Grocery Shopping

 Grocery Shopping

Well it’s like this. I got down to the unenviable task of cleaning the supplies cupboard this weekend (now you feel the pain?) and was absolutely baffled at the quantity stashed in. Rather shamefacedly, I observed duplicate and triplicates of pasta packets, noodles, instant desserts, tons of biscuits and what-nots! What was I thinking?! Why or How did i end up buying this much.... 

Hey I am not alone here! This is what happens when I go to the super market for grocery shopping.

You go to buy a single bar of soap, there are no singles on the shelf! Only 3 or more! You want 100 ml olive oil, you get a 1+1 litre and do what? Get a full body tel-malish (oil massage)  Talcum powder? Buy one, get three free – 500 gms each, go dunk yourself in it! Oh wait pack it as return gift for those boring birthdays 

Washing soap? Buy 2 kgs and get 1 ltr cleaning liquid free. Wash all your laundry and your neighbor’s too! 

You want a 250 gms of frozen peas? It’s your lucky day – Offer is Buy 1 kg, Get 1 kg free….Peas all the way,  potato with peas, beans with peas and even chai with peas.  

Super-markets stock and display only the bigger versions of everything. Boy oh boy! Can I get just what I want and no more? Of course not! Take it or leave it, that’s the way it works. Playing pscyhological tricks with me huh... 

But wait a sec! No one is complaining about this. Am I noticing it just now or are the shopping trolleys getting just bigger and bigger?

All around I see gleeful mommies loading humongous trolleys with provisions and supplies enough to cater to a mini-army for the next 6 months, with their kids surreptitiously adding contraband junk-food to the loot. But of course she’s just on her bi-monthly visit to replenish stores, keeping an eye out for the contents of the neighboring trolley, you never know what you might have missed! Remember the goal, your trolley should always be an inch heavier than your neighbor's. 

At the billing counter, the cashier is tirelessly scanning and billing the endless stream of purchase. Billing queues of bored husbands trying to pass their time browsing on their smartphones while keeping a steady watch on the slow-moving line. And just as the man is revoking the jaw that had dropped on seeing the bill and returning his credit card to his wallet, the wife reaches him with kid in tow, look what i found 'the eggless mayo!’ she declares jubilantly. But woe betide one who’s had his turn and is now trespassing on the rules of a queue.

‘Thou shalt have to go back to end of queue even if thou hast only one item.’

So the man goes back to the end of the line, rather like the video-game character, who goes back to square one and starts his journey all over again. Meanwhile, the Mrs has no qualms and gainfully employs her time browsing aisles missed on her previous sojourn.

You gotta hand it to the geniuses who framed the BOGO – Buy One, Get One Free offers! What can be better for the Indian shopper ingrained with the bargain-hunting genes? Oh there are the Buy 2, Get 1 free, Buy 3, Get 7 free offers too but nothing draws the hardcore shopper more than the Flat 50% off or of course the BOGO offer! Like ants drawn to sugar, we flock, loot and grab such offers

Possibly hypothetical, but I think a vast majority of us are plagued by a fear of running out on food and supplies, thus the need to stock and hoard! 

Actually when you buy large quantities of perishables and your consumption is low, the product lies around longer in your shelf/ refrigerator. The products you purchase are mostly available cheap because they belong to an old stock. So you end up consuming less nutritive and potentially harmful stuff.

In case of consumer-durables, it makes sense at times to buy in bulk if it is cheaper. But that is precisely the sales ploy. Inventory older than 3-6 months is pushed forward in the form offers. Typically sub-standard products/ knockoffs parading higher M.R.P’s are made attractive by BOGO offers.

My cupboards are inundated by extra helpings of soaps, deosprays, gigantic containers of shampoo and talcum powder, cartons of laundry detergents, oils, snacks and well, generally everything. Folks at home groan with boredom –  Why can’t I try that new shampoo brand? Oh, because I have 2 huge bottles of this one to see through

 ‘Do I have to gulp oats every single morning?’ sighs my eight year old. 

Well you have no choice until that 2 kg barrel is emptied. As if this is not enough, My cleaner pitches in, ‘Madam, the floor cleaner you bought, is just colored water. Don’t blame me if your floor isn’t getting cleaned!’ What can I say? Hmm, BOGO made me do it!

Enough of this! I am going back to my neighborhood kirana-dukaan (grocery store) the uncle still remembers my name and has seen me since i was a 4 year old child. 

To get precisely what I want and just as much as I want. Just one bar of soap, 50 ml of hair-oil, 100 gms of talcum powder, one tube of toothpaste, 100 gms of lentil, 50 gms of mustard seeds, 25 gms of cashew nuts (Yes! You can actually buy that little)….you get the drift?

Takes orders over the phone, offers home delivery in less than 30 minutes. He gets whole wheat cleaned, sifted and ground to flour of the right grade – not too fine, while remembering to blend in soya and millet – just the way I ordered it.

If he doesn’t have a particular item I read off the list I’ve made, he ensures he gets it from the neighboring store. For instance, if I need freshly ground filter coffee, he’ll get it for me from the neighboring Anna’s store. And guess what? He doesn’t mind if I don’t pay right away (I am a credit worthy customer, cool ain’t it?), accepts payment through mobile wallet and throws in a free bunch of cilantro with every delivery! You can’t get more personalized service, can you?

So as we progress on the fast-paced, efficient escalator to supermarket stores and online grocery shopping, I am stepping off that course and walking back to the simple grocery store that I left behind. Sadly I might be a bit late, many small retailers are shutting shops, courtesy – competition from large wholesale supermarkets and online websites.

Maybe, we have a long way to go back from where we started....

Nandini Mithun