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[–] 68 points 10 months ago (3 children)

They’ve clearly never shopped at Costco. I can’t get out of there without dropping at least $200. Because, you don’t know you need a package of 50 AAA batteries, a gallon of mustard, 300 allergy pills, and a dozen rolls of Christmas wrapping paper until you’re there. Inside Costco that just makes sense.

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    [–] 53 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It would be so nice to live somewhere I could walk to the store. Or anywhere.

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  • [–] 42 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    The non-American mind cannot conceive of living in a place so vast.

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  • [–] 24 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    Europe is relatively small but their towns are waaay more compact because they were built before cars came around so most towns are already in favor of walking/biking distances.

    But yeah America is huuuge. The drive from Paris to central Switzerland is about 12 and a half hours and it's a total change of scenery. For the US that's just California to Utah. Or Washington DC to Charleston SC.

    What the US needs badly is high speed rail from city to city

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  • [–] 28 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I mean we do need that, but that has nothing to do with the problem. the majority of people don't live in those vast expanses of nothingness. Most of our cities are just as populated as most European cities, we just have shit laws around zoning, single family housing, population density, NIMBYs blocking any change, and people that think public transit is for poor people. They don't travel to other countries and so have no clue how good things could actually be.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    we just have shit laws around zoning

    Yeah above all else I think that is the biggest issue. There are daft rules about the size of carparks that mean that, what would be a local store in the EU, becomes this vast strip mall in the US with 12 acres of parking lot to walk across so you can get your milk.

    You practically need a car to just drive across the vast expanses of car infrastructure. Crossing the road in the US is something you have to plan your day around

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    Sounds so... Odd to me.

    My entire life I've lived in a very dense city. Everywhere I look are stores, people, traffic. There's never a single moment of silence, not even at night.

    I low-key feel jealous to people who live in a quiet place...

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  • [–] 44 points 10 months ago (13 children)

    Where in the world can you buy a week's groceries for $50?

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  • [–] [S] 22 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    Depends on how many people live in your household and what you eat. You can probably spend even less if you're only cooking for one and most meals are 'beans and rice'-level.

    I'd assume that the hard part is finding an affordable place in a somewhat walkable neighborhood in the US, especially if you don't want to live in a one-room apartment.

    Either way, the $50 are really not the important part. It would still be true if you paid $200 and could save $50 by shopping at cheaper supermarkets that are further away.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Also if you are walking to the store, you are limiting the amount you can buy as you have to transport it back home. I have a nice little collapsible cart I use. Even that fills up and gets heavy once you are adding beverages.

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Adding beverages is wasting money anyway, just drink water

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 10 months ago

    True, you're definitely missing out on a lot of bulk items, especially when you're living in a smaller apartment and don't even have the space to store 10 pound bags. And you pretty much have to go to the store multiple times a week.

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    [–] 29 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    I never thought about it like that! I did in fact buy the car specifically to go to the grocery store and don't use it for anything else

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    [–] 28 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    The closest grocery store is 1.5 hour walk. I'm not doing that in a Canadian winter or with hands full of groceries. And no, it's not bikeable 5 months a year.

    Also, I've bought four cars in my lifetime. I spent a combined $13,000 on them. My first car was $1400 and I still have it.

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    [–] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    "walk to a store" lol okay bro doesn't know wtf they're talking about.

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    [–] 15 points 10 months ago* (3 children)

    Who's putting $200 of gas in their car per month, what you doing driving the Route 66 on a weekly basis? The shops all of 5 miles away if it's that.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago

    Average US driving distance is about 14k miles per year, or about 1200/month. At 30 mpg, you need 40 gal per month. Current price per gal in the US (according to AAA) is $3.193/gal, which gets us $130/month in gas.

    Wouldn't have to be crazy above average to get to $200/month. Or have a car with kinda bad fuel efficiency.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago
    [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    !fuckcars@lemmy.world

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