The Costco Conundrum

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In the checkout line in Costco in Vacaville today, I was looking around to see what was in other people’s baskets (because I am nosy).  But what I noticed was kind of surprising .  There were $10 packages of biscotti, boxes of fresh ravioli, giant bottles of Maker’s Mark (well now, hang on a minute–that certainly isn’t a luxury item…), $200 coffee makers (the kind that uses the little pods of coffee, which seems like it would be an expensive way to go)….  And it wasn’t in just a few carts–it seemed like everybody’s cart looked like that.

Then as I left Costco, there was a man begging on the corner of the Costco driveway.  He certainly didn’t look underfed, and I think he seemed clean, so he wasn’t homeless.  But he held a sign that said he’d lost his job, had a family, and he needed help.  So which is it?  Recession or not?

We’ve been used to living high on the hog for a long time.  That is, until 2008.  Then we all got religion and started cutting back and buying lots of potatoes as the value of our houses plummeted.  But housing prices certainly haven’t rebounded in our neck of the woods, and unemployment is as troubling as it has ever been.  I think what I witnessed today is evidence that we’re bored with being poor!  I’m not sure we’ve got the sticking power to stay with austerity measures much longer.  We’ve medicated ourselves for so long with buying stuff, that we miss that high.  Shopping’s fun (no, I’m serious.  It is.)!

How did people who lived through the Depression do it?  I mean, that thing went on for, what, 10 or more years?  Maybe it’s because there wasn’t the plethora of cheap goods available that there is now, so there wasn’t so much to choose from, so much available to buy.  I don’t know.  But I know that those people who grew up in the Depression spent their whole lives pinching a penny until it squeaked, because they’d seen what could happen if you used up all your money.

Believe me, I am as big a fan of consumption as the next person.  And I’m so tired of worrying about money.  When we have a good money month at my house, and it feels almost like old times, I struggle not to overspend, at, say, Costco.  But I think we’ve got to keep the financial reins pulled tight, because now, we too have seen what can happen if you use up all your money.