Shopping over the Century, 1920-2020

      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?