I have a friend who said it impacted her town when they got mail delivery to the house instead of having to pick it up at the post office. Sure it was more convenient, but people used to chat together at the post office and that connection was lost. On a different note, many of the seniors I know, including my 90 year old mother, get home grocery delivery. It is safer for them to not drive anymore, they don't have to go out in the rain or snow, and they have acesss to fresh food so they can still live independently and cook their own meals. Convenience is a double edged sword.
+ a close familial structure where the younger generation takes care of things like groceries for the older generation is also a more social version than at-home grocery deliveries, but family structure is slowly disintegrating either way.
@M4rkeritaville Yep or now get mad at boundaries when we tell them "hey don't force my child to cuddle or kiss you, they have bodily autonomy" and suddenly you're blocking them from seeing their grandchild (apparently) and they won't talk to you anymore (even though they claim to want to see their grandkids)
@@W0Rd0n32sTre3T Absolutely. Big stores outpriced all the small corner stores that made daily necessities easily accesible then sold us the solution to not being able to go 5 minutes to the next store. Same with easily accesible doctors and other necessities.
I love this video but please take into account: There were people before (mostly women) doing the convenience work for the family. Fe my aunt was always working full time as a boomer, but my grandma was cooking for her, her husband and her daughter.
@ I want to say : we are not the first generation to use convenience services. We are the first to pay for it. And obviously (esp in the us) not enough.
This! Converting unpaid labour to paid labour can decrease inequality. Bashing "lazy millenials" for going out for latte and avocado toast is often a front for trying to push women back into the kitchen to do the cooking and entertaining for free. (Not something I see TFD doing here.) If everyone, including the men, pitches in equally not just with effort in the moment but also by learning to cook well, learning to accomodate multiple preferences and allergies and learning how to plan and prepare parties, I do think that would be amazing, but will this happen in 2024?
@@aquamar1003we’re not even the first to pay. The milkman is a trope for a reason, you used to have milk delivered. The grocer would go around middle class houses taking orders and then delivering them later that day, same with the butcher. Household employees such as maids and cooks. More than 1.3 million people were in domestic service in England in the Edwardian period. More than there were farmers. More than there were coal miners. We are only the third generation (as a millennial) where human labour is more expensive than goods. We’re really just going back to the historical norm.
I think that the real issue is that the gig-style jobs aren’t paying a reasonable amount of money… being a maid was generally a job for a young woman (in Edwardian times as someone mentioned), being a milkman paid enough to sustain a person’s wages, etc. These gig workers are not young or inexperienced, and they only pay “well” if you overwork yourself, and still don’t offer any real benefits. It’s a bunch of jobs where people willing to spend the money are offloading the social responsibility onto others who don’t have that luxury (similar to what happens with cheap clothes made in china or Bangladesh). I would almost go as far as to say that this type of work increases inequality.
In the 1950s, Betty Crocker came out with a cake mix. All you had to do was add water and stick the cake in the oven. It didn't sell well and when the company did focus groups, they found that housewives wouldn't buy the cake because of guilt. Betty Crocker added eggs and milk to the recipe on the box and suddenly the cake mix sold well again. Betty Crocker's focus groups found that female consumers felt an obligation to work hard baking a cake from scratch in order to please their husbands and guests. That obligation is bullshit - so make sure you don't take the anti-convenience too far. If there truly isn't any harm caused by the convenience, we shouldn't make our lives harder than they have to be. There is enough pressure on women to be perfect already.
I agree with your sentiment that we shouldn't be putting more pressure on women to be perfect, nor should we shun "convenience". I think some people might forget the good things about convenience. What about the sick or elderly or the stay-at-home moms with young children that really appreciate conveniences such as the home delivery of essentials like food, medicine and diapers? There are truckers that drive those same essentials to the stores for our convenience. What's the difference if it's put on another truck and driven right to our doors so that we don't have to waste hours of our time getting it in person? Where does it end? If people really want to shun "convenience" why don't they give up all of their appliances? Why not live off grid with no power or Internet? Why not sell their cars and walk everywhere? All of these things are modern conveniences, which we should feel grateful for.
I have never succeeded in baking a cake from scratch. What I get is 9” round 1/2 inch thick doorstops. What a waste of time and ingredients….I’ll take a box cake mix, doctored or plain, any time!
When i moved out from my parent’s home and started living alone I came up with making «emergency cake jars»- mixed flour, cinnamon,sugar and baking powder in little jars just enough for a cake or 6 muffins - in case of an unplanned friend visit, which happened often . Then somebody told me that «cake mix» was a thing…still don’t get the idea- it takes like 5 minutes to mix.
As someone wi does a gig job occasionally, I appreciate the fact that i can expect more business in bad weather. Chelsea is a bit obnoxious to pretend she can speak for everyone because of the one testimonial she recorded. 🙄
@@faithli2131nowadays virtually all takeout delivery drivers choose when they work. They make their own schedule. If they’re delivering takeout in the rain it’s completely their choice.
I do this with uber eats, i still occasionally get it but I have to log in on my browser and go through the whole login flow + 2FA process, I can't just mindlessly open it
'convenience culture is killing us here is an ad for convenience therapy' ...i know sponsorships are just a thing you have do deal with, but damn that whiplash x.x
Some of these conveniences are really good for people with disabilities. Making them affordable for people that really do need things delivered for them. It’s complicated.
Or people who work fulltime jobs. Idk about you all, but working fulltime, cooking and keeping the house clean is for me impossible. I was in a constant state of burnout before I started outsourcing some parts of my weekly tasks.
@@Ashina12345 I empathize as I also work full time and have an all-around busy schedule, but we shouldn't be demanding for services that ultimately cannot be this cheap without an exploitative business model to continue existing. Rather we should be advocating for the root cause to change and force companies to implement for example a four day workweek (as a start), which would provide people with full time jobs with more free time to take care of their own shit and not feel like it's eating up any free time they have left after working, often overtime. The same is true for people with disabilities: Why are they not getting help in a different form? Why are they getting so little benefits that they cannot afford "convenience" at its real price (for them a necessity really) without offloading the cost to gig workers? It's capitalism's divide and conquer strategy working when really the working class and people with disabilites are on the same side and that is not the side of capital.
@@BS-xs7jb i don't see her demanding. i see her using what is available. and you can be lobbying for change (which is expensive - better get to fundraising!!) while our friend up there is utilizing the convenience services available to her. it's not mutually exclusive. i hope you understand that. and why are disabled people not getting help in a different form? well, because that's socialism, which makes 33% of the country incredibly fearful. if it costs you money to do your gig work job, then dont' do the gig work job. it's pretty simple.
I come from a small town too, and the problem with "buying local" is that local shops don't produce goods anymore. They are just resellers, just like amazon, selling the same cheap china-made crap, but for 3 times the price so the shop owner can afford to vacation down south every winter. That doesn't help "support local economy" one bit because they just send your hard earned money over seas to buy that cheap labour crap, just like any other reseller trying for a quick (cheap) buck. Bottom line: -If your local businesses are producing things locally, please, make an effort to support them and help retain the local talented/skilled workers you have, as well as support the local economy. -If they are just resellers, then it's fair game where you buy the product from, because it's all the same cheap foreign crap anyway and your money ends up in the same foreign pockets in the end.
This feels like a video made by someone who lives in a city and works either a flexible schedule or from home. My fiance and I both work full time in-office jobs in an area with no public transit. Using grocery pick up (or, occasionally, food delivery) allows us time on our evenings and weekends to do the life-admin tasks that so many of my WFH colleagues now do during workday breaks or what used to be commute time (shopping, meal prep, laundry, etc).
Has anyone pointed out the obvious, here? It shouldn't be about getting rid of convenience services, which help so many people, including myself. Instead of doing the Boomer trope of "I walked to school in 10 feet of snow, and so should you", we should be making tighter regulations and requirements for how businesses treat their people and pay them properly. We are a service economy; thanks to technology, this is the case. We're not going backwards in time to where working in dangerous factories is the norm and doing everything by hand is the "only way". Force businesses to pay and treat their people well; our service economy will continue, and as much as people apparently hate it, what do you think "services" are? This includes a lot of convenience services, many which became necessary during the COVID pandemic. I'm not into shaming people for using a service, when the root of the actual problem is the greedy corporations who don't pay their people enough and treat them like shit. If the employees of these "gig" jobs were paid well and treated properly, the only excuse you would have is that things should be done "the hard way", which IMO, is incredibly subjective and silly. I normally love your videos, but this one was way off base for me.
Everything in our lives is filled with conveniences and things that we outsource to other people. Most people don't grow or raise their own food, make their own clothes or build their own house. We rely on a vast network of people that work hard in order for us to eat, be clothed and have a roof over our heads with plumbing, heat and cooling. Those are all "conveniences", but people may have lost sight of that. If that were taken into account, then the entire world is full of adult toddlers.
yeah, i'm with you on this one. too much of the video felt very 'nobody wants to work today'. i think what it comes down to is that people feel uncomfortable with working conditions for people who provide these services, and instead of deciding to try and improve those conditions they're more comfortable just eliminating the jobs altogether - even though a massive amount of Americans would lose significant chunks of their income if this happened. and also, like you said, there's a lot of moral value placed on doing work for works sake, which makes people even more inclined to think the answer is that everyone should just stop being a big baby - or adult toddler - and stop using the services.
@@neriah9969 I’m with you, but the reality *is* underpaid and overworked people, and I DO think we need to moralize the ethics of utilizing that if you don’t really need to. We’ve already un-moralized buying from absolutely heinous overseas companies, and doing it here will make things worse for everyone. Like we aren’t safe from the gig economy in basically any job that doesn’t require a doctorate - we should be *extremely* cautious about buying in to a system like this
It is being tried in Seattle. It is deeply unpopular with many gig workers. Largely, because the fees get passed onto the consumer, they don't want to pay what the labor involved is worth.
I think its a problem to assume entitlement when you are just viewing statistics about people ordering. There are a LOT more disabled people now than there were in 2019 who have difficulty getting out in bad weather too. When I bring this up, I often get comments like "well this isnt about disabled people." Which is a huge problem in itself. Disabled people are 20-25% of the population. It doesn't just mean wheelchair users. Let's focus on the problem, which is the system. Individuals often don't have great choices anymore.
If all that's keeping people "connected" with their community are chores that force them into public places, society has a bigger problem than convenience services.
Yeah. I don't get my community by in person shopping. It's a big ask to try to do that when retail companies have trained their other customers to be obstacles at best and ticking time bombs at worst. I do not want to community with that.
I have to say I chuckle when I think of the negativity around the new age conveniences, when back in the day people could have literally all of their staples delivered to their homes on a daily or near daily basis (milkman anyone?).
Yup! It reminds me of every older person who has ever done the whole "You kids are so lazy! I used to walk 2 miles in 10 feet of snow everyday to school!" Like, we have serious issues facing us as a country. People having access to convenience apps is the last thing on my radar, unless we want to approach this from a "fuck these corporations, make them pay and treat their people ethically" viewpoint. I'm all on board for that. But when you start tying morality to convenience, I immediately know you're being ridiculous.
Look, if you say fuck it I want to pay 30 dollars for 10 dollars worth of food that's fine. But most people know they really can't afford it, do it anyway and rationalize it by pretending it's actually cheaper to get doordash than it is to learn to cook and plan like an adult.
True. Mostly because in the case of my neighborhood, the mother stayed home with the kids and didn't have access to a car. We also had a fruit and vegetable truck that used to come by. All the kids loved the vendor - such a wonderful man.
True, but a big difference is that those services were sustainable and less bad for the environment. Glass milk bottles were reused. They were also good jobs with benefits and labor unions. They were also members of the community-people knew the milkman (some people knew the milkman VERY well, lol!). Actually, the milkman is a great example of all of the things Chelsea is advocating for in this video: ethical convenience.
@@midorisour2844 Can confirm. My father was a milkman in the '80s. Every milkman had the same route, and they knew what people would need. It was also a pretty laid-back job, and he'd have coffee breaks at people's houses. Neighbors would meet almost daily when the milkman came. So it was very much a community thing.
I'm a big fan of TFD but I don't know about this video, and so I'm going to write a big wall of text... As democratic socialists, I think you all understand that individual consumer habits cannot and do not change the behavior of corporations. That's why things like labor rights and anti-trust laws exist, because the owning class will always have a financial incentive to exploit the working class and behave it ways that minimize overhead and maximize profit. That's not saying that boycotts and stuff like that don't work, but saying people should stop using Doordash if possible is not a boycott. The treatment of gig workers is a result of 1) legislative incompetence, and 2) massive lobbying efforts by corporations to be allowed to call their employees contractors to avoid paying any kind of benefits, or even paying them a minimum wage. A few years ago I decided to never use Amazon next day shipping again because of the issues that your guest mentioned. Using next day shipping made me feel bad, and not using it made me feel a little better, like I was less complicit in the problem. But me not using same day shipping has literally no tangible effect on any amazon worker ever. Market share was not affected by me limiting myself to one order a month. Conversely, I don't have a car and live in an area without reliable public transit, so when I can't get a ride to the store, I use Instacart. I use the app about once a month, and I feel I have a pretty good reason when I do. But that doesn't mean that Instacart is going to treat the employee getting my groceries better. When it comes to labor rights and economic policy, I think it can be dangerous to moralize the use of certain goods or services, because then it becomes very easy to just say we should eliminate those services altogether even when they do a lot of good for people, and provide a lot of jobs. Most people I know that work for gig apps are either trying to make some extra money on the side (adding an additional stream of income, something this channel recommends), or they literally can't find another job. Workers aren't being exploited because Gen Z and millennials have become uniquely selfish and lazy, it's because these apps employ vulnerable people who have no other options.
Hear hear! Excellent point. It's not enough to vote for with your dollar, you have to vote with your effing vote. Americans (and the rest of the globe) are going to have a rude awakening come January. Canada is bracing for a recession, I recommend the rest of you do the same. Yes, things are rough now. They're about to get so much worse, including cost of living and workers protections. I mean, ahem, all hail our corporate overlords. If anyone isn't sure what I'm referring to, do yourself a favour and actually look up what tariffs are, and then maybe google how 2025 tariffs will affect your country. Even our conservative premiers, who have their tongues waaaaay up a certain incoming president's butthole, are freaking out. May we all take the next 4 years as a big f'n lesson on corporate interference in government, and how even once semi-socialist countries like Canada are barreling towards a "free market" economy that will nickel and dime us to death and not have the decency to pay us a decent wage or benefits while we bleed out.
