In message , at
08:38:17 on Sat, 14 Aug 2004, Lance Lamboy
remarked:
Here is how it works. You go to the grocery store. You pick up your
groceries. You take them to the checkout counter. You ask for delivery.
Instead of bagging your groceries, they get boxed and they put a slip on
the box with your address, phone number, etc. You go home without your
groceries. The supermarket delivers your groceries. There is a small fee
for the service which you pay at the checkout counter.

Sounds useful (except perhaps fro frozen items). Where is "here", btw?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 14:08:20 on Sat, 14
Aug 2004, PeterE remarked:
Assuming you have physically visited the store, in what way is that more
convenient than taking the stuff home with you?

Whatever the other disadvantages (and there are many) it means you don't
have to carry the stuff home - or buy a trolley (sic) big enough to hold
your entire shopping.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at
13:19:59 on Fri, 13 Aug 2004, Lance Lamboy
remarked:
Most grocery stores do deliveries so why would a huge family have a
problem.

There are several practical problems.

You never get to see what's on special offer at the store that day, so
always buy at "list price".

You don't get a very good impression of what new products are coming on
the market, so you get stuck in a rut buying the things you are familiar
with.

Substitutions can be a big problem, with many stores taking a
sub-optimal approach to this. It means you can end up missing the one
vital ingredient for a recipe.

Occasionally you get things like "10kg of apples" instead of "10
apples". I can be sorted out, but is a pain.

And, obviously, you have to book a slot for the delivery and make sure
you are at home. If you are housebound, that's not an issue; but if you
are travelling elsewhere that day (especially by bus) the times you can
guarantee to be at home can be unpredictable.

A friend of mine in New York City has great things to say about the Web
Grocer service. I asked about delivery times. He said that he has to give
a two hour window for delivery. He has delivery between 8:00 pm and 10:00
pm on a week night. He and his wife don't find it hard to be home at that
time.

John Mara

"Jack May" wrote in message
news:lNfTc.251797$%_6.197447@attbi_s01...
"Brimstone" wrote in message
...
Very true. The concept of "value for money" seems to have got lost.

For most people. the value of time is most important not the monetary
value.
Transit people like to use the monetary value because they don't count the
cost paid by tax payers. When you hide most of the cost and use only
monetary value instead of time value , it is easier to make a favorable
comparison for PT

Whether transit or cars are faster for a given trip depends on many factors,
in particular the level of road congestion at that time. Transit service
can be faster for many trips during rush hour.

You also need to consider the relative stress levels of each mode; even when
it's slightly slower I often use transit because it permits me to do other
things (like read or work) that I can't effectively do in the car.

Also, whether time or money is more valuable to a given person varies.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "Those people who think they know everything
CCIE #3723 are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
K5SSS --Isaac Asimov

In message , at 14:03:56 on
Sat, 14 Aug 2004, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
Whether transit or cars are faster for a given trip depends on many
factors, in particular the level of road congestion at that time.
Transit service can be faster for many trips during rush hour.

Very true.

You also need to consider the relative stress levels of each mode; even
when it's slightly slower I often use transit because it permits me to
do other things (like read or work) that I can't effectively do in the
car.

However, working and reading often depends on being able to sit - many
of my journeys on "transit" have been in such crowded conditions that
the only place to sit has been on the floor.
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:37:45 +0100, Annabel Smyth
wrote:

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 at 21:52:16, Greg Hennessy wrote:

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 20:27:35 +0100, Annabel Smyth
wrote:


Aren't Express/Compact/Meetro stores more expensive?

Sainsbury's are, by miles. I don't go to them if I can help it.

They are a veritable Lidl when compared to Waitrose.

Well, that's true. But Waitrose is *always* expensive, and Sainsbury's
only is in their "Local" format.

But then is *spitefully* expensive. Say 20-25% more expensive than
ASDA.

Mind you, it's dearer than Tesco,

Produce OK. ready meals poorer tha Sainsbury's which themselves are
poorer than Marks's

which in turn is dearer than Lidl (we have both in our street, so I go
to Lidl unless I want stuff which Lidl doesn't sell, like cut flowers,
in which case I go to Tesco. Lidl is nearer and its coleslaw & potato
salad are much nicer!).

