Supporting the Economy

[Flo]

Now us being self sufficient I suppose that it's not us that have been back out hitting the shops is it? Should we be worrying about keeping the economy afloat to preserve jobs.

Or are we the ones who are taking advantage of all the clear outs that other folks have been doing? Or have we been putting money in the bank?

From my point of view, no not really. Compost bins have been ordered for the one allotment out of two that I'm keeping for next year have been the major extravagance - am keeping a lot of what would have been the compost on the one that's going. Those have been through the cheap county council scheme of course. The garden centre can't compete with the price so don't stock them any more. The local family has been doing house repairs which have involved buying parts that they couldn't acquire (new shower unit and cubicle, stopping the cellar leaking all the heat out of the house, fitting an outside tap) but that was when one member was on furlough whilst other was working at home and it seemed a good time. Their shopping is as low as ever.

So? What are we all not doing for the local or national economy?

[Viper254]

I've put quite a lot of thought into this, actually. In some ways, yes, and in some ways, no.

On the "yes" side;

~ We are waiting for a plaster, joiner, builder and the woodburner people to come and do work - they're all heavily in demand at the moment.
~ We've had a carpet fitted
~ I'm pretty much back up to 10% of income generated from self employment again, buying locally and selling nationally. The money seems to go straight into the pockets of tradesmen to get and get the house up to scratch
~ I'm probing a business venture installing low-cost, modular CCTV systems for homes and small businesses. It's not a big business as such but it's still going to be a trickle to a few UK-based suppliers.

On the "no" side;

~ I despise going to the shops. There are days where I'd rather eat my shoes than visit the supermarket and I'm fairly sure our consumption is slightly down because of that.
~ Mrs. Viper hasn't been to the gym since February now. It wasn't expensive as such (she works for the attached University campus) but that's £7-odd a week that's not going towards the two or three classes she would do a week.
~ The Bogey Wagon (if you saw it, you'd understand) hasn't really moved much. As it's so old and decrepid, it was found in the local garage a few times a year or so, but it's not really deteriorating and so the mechanic hasn't seen it.

We have continued to move towards buying secondhand rather than new. That's keeping money local, but not really helping the national economy as I don't think much is seeing the tax man.

On the whole, I don't see things going back to normal on my street. There's no new cars this year, but if you're a skip company you're doing amazingly.

[ina]

I have spent a fair bit of money - all in small shops, though. Ethical gift shop, health stores, Braithwaite's for coffee, farmers' market etc.* Some of it simply stuff that I'd run out of by now, some presents. And I am now finally getting my door fixed (front door has been locked for months, and I didn't want to call the council out, seeing as it wasn't "essential". I only use the front door to water my plants...)
Mind you, tradesmen didn't seem to have lockdown here. They were incredibly busy around our area all through those months.

* And various bookshops, I just remembered. Always spend too much money there...

[Green Aura]

I try to support the local economy, as far as I can. We buy a (mainly) locally produced veg box and local cheese and meat.

Clothes almost always come from Ebay, secondhand - prices have noticably gone up since lockdown so I'm guessing a few people have discovered the delights.

Apart from new raised beds, and the new greenhouse, of course, we've pretty much finished home improvements/renovations etc and we can't think of anywhere we want to go while the Highlands are under seige from "Staycationers", so there seems to be a few bob in the bank, for once.

[Flo]

My spending is now on lock down. No more shoes than needed (did have to laugh as one of the neighbours is challenging me for an over full supply she says, we laughed). No more gardening stuff needed after the splurge on raised beds. Couple of cash presents for 25/12 but other than that - sorry high street there's no point in opening the shops again for me.

Mind we've just been put into tier 3 from midnight 2nd December and the list of that which isn't going to re-open is long. Still can't nip out for a cup of tea and a cake. Don't do the pub so won't cry into anyone's beer.

[Flo]

I had to laugh at the physiotherapist who is keeping an eye on the knee exercises for the knee replacement done just before Christmas (2 days). We have snow, frost, ice and general winter weather. I said to her this week that I really needed a clear pavement outside to practice with the crutches as round the house isn't doing the job. We both laughed and agreed that it would be some time before that is possible. But her next comment was the killer - if you can get on the bus at the front door to go somewhere, there will be nothing to do when you get there. With a national lock down in place there just isn't anything happening.

All the village social clubs have been closed since last March due to the virus, along with any other form of getting to meet people. Any shopping is virtually done on line or not at all. Whether we have an economy when all is said and done will be interesting to see. Not even the sign of local trades people out in the street at the moment. Delivery vans have slowed down since Christmas.

[Green Aura]

It does make you wonder how many of these things will re-open afterwards.

We're off to do our click and collect today (140 mile round trip). I've thought of packing a picnic, as it feels like we're having a day out. There are plenty of places to stop, admire the view, stretch our legs and have a bite to eat, but we could get fined for doing that. So there and back it is.

The only human contact (apart from each other - I think we count ) is the bod that trundles our order out on a trolley.

[KathyLauren]

You folks in the UK have it rough. Businesses here are still running, but we in Nova Scotia have one of the lowest infection rates in the world, so we can get away with it, carefully.

