BLISSFUL SHOPPING
or
HOW TO SAVE TIME, BUT PROBABLY NOT MONEY
by
Karen A. Lech
His name is Claude, my Schwan’s man. He visits me every two
weeks on Monday. The pale, yellow truck with the Swan painted on
the side pulls into the driveway and I know it is time to make
decisions.
“Can I interest you in anything today”, he politely asks. And,
being the smart aleck I am, I think of a lot of responses, but
tongue in cheek I simply say, “May I see the catalog?”
Schwan’s, a door to door grocery store of sorts, is a company
based in Marshall, Minnesota and has been in business since
1952. Their trucks are stocked with numerous items, nearly from
soup to nuts, breakfast to ice cream desserts. All items are
frozen (thank God I have a huge freezer!). They carry a
smorgasbord of products to help a busy mom, delight a single
person’s sweet tooth, tempt bachelors into two weeks of gourmet
food (then they really don’t have to cook for themselves, and
hey, it has to be healthier than pizza every night). Of course,
Schwan’s boasts convenience, and sometimes, by golly, it is TOO
convenient. You can order on line and your Schwan’s man will
have it on the truck on visiting day!
The prices are comparable to the school’s version of Market Day.
Some are a little bit less expensive and some are a tad more.
The variety is better, as you can stock up your ice cream supply
without the worry of it melting on the way home from the Market
Day pick up. Plus, what if your Market Day order comes in on the
Saturday that you have to attend that nephew’s wedding?
Peapod is another version of door to door sales that comes to
mind, but you have to make a list and they shop for you. I wish
they had had Peapod when my twins were infants! I felt like
shopping day was a caravan across the vast desert of what was
then Omni. Three shopping carts, twins in stroller, the
two-year-old’s hand placed firmly on the stroller handle and a
six-year-old and nine-year-old helping me to push the other
shopping carts. And you KNOW they filled the carts with things
they wanted. Check out time was an eye opener to cost,
especially as the two older boys loved to pack the bags, thereby
bypassing mother’s watchful, frugal eye. By the time the cashier
had rung everything up, my bleared eyesight and mind took it all
in stride as I somehow, dazed, paid my bill. Of course when we
got home, there was the revelation. I soon learned the
advantages of shopping at 1-2 a.m. - alone.
Home delivery/door to door sales brings to mind the Fuller brush
man, the Avon lady (who would actually come to your door!) and
Watkins products. Looking back through history, this all is a
throw back to times of yesteryear with the “medicine man”
selling his wares out west, vegetable peddlers in the city, the
tinker who would sharpen knifes, scissors, etc. I am sure we
have all read stories of medieval England, when a man and his
cart - and at times his family-would travel from town to town,
kind of like a door to door or town to town market place.
What if all companies were to change to a home delivery/shopping
service today? Microsoft comes to your door with disks,
software, or hardware or printer ink companies with an
assortment of HP, Epson, Lexmark, etc.? This could be a boon to
America’s economy! Wouldn’t you love it if a gas truck pulled in
to fill your car? “Knock, Knock…” “Hello?” “Good morning,
Ma’am or sir, how is you fuel tank today?” This is would make me
ecstatic! No more filling my gas tank at the gas station in bad
weather!! Pharmacy lines… think of it! A traveling
pharmacist… complete with your prescriptions right on board!
This could be endlessly enchanting and time saving. I would NOT
let my children answer the door for the Toy Salesman, though.
And what could we do with all the time we save? The
possibilities are endless…
Again, this bird brain has opened a can of worms.
thanks for reading! Karen A. Lech, copyright 2005
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I love trivia. While reading various books on various subjects over varying periods of time, I always come across some interesting tidbits of information…trivial food for thought, all of which make me wonder things such as, how, what, when, where, why, and what if.
Did you know that in:
50 A.D. the Romans invented soap? How did they stay clean before that…or did they?
453 A.D. Attila the Hun died from a nosebleed on his wedding night? His wife must have been something. I wonder what she looked like?
700 A.D. the Chinese invented the brassiere? I’ve spent most of my life trying to put them on and take them off. Not a pretty picture.
1094 gondolas appeared in Venice? Probably because the senior citizens of Venice were finding it more difficult to swim from neighbor to neighbor.
1904 a woman was arrested in New York for smoking in public? I wonder what she was smoking.
It’s fun to jot down trivial, historic events. I get most of them from the newspaper and old textbooks. Some of my students share their findings with me, as do friends. In any case, all types of unique, historic information always conjures up more questions in my mind, which sends me to the archives to do more research, resulting in more writing opportunities.
Copyright © 2006 by Pamela Beers. All rights reserved.
Pamela Beers is a freelance writer who enjoys making people laugh.
http://www.pamelabeers.com
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