Zazbot Discount Shopping

All of this Christmas shopping makes me think about the economy and about all of us human beings in our insatiable desire to purchase stuff. I see the pressure that Christmas shopping puts on families and I have to ask myself….will there be a day when shopping is not such an addictive pastime.

Sure, we have all been raised with the desire to have more, and it is difficult to see a future where that is not a reality. In the future we would hope that the endless consumption and accumulation of “stuff” would be over, and we would be happy just enjoying the holidays without the commercialization of it. But knowing the human mind and human ego a little bit better in my older age, I kind of have to doubt it.

For instance, I am typing today as I sit in a vehicle (product) talking into a microphone (product) which is attached to a digital voice recorder (product) and I am dictating this as I sit in front of a particular store called the Urban Barn. My wife is doing some shopping for Christmas, and she is very excited just like the other shoppers inside who are admiring the Christmas displays and all of the holiday decor and ornaments. The sign in front of me says, “By One and Get Two Free”. What a deal!

What a deal it is! Buy one product and get two free. How exciting this is (sarcasm intended). As I speak, my wife just ran out of the front door of the Urban Barn, and said, “I am going over to Ashley’s Furniture, so I will be back in a moment”.

She seems very excited about the prospects of finding a good deal on some kind of item at the next store. I see people scurrying around the snow-covered parking lot looking for Christmas deals and I can’t help but notice they seem to be in a panic.

And when Christmas is over and all of the decorations, ornaments, registries, wreaths, and plastic blowup Santa Clauses have been swept away from the department store shelves and the front lawns in the suburban neighborhoods, we will be in the same place we were last year on January 2nd. We will all be that much further in debt, and our bank accounts will be depleted, as we stress ourselves out in the new year trying to pay off what we spent in December.

I know that this is important to the economy, and one of the engines that keeps the whole cycle going, but it seems to me there is a problem when it comes to shopping for the sake of shopping.

I often look at the other religions that don’t celebrate Christmas, and I envy them for not being caught up in this vicious, but yet enjoyable tradition. Seasons greetings! It says on the side of the building as I sit in front of Ashley’s furniture. Little elves are painted on the windows of their store, along with snowflakes, and balls of holly. Just another way for this furniture store to show you they are celebrating the Christmas season. Most of the stores are doing the same thing.

The Christmas cycle of abuse has been going on for hundreds of years now, and like I said, I highly doubt that it’s going to be over soon. It would be nice, to maybe just disappear for the Christmas season and boycott it altogether. I have never done that, but someday maybe I will talk my wife into it.

I myself, actually don’t like shopping very much. This is ironic since I have a shopping site that I maintain. I know that I am just as addicted to the accumulation of products as anybody (maybe more). I am a product of my environment, and I sure as hell bet you are too. I remember when I didn’t use to make very much money in a month, and I was raising small children, and Christmas was a great deal of stress for me. It would take about three months for me to pay off Christmas, and sometimes it never did pay it off until some other asset was sold to pay the debt down. In my case, I ended up declaring personal bankruptcy, so all of that debt was wiped out under the table in the process.

I am not saying that Christmas is the reason I went bankrupt, because that would be ridiculous, but I can tell you that I believe the ongoing desire to accumulate somewhat useless products resulted in that bankruptcy. Both me and my ex-wife spent more money than we made, and we spent that money on products and services we certainly didn’t have to have. After all, we only really need food in our stomach and a roof over our heads. All of the other stuff is just for fun and pleasure.

There was a time when our ancestors had no extra money for pleasure, and as a matter of fact, there wasn’t even a way to buy most of the junk we buy now, because no one manufactured at. There were no television sets, radios, movie theaters, jet airplanes, travel resorts, department stores, shopping malls, expensive luxury items, and overall post industrial revolution economies. There was a time when the only entertainment a person had was going for a walk in the country, sex, playing a sport, or reading a book.

I am not saying that I wish to live in simpler times such as those, but I am saying that things are much too complicated now. I am saying that my generation, and the generations coming forward, are basically ruined in so many ways. We have this insatiable desire to accumulate items because we have been raised to want.

Billboard, radio, television, and Internet advertising is constantly bombarding us with the idea that we need to have more, and we need to have more every day. We need a newer car, newer wardrobe, and a newer life. We need to have better tires on our vehicles, better vacations, better eyeglasses, and certainly better DVD players. We need to have the latest computer with the fastest bus speed, and the most gigabytes of hard drive we can possibly get. We need the latest software from the latest software developers, and most important of all, we need it right now – today!

The Fever of Buying

I myself, every once in a while, get this big desire to go shopping for new items. Whether I can afford it or not, I usually end up doing exactly that. It is like some sort of fever that comes over me, and it only breaks only after I have spent enough. In my case, I am usually shopping and purchasing items for my business, but nonetheless, many of these items and services I don’t really need. Many of these items and services I purchase only because I can, and it makes me feel better to have my desires met, and my credit card lust quenched.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly products of today breakdown and become useless. So often we by a new product these days and you have to get the extra warranty on the item because you know they are going to disintegrate within a year. The manufacturers and the corporations long ago discovered that creating throwaway garbage is the best way to keep their profits up. I go through a computer once a year and if I am lucky, the computer will last two years. Electronic items have become so cheap that they are certainly throwaway. If you are lucky and extremely careful, you may be able to make your electronic items last longer. In our case, we have been fairly lucky with Sony products, but even that brand is not guaranteed to have longevity.

I sit here today in a vehicle that I bought two months ago, with a brand-new digital voice recorder, with a brand-new computer at home, filled with brand-new pieces of software. I would say that my fever is broken and I am satisfied right now. I have no desire to spend anymore money on anything, and I sure hope that this lasts. But alas! It is my wife’s turn to have the fever. It is Christmas time and she is feverishly shopping for more products for people who may not even like them.

Yes, they can take them back with their receipt, but how many times does that really happen. So many times the Christmas gifts that get purchased and up in junk drawers, junk heaps in garages, and garbage cans waiting for their ride to the landfill. It’s just this endless flow of junk from the manufacturer, to the department store shelf, to your car or vehicle, and into your home – next stop, the dump.

This endless cycle of accumulation and discarding is happening all over the earth as billions of people in developing countries create this minutia of junk. I don’t believe we will see the end of this destructive cycle in my lifetime. I do believe that all of the manufacturing and consumption is going to affect the globe on an even more drastic level. Global warming is coming at us faster than we ever thought it would. I believe that if I am still alive 40 years from now (86) this world is going to look much, much different.

Who knows, maybe there won’t be much left of human beings at all by them. I thought that my generation was spoiled and addicted to consumption, but it is plain to see that the next generation has drank even bigger glasses of the poisonous Kool-Aid.

Well this has been quite the dark conversation, but I have enjoyed it. My wife just opened the car door, and said, “HO HO HO” as she tosses in some products that she purchased at Ashley’s Furniture. Wall Hangings!!  Weee!!! Green and brown – and they’re going to go above our bed!

Well that covers it for today, and I will see you next time here at Zazbot.com

Tags: Christmas, consumption, holidays, shopping

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