TLDR: it’s not just about who you choose NOT to support through your purchases, it’s also how your purchases can have a positive influence at a local level. I agree that your purchasing decisions are unlikely to have an effect on the big company you are trying to avoid. But purchasing decisions are not just about having a negative effect they also have a positive one. For example, I am lucky to have many bric-a-brac shops on my local high street which sells many of the things people would order from Amazon for convenience (and for the same price if you account for delivery/subscriptions). Those shops are a dying breed because of the move towards e-commerce even though they provide a very tangible service to their communities. The trend over all is less middle class-owned small shops which provide people with financial autonomy and consolidation of retail where one corporation is taking a bigger cut and work is more precarious for all the gig workers working for them. We need antitrust too, but this does have a positive effect at the local level.
Millennials are in our 30s and 40s. Stop blaming us for your perceived problems with “kids now days.” We’re not lazy. We’re overworked, overstretched parents who are also a part and impacted by the current state of things…not some magical group of “others” that is complicit in a separate system that hurts just you.
Talk about convenience culture as a single parent. I have only one adult in my household but I am expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents. If I save time shopping for clothes online that gives me more time to clean my house, cook dinner, and interact with my child. That’s a win in my book.
This can also be a story about city/urban design that is hostile to people's mobility, which can increase reliance on delivery services and rideshare apps.
2:35 the quote on roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income is misleading. Go look up that survey. It surveyed ~1000 people that were already gig workers. Roughly 37% of gig workers use gig work as a primary source of income, not 37% of all workers.
If my spouse and I could pull a boomer lifestyle where we collectively only work 40 hours to take care of a family of 4, we wouldn't feel so exhausted and resort to paying for conveniences. I hate it.
Idk. Thinking about delivery and calling it “toddler” … milk 🥛 used to be delivered, ice 🧊 used to be delivered. And although we don’t it by its original name the convenience store was well … convenient? At least more so than the previous generation. On the flipside, much of the workforce didn’t and doesn’t aspire to be a gig worker. It’s not their job of choice.
I’d like to ad a different perspective. My partner and I both work fulltime and we have two school aged kids. Making use of online grocery shopping, meal delivery once a week, clothes/errand shopping online, etc, is a necesity to sustain this model. If these services are not in place you run the risk of pushing back women into the home at the expense of their career and financial independence. I see these services as facilitating emancipation of women. However this should not come at the expense of workers, fair waged are key and I support that whole heartitly.
It's kind of a parallel to how (white middle-class) women fully entered the workforce. Great for their financial emancipation, but overall wages went down as a result of the workforce almost doubling. Wages shouldn't have gone down. It's true that they did, but that wasn't women's fault and shouldn't be used as an argument for them to leave the workforce again (as it sometimes is in certain circles). It always comes back to the corporations. Individual (consumer) guilt isn't the answer. Now, how do we get corporations to act right?
@@francookie9353 i mean, women have always been in the work force? like poor women and women of color were still in the work force even when the "middle class" white lifestyle pushed women back into the home en masse after ww2
Kudos to you for being able to use convenience to your advantage. But that’s the key really- you use it to your advantage whereas others let it take advantage of their already shallow pockets that they work too hard to sustain. A lot of people honestly shouldn’t have credit cards and should do cash stuffing. They go online, get advertised to, and lose sight of the mission, get super sidetracked. These convenience services are really nice when used properly. Throw everything in your target cart during lunch, pay, drop by and pick up after work. Way faster than shopping in store, and you got exactly what you needed and not more (hopefully).
There has to be come part of this that is about not just convenience but pleasure. Like wanting a more elaborate meal every night. The reality is you could make a huge pot of lentil or chicken soup, rice and veggies, and eat it with bread every day for a week, and it would serve your nutritional needs, be quicker over all, save money and save the planet. But that is "boring" and hence why "adult toddler".
I do think rideshare apps greatly improved on the taxi model, at least for consumers. I remember our crew missing a flight out LaGuardia once after a work event, because every cab we wasted time flagging down refused to drive to the airport from Manhattan. Also, the number of times I was wildly overcharged for a cab ride because a driver knew I was unfamiliar with the area and took me on a very "scenic route." I love knowing how much my ride is going to cost me BEFORE I get in the car, not after I've arrived at my destination and am frantically trying to scrape together cash for a trip that should have been $20, but was now closer to $30. In my opinion, that industry needed to be shaken up.
That was the initial promise, and while it improved certain things (like more taxis have their own apps now and there is no need to call anymore), they didn't really improve service as a whole. Uber has publicly admitted the app would detect if the user's phone was low on battery and apply a surge just because they can, because if your phone is about to die you cannot compare with other providers or call a taxi... They blamed AI for this, but it's not the only dubious thing they do. When I have to use it for my work, when I open the app there is always a car available 3 minutes away, however, once you actually book your ride, they cannot find a driver... Suddenly those 3 minutes became 20 and there is still no driver available... However, if you book with priority, one driver magically appears.
I’m neurodivergent and work a stressful job in stem. After work I’m totally exhausted and am not able to handle going into the sensory environment of the grocery store and interacting with people. Grocery delivery has been life changing - I am much more healthy as a result.
I would also point out as a user of for example walmart plus and ordering food once a week, this is not a convenience purchase for me but a money saver. I do not own a car. While I can afford to own a car, auto insurance, maintenance, parking, and fuel costs, I have estimated to be around $200-300 a month. I can bike wherever I need to be(college), so these are the only things I need a car for. compared to that with the "convenience purchasing" I spend ~$50 a month. that's a huge difference. not even accounting for the initial purchase of a vehicle. So some of this also boils down to car culture.
@@churchofmarcus Car payments, even on used cars now, usually start at the absolute lowest around $350, but are more commonly $500 to $600, and that's for very low end, basic models with no frills. Owning a car is outrageously expensive and the car culture in this country is another reason many have to order delivery. I share one car with my partner, and when he is at work, I have to order delivery because he works 12 hour shifts and doesn't leave work until most places are closed, and I have no way to get my groceries otherwise during his work schedule. Many, many, many people are in this same boat. Villainizing convenience, a demand that will ALWAYS BE THERE, is outrageous when the reason people rely on these conveniences isn't a moral failing, but how our system is poorly set up. Moralizing people trying to make their lives easier, when the problem isn't them to begin with, only points out privledges and biases that may have, that others don't. In order to shop for yourself, you need a car in the majority of the country that isn't a metro city. You need money for gas, car insurance, car maintenance. You need to have a job that allows you the working hours to go personally shopping for all the things you need. You need to have good health that allows you to physically work 40+ hours a week, and still do everything else that convenience apps take care of for people. Moralizing anything when it comes to working is why people feel guilty when they aren't constantly being productive. It's a terrible, harmful mindset. I'm all for being aware of the struggles of gig work, and tipping accordingly if you use these services, but the real issue isn't really being addressed here.
We have these same delivery services here in Europe, but nobody would expect the courier to leave your food "on dry ice" or you not being home. They call you and you have to confirm you're home. Nobody would even dream of ordering and not being home to pick it up? Weird.
The absolute peril of doing DoorDash in inclement weather is real. I did that for a winter or two in Chicago because undeniably the business is a lot better in those conditions. Then I spun out and almost got hit by a pickup truck trying to take an exit off Lake Shore Drive. At that moment I decided I needed to get tf out of that game.
On Airbnb - it was originally founded as a way for people to make money renting spare rooms for short term rentals, not for full houses. You stayed with a family and experience the local culture, etc. like in the commercials. It was not intended to be a business, and guests and hosts were more connected. I don't remember there being any "horror stories" until it changed to be more separate.
No, that was only how they "disrupted" the market to keep prices low for the consumer and without spending a single dollar on an initial investment in real-state, but in fact that already existed (and still exists) and it's called couch-surfing.
Best and easiest thing I did was start writing down any discretionary spend in my phone notes section. Everything. That way I can keep track of how much I am spending and modify.
Interesting topic but I personally believe that individual convenience is not the problem - it's the structure that we have given it. It's great to have convenience choices, great to make things easier and faster, it helps increasing flexibility and thus possibilities. What we need is a fair structure for it, where everybody wins. Nobody needs to order take out 7x a week, but it's good to a have choice - even if it costs more. The only thing we need to fix is the COST of convenience so that it acurately reflects the labour that is going into it. IMO, it doesn't need to go - it just needs some perspective.
My biggest level up for managing my life like an adult has been a task management system (like Asana, Monday, or Todoist). Now, I proactively tackle recurring tasks, and can also make reminders for one-of tasks to do them at some specific time. It has helped me take up so much more mental load off of my wife and place it onto me.
Fun fact about tips for these delivery gigs: We know what you're tipping before we accept the order. If it doesn't look like it will work out to $20 an hour for the time spent on it, me and many other drivers will simply decline it. You basically have to tip well enough or you just won't get your food in a timely manner.
I'm not sure which delivery company you're with, but Grubhub doesn't *really* give drivers that option. Technically they do, we're allowed to decline as many as we want... but if our acceptance rate drops below 95% (we ignore or decline more than one in 20 orders we're offered) our driver rating goes down. On good days there's not much difference between top and mid rated driver pay, but there are a lot more average and slow days in my suburban area. Being in a lower tier when it's average busyness or below means choosing between taking several low-paying orders that likely come with long drives, or turning them down in hopes that the next one will be better.
Yep, I’d just sit in my car declining 20-30 orders before accepting one that’s actually worth it. But some states have an hourly rate which isn’t any better since you’re driving the entire hour, wasting more gas
I'm reading More Work for Mother right now and I think this video would have benefited from a historical perspective. "Convenience" services, aka commercialization of household labor, have been tried since the 19th century and many have become so normal we don't even notice they once were household labor. Some others weren't socially accepted or successful. They were also attempted for different reasons and in different forms. There have been laundry co-ops, for example, as charitable measures for people who couldn't afford in-home laundry, and as a tool for empowerment for women. I think it's good to be critical of these developments, and the way they're implemented. But that doesn't mean they're all bad or some new thing that means we're all weak and our generation is doomed (at least not for this reason alone).
The title is a bit click-baitey but I think it aligns with your general point. I don't think the video's overall message is an anti-convenience one; I think it's critical of the business models underpinning much of the newer technology-facilitated convenience. I think it's as nuanced as your excellent comment is.
I really enjoyed this video. I take it as the warning that, if you over rely on convenience, if you misunderstand the true cost and the consequence of it, you will remain trapped. I'm seeing a lot of comments that kinda say, blame society or the systemic structure, I need the convenience anyways-and I can't help but think maybe we're missing the point. That we're buying ourselves into our demise, thinking that we're somehow making our lives easier. And it's just not the case. We as individuals do have more power than we realize. And also, please don't be the asshole customer!! Like wtf.
Am I missing something? She said that ordering food delivery during inclement weather indicates a lack of empathy on the part of the consumer, but the drivers for companies like DoorDash and Ubereats only work when they choose to. Obviously, they might put themselves at risk by driving in bad weather because they can’t afford to not have the income, but how does not ordering food help that?? Sure the risk of them getting hurt being out in that weather is gone, but now they also can’t get that income that they need. These drivers are adults and should weigh the risks for themselves. I used to drive for DoorDash and I know that you would get paid more when there were fewer drivers working, so bad weather often means more money.
What a strange, tone deaf video. We outsource a lot because everyone works fulltime jobs. We don’t have a stay-at-home-partner to do the things we otherwise wouldn’t outsource.
I’m a stay at home mom who homeschools and we use convenience services. I rarely use the other car (like right now it needs its heat fixed. We are in the Midwest so it’s cold now). I also have major anxiety so it works out so much better for me. My husband will pick up a drive up order at Target or Kroger if needed.
Great work Chelsea. I delivered for Uber before. The company and customers treat us like crap. I never use delivery apps because if customers knew what really goes on during the delivery they wouldn't eat the food...
I used to do food delivery too. It was difficult work for little pay. And the worst is when customers bait you with tips and then withdraw them after you deliver their food....I will never understand people that do that
I remember the first moment I arrived in the US to study, from Latin America. I really felt it was a country made for babies. Everything was so easy and convenient, I couldn't believe it.
I'm so confused. You promoted convenience-app deleting app( EHICH IS A FEATURE ON EVERY PHONE)- then immediately mention how we fall for said convenience. That contradiction disrupted my listening abruptly.
Your campaign to make younger adults hate, distrust, and blame everyone guilty of being born before 1965 is tiresome and doesn’t help anyone. As a late “boomer” who was born in 61, I have worked very hard and given and served generously all my life, and could not afford to have a child until age 37. I worked a full time career and night factory work to pay for my kids to go to college and they are living with me for free including no rent, no utilities, no cell/cable/internet bills, free groceries, as they establish their careers and save for their own future goals. My husband and I have postponed retirement to support our kids and community. Your content is often interesting and intelligent, but is diminished by your constant snark and biases about anyone older than you. It used to be annoying and now it is just boring.
I agree there's a bit of older gen bashing and stereotyping on this channel. At the same time, I feel the content is generally quite thoughtful. I think every gen has difficulties- they are just different. It's impossible to sit in your shoes, but I appreciate and can empathize with your journey and care for your family.
The argument against convenience culture (for me) boils down to this Kurt Vonnegut story: "Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore." I can order a pizza on Doordash. But, as someone who lives in a city, it's much nicer to walk to my local spot and remind myself I'm not scared of human interaction. The last time I went to the hardware store instead of ordering from Amazon, they were having happy hour! I got a cup of wine and a piece of chocolate! I get to people watch when I'm on the bus. And, if I'm lucky, I'll bump into my neighbor walking her dog on my way to the stop. It is so so fun to feel connected to your community. Totally agree that convenience is great on occasion (or always, for those who need it). But if you have the ability.... go fart around.
I loved the video! Very thought provoking. I went from being lower income growing up and in school to being imo rich now. In grad school, I learned painfully that I *had* to plan for things like low energy days, inclement weather, and similar for food. I learned to meal prep on a schedule so I could have good food all week. I learned the cost -- literal and emotional -- of failing to plan. Yesterday, I hadn't planned well, so my husband and I spent $52 ordering a single delivery meal that took over an hour to arrive. (We've agreed for me to take care of food, this is not a lazy husband situation.) I felt pretty ridiculous about that, and then I watched this video, and it made me properly realize that I need to put in the effort and get myself a back up plan. Freezer meals, or even just a can of beans and instant rice. The video was a really good nudge to reevaluate where I'm not taking initiative and not taking care of myself by putting in effort up front. And then fix it. I think the response to the video really supports the ideas it's sharing. I also want to mention, this video was pretty difficult to watch (with headphones!) on public transit. I had to cover up the bottom of the video. And let me be clear, girl, if you wanted to make all of your videos in a bikini, go for it! It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of ideas, which are excellent. But it does make it a bit awkward to watch around others or share.
I would be interested if ride sharing like uber and Lyft has reduced people driving while drunk. I know if my wife and I are going out and we are planning on drinking we will we take an uber instead of driving.
