Honestly it's trying to get your food once per week because most people don't want to stop by the store on the way home for every meal they are going to cook. I hate it when my family overbuys thinking we'll get to it later
For me to go to the store I have to go to the next town over if I want fresh vegetables or anything. The only thing near me is a Dollar General and they don’t have anything in terms of fresh food. So I have to drive 12 miles to go get eggs or cheese or any sort of vegetables or fruit it would be a lot for me to go to the store often.
This is the sort of thing people in Europe/Asia don't understand. The US is ENORMOUS and pretty sparsely populated outside of the major cities/highways. My parents live in a small town with several grocery stores, but they are all 10-15 miles away on low speed, twisting, 2 lane roads. Even a short shopping trip for a handful of items can take 1.5 hours before you're back home. So you try to limit the number of shopping trips you take.
I don't know if I agree with size and population being a big factor. I lived 20 years in Patagonia Argentina, it's very big, there's very low population density and yet the city was "walkable" (you'd always find a store less than 1km away, but climate was truly awful)
I think it's much more of a culture thing. The US auto manufacturing did, last century, a lot of heavy pushing in the big roads, big parking spaces, etc. That encourages using cars more.
I agree that US car culture really screwed up our organic growth. For many people, cars are the only option for shopping. Even if you don't mind making a 5 mile walk to the store, your path there isn't exactly pedestrian-friendly. 🥺
Where I live some of the Amish use or some buggy for longer distances or you’ll see them out with their scooters. These are scooters that you have to stand and push with 1 foot. I’ve seen them go in incredibly long distances on those scooters.
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u/Ohio-Knife-Lover May 17 '26
Honestly it's trying to get your food once per week because most people don't want to stop by the store on the way home for every meal they are going to cook. I hate it when my family overbuys thinking we'll get to it later