Probably due to their German origin, there was a time for 15 years
after the war, when the Germans could not afford to eat fresh meat so
sausages and salads became the order of the day, as the years went by
this morphed into high quality sausages and salads.

AIRI There was no tradition for high quality salads in the UK. My
mother did used to buy radishes and spring onions, but my wife has
been known, whilst walking through the market to buy a lettuce and
then say "Right, I've got me salad".

Nowadays meat in Germany is just as affordable as in .UK .FR or .IT

DG

In misc.transport.urban-transit Lance Lamboy wrote:
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 15:45:11 +0100, Annabel Smyth wrote:

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 at 14:02:28, Roland Perry
wrote:

Yes, it will be true for some people. But try taking a train from
Atlanta to Orlando (rather than driving). Takes 2 days via Washington!

I'm afraid those distances mean nothing to me - how long would it take
if you drove? I loved Amtrak trains when I used them, so I wouldn't
actually mind 2 days, but if it's a case of "going to Birmingham by way
of Bethnal Green", then perhaps not!

Atlanta-Washington 637 miles~1025km

Washington-Orlando 850 miles~1368km

Atlanta-Orlando 439 miles~ 706km

Since there is no direct AMTRAK connection from Atlanta to Orlando, AMTRAK
does not appear to be the optimal choice for that trip.

Especially since the cops in SC, GA, and FL are usually fairly cool.
I've been sopped doing 96 MPH when the double nickle was in effect...
the cop said "go to court, I'll help out" and then we talked about Glocks
for about half an hour. Cops have to meet their quotas, but are usually nice
people if you are nice with them. I ended up with 2 points and a $50 fine
for driving that fast there. :-)

Public transportation just doesn't work in most non-urban locales. If I need
to get to the grocery store, walking is faster than driving and taking a cab
would cost a fortune -- mass transit is not an option. (OK, I lied, I can
drive there faster, but I need the exercise...and I do walk very fast.)



--
"No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded."
-- Unknown

In misc.transport.urban-transit Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 18:25:23 on Fri, 13
Aug 2004, Brimstone remarked:
My mother walked to and from the shops, about a mile each way, bringing
the goods home in a shopping trolley. Why are so many people wimps these
days?

Probably for the same reason they have central heating and don't spend
several hours a day setting and raking out coal fires, or have an inside
loo rather than a bucket in an outhouse. Standards have changed.

You'll also find that supermarkets dislike you removing their trolleys
these days - they have deposit schemes, and clever wheels that lock up
as you try to leave the premises.

I figure if they charge me $1.00 to "lease" a shopping cart, I might
as well keep it. The local Walmart doen't seem to care much when I
roll a shopping cart to where I live across the street. They just
send a cart person to pick them up every so often.

Regards,
Mark

--
"No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded."
-- Unknown

In message , at 07:01:42 on Sun,
15 Aug 2004, Mark Gibson remarked:
Since there is no direct AMTRAK connection from Atlanta to Orlando, AMTRAK
does not appear to be the optimal choice for that trip.

Especially since the cops in SC, GA, and FL are usually fairly cool.
I've been sopped doing 96 MPH

Chance would be a fine thing! The road is infested with repair work, and
many sections have "sheer weight of traffic" issues making it
bumper-to-bumper at 30mph.
--
Roland Perry

In misc.transport.urban-transit Brimstone wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:24:09 on Sat,
14 Aug 2004, Brimstone remarked:
"I've got three siblings and when we were kids we usually
had at least one dog. My mother walked to and from the
shops, about a mile each way, bringing the goods home in a
shopping trolley. Why are so many people wimps these days?"

Where does it say "supermarket" in that quote?

What other kinds of shopping trolley are there?

Ones that you can buy and take home quite legititmately. I take it from that
that you have someone else to do your shopping for you or you use the
four-wheel motorised variety?

I'm not British (I think) but I do recall seeing lots of people walking
with what might be called shopping trolleys in London. I've even
seen people using privately owned shopping carts in many places in the USA.
London does not have the big box supermarkets that are like the four
within walking distance of me. It is a nice place for pub crawling,
though...


--
"No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded."
-- Unknown