While super misguided, I feel like this is one reason why baby boomers are so enamored with the Trump “Make America Great Again” slogan. Some may be racists, yes. But I know my boomer parents bemoan the loss of community and the coldness of society and growing isolation. The older they are getting, the more convenience culture and hyper consumerism are growing. In many ways, my parents don’t even feel like they are a part of this world anymore. I’m an elder millennial and I think we are such a unique demographic because we grew up as kids with no internet but the mass explosion of the internet as adults. It really is kind of jarring remembering childhood vs now in terms of convenience and community. IMO, throw away culture had leached from hyper consumerism/convenience products to now personal and community relationships where people are just less dependable and way more flaky
we used doordash a lot during covid but almost never now that it’s like $100 per order. now we just use the app to organize our order and then call the restaurant, order directly from them and go pick it up because it’s way cheaper lol
I worked for doordash for almost a year in San Francisco, getting between $10-$33 an hour. All depends on the time of day. I could sit in my car for over an hour waiting for an order, not getting paid. If i did get a good shift of $33 an hour for a few hours, it doesnt account for gas (around $5-6 a gallon), car maintenance, or taxes you still have to pay.
Honestly I usually get my groceries delivered to my house but today I went to the store at 5pm and it was hell. So crowded, so many people everywhere blocking the aisles, chatting in the middle of the aisle, walking super slow. I literally couldn’t stand it, it gave me anxiety. I’m sticking to delivery service and I’m grateful for it.
I really think that the companies have made the in person experience intolerable and made susceptible customers dumb and rude intentionally in order to push online shopping.
I really dont see an issue with this. I couldnt be a single soccer mom with 2 kids and a full time job without all these things at my convenience. its either convenience or no home cooked meals.
When younger people see how single moms struggle on top of the lack of societal support for fostering fruitful marriages, we start asking questions. Most of the convenience workers are on contract and speak no English. It's almost like America created a slave class just to squeeze more $$ out of us.
Successful investing is hard work because it means disciplining your mind to do the opposite of human nature. Buying during a panic, selling during euphoria, and holding on when you are bored and just craving a little action. Investing is 5% intellect and 95% temperament.
You have a lot of excellent points in this video, and you have a lot of nuanced pushback in the comments, especially about the definition of entitlement, disability and convenience, and gender disparity of household tasks. I would also like to add that a lot of these convenience businesses begin as a demand for reform in industries that frequently take advantage of the average consumer. I remember taking taxis as a teenager and feeling either unsafe around a taxi driver driving recklessly, road raging, or just plain creepy. I would also never end up paying the rate that was displayed on their dash. It was always hiked up by a lot, and what is a 19 year old single woman going to do, argue about it? Ultimately, we need laws to protect these folks working in these services, but let's not demonize them completely. We need reform across the board.
Not using delivery apps during bad weather for morality reasons is a weird argument. If nobody orders stuff, drivers can't work - no demand = no pay. Drivers are willing to go out on the roads regardless because they NEED money, and they aren't afforded paid time off. It's like saying unpaid factory work is morally wrong because of occupational hazard, when the actual issue is insufficient compensation + benefits. On the flip side, firefighters are in incredibly dangerous work but are compensated well - it's about how society/systems value your labour.
Regardless of all of this, consumers (myself included) don't understand the true cost of products and goods. Cheap stuff is not supposed to be THIS cheap.... the cost is being paid by someone else somewhere (suppressed wages, poor working conditions, outsourcing, etc).
in my country, we had this discussion of using app during bad weather and all the drivers said they prefer working during bad weather because they are paid more when it's raining or anything. sooo, I wait the heavy rain stops and order during the drizzle, cause I believe they app won't know if it's heavy rain or just a drizzle
But I don't think that is what the video is advocating. I don't think it's main point is that consumers and gig workers are to blame. I think it's asking us to consider standing in solidarity with fellow workers and apply pressure to change the system when we can because maybe the system is screwing all if us to varying degrees. Sometimes that might mean inconveniencing ourselves including considering whether or not we order deliveries in hazardous weather. Firefighters in the US might earn more than gig workers but I would argue that's not just down to how 'society or the system' values their works it's more because they are unionized. Even then think how long firefighters had to fight and campaign for Congress to agree compensation post the debilitating effects firefighters had to battle post their service during 9/11. These systems aren't neutral or objective and maybe with solidarity we can change them.
@@SeekingDialogue I can agree with this perspective for sure. I don't use food delivery apps anyway because ordering in food doesn't make sense for me financially. Although these services were never meant to be full-time jobs (thinking specifically about uber/eats). They were supposed to give people who already owned a car an opportunity to make a few more bucks. Still, I'm curious how far proper compensation would drive up pricing and if it would kill the appeal of centralized food delivery for good.
What I hate about online shopping is you can physicality get more than I can locally. I go to brick and mortar and cannot find what I'm looking for but amazon has something much closer. You have to make the ethical call that you will get something less desirable to avoid the mega company.
That's what I've noticed most of the time too. I live in a large city too but multiple times I spent hours looking for things that I ended up having to get online anyway.
Air bnb is great for groups of 3 or more, especially in areas where cooking some of your meals at home helps offset the cost of the trip itself. Or when we want to go on a trip with our 3 dogs. But over the last couple of years if it's just for myself or me and one person, hotels all the way!
Its amazing to me that we are suffering from a loneliness epidemic, but people are doing everything in their power to not have to leave their house and interact with other people. I totally understand that sometimes you just can't be bothered or don't have the time to go grocery shopping, or to cook a meal. But those times should be the exception, not the norm. (Obviously not referring to people with disabilities or other valid reasons to rely on convenience services). By running my own errands, I've been able to make connections with people. The local butcher knows me on a first name basis. I run into people I know at the grocery store. Instead of buying a book on my kindle, I go to my library and have met many new people there. Its such a small thing, but its a way to build community. And lets not forget that a driving factor of our overspending and overconsumption is the fact that we no longer have community. While I know that these services can be lifesaving for some people, I'm a firm believer that the blatant overuse of them is terrible for not only our financial health, but our mental and social health as well.
I haven't ordered food delivery since January 2024. I enjoy doing freezer meal prepping which means each week, I don't have to stress over what to eat that week. Instead, I can shop from my freezer and avoid having that urge to run out and grab take-out or do delivery. I have taken the stress away from deciding as I technically plan far ahead every time I fill my freezer with a new batch of cooked meals.
I really hate these apps. I have spent more time when using them because of the number of wrong orders on food delivery, or terrible produce from the grocery apps. I end up having to drive to re-order the food or return the produce. I certainly don't blame the drivers or pickers knowing that they are underpaid and overworked. Now I just do everything myself, including cooking. It took me a while to figure out how to do time management because of my ADHD and my depression, but I discovered that if I spend my Sunday shopping in the morning, making my food for the week including baking two loaves of bread, cleaning and doing laundry, I have a ton of time the rest of the week, and I've been eating healthier and spending WAY less money.
Your hair is fire!! Love that your putting this out there!! if everyone is gonna be doing a gig work, we definitely need universal healthcare. Mental health and physical health are two of the most important things to be able to be productive and unfortunately being worthy of being in society, according of course, to our current standards and society beliefs. Sending good vibes and we can collectively make a difference 😊
I watch “the financial audit” show a lot. Many of the guests order from door dash or Uber eats multiple times a week. When asked why they say that they “need to eat”. It’s a very strange way to live. Often they spend hundreds or even thousands on these each month.
I agree that the exploitation of these workers is a big problem but that's systemic, that's not the fault of the consumers. EVERYBODY is overworked and underpaid now, and using these conveniences makes life easier and more manageable. I don't think it's fair to blame people for choosing to make their difficult lives easier. The companies are the problem.
I let my prime membership lapse because I didn’t use it every month, and I figured i could always use a family member’s account if i needed something that I couldn’t get from a local place. I do use grocery pick up a lot, single mom of three kids and a teacher its a life saver.
I have a disability which precludes me from driving. I started taking Uber when the cabbies started to calude to price gouge me. I thought I would give cabbies another chance and my cab was two hours late.
Uber is so common now and I often feel weird because I'd still rather take a Taxi, especially when I am alone. Like in my mind Taxi Driver is a proper job and therefore more trustworthy than Uber where it's just some rando and you just have to cross your fingers that it's not a creep or murderer since anyone can do it. Feels about as safe as hitchhiking to me 😅
The big fallacy is people overpricing their off-time. If a delivery fee is $10, and you make $20 a hour, people won't drive 15 minutes there and 15 minutes back cause 'they are saving money with delivery'. Problem is they have to be actively working when they are paying for a convince.
i will fully accept accusations of both entitlement and privilege, of course. how could i not as a white guy living in the global north? even as someone with little money, i live in a magical kingdom with trivial access to electricity, information, clean water and groceries. meat here is often cheaper per kilogram than vegetables. petroleum is cheaper per liter than bottled water or coffee all of this wealth based on rapacious theft from the global south and robbing aboriginal peoples of their futures and some of us dare complain about it. whine about the inflation or whatever. it's gross i won't accept, though, an accusation that this entitlement and privilege belongs to my generation. it is western entitlement and privilege, period; that fact it has changed shape and has a new vibe hasn't fundamentally changed anything. the unsustainable manufacturing fantasy kingdom was every bit as entitled and privileged - the fact it involved factory work and salaries rather than gig work and apps did not make it any more honorable or equitable
I get my midday meals delivered by Meals-on-Wheels, but I go out and shop local for everything I can... I don't use apps and am on snap benefits so any small store taking the snap ebt card near my apartment is likely to get my business... Mind you I am 63 and use a walker with a doctor's admonition to walk more. Streetcars and Bss drivers are my friends in this endevor I call life.
I don’t do much of this because I live out in the country where I’m only a 10 minute drive away from the main city area and they still won’t deliver pizza here 😹 Much of this type service isn’t available, or was not until very recently but I’m not up for the extra cost.
without advances in automation that remove the most exploitative tasks from the job pool, and regulation that redistributes resources from the few to the many, there’s no way this gets fixed.
I loved the video Chelsea. Something else I keep thinking about when it comes to convenience is I feel like a lot of service apps on our phones remove our own ownership of our lives. For example, I know a lot of people who don't grocery shop for themselves and spend little to no time browsing new products at the grocery store or have no idea how their local grocery store is organized. And I think that is simply jarring because it completely erases our awareness of our own surroundings. Similarly living in a city I've interacted with a few young adults who do not drive and kind of take Ubers everywhere and sort of don't really know the general directions of the city like which way is North? Which way is south? Which highway goes east? Which Highway goes west? Which I think is so concerning just from a safety perspective but also because it just erases our perception of our place in the world (if that makes sense...). That lack of awareness is what think about when i saw the title. Really enjoyed the video essay! Cant wait for the next one!
The gps thing is me honestly. I’ve lived in my current city for 2 years and still have no clue how to get around without my maps app (aside from a few close by things) I’ve been trying to actively remember different freeways and their directions because if anything happened or I lost my phone somewhere I’d be stuck 😟
Nah, that makes sense. The more your phone magically provides for you, the less connected you are to the Real. The less connection you have to the world outside of your house.
Even when phones weren't a thing, people still used maps and compasses lol. Most people dont know their sense of direction. Its a legit skill, that you thankfully have
That's unfair. I don't drive. I use transit. I may not know highway names because I don't use them, but I know what north and south is--better than drivers who just use GPS! I have to know all the bus and train routes down to where to find the stations and stops and how they connect as well as all the secret walking paths and connections for pedestrians-only that drivers don't know. I dont' take uber/lyft unless it's absolutely necessary. Not knowing highway names is not a "safety concern". Do you know all the bus routes? No? Why should non-drivers know car routes, then? Being a non-driver is like speaking a different language. It doesn't make them dumber than drivers.
@@Ella-g2m I didn't contextualize my apologies. I run alone (sometimes at night) and always pay attention to where I am geographically in case something happens to me that's what I meant by safety concern. I am like you otherwise I know the bus routes and main north south east west highways and city arteries.
I might just be too jaded but people always cover their eyes ober slave labour and child labour so long it doesn't happen in their soil. US companies are extractors and have been running economies around the world to the ground to feed the hyperconsumerism of the US and other rich countries while simultaneously protecting the wealth and health of those countries outsourcing pollution, outsourcing suffering and sickness. Now companies are also outsourcing more normal, dignified jobs but it suddenly is wrong. It isn't like the people in countries with "lower living costs" have lower living costs through magic. The US and it's mega corporations keep our countries poor (through interference in lawmaking, trade elections and literal weaponizing of our GDP) because they need desperate people to work for them. Because the majority of your day to day conviniences either don't exist or are a very special thing. In my country ZARA, Gap, etc is expensive as fuck, rich kid clothing. Uber isn't a day to day thing for 90% of people. We have lower living costs because we have less luxuries, simple as that, it is literally "hiring a peasant to bring me food", to do such a thing you need to be above a peasant. We are the people the US has been treating like peasants or lower for over a hundred years. God forbid we get dignified peasant jobs as a choice instead of in garment factories without sick leave being harrased to work faster in my home town or picking crops for half the "minimum wage" like the foreign farm workers to the US, because that's another thing, you have a minimum wage that is basically optional for the people that your country doesn't see as people. The leopards have been eating people's faces for a long time, but the way you guys rationalised it was that we aren't people. Now the cycle has been fulfilled and you won't be considered people either and it will continue cycling until we are back in feudalism. It seems that all currently known paths lead to some system of suffering and extreme inequity with a tiny percentage of the population having a ridiculous amount of power that no single human can wield responsibly or ever work hard enough to deserve. We need something new.
I deliver for DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Instacart. I don't use any of them. I also do the early morning deliveries for Amazon, but I'll admit to using Amazon.
The convenience of apps and gig work is killing us, I think. Obviously it’s great for people with disabilities or limited time. But I also think the “ugh I just don’t want to X right now” mindset is really harmful for us all, as described in the video. Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it. The gig economy is coming for all of us if we don’t actively choose to not engage with it. Take a minute to ask yourself if your job *really* couldn’t be done by someone paid by the project - it almost certainly can. The gig economy will come for you, too
You realise that people with limited time is literally anyone with a full time job? "Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it." Same with production, growing food, transportation, etc. like that's literally how jobs work.
@ yeah, I do get that. As a person who buys her own damn groceries and also works 50-60 hours a week, I do get it. Your position that “but it’s hard” is exactly what I’m talking about. We all got our own groceries 5 years ago. And look I’m no Luddite, the world progresses, but I think it’s important that we don’t passively absorb the *way* it progresses because…. we’re tired after work?
No, it's not killing us. Corporations who don't treat their employees ethically, so that they can greedily put more millions in their pockets, is what is killing Americans. In more ways than I can possibly list here. If gig workers were treated well, you're only excuse would be "well, we just SHOULD do it the old way".
