content we can learn to be.

My alternative could be to use Walmart’s online ordering and drive-up pickup service. But to be honest, I really don’t want to support what they’ve become. I’d rather support smaller local businesses who may be struggling to keep going. I’d rather support people than a corporation. For me, I think that will be a better new shopping normal.