The death of consumption

Have you ever heard the phrase "died of consumption?" It meant TB in the 1800's.

I think consumption is dying.

The phrase came to mind as I walked the aisles of a few of my favorite haunts the other day - Home Depot, Best Buy, even the grocer.

Consuming as an activity was baked into our generation. My father worked late during the week in New York City and had an hour commute home so I didn't see him much those days when I was very small. But Saturday morning he would put my sister and me in the cubby hole between the engine and the back seat of his VW bug to take us grocery shopping. We called it the “back back” - today it would be called child abuse. Of course we laughed the whole way listening to New York country music on AM.

We got to look at all the colors and shapes we had seen on TV, all the characters made especially for us at General Foods and Kellogg's. It was like seeing celebrities - "look its the rabbit - silly rabbit..."

We did not spend frivolously, ever, but we did get to actually buy stuff and bring it home with Dad. It was a treat. Something to look forward to. If we were good we got our favorite cereal or toaster treat. There was emotion in the experience. We were with our Dad, we were buying what the TV said made us cool, we were being rewarded for being good. All positive. All in the bright florescent light of the local grocer.

Walking the joyless aisle of the wounded retail giants is nothing like that today. I know all the brands and all of their "tricks." I'm there to buy the best solution - not because I want to be there. They in turn resent the “lookie loos” more than ever. Browsers are not really welcome. They NEED sales and you can feel it. Worse still their pressure is now starting to choke the system. It looks to me like over-all price points are on the rise. Maybe partly because of inflation but I think it is desperation. Buy 10 yogerts for $10! Holy shit who need 10 yogerts!

The thing is - my dad didn't love shopping or wasting money. He got what we needed each week and jammed it into the trunk in front. He brought us because it was an inclusive, freeing, happy, safe experience. Because for the price of a can of SpaghettiO's™, he was our hero. I had to buy a six-pack of noodle soup the day my daughter had a cold because they don't sell one at a time any more. Good for them I guess - but I sure didn't like it. If they are going to be about volume, I might as well go to Costco, buy 10 at a time and get an even better price. They do not have the space, the margins or the membership fees to compete with the big boys so I think it is a bad game for them to play.

I can't say I blame the merchants for freaking out and trying to jam as much into my cart as they can. But it sure does suck the fun out of shopping.

Once they break that pattern I think it may stay broken. They might just become a market - like the stock market - not a place I want to be. Not a place I’d take my kids to see Lucky, and the gang so why bother to run the TV spots or color the boxes? I won’t tell the kids about the plastic toy they didn’t get because I went shopping alone. I may even start calling it buying - not shopping.

So what's your big plan?? Just cut the price, use better ingredients and hope I notice.

You just lost the back of the bug.