Like many people in the comments have already said, there are good things about the convenience economy that are good for workers and the people that use them. And yeah it should be on the corporations to not exploit people. BUT as an older gen-zer with millennial and gen-z friends........ a lot of us are just lazy and bend over backwards to come up with justifying why we can't drive ten minutes and back to pick up our own goddamn take out. i'm not talking about anyone with disabilities or kids, im talking about grown-ass adults with cars who simply can't be bothered to do something mildly inconvenient every once and while. imma be so for real.
Another great, and considerate video from TFD! I stopped my amazon prime years ago - I find it to be much better to buy things locally. There are times when I do need to order from amazon, but when you don't use it that often they are always trying to entice you into getting prime by giving you a free month. In those desperate situations, I will take the free month, buy the things I need, and then immediately cancel the membership. Even if you cancel immediately after activation, you still get the benefits for the full month.
Same - my family shares an account, and I mainly use it for the discount at Whole Foods and the streaming services. I buy something online maybe once per year, and that's usually because I've exhausted the local options. I'd rather walk in a store and see/handle the product than order it.
Weaning myself off Amazon is difficult. Trying to find items I need locally is hard, especially specialty items that I need urgently. For example, I need to get a 1 inch swivel bolt hook to repair a stadium chair before this weekend. I can't get the specific item I need from any hardware store locally, and while there is a specialty small business that has it very cheap.... it'll take two weeks to get here, and I need to make my repair in three days. Amazon could have had it here overnight. I'm going to try a half assed temp repair with a lesser item from the local store, I guess, and order the proper bits and bobs for next season's fixes to the chairs from the real store. Because I'm never giving Bezos another penny, if I can avoid it.
This video seems to point out a lot of problems and offer no real solutions. People aren't going to give up convienance. And most people can't afford to "simply pay a few extra dollars" as the small busineas owner featured in this video mentioned. Everyone is strapped for cash in this day and age a few extra dollars is often what makes the decision for where our money is going ultimately to go.
Women entered the work force, in mass numbers, in the past 30 to 40 years. They found they needed some way to get the goods to people, because women do all or most of the shopping for the entire house. Convenience replaced women, which says that most men have not adjusted to help women at all.
Yes! I don't understand how people could afford all these "conviniences." When I was in my 20s, I could barely afford my rent and this was in pre-internet and pre-cell phone days! I don't see how these young people are affording all these deliveries! My neighb or is 28 and always has Doordash or Postmates and still complains about money and how as a Boomer, I must have had it so easy! Yes, so easy that I can't even look at Top Ramen w/o turning green, I ate so much of it!
My fiance and I are opposites. I almost never want to do delivery because of the added cost, I'd rather go in, pick it up, and stretch my legs a bit. He would rather have the comfort and not have to worry about crowds or parking. On the other hand, I am inclined to order delivery in bad weather. Fortunately, my fiance always points out the callousness of that choice and we make something from home instead. It's never intentional, I just have the practical thought that if they're open, they'll deliver. I'm glad he reminds me, though. I do want people to be safe, I just don't always think of it. When you mentioned it here, I had the same punch in the gut that I get when he points it out. I was trying to understand what you were leading up to but I just couldn't see it myself. Another benefit to community: compassion. After I started working in retail while in college my mom told me that she started shopping more tidily to make less work for the employees. We had to stay after closing until the store was back to normal. I had a friend who worked at the movie theater, I always cleaned up after myself (10 minutes to clean the whole theater!)-- and another who worked in a pharmacy, I'm patient and ask for advice to fix issues. My dad was in construction, I slow down in construction zones. I think I'm generally a nice person, and these are considered basics for most people, but the care with which you do them changes. You're not just making sure that you leave no trace (shyness/invisibility) or get things over with faster and not rocking the boat, you're doing them with someone in mind, even if it's not the same person that will benefit. You're thinking about their experience, too. That perspective shift changes your attitude and, for me, brings a sense of peace as well.
Thank you for what you've said regarding free shipping. I'm a little Etsy seller and I'm under high pressure from both Etsy and buyers to offer free shipping, which isn't a cost I can just eat, as a one-woman operation.
So Americans are responsible adults if they drive their gas-guzzling SUVs to the grocery store where the bounty of the world is gathered for their consumption: fruit flown in from Chile, food canned in Mexico, cheap plastic gadgets from China, all picked, preserved, and manufactured in near slave-labor conditions. But if you pay an extra $10 to have that same shit delivered to your door by someone driving a more efficient vehicle with a planned route minimizing gas consumption, you're an adult toddler. You may get your wish on this one, like Brexiters who wanted the UK to be more self-sufficient. A year later they were sharing tips on which kinds of moldy food were still safe to eat. Fewer and fewer of us will be able to afford the extra $10, we'll do our own shopping again inefficiently in our giant cars; traffic gets worse, gig workers stop making money, so even fewer people can afford conveniences, so more of us do our own errands, eliminating more jobs... sounds like a recession, and those always make the lives of vulnerable people better! Good job, very helpful.
I’m getting a lot of these types of videos in my feed right now - and I agree with wha she is saying about the parasitic nature of convenience spending whole heartedly - But I topic I don’t see often is that the generations before the millennials had tons of convenience for white men propped up the guaranteed free (or almost free) labor of women and minorities. Wealthy men have never gone grocery shopping.
With any industrialization and personal servantry of industry entitlement happens. All generations. I worked delivery for Papa John’s in 2012 and I worked every snowstorm, was regularly risking my life, most notably during an actual tornado warning. I delivered TO their storm shelter.
I live about 20 miles from Microsoft, and Microsoft has been contracting out labor for years. In fact, for years, when someone says they work at Microsoft, it’s not unusual to ask, “are you a blue badge (an employees) or an orange badge (a contractor)? Most people that work at Microsoft are contractors.
I decided to go no-amazon a while ago, I just shop in real life. If I really can't find something in real life I can always find it as cheap on Ebay still with free shipping. But vendors just bake the cost of shipping into the price of the product now so you aren't actually getting a deal unless they're liquidating. A huge issue I find when shopping for anything online (amazon or otherwise) is that I almost always have a problem with what I end up getting and wouldn't have bought it if I had held it in my hands. So I only buy something if I know exactly what I'm getting. Plus, people talk about how everything is cheaper on amazon but I find stuff just as cheap in real life all the time, at least matching quality. At best I can find something for 5% less on amazon than elsewhere. And when you shop in person you get it faster than same day shipping anyway lol. There is no reason to 'depend on amazon'. I am not that financially well off. It offers nothing you can't get elsewhere other than same day shipping which isn't even common anymore and costs money when it is available. We are talking about saving at best twenty bucks a year if you plan and research really really hard which no one does. It is not a free time issue, going to a store does not take that long. It's a claim people make but if you have time to mess around on social media you have enough time to stop by a store for essentials on the way home from work. I don't understand what people are buying all the time that they couldn't go out and find in real life. The people I know ordering stuff get things like decorations and luxuries you could get at any craft store and books that are available for free at the library. I think people just don't feel like leaving the house and are addicted to online shopping.
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but if you can’t afford a cost of living area - you can probably make the same amount of money in a low cost of living area. I left my coastal city in 2021 for the rural Midwest. Yes, it’s as boring as you make it; but if you are motivated, it is infinitely easier to be financially successful in the rural Midwest. You can visit the coasts any time for the amount you’ll save. Also there is no “convenience economy” here to tempt you.
It's hard when you work in an industry that's very localized to high cost of living areas. Many of us would love to move somewhere "boring" but can't because there are no opportunities in our line of work, or so few that if you get laid off you'll have no other options in the area. So if you're making medium bucks in a big-bucks industry and pricey city, you wind up commuting from whatever suburb you can afford to live in.
Totally get that it wouldn’t work for you personally. Barring a niche career, most job categories do exist here. Not to mention the competition is inherently lower. It just seems like a glaring omission that would resolve financial issues for so many people. Personally, where I am now with personal finance would have been mathematically impossible had I stayed in a high cost of living area. I love this channel and it’s helped me, but no financial tricks compare to cutting your housing costs by 4/5ths (no exaggeration). I just wanted to put it out there that the quality of life millennials are missing out on is available to in the US. It’s available in small towns in the Midwest that desperately need talent.
I wonder if there's ever going to come a time when it will be normal for average sized apartments (not microlofts,) to not have a range anymore and only have a microwave because average people won't be expected to know how to cook from scratch or want to do it, unless they went to culinary school or worked in a restaurant. We live in a time where you could go years without using an oven or a stove if you wanted to. Of course, it's way more expensive and less healthy, but I think that's going to change in the coming decades, to the point where having a kitchen with a range is going to be like having a sewing machine. Think about it, years ago lots of people used to sew their own clothes because they needed to or because it was cheaper. But now stores are full of cheap clothes and making your own is just an optional hobby.
@@cdnchevry Yeah, I second that. I love to cook and bake and I learned how to make cinnamon buns. They take a lot of effort "from scratch" but they are worth it. I still am grateful for the "convenience" of a hand mixer to help me mix the dough. We're all working with some level of convenience.
A lot of people in history didn't have a oven in cities because it is was easier to bake bread in one oven at the bakers, there has been takeout since ancient times. It not just a modern thing
I very rarely buy things in store because I've noticed the quality is very low. If I'm gonna have a crap shirt that'll fall apart after 2 washes, I might as well spend 3.99 online rather than pay $15 in store
The amount of money I've saved by cutting all my subscriptions, dumping Amazon and buying local is ASTRONOMICAL. Like, still on a millenial's pay scale, but like. Wow. I have leftover at the end of a pay cycle sometimes now! xD
Grocery shopping is a weekly ritual for me and my husband. We go together, mostly to make sure that neither of us makes an impulse buy without getting confirmation, but also because we can discuss and meal plan in real time. I think it scratches my primal hunter-gatherer itch.
The fact that so many of your subscribers and viewers are getting triggered by this critique of our/their consumption habits means it's right on point and not preaching to the choir. Congratulations, TFD Team! The point about contactless payment is the one I personally disagree with, the opposite is true for me, maybe because I've lived in a basically cashless city for 15 years (Amsterdam, NL). When I'm forced to use cash (mostly while traveling), I spend more and have less control of my spending since there is no traceability of those cash transactions. And since I need to commit to a certain amount upfront (often there are minimum amounts you can withdraw, ATM fees, etc.) once that money is out of my bank account, it's never coming back so it almost feels like it's already spent. And it's much easier to lose track (or not even know for sure, specially when dealing with different currencies) of how much I'm spending for different categories like food, transportation or culture, while with debit-cards or contactless I can review my spending and keep track of prices and how much is being spent on each category instead of feeling like the "aaand it's gone" South Park meme most of the time. Fellow viewers, if your comment is something along the lines of "But Chelsea, I am a good person and I have very special and unique needs and if I didn't exploit those who have it worse than me I wouldn't be able to keep running in place in this hamster wheel of late stage capitalism" please re-watch the video.
Omg yes! Your last paragraph, so well put! I really think some folks might need to rewatch with an open mind. I'm not sure where we've gone wrong that individual behaviors and habits can't be critiqued and adjusted just because there are also systemic issues that need to be addressed.
I see what you mean. I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of being too lazy or tired to make dinner and instead just ordering something by the click (tap?) of a button. I think we all have. For me, though, grocery delivery is absolutely worth it for several reasons. 1.) I don’t have a car and my city doesn’t have great public transit, so it’s actually really inconvenient to get to the grocery store. 2.) it’s actually cheaper to order groceries from Walmart and pay the delivery fee than it is to Uber both ways 3.) I’m doing a PhD full time and often don’t have the time or energy to get to the store.
I had a bank teller tell me it was so nice to see a customer come in the bank (I had left my card in the atm) because people don't come in as much. And I will say it tugged at my hearts strings.
my partner and i both go into the bank fairly frequently and have never heard this take. there are also frequently other customers in there. i guess it depends what area you're in.
Not the bowling ball buffer 😂😂😂 Great video. As a rule, I do not order groceries or door dash simply because the fee is not worth it for me. I’d rather go after work at 8pm than pay some billionaire $20 to send someone else to do it for me. I also bring lunch every day to work, which my coworkers are astonished at because some of them order take out literally every day
It rubs me the wrong way when small buisness owners say that customers don't understand why they can't offer the deals the big companies can, like, no, we understand why it costs more to do things ethically, we just can't always afford that
We keep trying, but the big companies keep shooting laws down as fast as we can get them proposed. They can afford much better lobbyists and lawyers (and lots more of them), since they have most of the money we've worked for over the past few decades.
I have a friend who said it impacted her town when they got mail delivery to the house instead of having to pick it up at the post office. Sure it was more convenient, but people used to chat together at the post office and that connection was lost. On a different note, many of the seniors I know, including my 90 year old mother, get home grocery delivery. It is safer for them to not drive anymore, they don't have to go out in the rain or snow, and they have acesss to fresh food so they can still live independently and cook their own meals. Convenience is a double edged sword.
+ a close familial structure where the younger generation takes care of things like groceries for the older generation is also a more social version than at-home grocery deliveries, but family structure is slowly disintegrating either way.
@francookie9353 maybe if the older people didn't gleefully mangle us when we were younger, there would be less disintegration.
@M4rkeritaville Yep or now get mad at boundaries when we tell them "hey don't force my child to cuddle or kiss you, they have bodily autonomy" and suddenly you're blocking them from seeing their grandchild (apparently) and they won't talk to you anymore (even though they claim to want to see their grandkids)
True convenience would be if cars were not a necessity and actual necessities were accessible within walking distance of your neighborhood
@@W0Rd0n32sTre3T Absolutely. Big stores outpriced all the small corner stores that made daily necessities easily accesible then sold us the solution to not being able to go 5 minutes to the next store. Same with easily accesible doctors and other necessities.
I love this video but please take into account: There were people before (mostly women) doing the convenience work for the family.
Fe my aunt was always working full time as a boomer, but my grandma was cooking for her, her husband and her daughter.
The labour is always there, we have to just value and acknowledge it.
@ I want to say : we are not the first generation to use convenience services. We are the first to pay for it. And obviously (esp in the us) not enough.
This! Converting unpaid labour to paid labour can decrease inequality. Bashing "lazy millenials" for going out for latte and avocado toast is often a front for trying to push women back into the kitchen to do the cooking and entertaining for free. (Not something I see TFD doing here.) If everyone, including the men, pitches in equally not just with effort in the moment but also by learning to cook well, learning to accomodate multiple preferences and allergies and learning how to plan and prepare parties, I do think that would be amazing, but will this happen in 2024?
@@aquamar1003we’re not even the first to pay. The milkman is a trope for a reason, you used to have milk delivered. The grocer would go around middle class houses taking orders and then delivering them later that day, same with the butcher. Household employees such as maids and cooks. More than 1.3 million people were in domestic service in England in the Edwardian period. More than there were farmers. More than there were coal miners. We are only the third generation (as a millennial) where human labour is more expensive than goods. We’re really just going back to the historical norm.
