Quote:
Originally Posted by kindlekitten
coke is kind of a given, but I want to weep when I read about people going to walmart and costco.... seriously folks! keep your integrity!
|
You must keep in mind cultural limitations... In Japan we were never able to eat lamb, turkey, N.Y. Strip steaks or T-bones, Top Round Roast, smoked bacon, blackberries, zucchini, all-beef hotdogs, most cheeses (without spending hundreds of dollars) Tylenol, Orville Redenbacher's pop corn (all we had before was the stuff that came in the tinfoil pieplate,) and a thousand other items, both eatable and household use (Downey Fabric Softener, Comet, etc.,) and these things at affordable US prices too,
until Costco came to town. At Costco I could buy 3/4" thick cuts of steak, instead of the pre-sliced stuff sold in Japanese supermarkets. And not have to spend $300 per pound. Tylenol sold in Japanese drug stores costs about $5 for 20 tablets. In Costco we could buy a bottle of 100 for $3.
What so many of us American put down as 'bad' is considered a God-send in so many other countries. 25% of the people here in Thailand would think it a gift if we allowed them to go through the garbage each day. In fact, many of them actually DO pay for that privilege... That's how the maintenance people in apartment buildings pick up extra cash.
While there is no doubt that these mega-stores are destroying the Mom&Pop local businesses in the US, there must be those who prefer the wider selection at lower prices. If they didn't, these stores never would have gotten off the ground in the first place.
Stitchawl