Convenience as a commodity

June 5, 2009

The world today is such a busy place. There are still so many things to do, even though we’ve created wonderful concepts and machines to do them for us. No one has time to go out of their way to pick up milk from the supermarket or bread from the bakery anymore. Everybody is rushing, everybody wishes they have more time and more energy for all the important stuff we need to accomplish before we die. Time and energy. These things have become a commodity. Now, however, we don’t only get paid to expend them and pay to consume them—we pay to save them. Hence, convenience as a commodity was born.

 

I planned to give you a lot of rhetorical crap about this shit but really all I want to say is, I dislike convenience stores. I dislike them with a passion. Why? The stuff they sell are ridiculously overpriced. Say, a block of cheese can be bought for P20 in the supermarket right? They sell the same thing for P40. Milk that costs P63 pesos in the grocery sells for P100 in those shitholes. A packet of sandwich spread costs P30, half the price more than the SRP.

 

It’s driving me crazy. You would have noticed by now that I’m a very price-conscious person. Well, I am, and it’s not something I’m embarrassed of. I strongly believe in paying for the exact worth of a product, and 50% more than the SRP is just pushing it. Yes, convenience is a commodity, and is bought as such, but 50%? Okay. Look. I understand. Convenience stores like Ministop and 7-11 are usually located in areas with high foot-traffic. Since the rent is also exponentially high, the space they rent is small, and can only store a limited amount of products. The owners also pay for staff, airconditioning, maintenance, and franchise fees. Hence, the prices are jacked up. It’s not like sari-sari store aspirants can put up shop in Strata 100 or RCBC.

 

So yeah I totally get it. Convenience is a luxury, and luxury items are expensive. We’ve established that. However, as a smart consumer with limited resources, we should explore other ways to consume convenience. Shop at the supermarket, christ. Do it once a week or every two weeks. Clean up after yourself because it only takes a minute of your precious time, instead of hiring a cleaning lady who charges P300 an hour.

 

I think we’re better off expending time and energy than paying to save it. It costs a lot less.