I think that the real issue is that the gig-style jobs aren’t paying a reasonable amount of money… being a maid was generally a job for a young woman (in Edwardian times as someone mentioned), being a milkman paid enough to sustain a person’s wages, etc. These gig workers are not young or inexperienced, and they only pay “well” if you overwork yourself, and still don’t offer any real benefits. It’s a bunch of jobs where people willing to spend the money are offloading the social responsibility onto others who don’t have that luxury (similar to what happens with cheap clothes made in china or Bangladesh). I would almost go as far as to say that this type of work increases inequality.
In the 1950s, Betty Crocker came out with a cake mix. All you had to do was add water and stick the cake in the oven. It didn't sell well and when the company did focus groups, they found that housewives wouldn't buy the cake because of guilt. Betty Crocker added eggs and milk to the recipe on the box and suddenly the cake mix sold well again. Betty Crocker's focus groups found that female consumers felt an obligation to work hard baking a cake from scratch in order to please their husbands and guests. That obligation is bullshit - so make sure you don't take the anti-convenience too far. If there truly isn't any harm caused by the convenience, we shouldn't make our lives harder than they have to be. There is enough pressure on women to be perfect already.
I agree with your sentiment that we shouldn't be putting more pressure on women to be perfect, nor should we shun "convenience". I think some people might forget the good things about convenience. What about the sick or elderly or the stay-at-home moms with young children that really appreciate conveniences such as the home delivery of essentials like food, medicine and diapers? There are truckers that drive those same essentials to the stores for our convenience. What's the difference if it's put on another truck and driven right to our doors so that we don't have to waste hours of our time getting it in person?
Where does it end? If people really want to shun "convenience" why don't they give up all of their appliances? Why not live off grid with no power or Internet? Why not sell their cars and walk everywhere? All of these things are modern conveniences, which we should feel grateful for.
I have never succeeded in baking a cake from scratch. What I get is 9” round 1/2 inch thick doorstops. What a waste of time and ingredients….I’ll take a box cake mix, doctored or plain, any time!
When i moved out from my parent’s home and started living alone I came up with making «emergency cake jars»- mixed flour, cinnamon,sugar and baking powder in little jars just enough for a cake or 6 muffins - in case of an unplanned friend visit, which happened often . Then somebody told me that «cake mix» was a thing…still don’t get the idea- it takes like 5 minutes to mix.
As someone wi does a gig job occasionally, I appreciate the fact that i can expect more business in bad weather. Chelsea is a bit obnoxious to pretend she can speak for everyone because of the one testimonial she recorded. 🙄
@@faithli2131nowadays virtually all takeout delivery drivers choose when they work. They make their own schedule. If they’re delivering takeout in the rain it’s completely their choice.
I deleted the Amazon app a couple of months ago and haven’t looked back. Cutting out the convenience has drastically helped my spending!
And the environment!
Same. It was to much of an easy access for me.
I do this with uber eats, i still occasionally get it but I have to log in on my browser and go through the whole login flow + 2FA process, I can't just mindlessly open it
Same! But here in Argentina it's Mercadolibre the app that makes you buy crap you don't need.
Me too!
'convenience culture is killing us
here is an ad for convenience therapy'
...i know sponsorships are just a thing you have do deal with, but damn that whiplash x.x
“we should improve society somewhat” meme :p
Betterment is not therapy, it's an investment company. You're thinking of BetterHelp.
Paying for TH-cam Premium feels like a waste because of sponsorships 😅
Some of these conveniences are really good for people with disabilities. Making them affordable for people that really do need things delivered for them. It’s complicated.
Or people who work fulltime jobs. Idk about you all, but working fulltime, cooking and keeping the house clean is for me impossible. I was in a constant state of burnout before I started outsourcing some parts of my weekly tasks.
@@Ashina12345 I empathize as I also work full time and have an all-around busy schedule, but we shouldn't be demanding for services that ultimately cannot be this cheap without an exploitative business model to continue existing. Rather we should be advocating for the root cause to change and force companies to implement for example a four day workweek (as a start), which would provide people with full time jobs with more free time to take care of their own shit and not feel like it's eating up any free time they have left after working, often overtime.
The same is true for people with disabilities: Why are they not getting help in a different form? Why are they getting so little benefits that they cannot afford "convenience" at its real price (for them a necessity really) without offloading the cost to gig workers? It's capitalism's divide and conquer strategy working when really the working class and people with disabilites are on the same side and that is not the side of capital.
@@BS-xs7jb i don't see her demanding. i see her using what is available. and you can be lobbying for change (which is expensive - better get to fundraising!!) while our friend up there is utilizing the convenience services available to her. it's not mutually exclusive. i hope you understand that.
and why are disabled people not getting help in a different form? well, because that's socialism, which makes 33% of the country incredibly fearful.
if it costs you money to do your gig work job, then dont' do the gig work job. it's pretty simple.
I come from a small town too, and the problem with "buying local" is that local shops don't produce goods anymore. They are just resellers, just like amazon, selling the same cheap china-made crap, but for 3 times the price so the shop owner can afford to vacation down south every winter. That doesn't help "support local economy" one bit because they just send your hard earned money over seas to buy that cheap labour crap, just like any other reseller trying for a quick (cheap) buck.
Bottom line:
-If your local businesses are producing things locally, please, make an effort to support them and help retain the local talented/skilled workers you have, as well as support the local economy.
-If they are just resellers, then it's fair game where you buy the product from, because it's all the same cheap foreign crap anyway and your money ends up in the same foreign pockets in the end.
This feels like a video made by someone who lives in a city and works either a flexible schedule or from home. My fiance and I both work full time in-office jobs in an area with no public transit. Using grocery pick up (or, occasionally, food delivery) allows us time on our evenings and weekends to do the life-admin tasks that so many of my WFH colleagues now do during workday breaks or what used to be commute time (shopping, meal prep, laundry, etc).
Then why don't you join in the WFH so you don't have to join in the exploitation of the most vulnerable for the benefit of the same ones?
Has anyone pointed out the obvious, here? It shouldn't be about getting rid of convenience services, which help so many people, including myself. Instead of doing the Boomer trope of "I walked to school in 10 feet of snow, and so should you", we should be making tighter regulations and requirements for how businesses treat their people and pay them properly.
We are a service economy; thanks to technology, this is the case. We're not going backwards in time to where working in dangerous factories is the norm and doing everything by hand is the "only way". Force businesses to pay and treat their people well; our service economy will continue, and as much as people apparently hate it, what do you think "services" are? This includes a lot of convenience services, many which became necessary during the COVID pandemic.
I'm not into shaming people for using a service, when the root of the actual problem is the greedy corporations who don't pay their people enough and treat them like shit. If the employees of these "gig" jobs were paid well and treated properly, the only excuse you would have is that things should be done "the hard way", which IMO, is incredibly subjective and silly.
I normally love your videos, but this one was way off base for me.
Everything in our lives is filled with conveniences and things that we outsource to other people. Most people don't grow or raise their own food, make their own clothes or build their own house. We rely on a vast network of people that work hard in order for us to eat, be clothed and have a roof over our heads with plumbing, heat and cooling. Those are all "conveniences", but people may have lost sight of that. If that were taken into account, then the entire world is full of adult toddlers.
yeah, i'm with you on this one. too much of the video felt very 'nobody wants to work today'. i think what it comes down to is that people feel uncomfortable with working conditions for people who provide these services, and instead of deciding to try and improve those conditions they're more comfortable just eliminating the jobs altogether - even though a massive amount of Americans would lose significant chunks of their income if this happened. and also, like you said, there's a lot of moral value placed on doing work for works sake, which makes people even more inclined to think the answer is that everyone should just stop being a big baby - or adult toddler - and stop using the services.
We're a service economy because we exploit the third world
@@neriah9969 I’m with you, but the reality *is* underpaid and overworked people, and I DO think we need to moralize the ethics of utilizing that if you don’t really need to.
We’ve already un-moralized buying from absolutely heinous overseas companies, and doing it here will make things worse for everyone. Like we aren’t safe from the gig economy in basically any job that doesn’t require a doctorate - we should be *extremely* cautious about buying in to a system like this
It is being tried in Seattle. It is deeply unpopular with many gig workers. Largely, because the fees get passed onto the consumer, they don't want to pay what the labor involved is worth.
I think its a problem to assume entitlement when you are just viewing statistics about people ordering. There are a LOT more disabled people now than there were in 2019 who have difficulty getting out in bad weather too. When I bring this up, I often get comments like "well this isnt about disabled people." Which is a huge problem in itself. Disabled people are 20-25% of the population. It doesn't just mean wheelchair users. Let's focus on the problem, which is the system. Individuals often don't have great choices anymore.
So true. I have a chronic disease and on bad days, convinience helps a lot.
If all that's keeping people "connected" with their community are chores that force them into public places, society has a bigger problem than convenience services.
Yeah. I don't get my community by in person shopping. It's a big ask to try to do that when retail companies have trained their other customers to be obstacles at best and ticking time bombs at worst. I do not want to community with that.
I have to say I chuckle when I think of the negativity around the new age conveniences, when back in the day people could have literally all of their staples delivered to their homes on a daily or near daily basis (milkman anyone?).
Yup! It reminds me of every older person who has ever done the whole "You kids are so lazy! I used to walk 2 miles in 10 feet of snow everyday to school!"
Like, we have serious issues facing us as a country. People having access to convenience apps is the last thing on my radar, unless we want to approach this from a "fuck these corporations, make them pay and treat their people ethically" viewpoint. I'm all on board for that.
But when you start tying morality to convenience, I immediately know you're being ridiculous.
Look, if you say fuck it I want to pay 30 dollars for 10 dollars worth of food that's fine. But most people know they really can't afford it, do it anyway and rationalize it by pretending it's actually cheaper to get doordash than it is to learn to cook and plan like an adult.
True. Mostly because in the case of my neighborhood, the mother stayed home with the kids and didn't have access to a car. We also had a fruit and vegetable truck that used to come by. All the kids loved the vendor - such a wonderful man.
True, but a big difference is that those services were sustainable and less bad for the environment. Glass milk bottles were reused. They were also good jobs with benefits and labor unions. They were also members of the community-people knew the milkman (some people knew the milkman VERY well, lol!). Actually, the milkman is a great example of all of the things Chelsea is advocating for in this video: ethical convenience.
@@midorisour2844 Can confirm. My father was a milkman in the '80s. Every milkman had the same route, and they knew what people would need. It was also a pretty laid-back job, and he'd have coffee breaks at people's houses. Neighbors would meet almost daily when the milkman came. So it was very much a community thing.
I'm a big fan of TFD but I don't know about this video, and so I'm going to write a big wall of text...
As democratic socialists, I think you all understand that individual consumer habits cannot and do not change the behavior of corporations. That's why things like labor rights and anti-trust laws exist, because the owning class will always have a financial incentive to exploit the working class and behave it ways that minimize overhead and maximize profit. That's not saying that boycotts and stuff like that don't work, but saying people should stop using Doordash if possible is not a boycott. The treatment of gig workers is a result of 1) legislative incompetence, and 2) massive lobbying efforts by corporations to be allowed to call their employees contractors to avoid paying any kind of benefits, or even paying them a minimum wage.
A few years ago I decided to never use Amazon next day shipping again because of the issues that your guest mentioned. Using next day shipping made me feel bad, and not using it made me feel a little better, like I was less complicit in the problem. But me not using same day shipping has literally no tangible effect on any amazon worker ever. Market share was not affected by me limiting myself to one order a month. Conversely, I don't have a car and live in an area without reliable public transit, so when I can't get a ride to the store, I use Instacart. I use the app about once a month, and I feel I have a pretty good reason when I do. But that doesn't mean that Instacart is going to treat the employee getting my groceries better.
When it comes to labor rights and economic policy, I think it can be dangerous to moralize the use of certain goods or services, because then it becomes very easy to just say we should eliminate those services altogether even when they do a lot of good for people, and provide a lot of jobs. Most people I know that work for gig apps are either trying to make some extra money on the side (adding an additional stream of income, something this channel recommends), or they literally can't find another job. Workers aren't being exploited because Gen Z and millennials have become uniquely selfish and lazy, it's because these apps employ vulnerable people who have no other options.
Hear hear! Excellent point. It's not enough to vote for with your dollar, you have to vote with your effing vote. Americans (and the rest of the globe) are going to have a rude awakening come January. Canada is bracing for a recession, I recommend the rest of you do the same. Yes, things are rough now. They're about to get so much worse, including cost of living and workers protections. I mean, ahem, all hail our corporate overlords.
If anyone isn't sure what I'm referring to, do yourself a favour and actually look up what tariffs are, and then maybe google how 2025 tariffs will affect your country. Even our conservative premiers, who have their tongues waaaaay up a certain incoming president's butthole, are freaking out.
May we all take the next 4 years as a big f'n lesson on corporate interference in government, and how even once semi-socialist countries like Canada are barreling towards a "free market" economy that will nickel and dime us to death and not have the decency to pay us a decent wage or benefits while we bleed out.
good wall of text 👍
TLDR: it’s not just about who you choose NOT to support through your purchases, it’s also how your purchases can have a positive influence at a local level.
I agree that your purchasing decisions are unlikely to have an effect on the big company you are trying to avoid. But purchasing decisions are not just about having a negative effect they also have a positive one. For example, I am lucky to have many bric-a-brac shops on my local high street which sells many of the things people would order from Amazon for convenience (and for the same price if you account for delivery/subscriptions). Those shops are a dying breed because of the move towards e-commerce even though they provide a very tangible service to their communities. The trend over all is less middle class-owned small shops which provide people with financial autonomy and consolidation of retail where one corporation is taking a bigger cut and work is more precarious for all the gig workers working for them. We need antitrust too, but this does have a positive effect at the local level.
Millennials are in our 30s and 40s. Stop blaming us for your perceived problems with “kids now days.” We’re not lazy. We’re overworked, overstretched parents who are also a part and impacted by the current state of things…not some magical group of “others” that is complicit in a separate system that hurts just you.
Thanks for taking the time to write this wall of text!
Talk about convenience culture as a single parent. I have only one adult in my household but I am expected to perform the responsibilities of two parents. If I save time shopping for clothes online that gives me more time to clean my house, cook dinner, and interact with my child. That’s a win in my book.
This can also be a story about city/urban design that is hostile to people's mobility, which can increase reliance on delivery services and rideshare apps.
I'll be honest. I saw the video title and now I want chicken nuggets.
😆😆😆
But only the dinosaurs ones
🦖
😂
I literally just got done eating chicken tenders
2:35 the quote on roughly 37% of all workers using gig work as the primary income is misleading. Go look up that survey. It surveyed ~1000 people that were already gig workers. Roughly 37% of gig workers use gig work as a primary source of income, not 37% of all workers.
