I am not sure if I expected any sort of accolade, fanfare, award or even a parade in the street but it appears to be a bit of a milestone in that we, as a family, have just completed our 100th home shopping order with Tesco Supermarket.
In terms of whether this is a high or low number of uses of this service I have nothing to go on.
Is this a conversation opener with friends, neighbours or strangers in the bus queue?
Is the subject a bit like the most recent valuation of your home, the cleanliness of your car engine or local area crime figures?
Actually, I have mixed feelings about it.
One the one hand you could say that we are doing a little bit towards saving the planet in that
a)we are making use of a Tesco delivery van on multiple delivery runs
b) therefore avoiding expending fuel and emissions on making our own trip to the shop and
c) mitigating collateral damage that goes with it such as traffic congestion, parking issues, noise pollution and so on.
But against this is a lack of support for the small shops and services in my own local area.
The whole ethos of Internet Shopping and Home Delivery is not, as you may think, a modern phenomena.
Well, I mean in the pre- internet age some shops and businesses offered and, for those that have survived in the cut throat.cut price market that is today's retail environment , still continue to offer a personalised service of this type.
I can, from my early years, remember red faced boys in aprons labouring along on a huge basket fronted and heavy framed bike to deliver the order of meat from the butcher in the town.
Those Deliveroo riders in contrast have it pretty easy on their lightweight racers and hybrid cycles in comparison.
Other shops in the places that I have lived had a small van for local delivery purposes usually a Mini or Morris Minor all nicely sign written on the sides. The fruit and veg shops, or using the now rather neglected term, Greengrocers, would have boxes and wooden crates out on the forecourt awaiting loading up to take around to regular customers.
All of this effort, and at no small cost to the Proprietors who were typically one-shop sole traders, was of course not passed on to the customer in the form of a separate charge or a few pennies on a pound of sprouts or freshly cut runner beans.
The actual delivery task was a source of employment and a pocket money income for those of school age where having a drivers licence was not a requirement.
A saturday job doing deliveries for a local trader was a matter of great pride although it was very hard to get motivated on a weekend after a long week enduring the rigours of an education.
Yes, the use of a Corporate giant does not sit well with me. The statistic that was mooted a few years ago that Tesco receive £1 in every £8 spent in the UK by consumer is quite a startling and concerning one.
Yes, I could be accused of being a bit lazy in not physically going shopping but a defence on environmental grounds appeases my conscience to some extent there.
I could argue that I am providing opportunities in the retail sector as, after all, someone has to pick the order items off the shelf, put them in plastic or paper bags and do all of the admin aspects even before the delivery vehicle is loaded up. This assumes that the whole process remains a manual one and not carried out by automation/robots/a warehouse stock control algorithm.
On another justification basis I even accept that Tesco (there are other supermarkets and home shopping services) may make up my order with foodstuffs at or close to their "Use By" date and thereby I am helping to reduce items being needlessly dumped in a hole in the ground.
The whole experience, all things being considered, has the appearance of a "Win-Win" situation for all concerned and humanity in general.
So, perhaps we will, as a family, have a bit of a celebration at having reached our 100th home delivery.
I will just pop out to the local shop, interact and buy a few things for the party.
No, there is no guilt there whatsoever.
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