But just next door, in Newfoundland, the UK variant got loose and there was uncontrolled spread at a school sports event. Now, they are on a hard lockdown to try to get it under control. We have had a couple of cases of the UK variant here, but they were caught in quarantine and there was no spread. But it would only take one case to get loose, and we would be locked down too. At least our Chief Medical Officer has his wits about him: the lockdown, if it comes will be fast and hard.

We keep a two-week supply of food in the house, so we would be okay in a lockdown.

As for the economy, it exists to serve people, not the other way around, so I won't shed any tears for it. There is a role for government to step in with a basic minimum income if people lose their jobs.

[Flo]

Forget supporting the economy. I don't think we have one. Can't order from the local garden centres online - one has a website that hasn't yet got it's ordering system up and running despite saying they do click and collect whilst the other is marking most of its stock as out of stock. The company I used to get my trousers from (EWM) has a website that doesn't show very much stock and works like a scrapped car. Eventually managed to get some non heated window ledge propagators made of recycled plastic and made in the UK after Suttons Seeds got its website to agree with the flier it sent out yesterday.

Cakes, veg boxes, wholesale butchers trying to stay in business offering to normal people, afternoon teas delivered to your door sort of local economy along with small crafters doing wax melts, candles, fake flowers. Fine if you know where the cakes are being made (someone's back kitchen and not registered with the appropriate authorities? do they do anything for dietary requirements). Great place for people trying to turn a pretty penny is the local Facebook. It's entertaining mind. And you have to check the online grocery delivery service lastminute.com the evening before cut off time to see what they have removed from your order.

No wonder there's money in the savings account.

[ina]

My local farm shop is re-opening soon after a winter break. Unfortunately, they now won't do the late opening on Thursdays any more - was I the only customer who used that time? So now it's just another local business that only caters for people who don't have to work for a living. There are so many things that can only be done by people like me on a Saturday morning that local businesses rarely get visited. Shame, but can't be helped. Supermarkets, here I come again...

Another of those local businesses that I'd love to but can't support is an independent coffee shop near my place of work. Even before lock down, it opened to late in the morning to pick up a cuppa on the way to work (but in time for the yummy mummies on the way back from the school run). In the afternoons, it closes just as I get there after work, the earliest I can at the end of our "core time". So they really don't want to cater for people who have to get their hands dirty with anything as demeaning as work...

[Green Aura]

you have to check the online grocery delivery service lastminute.com the evening before cut off time to see what they have removed from your order.

My OH has set himself up as guardian of the click and collect, so I leave him to checking what is available, or not. The online storefronts are woefully in need of an update. What annoys me more than anything is them removing something from your order, as out of stock, even though the collect date is several days hence and the item will have been restocked. Sometimes the substitutions are hilarious and sometimes downright bewildering. On one occasion (well before any lockdown) we ordered onions and they substituted a bag of pre-chopped onions. I'm certain the picker didn't know onions were in the fresh veg section - I can't believe they'd run out of every type of onion in the store! On another occasion our cats favourite brand of cat food was unavailable, so OH chose another brand. When we got the order it had been substituted for the one we would have liked in the first place.

Still, it keeps me entertained during these dismal times.

My local farm shop is re-opening soon after a winter break. Unfortunately, they now won't do the late opening on Thursdays any more

It might be worth giving them a ring to see if you can get an order to collect out of hours or have delivered. Most small businesses are seriously struggling to get enough custom at the moment and a lot of them are offering local deliveries, or pick ups, to boost it.

[ina]

It might be worth giving them a ring to see if you can get an order to collect out of hours or have delivered. Most small businesses are seriously struggling to get enough custom at the moment and a lot of them are offering local deliveries, or pick ups, to boost it.

They don't deliver. They were so busy last year that they are actually employing somebody for the shop now. I spent hundreds there... But I can't buy when I don't see what they have; their stock varied a lot, depending on season, just as it should be. And stuff like sheep skins etc you just can't buy without seeing! There must be lots of people like me who can't shop before 5 every day. It's just they have already long given up using local shops, and just buy everything online or in supermarkets. But I'm not at home for deliveries, either, and really don't want my elderly neighbours to constantly be bothered with my stuff.

[Flo]

There must be lots of people like me who can't shop before 5 every day. It's just they have already long given up using local shops, and just buy everything online or in supermarkets.

Exactly. And the powers that be wonder why the high street is in decline.

[ina]

Actually, I think a lot of the smaller shops are still stuck in the "good old times" when the man of the family went out to work and the woman had nothing better to do than the household and going shopping... Of course they could do their shopping between 9 and 5. And never needed to do it on a Sunday. Some businesses have adapted, others wonder where their customers are.

On the other hand, from old literature I know that the poorer people, where the women very much had to go working in a factory, or as servants, did go shopping in the evenings... (Dickens, etc.) Strange. Life develops, but not always in a straight direction.

(Sorry, just thinking aloud here!)

[Viper254]

Shops are appearing at a rate of knots around there, but there's some who have grasped the nettle and are going quite well; the milkman's now delivering some essentials, the nearby Londis has refurbed and has much more of a breadth of stock and the butcher's in town are offering what is sort of a click and collect.

It's noticable that a good handful of shops have now cleared their premises out though.