If my spouse and I could pull a boomer lifestyle where we collectively only work 40 hours to take care of a family of 4, we wouldn't feel so exhausted and resort to paying for conveniences. I hate it.
Idk. Thinking about delivery and calling it “toddler” … milk 🥛 used to be delivered, ice 🧊 used to be delivered. And although we don’t it by its original name the convenience store was well … convenient? At least more so than the previous generation.
On the flipside, much of the workforce didn’t and doesn’t aspire to be a gig worker. It’s not their job of choice.
I’d like to ad a different perspective. My partner and I both work fulltime and we have two school aged kids. Making use of online grocery shopping, meal delivery once a week, clothes/errand shopping online, etc, is a necesity to sustain this model. If these services are not in place you run the risk of pushing back women into the home at the expense of their career and financial independence. I see these services as facilitating emancipation of women. However this should not come at the expense of workers, fair waged are key and I support that whole heartitly.
It's kind of a parallel to how (white middle-class) women fully entered the workforce. Great for their financial emancipation, but overall wages went down as a result of the workforce almost doubling.
Wages shouldn't have gone down. It's true that they did, but that wasn't women's fault and shouldn't be used as an argument for them to leave the workforce again (as it sometimes is in certain circles).
It always comes back to the corporations. Individual (consumer) guilt isn't the answer.
Now, how do we get corporations to act right?
@@francookie9353 i mean, women have always been in the work force? like poor women and women of color were still in the work force even when the "middle class" white lifestyle pushed women back into the home en masse after ww2
Kudos to you for being able to use convenience to your advantage. But that’s the key really- you use it to your advantage whereas others let it take advantage of their already shallow pockets that they work too hard to sustain. A lot of people honestly shouldn’t have credit cards and should do cash stuffing. They go online, get advertised to, and lose sight of the mission, get super sidetracked. These convenience services are really nice when used properly. Throw everything in your target cart during lunch, pay, drop by and pick up after work. Way faster than shopping in store, and you got exactly what you needed and not more (hopefully).
Yeah I recently started shopping for groceries on my commute home and then picking it up on the next day. What a time saver.
There has to be come part of this that is about not just convenience but pleasure. Like wanting a more elaborate meal every night. The reality is you could make a huge pot of lentil or chicken soup, rice and veggies, and eat it with bread every day for a week, and it would serve your nutritional needs, be quicker over all, save money and save the planet. But that is "boring" and hence why "adult toddler".
I do think rideshare apps greatly improved on the taxi model, at least for consumers. I remember our crew missing a flight out LaGuardia once after a work event, because every cab we wasted time flagging down refused to drive to the airport from Manhattan. Also, the number of times I was wildly overcharged for a cab ride because a driver knew I was unfamiliar with the area and took me on a very "scenic route." I love knowing how much my ride is going to cost me BEFORE I get in the car, not after I've arrived at my destination and am frantically trying to scrape together cash for a trip that should have been $20, but was now closer to $30. In my opinion, that industry needed to be shaken up.
It absolutely did. But it also needs more regulation.
Industries in general need to be shaken up regularly. With regulation.
I just take the train to the airport. It's superior to taxi/rideshare. Not every city has a train to the airport but most places I travel do.
That was the initial promise, and while it improved certain things (like more taxis have their own apps now and there is no need to call anymore), they didn't really improve service as a whole.
Uber has publicly admitted the app would detect if the user's phone was low on battery and apply a surge just because they can, because if your phone is about to die you cannot compare with other providers or call a taxi... They blamed AI for this, but it's not the only dubious thing they do.
When I have to use it for my work, when I open the app there is always a car available 3 minutes away, however, once you actually book your ride, they cannot find a driver... Suddenly those 3 minutes became 20 and there is still no driver available... However, if you book with priority, one driver magically appears.
I’m neurodivergent and work a stressful job in stem. After work I’m totally exhausted and am not able to handle going into the sensory environment of the grocery store and interacting with people. Grocery delivery has been life changing - I am much more healthy as a result.
please tell me you tip well because instacart shoppers pretty much make nothing other than what they get from tips. and hardly anyone ever tips
Me too! And I definitely tip well and it still saves me money in the long run because I don’t impulse buy anything
I would also point out as a user of for example walmart plus and ordering food once a week, this is not a convenience purchase for me but a money saver. I do not own a car. While I can afford to own a car, auto insurance, maintenance, parking, and fuel costs, I have estimated to be around $200-300 a month. I can bike wherever I need to be(college), so these are the only things I need a car for. compared to that with the "convenience purchasing" I spend ~$50 a month. that's a huge difference. not even accounting for the initial purchase of a vehicle. So some of this also boils down to car culture.
You are probably underestimating your savings.
@@churchofmarcus Car payments, even on used cars now, usually start at the absolute lowest around $350, but are more commonly $500 to $600, and that's for very low end, basic models with no frills.
Owning a car is outrageously expensive and the car culture in this country is another reason many have to order delivery. I share one car with my partner, and when he is at work, I have to order delivery because he works 12 hour shifts and doesn't leave work until most places are closed, and I have no way to get my groceries otherwise during his work schedule.
Many, many, many people are in this same boat. Villainizing convenience, a demand that will ALWAYS BE THERE, is outrageous when the reason people rely on these conveniences isn't a moral failing, but how our system is poorly set up.
Moralizing people trying to make their lives easier, when the problem isn't them to begin with, only points out privledges and biases that may have, that others don't. In order to shop for yourself, you need a car in the majority of the country that isn't a metro city. You need money for gas, car insurance, car maintenance. You need to have a job that allows you the working hours to go personally shopping for all the things you need. You need to have good health that allows you to physically work 40+ hours a week, and still do everything else that convenience apps take care of for people.
Moralizing anything when it comes to working is why people feel guilty when they aren't constantly being productive. It's a terrible, harmful mindset. I'm all for being aware of the struggles of gig work, and tipping accordingly if you use these services, but the real issue isn't really being addressed here.
Buy paniers I grocery shop on a bike and it works great
We have these same delivery services here in Europe, but nobody would expect the courier to leave your food "on dry ice" or you not being home. They call you and you have to confirm you're home. Nobody would even dream of ordering and not being home to pick it up? Weird.
The absolute peril of doing DoorDash in inclement weather is real. I did that for a winter or two in Chicago because undeniably the business is a lot better in those conditions. Then I spun out and almost got hit by a pickup truck trying to take an exit off Lake Shore Drive. At that moment I decided I needed to get tf out of that game.
On Airbnb - it was originally founded as a way for people to make money renting spare rooms for short term rentals, not for full houses. You stayed with a family and experience the local culture, etc. like in the commercials. It was not intended to be a business, and guests and hosts were more connected. I don't remember there being any "horror stories" until it changed to be more separate.
No, that was only how they "disrupted" the market to keep prices low for the consumer and without spending a single dollar on an initial investment in real-state, but in fact that already existed (and still exists) and it's called couch-surfing.
Best and easiest thing I did was start writing down any discretionary spend in my phone notes section. Everything. That way I can keep track of how much I am spending and modify.
same!
Interesting topic but I personally believe that individual convenience is not the problem - it's the structure that we have given it. It's great to have convenience choices, great to make things easier and faster, it helps increasing flexibility and thus possibilities. What we need is a fair structure for it, where everybody wins. Nobody needs to order take out 7x a week, but it's good to a have choice - even if it costs more. The only thing we need to fix is the COST of convenience so that it acurately reflects the labour that is going into it. IMO, it doesn't need to go - it just needs some perspective.
My biggest level up for managing my life like an adult has been a task management system (like Asana, Monday, or Todoist). Now, I proactively tackle recurring tasks, and can also make reminders for one-of tasks to do them at some specific time. It has helped me take up so much more mental load off of my wife and place it onto me.
America are filthy nation
Fun fact about tips for these delivery gigs:
We know what you're tipping before we accept the order. If it doesn't look like it will work out to $20 an hour for the time spent on it, me and many other drivers will simply decline it. You basically have to tip well enough or you just won't get your food in a timely manner.
I'm not sure which delivery company you're with, but Grubhub doesn't *really* give drivers that option. Technically they do, we're allowed to decline as many as we want... but if our acceptance rate drops below 95% (we ignore or decline more than one in 20 orders we're offered) our driver rating goes down.
On good days there's not much difference between top and mid rated driver pay, but there are a lot more average and slow days in my suburban area.
Being in a lower tier when it's average busyness or below means choosing between taking several low-paying orders that likely come with long drives, or turning them down in hopes that the next one will be better.
Yep, I’d just sit in my car declining 20-30 orders before accepting one that’s actually worth it. But some states have an hourly rate which isn’t any better since you’re driving the entire hour, wasting more gas
I'm reading More Work for Mother right now and I think this video would have benefited from a historical perspective.
"Convenience" services, aka commercialization of household labor, have been tried since the 19th century and many have become so normal we don't even notice they once were household labor. Some others weren't socially accepted or successful.
They were also attempted for different reasons and in different forms. There have been laundry co-ops, for example, as charitable measures for people who couldn't afford in-home laundry, and as a tool for empowerment for women.
I think it's good to be critical of these developments, and the way they're implemented. But that doesn't mean they're all bad or some new thing that means we're all weak and our generation is doomed (at least not for this reason alone).
The title is a bit click-baitey but I think it aligns with your general point. I don't think the video's overall message is an anti-convenience one; I think it's critical of the business models underpinning much of the newer technology-facilitated convenience. I think it's as nuanced as your excellent comment is.
I really enjoyed this video. I take it as the warning that, if you over rely on convenience, if you misunderstand the true cost and the consequence of it, you will remain trapped. I'm seeing a lot of comments that kinda say, blame society or the systemic structure, I need the convenience anyways-and I can't help but think maybe we're missing the point. That we're buying ourselves into our demise, thinking that we're somehow making our lives easier. And it's just not the case. We as individuals do have more power than we realize. And also, please don't be the asshole customer!! Like wtf.
Am I missing something? She said that ordering food delivery during inclement weather indicates a lack of empathy on the part of the consumer, but the drivers for companies like DoorDash and Ubereats only work when they choose to. Obviously, they might put themselves at risk by driving in bad weather because they can’t afford to not have the income, but how does not ordering food help that?? Sure the risk of them getting hurt being out in that weather is gone, but now they also can’t get that income that they need. These drivers are adults and should weigh the risks for themselves. I used to drive for DoorDash and I know that you would get paid more when there were fewer drivers working, so bad weather often means more money.
Also, no one ever cared about pizza and Chinese delivery...
@@TwisterTornado exactly! and they don’t even have the choice to refuse when on the clock!
What a strange, tone deaf video. We outsource a lot because everyone works fulltime jobs. We don’t have a stay-at-home-partner to do the things we otherwise wouldn’t outsource.
I’m a stay at home mom who homeschools and we use convenience services. I rarely use the other car (like right now it needs its heat fixed. We are in the Midwest so it’s cold now). I also have major anxiety so it works out so much better for me. My husband will pick up a drive up order at Target or Kroger if needed.
You know that there are millions of people who also work full-time yet they do not rely on exploiting others?
Great work Chelsea. I delivered for Uber before. The company and customers treat us like crap. I never use delivery apps because if customers knew what really goes on during the delivery they wouldn't eat the food...
I used to do food delivery too. It was difficult work for little pay. And the worst is when customers bait you with tips and then withdraw them after you deliver their food....I will never understand people that do that
@@MsKateC2Kthese ppl are so darn cheap... not pll u want to no anyway
I remember the first moment I arrived in the US to study, from Latin America. I really felt it was a country made for babies. Everything was so easy and convenient, I couldn't believe it.
Thats what I think about SUVs-- you don't even have to use your leg muscles to get in and out of the car.
I'm so confused. You promoted convenience-app deleting app( EHICH IS A FEATURE ON EVERY PHONE)- then immediately mention how we fall for said convenience. That contradiction disrupted my listening abruptly.
Glad I wasn't the only one who caught this
I mean, are you outsourcing your inconvenience to someone else at a significant cost to them? I don't think anyone is against apps at large?
The irony of discussing the dangers of capitalism while also running a business
Your campaign to make younger adults hate, distrust, and blame everyone guilty of being born before 1965 is tiresome and doesn’t help anyone.
As a late “boomer” who was born in 61, I have worked very hard and given and served generously all my life, and could not afford to have a child until age 37. I worked a full time career and night factory work to pay for my kids to go to college and they are living with me for free including no rent, no utilities, no cell/cable/internet bills, free groceries, as they establish their careers and save for their own future goals. My husband and I have postponed retirement to support our kids and community. Your content is often interesting and intelligent, but is diminished by your constant snark and biases about anyone older than you. It used to be annoying and now it is just boring.
I agree there's a bit of older gen bashing and stereotyping on this channel. At the same time, I feel the content is generally quite thoughtful. I think every gen has difficulties- they are just different. It's impossible to sit in your shoes, but I appreciate and can empathize with your journey and care for your family.
The argument against convenience culture (for me) boils down to this Kurt Vonnegut story:
"Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."
I can order a pizza on Doordash. But, as someone who lives in a city, it's much nicer to walk to my local spot and remind myself I'm not scared of human interaction. The last time I went to the hardware store instead of ordering from Amazon, they were having happy hour! I got a cup of wine and a piece of chocolate! I get to people watch when I'm on the bus. And, if I'm lucky, I'll bump into my neighbor walking her dog on my way to the stop. It is so so fun to feel connected to your community.
Totally agree that convenience is great on occasion (or always, for those who need it). But if you have the ability.... go fart around.
I loved the video! Very thought provoking. I went from being lower income growing up and in school to being imo rich now. In grad school, I learned painfully that I *had* to plan for things like low energy days, inclement weather, and similar for food. I learned to meal prep on a schedule so I could have good food all week. I learned the cost -- literal and emotional -- of failing to plan.
Yesterday, I hadn't planned well, so my husband and I spent $52 ordering a single delivery meal that took over an hour to arrive. (We've agreed for me to take care of food, this is not a lazy husband situation.) I felt pretty ridiculous about that, and then I watched this video, and it made me properly realize that I need to put in the effort and get myself a back up plan. Freezer meals, or even just a can of beans and instant rice. The video was a really good nudge to reevaluate where I'm not taking initiative and not taking care of myself by putting in effort up front. And then fix it.
I think the response to the video really supports the ideas it's sharing.
I also want to mention, this video was pretty difficult to watch (with headphones!) on public transit. I had to cover up the bottom of the video. And let me be clear, girl, if you wanted to make all of your videos in a bikini, go for it! It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of ideas, which are excellent. But it does make it a bit awkward to watch around others or share.
I would be interested if ride sharing like uber and Lyft has reduced people driving while drunk. I know if my wife and I are going out and we are planning on drinking we will we take an uber instead of driving.
