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Everyone take a deep breath. It’s over. Another shopping frenzy is behind us. For me, it never reached the level of frenzy because about six years ago I started doing all of my Christmas shopping online. Since that time the only physical store shopping I’ve done for the holidays is for holiday food or maybe if I’m driving by I’ll stop and pick up a box of See’s Candies somewhere but only if the See’s store has an outdoor entrance and I do not have to go through the mall to get to them. I’ve gotten quite proficient at holiday shopping. I also make a few gifts each year but I mostly purchase gifts. Family and friends can only take so many homemade gifts, even though I am now a quasi-professional in the world of crafts.
About two Sundays before Christmas I pour a large cup of coffee splashed with eggnog, set my iPod and Bose to my Christmas playlist, and begin. I’m usually wearing Christmas pajamas from the previous year. My daughter often buys Christmas PJs for me. I start with a recipient list sitting next to me. I have no idea whatsoever what I’m going to buy or look for. Sometimes I do have an idea for a gift based on a conversation with a family member in passing but usually I fly blind.
I’m a cautious Internet shopper and I avoid all the ads for “fantastic savings” and “one day only” sales that appear as I snoop around. Instead I shop at the major companies/stores I trust and use often and check out their offerings. Because I’m a returning customer I often get even deeper savings than a newish customer. It’s amazing to me what is to be found two weeks away from Christmas. I have learned that the discounts do not get much deeper any closer to Christmas. There will be a bargain or two if there’s a certain something a shopper is looking for but the best discounts are about two weeks prior to Christmas or even a week-and-a-half before.
My goal each year now that I’m experienced at this method of shopping is to only purchase items with free shipping and deep discounts. If I find something I love and the shipping isn’t there or the price is a bit high I shop for the same item at other online stores and have never been disappointed. One year I bought beautiful cashmere sweaters for the men and women in my family for almost nothing as well as many other great gifts. I find I can give more gifts and nicer quality gifts by shopping online.
As the gifts are delivered to my door, I wrap them immediately and place them under the tree. I have a nice wrapping paper storage unit that sits unobtrusively by the garage door so that in just a short time the gifts are wrapped and the wrapping mess is put away awaiting the next delivery. The entire shopping process takes about two hours and the subsequent wrapping about 15 minutes per delivery. This will change some when there are grandchildren of course. I recently purchased an item for $50 that sold for $100 at most stores I visited online. A little diligent searching can produce amazing results. It included free shipping.
I believe the reason for the amazing discounts and free shipping is simple. If I visit my local Macy’s their display items are limited in floor space. If I shop online at Macy’s I’m shopping their huge warehouses loaded with goods. Their goal is to reduce inventory by discounting to thousands or millions of customers during a short seasonal period. My local Macy’s tries to unload their floor items and whatever is delivered by truck during these days and stored locally. I read yesterday that retailers this year did not overstock their mall stores because they were stuck with inventory last year. Of course they offer discounts but they have overhead so the discounts can’t compete with what I find online.
Many years ago when my kids were little (before my online shopping) I did all of my Christmas shopping in October and November and sometimes part of December, wrapped it all, and then hid it. It was a huge undertaking. It took many trips to malls and stores and lugging everything in and out of the car. I hated that part but was desperate to avoid the Christmas rush at the shops. Then a few days before Christmas I took the kids to a large mall to visit Santa. While there we would walk around and look at all the decorations and occasionally go inside a store but we didn’t buy anything. We also would stop somewhere in the mall and have lunch and then head home with our house all decorated and presents from the family under the tree. (Santa’s presents were always hidden and wrapped in bright distinctive foil paper that was completely different from the regular paper under the tree.)
While at these malls with the kids on our Santa visits I got a perverse pleasure out of watching people screaming at their kids and pulling them around by the armpit. I witnessed countless arguments between couples over gift items and spending amounts. Everyone was on the run, exhausted, spending what they shouldn’t just to get the hell out of there while we strolled and listened to Christmas music. No bags and no stressful baggage.
The thought of going to a mall or store the day after Thanksgiving practically makes me break out in boils. Or participating in any other “early bird saver” deals at any store. Do we really needs items so desperately that we would go shopping at 4 a.m. or midnight? If so, why do we feel we need those items? One item last year that was promoted at one of the stores as an early bird special was online the same day, cheaper, with free shipping. It wasn’t an item I needed but I wanted to see what the online competition had to offer.
