Speaking as someone whose walmart is closer than even a convenience or grocery store (seriously, it's ridiculously close), I can state quite clearly that even if it wasn't, it would make sense for me to drive to it, the way I have to drive to Target. Walmart carries store brand diapers (and groceries) that actually work as well as regular diapers and are half the price. I use about 106 diapers a week. (regular diapers are about .23 a piece, store brands usually cut that by half, to about .11 each, but not all of them are any good. Lots of defects, and made of different materials that do or don't work. Target brand diapers, for instance, don't work for my kids. Before you ask why cloth diapers aren't an option, cloth diapers would then include the cost of cleaning them in dye free, fragrence free laundry detergent as my kids get horrible rashes from just about everything, also not including the time that it takes that I simply don't have). Target sells Target brand baby formula that my kids don't react badly to, which is a fairly large problem in that they do react badly to the Walmart brand baby formula. A can of powdered baby formula costs about 20 dollars, a can of store brand costs about 11 dollars. I wish I had been able to breastfeed, but my milk never came in despite repeated attempts, and hospital visits. I buy about 4 cans of baby formula a week.
These are not unusual problems. Many Americans have children, the children have needs, it's much more time economical to go one store that sells everything than to go to several. I'm not even going to mention the unmentionable price of diapers and baby formula at convenient stores.
Split all of that by half for a normal family with baby, sure, but even then it's considerable. You can say that families in less affluent countries don't have these things and yet they survive, but I can tell you surely, mine wouldn't have. Infant mortality is also much higher in less affluent countries.
All of this is just the family stuff, but the reality is, what you might be rich in (time or money or transportation) another person might be poor in, and they make their decisions, often, based on that. Even without kids, not everybody has the same resources. I hate the bullshit that people spend their money on, but I'm positive that my necessary is someone else's vanity just as their necessary is my vanity.
Try to take it easy on other peoples decisions. You just never know, man.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 04:05 pm (UTC)Walmart carries store brand diapers (and groceries) that actually work as well as regular diapers and are half the price. I use about 106 diapers a week. (regular diapers are about .23 a piece, store brands usually cut that by half, to about .11 each, but not all of them are any good. Lots of defects, and made of different materials that do or don't work. Target brand diapers, for instance, don't work for my kids. Before you ask why cloth diapers aren't an option, cloth diapers would then include the cost of cleaning them in dye free, fragrence free laundry detergent as my kids get horrible rashes from just about everything, also not including the time that it takes that I simply don't have).
Target sells Target brand baby formula that my kids don't react badly to, which is a fairly large problem in that they do react badly to the Walmart brand baby formula. A can of powdered baby formula costs about 20 dollars, a can of store brand costs about 11 dollars. I wish I had been able to breastfeed, but my milk never came in despite repeated attempts, and hospital visits. I buy about 4 cans of baby formula a week.
These are not unusual problems. Many Americans have children, the children have needs, it's much more time economical to go one store that sells everything than to go to several. I'm not even going to mention the unmentionable price of diapers and baby formula at convenient stores.
Split all of that by half for a normal family with baby, sure, but even then it's considerable. You can say that families in less affluent countries don't have these things and yet they survive, but I can tell you surely, mine wouldn't have. Infant mortality is also much higher in less affluent countries.
All of this is just the family stuff, but the reality is, what you might be rich in (time or money or transportation) another person might be poor in, and they make their decisions, often, based on that. Even without kids, not everybody has the same resources. I hate the bullshit that people spend their money on, but I'm positive that my necessary is someone else's vanity just as their necessary is my vanity.
Try to take it easy on other peoples decisions. You just never know, man.