While super misguided, I feel like this is one reason why baby boomers are so enamored with the Trump “Make America Great Again” slogan. Some may be racists, yes. But I know my boomer parents bemoan the loss of community and the coldness of society and growing isolation. The older they are getting, the more convenience culture and hyper consumerism are growing. In many ways, my parents don’t even feel like they are a part of this world anymore. I’m an elder millennial and I think we are such a unique demographic because we grew up as kids with no internet but the mass explosion of the internet as adults. It really is kind of jarring remembering childhood vs now in terms of convenience and community. IMO, throw away culture had leached from hyper consumerism/convenience products to now personal and community relationships where people are just less dependable and way more flaky
Funny how I'm a millennial but also don't feel part of the world. It's not just your parents, everything is just alienating now
we used doordash a lot during covid but almost never now that it’s like $100 per order. now we just use the app to organize our order and then call the restaurant, order directly from them and go pick it up because it’s way cheaper lol
This is so smart. I'll start doing it too
I worked for doordash for almost a year in San Francisco, getting between $10-$33 an hour. All depends on the time of day. I could sit in my car for over an hour waiting for an order, not getting paid. If i did get a good shift of $33 an hour for a few hours, it doesnt account for gas (around $5-6 a gallon), car maintenance, or taxes you still have to pay.
Honestly I usually get my groceries delivered to my house but today I went to the store at 5pm and it was hell. So crowded, so many people everywhere blocking the aisles, chatting in the middle of the aisle, walking super slow. I literally couldn’t stand it, it gave me anxiety. I’m sticking to delivery service and I’m grateful for it.
I really think that the companies have made the in person experience intolerable and made susceptible customers dumb and rude intentionally in order to push online shopping.
I really dont see an issue with this. I couldnt be a single soccer mom with 2 kids and a full time job without all these things at my convenience. its either convenience or no home cooked meals.
When younger people see how single moms struggle on top of the lack of societal support for fostering fruitful marriages, we start asking questions. Most of the convenience workers are on contract and speak no English. It's almost like America created a slave class just to squeeze more $$ out of us.
@Mandelasmind Please take your conspiracy theories to your own comment. Theyre not welcomed here.
@@feliciafelicia6965 1st amendment.
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Assets that can make one successful in life
I. Forex
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forex is profitable and lucrative investment online
@@Naziru504You are right.
But I don't know why people remain poor due to ignorance
You have a lot of excellent points in this video, and you have a lot of nuanced pushback in the comments, especially about the definition of entitlement, disability and convenience, and gender disparity of household tasks. I would also like to add that a lot of these convenience businesses begin as a demand for reform in industries that frequently take advantage of the average consumer. I remember taking taxis as a teenager and feeling either unsafe around a taxi driver driving recklessly, road raging, or just plain creepy. I would also never end up paying the rate that was displayed on their dash. It was always hiked up by a lot, and what is a 19 year old single woman going to do, argue about it? Ultimately, we need laws to protect these folks working in these services, but let's not demonize them completely. We need reform across the board.
Not using delivery apps during bad weather for morality reasons is a weird argument. If nobody orders stuff, drivers can't work - no demand = no pay. Drivers are willing to go out on the roads regardless because they NEED money, and they aren't afforded paid time off. It's like saying unpaid factory work is morally wrong because of occupational hazard, when the actual issue is insufficient compensation + benefits. On the flip side, firefighters are in incredibly dangerous work but are compensated well - it's about how society/systems value your labour.
Regardless of all of this, consumers (myself included) don't understand the true cost of products and goods. Cheap stuff is not supposed to be THIS cheap.... the cost is being paid by someone else somewhere (suppressed wages, poor working conditions, outsourcing, etc).
in my country, we had this discussion of using app during bad weather and all the drivers said they prefer working during bad weather because they are paid more when it's raining or anything. sooo, I wait the heavy rain stops and order during the drizzle, cause I believe they app won't know if it's heavy rain or just a drizzle
But I don't think that is what the video is advocating. I don't think it's main point is that consumers and gig workers are to blame. I think it's asking us to consider standing in solidarity with fellow workers and apply pressure to change the system when we can because maybe the system is screwing all if us to varying degrees. Sometimes that might mean inconveniencing ourselves including considering whether or not we order deliveries in hazardous weather. Firefighters in the US might earn more than gig workers but I would argue that's not just down to how 'society or the system' values their works it's more because they are unionized. Even then think how long firefighters had to fight and campaign for Congress to agree compensation post the debilitating effects firefighters had to battle post their service during 9/11. These systems aren't neutral or objective and maybe with solidarity we can change them.
@@SeekingDialogue I can agree with this perspective for sure. I don't use food delivery apps anyway because ordering in food doesn't make sense for me financially. Although these services were never meant to be full-time jobs (thinking specifically about uber/eats). They were supposed to give people who already owned a car an opportunity to make a few more bucks. Still, I'm curious how far proper compensation would drive up pricing and if it would kill the appeal of centralized food delivery for good.
@@SeekingDialogue you're not standing in solidarity with me if you're boycotting the company I work for. I don't get paid if I don't deliver.
What I hate about online shopping is you can physicality get more than I can locally. I go to brick and mortar and cannot find what I'm looking for but amazon has something much closer. You have to make the ethical call that you will get something less desirable to avoid the mega company.
That's what I've noticed most of the time too. I live in a large city too but multiple times I spent hours looking for things that I ended up having to get online anyway.
Air bnb is great for groups of 3 or more, especially in areas where cooking some of your meals at home helps offset the cost of the trip itself. Or when we want to go on a trip with our 3 dogs. But over the last couple of years if it's just for myself or me and one person, hotels all the way!
Its amazing to me that we are suffering from a loneliness epidemic, but people are doing everything in their power to not have to leave their house and interact with other people. I totally understand that sometimes you just can't be bothered or don't have the time to go grocery shopping, or to cook a meal. But those times should be the exception, not the norm. (Obviously not referring to people with disabilities or other valid reasons to rely on convenience services).
By running my own errands, I've been able to make connections with people. The local butcher knows me on a first name basis. I run into people I know at the grocery store. Instead of buying a book on my kindle, I go to my library and have met many new people there. Its such a small thing, but its a way to build community. And lets not forget that a driving factor of our overspending and overconsumption is the fact that we no longer have community. While I know that these services can be lifesaving for some people, I'm a firm believer that the blatant overuse of them is terrible for not only our financial health, but our mental and social health as well.
I haven't ordered food delivery since January 2024. I enjoy doing freezer meal prepping which means each week, I don't have to stress over what to eat that week. Instead, I can shop from my freezer and avoid having that urge to run out and grab take-out or do delivery. I have taken the stress away from deciding as I technically plan far ahead every time I fill my freezer with a new batch of cooked meals.
I really hate these apps. I have spent more time when using them because of the number of wrong orders on food delivery, or terrible produce from the grocery apps. I end up having to drive to re-order the food or return the produce. I certainly don't blame the drivers or pickers knowing that they are underpaid and overworked. Now I just do everything myself, including cooking. It took me a while to figure out how to do time management because of my ADHD and my depression, but I discovered that if I spend my Sunday shopping in the morning, making my food for the week including baking two loaves of bread, cleaning and doing laundry, I have a ton of time the rest of the week, and I've been eating healthier and spending WAY less money.
Your hair is fire!!
Love that your putting this out there!! if everyone is gonna be doing a gig work, we definitely need universal healthcare. Mental health and physical health are two of the most important things to be able to be productive and unfortunately being worthy of being in society, according of course, to our current standards and society beliefs.
Sending good vibes and we can collectively make a difference 😊
I watch “the financial audit” show a lot. Many of the guests order from door dash or Uber eats multiple times a week. When asked why they say that they “need to eat”. It’s a very strange way to live. Often they spend hundreds or even thousands on these each month.
I agree that the exploitation of these workers is a big problem but that's systemic, that's not the fault of the consumers. EVERYBODY is overworked and underpaid now, and using these conveniences makes life easier and more manageable. I don't think it's fair to blame people for choosing to make their difficult lives easier. The companies are the problem.
I let my prime membership lapse because I didn’t use it every month, and I figured i could always use a family member’s account if i needed something that I couldn’t get from a local place. I do use grocery pick up a lot, single mom of three kids and a teacher its a life saver.
I have a disability which precludes me from driving. I started taking Uber when the cabbies started to calude to price gouge me. I thought I would give cabbies another chance and my cab was two hours late.
yeh i dont use taxis cause they suck, from what i've seen rideshare apps havent taken off as much in places where the taxi service is actually good
Uber is so common now and I often feel weird because I'd still rather take a Taxi, especially when I am alone. Like in my mind Taxi Driver is a proper job and therefore more trustworthy than Uber where it's just some rando and you just have to cross your fingers that it's not a creep or murderer since anyone can do it. Feels about as safe as hitchhiking to me 😅
If it makes you feel any better, Uber requires background checks and face verification when logging on even just to do food delivery.
The big fallacy is people overpricing their off-time. If a delivery fee is $10, and you make $20 a hour, people won't drive 15 minutes there and 15 minutes back cause 'they are saving money with delivery'. Problem is they have to be actively working when they are paying for a convince.
i will fully accept accusations of both entitlement and privilege, of course. how could i not as a white guy living in the global north?
even as someone with little money, i live in a magical kingdom with trivial access to electricity, information, clean water and groceries. meat here is often cheaper per kilogram than vegetables. petroleum is cheaper per liter than bottled water or coffee
all of this wealth based on rapacious theft from the global south and robbing aboriginal peoples of their futures
and some of us dare complain about it. whine about the inflation or whatever. it's gross
i won't accept, though, an accusation that this entitlement and privilege belongs to my generation. it is western entitlement and privilege, period; that fact it has changed shape and has a new vibe hasn't fundamentally changed anything. the unsustainable manufacturing fantasy kingdom was every bit as entitled and privileged - the fact it involved factory work and salaries rather than gig work and apps did not make it any more honorable or equitable
I get my midday meals delivered by Meals-on-Wheels, but I go out and shop local for everything I can... I don't use apps and am on snap benefits so any small store taking the snap ebt card near my apartment is likely to get my business... Mind you I am 63 and use a walker with a doctor's admonition to walk more. Streetcars and Bss drivers are my friends in this endevor I call life.
I too randomly sing thoughts, and you make me feel seen and normal every time you do it
I don’t do much of this because I live out in the country where I’m only a 10 minute drive away from the main city area and they still won’t deliver pizza here 😹 Much of this type service isn’t available, or was not until very recently but I’m not up for the extra cost.
without advances in automation that remove the most exploitative tasks from the job pool, and regulation that redistributes resources from the few to the many, there’s no way this gets fixed.
I loved the video Chelsea. Something else I keep thinking about when it comes to convenience is I feel like a lot of service apps on our phones remove our own ownership of our lives. For example, I know a lot of people who don't grocery shop for themselves and spend little to no time browsing new products at the grocery store or have no idea how their local grocery store is organized. And I think that is simply jarring because it completely erases our awareness of our own surroundings. Similarly living in a city I've interacted with a few young adults who do not drive and kind of take Ubers everywhere and sort of don't really know the general directions of the city like which way is North? Which way is south? Which highway goes east? Which Highway goes west? Which I think is so concerning just from a safety perspective but also because it just erases our perception of our place in the world (if that makes sense...). That lack of awareness is what think about when i saw the title. Really enjoyed the video essay! Cant wait for the next one!
The gps thing is me honestly. I’ve lived in my current city for 2 years and still have no clue how to get around without my maps app (aside from a few close by things) I’ve been trying to actively remember different freeways and their directions because if anything happened or I lost my phone somewhere I’d be stuck 😟
Nah, that makes sense. The more your phone magically provides for you, the less connected you are to the Real. The less connection you have to the world outside of your house.
Even when phones weren't a thing, people still used maps and compasses lol. Most people dont know their sense of direction. Its a legit skill, that you thankfully have
That's unfair. I don't drive. I use transit. I may not know highway names because I don't use them, but I know what north and south is--better than drivers who just use GPS! I have to know all the bus and train routes down to where to find the stations and stops and how they connect as well as all the secret walking paths and connections for pedestrians-only that drivers don't know. I dont' take uber/lyft unless it's absolutely necessary.
Not knowing highway names is not a "safety concern". Do you know all the bus routes? No? Why should non-drivers know car routes, then? Being a non-driver is like speaking a different language. It doesn't make them dumber than drivers.
@@Ella-g2m I didn't contextualize my apologies. I run alone (sometimes at night) and always pay attention to where I am geographically in case something happens to me that's what I meant by safety concern. I am like you otherwise I know the bus routes and main north south east west highways and city arteries.
I might just be too jaded but people always cover their eyes ober slave labour and child labour so long it doesn't happen in their soil. US companies are extractors and have been running economies around the world to the ground to feed the hyperconsumerism of the US and other rich countries while simultaneously protecting the wealth and health of those countries outsourcing pollution, outsourcing suffering and sickness. Now companies are also outsourcing more normal, dignified jobs but it suddenly is wrong. It isn't like the people in countries with "lower living costs" have lower living costs through magic. The US and it's mega corporations keep our countries poor (through interference in lawmaking, trade elections and literal weaponizing of our GDP) because they need desperate people to work for them. Because the majority of your day to day conviniences either don't exist or are a very special thing. In my country ZARA, Gap, etc is expensive as fuck, rich kid clothing. Uber isn't a day to day thing for 90% of people. We have lower living costs because we have less luxuries, simple as that, it is literally "hiring a peasant to bring me food", to do such a thing you need to be above a peasant. We are the people the US has been treating like peasants or lower for over a hundred years. God forbid we get dignified peasant jobs as a choice instead of in garment factories without sick leave being harrased to work faster in my home town or picking crops for half the "minimum wage" like the foreign farm workers to the US, because that's another thing, you have a minimum wage that is basically optional for the people that your country doesn't see as people. The leopards have been eating people's faces for a long time, but the way you guys rationalised it was that we aren't people. Now the cycle has been fulfilled and you won't be considered people either and it will continue cycling until we are back in feudalism. It seems that all currently known paths lead to some system of suffering and extreme inequity with a tiny percentage of the population having a ridiculous amount of power that no single human can wield responsibly or ever work hard enough to deserve. We need something new.
Uber eats and grubhub are so expensive. No way I’m paying those prices to have food at my front door.
I deliver for DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Instacart. I don't use any of them. I also do the early morning deliveries for Amazon, but I'll admit to using Amazon.
The convenience of apps and gig work is killing us, I think. Obviously it’s great for people with disabilities or limited time. But I also think the “ugh I just don’t want to X right now” mindset is really harmful for us all, as described in the video.
Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it. The gig economy is coming for all of us if we don’t actively choose to not engage with it. Take a minute to ask yourself if your job *really* couldn’t be done by someone paid by the project - it almost certainly can. The gig economy will come for you, too
You realise that people with limited time is literally anyone with a full time job?
"Yeah, going to buy groceries is going to suck a little more than staying at home, but all you’re doing is offloading that task to someone else who may or may not have a choice to do it."