On the noon news a few minutes ago (Wednesday, 12/23) a reporter interviewed a long line of shoppers who had been in line since the previous evening to buy sneakers. One young man said the sneakers were for him, not a gift for anyone. They were over $200. The store had a strict one-per-person policy so he had enlisted family members to stand in line for him as well. I believe there were three family members eager to do this for him. He didn’t look like he was related to Paris Hilton so I’m wondering how he managed to come up with over $800 for four pairs of sneakers, but perhaps he has a large paper route. At any rate, he will probably sell them on eBay or something similar. But many of the people in line were actually interested in the sneakers for themselves. I wouldn’t stand in a freezing line for hours for a blood transfusion.
I have never liked shopping. I pretended to like it when I was younger because that’s what girls and women are supposed to like. My friends all loved shopping so I’d go along. Now that I’m older I don’t pretend behaviors anymore. I don’t like shopping and I do my best to avoid it. When friends want to do lunch and go shopping I go to the lunch portion of the outing then excuse myself and come home and walk my dogs.
Of course, I have to shop for some things. I do need food and items for my home; I do occasionally need clothing (but not often) and other things. However, I usually keep a list in my kitchen of things I need and when it gets fairly full I plan my trip and hit the stores in one outing. I probably shop once a month unless I run out of something I truly need. And how much does a person need? Some people like to hop in the car and head to a mall and just shop. Without a list. For no reason. Just an outing. Something to do. Mind-boggling.
If I do go to a physical store (if I need it today and can’t wait for it to be shipped) for a pink blouse, I visit the stores and go directly to the women’s section and look at blouses. I will know instantly whether or not there’s a pink blouse and if I don’t see one I don’t look at purple pants or cookware. I leave the store and go to another one in search of the pink blouse. This drives friends nuts if they are with me. It drives me nuts to shop with friends because they want to look at everything. I’m always amazed when we finish an outing and I have one bag with a pink blouse and the trunk is filled with their purchases. And they were just coming along with me to help me find a pink blouse.
The shopping gene may have skipped a couple of generations in my family. My mother feels as I do about shopping but her mother, my grandmother, loved to shop and my daughter loves to shop. I have memories of going shopping with my grandmother for a full day coming home with a small bag of thread. My daughter has always whined about the fact that we rarely have done the mother-daughter shopping ritual. I have gone shopping with her but usually after an hour I’m ready to come home. She can see “the look” and she starts getting nervous. She usually succeeds in getting me to continue by offering to buy lunch when she’s done. It only works if I’m very hungry.
My son and I once went shopping for important things we needed to set up his apartment when he went off to college. We had a huge list and a full shopping cart. I think we were at Wal-Mart getting the typical things one needs when setting up a first apartment. There were three things left on the list and we were having a tough time finding them. We had been in the store about an hour. Exasperated we looked at each other and almost simultaneously said, “Let’s get out of here.” We left our shopping cart and went to lunch and had Margaritas. Now that’s shopping. (Of course, we did eventually have to go shopping and get those items.)
My daughter and I went to Europe a few years ago and at the beginning of each day our tour group selected the day’s activities. A few of us always chose places of historical interest while the majority always looked for the equivalent of a CostCo. And when we were near large cities there were indeed large discount stores similar to Costco and the stores contained the same items.
We all split into touring preference groups. After our tiny group finished visiting a site such as Versailles, we would head back to the meeting point and eventually all the others from our group would arrive with bags full of stupid things. Not clever souvenirs made by local artisans. Oh, no. They would have bags of jeans, tops made in China, bedding made in China, and toys made in, well, you guessed it, China. I bought a cowbell in Switzerland. It was actually made by a cowbell person and the bells were actually worn by Swiss cows. We actually observed cows wearing these bells. They were beautiful. And the bells were pretty too.
Part of me wants to now delve into my opinion of excessive consumerism and sloth and gluttony and I’ve decided not to. I like things, I need things, but not as much as most people I know. Shopping for me is a necessity and nothing more. Walking the dogs or gardening or lunching with friends or watching a good movie are all things I’d rather do than visit a mall. In fact, I’d rather scrub out my trashcan than go to a mall. As of this writing I don’t believe I’ve stepped inside a shopping mall for three years. Maybe longer. When I do occasionally stop by a mall to purchase a box of See’s Candies I do not buy a lawnmower.
