With the COVID 19 world disaster the
more recent methods of shopping have drastically changed, along with other facets of our lives. We learned in just the first day of shutting
down that our local stores will very likely not have the items we
need or want. What a cry for toilet paper there was, and some cases
this still exists! Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, disinfectants,
bleach, bread. It was amazing to see which basic everyday things
suddenly became the number one priority on our shopping lists. There
was a feeling of panic when those aisles and shelves were empty. Even
Amazon, the great provider, was struggling to be able to satisfy its
customers.
I receive catalogs from several
companies at this stage of my life. They are small, 8x11 size, very
similar to a magazine in number of pages. Most I have never even
ordered from, they just got my name from a list that is accessible
for those sorts of businesses. They are a big aggravation to my
husband, somehow it is my fault that there are quite a few of them.
Besides, they don't contain products where he might be interested—we
also get farm related information that is more acceptable.
But I remember my growing up years
having the big heavy catalogs from Sears & Roebuck, and
Montgomery Wards, an occasional one from J. C. Penney. Shopping from
these big books, sprawled on the living room floor, or relaxing on my
bed, flipping the pages, one by one in the sections that caught my
attention. Our family used these in the place of shopping at a
department store. The closest thing we had to resemble a department
store was the Union Pacific Company Store, and its selections were
pretty limited---grocery items to my right side entering the building,
fabric, notions and anything else on the left, in limited
quantities.
Going back one more generation to when my
parents were young. My father lived on a ranch, middle of nowhere.
Those Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs provided many things. He
even purchased my mother's wedding and engagement rings from these
catalogs. Plenty of selections to browse through, write out the order
blank and with envelope and stamp, plus the mail carrier to take it
to the nearest train depot and things were set. He just happened to
be the mail carrier at that time so he would have been certain the
missive didn't get misplaced and made the right connections.
Here we are a century later, with a
pandemic squeezing the life out of the world. Shopping from store to
store at our leisure is not available, purchasing takes considerable
thought and most have a running list as to what is needed to live
relatively normal lives. What few stores are open present empty
shelves, signs that plead with the customer to only take one or two
of the item in thoughtfulness for the next person. Virtual catalogs
and mail order businesses like Amazon are even being pressed to
fulfill orders. But at least they can, even if delayed, with the
help of the postal/delivery systems and the trucks and trains that
transport things to a delivery point, what would now be that depot of old.
Are we making progress, or tipping backward?