Same with production, growing food, transportation, etc. like that's literally how jobs work.
@ yeah, I do get that. As a person who buys her own damn groceries and also works 50-60 hours a week, I do get it.
Your position that “but it’s hard” is exactly what I’m talking about. We all got our own groceries 5 years ago. And look I’m no Luddite, the world progresses, but I think it’s important that we don’t passively absorb the *way* it progresses because…. we’re tired after work?
No, it's not killing us. Corporations who don't treat their employees ethically, so that they can greedily put more millions in their pockets, is what is killing Americans. In more ways than I can possibly list here. If gig workers were treated well, you're only excuse would be "well, we just SHOULD do it the old way".
So the gig workers will make less money… how does that help them?
@@shee3073 the goal is to not proliferate the gig economy
Like many people in the comments have already said, there are good things about the convenience economy that are good for workers and the people that use them. And yeah it should be on the corporations to not exploit people. BUT as an older gen-zer with millennial and gen-z friends........ a lot of us are just lazy and bend over backwards to come up with justifying why we can't drive ten minutes and back to pick up our own goddamn take out. i'm not talking about anyone with disabilities or kids, im talking about grown-ass adults with cars who simply can't be bothered to do something mildly inconvenient every once and while. imma be so for real.
Another great, and considerate video from TFD! I stopped my amazon prime years ago - I find it to be much better to buy things locally. There are times when I do need to order from amazon, but when you don't use it that often they are always trying to entice you into getting prime by giving you a free month. In those desperate situations, I will take the free month, buy the things I need, and then immediately cancel the membership. Even if you cancel immediately after activation, you still get the benefits for the full month.
That's very smart truthfully my husband and I hardly order off Amazon. We should just cancel it
Same - my family shares an account, and I mainly use it for the discount at Whole Foods and the streaming services. I buy something online maybe once per year, and that's usually because I've exhausted the local options. I'd rather walk in a store and see/handle the product than order it.
Weaning myself off Amazon is difficult. Trying to find items I need locally is hard, especially specialty items that I need urgently. For example, I need to get a 1 inch swivel bolt hook to repair a stadium chair before this weekend. I can't get the specific item I need from any hardware store locally, and while there is a specialty small business that has it very cheap.... it'll take two weeks to get here, and I need to make my repair in three days. Amazon could have had it here overnight.
I'm going to try a half assed temp repair with a lesser item from the local store, I guess, and order the proper bits and bobs for next season's fixes to the chairs from the real store. Because I'm never giving Bezos another penny, if I can avoid it.
This video seems to point out a lot of problems and offer no real solutions. People aren't going to give up convienance. And most people can't afford to "simply pay a few extra dollars" as the small busineas owner featured in this video mentioned. Everyone is strapped for cash in this day and age a few extra dollars is often what makes the decision for where our money is going ultimately to go.
Women entered the work force, in mass numbers, in the past 30 to 40 years. They found they needed some way to get the goods to people, because women do all or most of the shopping for the entire house. Convenience replaced women, which says that most men have not adjusted to help women at all.
Help women with what? It's not a woman's sole responsibility, unless she is living alone
@@PaulaC-137 That's my point. Men have never stepped up so they created convenience, which still falls, mostly, to women.
Didn’t she just sell us on a convenience thing opening this video with the sponsored ad?
Yep
Yes! I don't understand how people could afford all these "conviniences." When I was in my 20s, I could barely afford my rent and this was in pre-internet and pre-cell phone days! I don't see how these young people are affording all these deliveries! My neighb or is 28 and always has Doordash or Postmates and still complains about money and how as a Boomer, I must have had it so easy! Yes, so easy that I can't even look at Top Ramen w/o turning green, I ate so much of it!
Part of the problem is that the selling point is that we can't afford to buy properties so better be living the lavish life.
Technically Top Ramen is a "convenience" food.
You can now pay for Domino's in 4 easy payments! 🤢
They dont buy groceries, they just order takeout. Thats how they afford it. Groceries are expensive
Ooooh, catching a live! Appreciate you and everything you do!
My fiance and I are opposites. I almost never want to do delivery because of the added cost, I'd rather go in, pick it up, and stretch my legs a bit. He would rather have the comfort and not have to worry about crowds or parking.
On the other hand, I am inclined to order delivery in bad weather. Fortunately, my fiance always points out the callousness of that choice and we make something from home instead. It's never intentional, I just have the practical thought that if they're open, they'll deliver. I'm glad he reminds me, though. I do want people to be safe, I just don't always think of it. When you mentioned it here, I had the same punch in the gut that I get when he points it out.
I was trying to understand what you were leading up to but I just couldn't see it myself.
Another benefit to community: compassion. After I started working in retail while in college my mom told me that she started shopping more tidily to make less work for the employees. We had to stay after closing until the store was back to normal. I had a friend who worked at the movie theater, I always cleaned up after myself (10 minutes to clean the whole theater!)-- and another who worked in a pharmacy, I'm patient and ask for advice to fix issues. My dad was in construction, I slow down in construction zones.
I think I'm generally a nice person, and these are considered basics for most people, but the care with which you do them changes. You're not just making sure that you leave no trace (shyness/invisibility) or get things over with faster and not rocking the boat, you're doing them with someone in mind, even if it's not the same person that will benefit. You're thinking about their experience, too. That perspective shift changes your attitude and, for me, brings a sense of peace as well.
Thank you for what you've said regarding free shipping. I'm a little Etsy seller and I'm under high pressure from both Etsy and buyers to offer free shipping, which isn't a cost I can just eat, as a one-woman operation.
So Americans are responsible adults if they drive their gas-guzzling SUVs to the grocery store where the bounty of the world is gathered for their consumption: fruit flown in from Chile, food canned in Mexico, cheap plastic gadgets from China, all picked, preserved, and manufactured in near slave-labor conditions. But if you pay an extra $10 to have that same shit delivered to your door by someone driving a more efficient vehicle with a planned route minimizing gas consumption, you're an adult toddler.
You may get your wish on this one, like Brexiters who wanted the UK to be more self-sufficient. A year later they were sharing tips on which kinds of moldy food were still safe to eat. Fewer and fewer of us will be able to afford the extra $10, we'll do our own shopping again inefficiently in our giant cars; traffic gets worse, gig workers stop making money, so even fewer people can afford conveniences, so more of us do our own errands, eliminating more jobs... sounds like a recession, and those always make the lives of vulnerable people better! Good job, very helpful.
I’m getting a lot of these types of videos in my feed right now - and I agree with wha she is saying about the parasitic nature of convenience spending whole heartedly - But I topic I don’t see often is that the generations before the millennials had tons of convenience for white men propped up the guaranteed free (or almost free) labor of women and minorities.
Wealthy men have never gone grocery shopping.
With any industrialization and personal servantry of industry entitlement happens. All generations. I worked delivery for Papa John’s in 2012 and I worked every snowstorm, was regularly risking my life, most notably during an actual tornado warning. I delivered TO their storm shelter.
I live about 20 miles from Microsoft, and Microsoft has been contracting out labor for years.
In fact, for years, when someone says they work at Microsoft, it’s not unusual to ask, “are you a blue badge (an employees) or an orange badge (a contractor)?
Most people that work at Microsoft are contractors.
I decided to go no-amazon a while ago, I just shop in real life. If I really can't find something in real life I can always find it as cheap on Ebay still with free shipping. But vendors just bake the cost of shipping into the price of the product now so you aren't actually getting a deal unless they're liquidating. A huge issue I find when shopping for anything online (amazon or otherwise) is that I almost always have a problem with what I end up getting and wouldn't have bought it if I had held it in my hands. So I only buy something if I know exactly what I'm getting. Plus, people talk about how everything is cheaper on amazon but I find stuff just as cheap in real life all the time, at least matching quality. At best I can find something for 5% less on amazon than elsewhere. And when you shop in person you get it faster than same day shipping anyway lol. There is no reason to 'depend on amazon'. I am not that financially well off. It offers nothing you can't get elsewhere other than same day shipping which isn't even common anymore and costs money when it is available. We are talking about saving at best twenty bucks a year if you plan and research really really hard which no one does. It is not a free time issue, going to a store does not take that long. It's a claim people make but if you have time to mess around on social media you have enough time to stop by a store for essentials on the way home from work. I don't understand what people are buying all the time that they couldn't go out and find in real life. The people I know ordering stuff get things like decorations and luxuries you could get at any craft store and books that are available for free at the library. I think people just don't feel like leaving the house and are addicted to online shopping.
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but if you can’t afford a cost of living area - you can probably make the same amount of money in a low cost of living area. I left my coastal city in 2021 for the rural Midwest. Yes, it’s as boring as you make it; but if you are motivated, it is infinitely easier to be financially successful in the rural Midwest. You can visit the coasts any time for the amount you’ll save. Also there is no “convenience economy” here to tempt you.
It's hard when you work in an industry that's very localized to high cost of living areas. Many of us would love to move somewhere "boring" but can't because there are no opportunities in our line of work, or so few that if you get laid off you'll have no other options in the area. So if you're making medium bucks in a big-bucks industry and pricey city, you wind up commuting from whatever suburb you can afford to live in.
Totally get that it wouldn’t work for you personally. Barring a niche career, most job categories do exist here. Not to mention the competition is inherently lower. It just seems like a glaring omission that would resolve financial issues for so many people. Personally, where I am now with personal finance would have been mathematically impossible had I stayed in a high cost of living area. I love this channel and it’s helped me, but no financial tricks compare to cutting your housing costs by 4/5ths (no exaggeration). I just wanted to put it out there that the quality of life millennials are missing out on is available to in the US. It’s available in small towns in the Midwest that desperately need talent.
I wonder if there's ever going to come a time when it will be normal for average sized apartments (not microlofts,) to not have a range anymore and only have a microwave because average people won't be expected to know how to cook from scratch or want to do it, unless they went to culinary school or worked in a restaurant. We live in a time where you could go years without using an oven or a stove if you wanted to. Of course, it's way more expensive and less healthy, but I think that's going to change in the coming decades, to the point where having a kitchen with a range is going to be like having a sewing machine. Think about it, years ago lots of people used to sew their own clothes because they needed to or because it was cheaper. But now stores are full of cheap clothes and making your own is just an optional hobby.
The food tastes better when you make it!
@@cdnchevry
Yeah, I second that. I love to cook and bake and I learned how to make cinnamon buns. They take a lot of effort "from scratch" but they are worth it. I still am grateful for the "convenience" of a hand mixer to help me mix the dough. We're all working with some level of convenience.
A lot of people in history didn't have a oven in cities because it is was easier to bake bread in one oven at the bakers, there has been takeout since ancient times. It not just a modern thing
@@LadyBoldly
That's a good point. There were also local markets and on the daily people would pick up food "conveniently" located in one place.
@@LadyBoldly Yeah, but do we want to go back to those days, though? That's my point.
I very rarely buy things in store because I've noticed the quality is very low. If I'm gonna have a crap shirt that'll fall apart after 2 washes, I might as well spend 3.99 online rather than pay $15 in store
The amount of money I've saved by cutting all my subscriptions, dumping Amazon and buying local is ASTRONOMICAL. Like, still on a millenial's pay scale, but like. Wow. I have leftover at the end of a pay cycle sometimes now! xD
Grocery shopping is a weekly ritual for me and my husband. We go together, mostly to make sure that neither of us makes an impulse buy without getting confirmation, but also because we can discuss and meal plan in real time. I think it scratches my primal hunter-gatherer itch.
The fact that so many of your subscribers and viewers are getting triggered by this critique of our/their consumption habits means it's right on point and not preaching to the choir. Congratulations, TFD Team!
The point about contactless payment is the one I personally disagree with, the opposite is true for me, maybe because I've lived in a basically cashless city for 15 years (Amsterdam, NL). When I'm forced to use cash (mostly while traveling), I spend more and have less control of my spending since there is no traceability of those cash transactions. And since I need to commit to a certain amount upfront (often there are minimum amounts you can withdraw, ATM fees, etc.) once that money is out of my bank account, it's never coming back so it almost feels like it's already spent.
And it's much easier to lose track (or not even know for sure, specially when dealing with different currencies) of how much I'm spending for different categories like food, transportation or culture, while with debit-cards or contactless I can review my spending and keep track of prices and how much is being spent on each category instead of feeling like the "aaand it's gone" South Park meme most of the time.
Fellow viewers, if your comment is something along the lines of "But Chelsea, I am a good person and I have very special and unique needs and if I didn't exploit those who have it worse than me I wouldn't be able to keep running in place in this hamster wheel of late stage capitalism" please re-watch the video.
Omg yes! Your last paragraph, so well put! I really think some folks might need to rewatch with an open mind. I'm not sure where we've gone wrong that individual behaviors and habits can't be critiqued and adjusted just because there are also systemic issues that need to be addressed.
I see what you mean. I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of being too lazy or tired to make dinner and instead just ordering something by the click (tap?) of a button. I think we all have.
For me, though, grocery delivery is absolutely worth it for several reasons. 1.) I don’t have a car and my city doesn’t have great public transit, so it’s actually really inconvenient to get to the grocery store. 2.) it’s actually cheaper to order groceries from Walmart and pay the delivery fee than it is to Uber both ways 3.) I’m doing a PhD full time and often don’t have the time or energy to get to the store.
I had a bank teller tell me it was so nice to see a customer come in the bank (I had left my card in the atm) because people don't come in as much. And I will say it tugged at my hearts strings.
my partner and i both go into the bank fairly frequently and have never heard this take. there are also frequently other customers in there. i guess it depends what area you're in.
Everyone whinging in the comments about how important their convenience service is to them are really missing the point of the video.
Not the bowling ball buffer 😂😂😂
Great video. As a rule, I do not order groceries or door dash simply because the fee is not worth it for me. I’d rather go after work at 8pm than pay some billionaire $20 to send someone else to do it for me. I also bring lunch every day to work, which my coworkers are astonished at because some of them order take out literally every day
It rubs me the wrong way when small buisness owners say that customers don't understand why they can't offer the deals the big companies can, like, no, we understand why it costs more to do things ethically, we just can't always afford that
Thanks for posting so many videos recently. Great food for thought, as always.
Convenience shopping hates my high return rate! I hate that clothing sellers can't do "short torso" plus "large hip"! This pear hates the system
Methinks this video didn't go to plan...
Wow. Are Americans ok? You need some better labour laws
We keep trying, but the big companies keep shooting laws down as fast as we can get them proposed. They can afford much better lobbyists and lawyers (and lots more of them), since they have most of the money we've worked for over the past few decades.
Amazon prime 2 day delivery or next day delivery rarely gets here on time.
1:04 “we love uber eats” are you serious 😭 i rely on it cuz I don’t have a car and if im alone at work can’t leave to get food regardless but just wow