Support our high street shops and save the planet

JJ_Egan

Lets get people shopping again in London .

Stage one put up the congestion charge .

Amazon offer to bundle delivery on some orders i placed this week . 

newlywed

Just one comment... not everything you buy online comes by courier van... some comes by Royal Mail and those deliveries are every day in any case and the end result is a postman dropped off nearby and he delivers by foot.

p00hsticks

HollyTrees said:

I think the point they were making was its become too easy just to order things willy nilly online,  people don't realise they dont appear on our door step by magic. It takes a lot of travel. 
Compared to if we did a weekly shop for things like clothes or whatever just like we do our groceries, it would mean less delivery vans would need to come out on the roads. 
I ordered 5 music cds a while ago, all purchased in the same transaction on Amazon, but the cds all came on seperate days. Meaning separate vans. Compared to if I physically went to HMV myself. 

In my opinion it's too easy to buy things full stop - whether online or physically from shops.

Just as the solution to plastic waste is not to recycle but to use less in the first place, the way to lessen deliveries is not to buy from one place rather than another but not to buy at all. You mention shopping for clothes weekly, and I suspect some people actually do now, compared to the times when the purchase of clothing was a once or twice a year event and the item was expected to last you years.

Better to spend a lot of money on a good quality item made in this country from an independent retailer once a year than go to primark etc every week for some cheap imported tat made by child labourers.

coachman12

The vast majority of people want the ability to buy things as easy as possible. We all have to buy things, it is a necessary and often enjoyable part of life. I think online buying is the future ----and a good job too. But even if the grotty High Streets ever DO pick up, people will want ease of access for shopping. Everybody will always shop, just as night follows day. To suggest buying nothing is what Mr Spock would have called "malfunction : cannot find logical pathway".

lincroft1710

coachman12 said:

The vast majority of people want the ability to buy things as easy as possible. We all have to buy things, it is a necessary and often enjoyable part of life. I think online buying is the future ----and a good job too. But even if the grotty High Streets ever DO pick up, people will want ease of access for shopping. Everybody will always shop, just as night follows day. To suggest buying nothing is what Mr Spock would have called "malfunction : cannot find logical pathway".

I have stopped buying things (other than food) unless I really, really need them, or the old one has worn out/is irreparable and even then could I do without it.

coachman12

I couldn't imagine a life without scores of things eg spending money on changes and improvements to my properties, without buying stocks and shares, without keeping people in employment, without buying gifts for my wife and family, without buying rare stamps, coins and paintings, without eating out, without travel, without having been to all the inhabited continents , without sponsoring under privileged children's education, without  "using" money as much as possible to do as much good as I possibly can from a position of good fortune.
I feel so lucky----and though spending money is far from being the be all and end all, it don't arf make a huge difference to the quality of life ( and I do not mean only mine and my loved ones').

lincroft1710

coachman12 said:

I couldn't imagine a life without scores of things eg spending money on changes and improvements to my properties, without buying stocks and shares, without keeping people in employment, without buying gifts for my wife and family, without buying rare stamps, coins and paintings, without eating out, without travel, without having been to all the inhabited continents , without sponsoring under privileged children's education, without  "using" money as much as possible to do as much good as I possibly can from a position of good fortune.
I feel so lucky----and though spending money is far from being the be all and end all, it don't arf make a huge difference to the quality of life ( and I do not mean only mine and my loved ones').

You must be financially very well off. I am trailing you as have only been to 3 of the inhabited continents. Is going to Antarctica on your bucket list?

giraffe69

This is a very poor soapbox to be on. Deliveries from online companies are, for the most part, efficiently done and save on energy use but because one lazy journalist writes an article spouting nonsense it turns up on a thread like this. I order some wine online which was delivered today. The van that delivered it was punctual and had many other items on board for other customers. Indeed the email I receive often say something like "Your delivery will between time x and time y and you are customer 37 of 88"  I didn't drive 17 miles each way to the Majestic warehouse to pick up my wine. That, like many other of these sort of purchases saves time, effort and energy.

HollyTrees

coachman12 said:

I couldn't imagine a life without scores of things eg spending money on changes and improvements to my properties, without buying stocks and shares, without keeping people in employment, without buying gifts for my wife and family, without buying rare stamps, coins and paintings, without eating out, without travel, without having been to all the inhabited continents , without sponsoring under privileged children's education, without  "using" money as much as possible to do as much good as I possibly can from a position of good fortune.
I feel so lucky----and though spending money is far from being the be all and end all, it don't arf make a huge difference to the quality of life ( and I do not mean only mine and my loved ones').

Nice to have spare cash to spend. 

Pollycat

giraffe69 said:

This is a very poor soapbox to be on. Deliveries from online companies are, for the most part, efficiently done and save on energy use but because one lazy journalist writes an article spouting nonsense it turns up on a thread like this. I order some wine online which was delivered today. The van that delivered it was punctual and had many other items on board for other customers. Indeed the email I receive often say something like "Your delivery will between time x and time y and you are customer 37 of 88"  I didn't drive 17 miles each way to the Majestic warehouse to pick up my wine. That, like many other of these sort of purchases saves time, effort and energy.

I'd be interested to hear exactly what the OP heard.
The OP of this thread started a thread about the best face masks (since deleted) based on something he/she heard on the radio.