As I’ve mentioned before, shopping for groceries here is a little different than shopping at most places. When I run out of saffron and fresh charoli seeds for my base sauce, I can’t run down to the corner Whole Foods to refill my pantry. Ok, I made that part up, I have no idea what saffron or charoli are. I think they may have won a Grammy in the late 80’s. Anyways, I’ll start again. When I run out of canned chili or spam, I can’t run down the nearest Safeway to buy enough food for the next three days. I have to get on the internet and order online.
Last summer before I came up here, Monica and I did some shopping and shipped up some of my favorite food. This consisted of canned chili, rice, tuna, spam, rice, macaroni, Velveeta and rice. I had other things, but those are the staples. I did learn to bake bread, so we sent up flour and other bread ingredients. I would list them, but then I’d just be bragging. I had plenty of food to keep me fat and happy for about three months. I’m at two months, so it was time to make an order online.
A few stores and companies will ship orders to the bush. I used Fred Meyer’s online store last week for the first time and found their offerings odd. It wasn’t what they offered, but what they didn’t. I wanted to stock up on butter. Not margarine, but real butter. They didn’t have it listed on their website. I bought eggs, onions, potatoes, and cheese, but no butter. That wasn’t the only thing I really wanted that they didn’t offer online.
They did not offer toilet paper. That’s just mean. They had paper towels, napkins, Kleenex, and baby wipes. It makes no sense. They flaunted a bulk-sized canister of Metamucil, but nothing for the aftermath. At least they could have offered a free Imodium sampler with it.
After I filled out the order, it came out to $165 without the shipping. I didn’t find the prices to be outrageous, but they are probably 15-20% higher than at home. I did not price compare, so I could be off by as much as 60-70%. Unless you count the 5% discount for using my frequent shoppers card. Then they will tack on an additional 20% for handling and add the cost of shipping, depending on the volume and weight. Got all that?
Most everything we get up here is shipped through the post office. The parcel post schedule is very erratic because things come in only if there is room on the airplanes. If you’ve read some of my earlier posts, the airplanes are not large. They are tiny and cannot carry much more than passengers and their baggage. So when a plane is not full, parcel post packages can ride along. That means that a package can sit in Bethel for days because there is no room to send it. Or it can get stuck in Emmonack because there is no room on the plane. It can take 2-6 weeks for an order to arrive, so if you wait too long to place an order, you may have just learned an important lesson.
I’m learning the importance of patience. I also have to learn where and how to order toilet paper. Patience only lasts so long without that. Then it’s panic. I should have learned how to order toilet paper years ago. Instead, I spent my time listening to Saffron and Charoli.
Oh the humanity! Do letters usually make it onto the plane more quickly? If so we could all start sending letters with a few sheets tucked into the envelope.
ReplyDeleteOr still requiring a little lead time but maybe worth a try http://tiny.cc/dgk9l