respublica

Here we go again

Nest weekend we have to turn our clocks ahead one hour, my least favorite law. At 2 a.m. Sunday morning we move our clocks ahead one hour which means we lose an hour of sleep and the daylight will continue long into the next evening. It will still be light at almost 9 p.m. for some weeks. I much prefer the fall time change. And, I do wish our states would get ride of this twice a year time change, we don't need it, it serves no purpose.

Locking up the cosmetics

"One of the most common things stolen from retail stores is cosmetics." This article claims many stores have seen a big rise in this crime and are going to great lengths to stop it. Why are cosmetics so commonly stolen? "these items are often stolen given their relatively small size, their comparably high cost, and the potential fact that buying certain items, such as weight loss drugs and pregnancy tests, could be seen as embarrassing."

Stores are locking many of these things up which requires an employee to come and retrieve an item. But good lock finding an available helper, too often no one is around. One Walmart even went so far as too barricade the cosmetic area. Other places have begun adding cameras to help stop theft.

In truth, as maddening as it is to have to find a person to unlock a case, if people would not steal, this would not be necessary. But here we are.

 

Shopping issues I've missed

It seems as though many shoppers have found that Walmart has begun locking up products which cost less than ten dollars, forcing customers to find an employee with a key. Finding someone to unlock a case really difficult most days and many have begun going other places for those products. Often the most locked up things are in the beauty department. Things like mascara, other makeup items and even shampoo and pregnancy tests. One store even locked up underwear.

Target is doing this as well as other stores. Places like Macy's and Dillards have long had cosmetic and beauty products manned by a worker behind a counter.

I can see how this would be frustrating, it's rarely easy to find an employee to help or even answer a question. I also understand that things like makeup are probably frequently shop-lifted, they are usually small items easily tucked into a pocket of bag. Other stores have had certain things behind a counter accessible only by employee, but the area is normally staffed.

When I shop, I am normally aware of the fact that there are probably cameras every where and while I am not inclined to steal things, I don't want to do anything that looks suspicious.

In the end, though, if stores are going to lock up some things there needs to be workers in place with a key.

Amazon down?

This is something which rarely happens, issues with the Amazon website. But today something is going on and even though we can still shop, we can't check out. This has been happening to everyone this morning as noted by a google answer.

I'm certain things will get back to normal but it's a bit of a surprise.

The Cost of Everything

With Thanksgiving this week I've been watching the price of food very closely and most everything is way higher than last year. I'd bet the main reason for this has been a year of crazy high gas prices. Most anything we need is affected by fuel costs, everything from the planting of crops to the delivery of crops to stores. Also the manufacture and shipping of canned goods and frozen foods have been affected by the price of gas.

When we were down in the Huzzah last week gas prices were in the 3 dollar range some in the upper 3's others in the low 3's. This is nothing to cheer about although we did since they were better than we'd been living with for over a year.

In the end, the grocery stores probably won't be lowering prices too much until shipping and growing things level out. We are used to big grocery bills but not at all able to justify many of the things we would like to have. I'd hope if gas does come down, prices on other things will too. But, I'd guess many places would like to keep the higher prices for better profits.

Another crime now being publicized

As if we don't hear enough about crime of all kinds happening in our cities, along comes a new one becoming popular with thieves. This is getting robbed while you're pumping gas. The bad guys pull up to a pump next to you, one jumps out and opens one of your car doors and grabs anything which looks valuable-a bag, a purse etc.

I guess it will pay too be attentive. maybe lock the car doors while out pumping, or just don't have anything in sight.

 

Cleaners and other things

Most days it seems as though we are past the days when Covid caused all kinds of shut downs and out of stock items in stores. But, there are still things everyone seems to be buying leads to empty areas in stores. The one item I can rarely find these days is Kellogg Vanilla Protein Drinks. Over the past few years Dale has made it a habit to drink one of these with his lunch and until Covid, I could always find them in area grocery stores. Then suddenly they were out of stock in local stores and haven't come back. Schnucks and Dierbergs still have not gotten the Vanilla but always have chocolate or strawberry, flavors Dale is not interested in.

Then some weeks ago I discovered Walmart carries these and always had Vanilla in stock. Until this past weekend. I guess lots of people really like Kellogg Vanilla protein drinks. But, today they are restocked which is one of those HURRAY days around here. And the best part? The very best part? A four pack at Walmart is 5.98 and before the other two grocery stores ran out of them the cost was 9 something at Dierbergs and 8 something at Schnucks. So many times Walmart is a wonderful place.

Also, since Covid, it has been hard to find a cleaners. The Collinsville cleaners we always went to shut down for good it seems. There really aren't many of these businesses anymore, maybe a drive to St. Louis. But  then we learned about Premium Cleaners in Fairview Heights, a newer business, and they have been fantastic. I'm picking up a load of cleaning today including a comforter. Comforters are impossible to wash in our machine and going to a laundromat is still not for me since Covid. The Premium people are great. It is on the east side of 159 south of the Mall area.

Let real life enter in

With the beginning of early summer and all the great things popping up and new produce maturing, I realized this morning I much prefer real daily life to the constant harping and anger that is regularly on the news.

The incredible shrinking tissues

With the on set of yard work and soil moving, I found a bit of allergens popping up which made my nose run. The wind blowing things around in the air hasn't helped either. So I've been buying the square boxes of tissue, Kleenex and Puffs brands as well as the store brands and all have one thing in common. The sheets of tissue are as thin as air. I just can't believe how thin they are and the sizes have shrunk as well. I like those square boxes since they fit better on the bathroom counter, but may have to start buying the larger, more rectangular boxes.

When I was in the Dollar Tree store the other day getting some cleaning products I saw the boxes of Puff tissues and bought a box for 1.25. To my mind if they are as thin and small as the others I have been buying at grocery stores and Walmart for 5.89 and up, I figure why not save money.

For every change in product size for anything these days the reason is always supply chain issues so maybe paper used for tissues is in short supply as well. But, for now, I'll be sticking with the 1.25 at Dollar Tree. Even two boxes is much cheaper than one box everywhere else.

Going back to church?

This is an interesting study done by the Pew Research Center on whether Americans who typically attend religious services at least once a month have gone back to in person worship or are continuing watching online. There are a lot of numbers in this article, but in essence, they found that 1 in 5 people who were regular church goers, are still doing virtual rather than going back to in person worship.

I believe this is true even though the Sunday numbers at our church have increased as months pass. However, many are still doing church through the internet or streaming onto their televisions. The creation of virtual services was a godsend during the times when we were pretty much locked down. Schools used virtual learning and Churches were able to do this as well. I rather liked this technology, but nothing regarding worship can substitute for the real thing.

I do believe that it is a blessing for people who cannot get out due to health reasons or something else. Virtual technology came along at the absolute best time.  click to enlarge