It really is a return which so many people don’t seem to realize.
Grocery delivery options were the norm for quite a long time, with food co-operatives and grocers offering weekly deliveries of pantry staples, or if you knew you’d need something in advance but wanted to make sure it was as fresh as it could be, delivery on a designated day. My dad, meandering towards his 70s now, was a delivery boy from the ages of 13-16 when he became an apprentice to the butcher he used to run deliveries for. He used to cycle up and down the length of the West End of Glasgow, dropping off food deliveries door to door, and if he liked the person, picking up their groceries from other stores along the way.
The rise of personal cars, giant super markets, and yes, the home refrigerator, killed off this feature of grocery shopping. Until recently when it’s had a blessed resurgence, and I do mean actually blessed. There are days when I wouldn’t have had the energy to go out to the store and get food and would have subsequently had to go hungry until my able bodied partner finished his 10 hour work day and went to the store for me. And I am lucky that I have a partner who is able to do that. But not everyone is.
Which is why I think it’s such absolute bullshit when there’s posts going over my dash calling this kind of thing “peak privilege” because some people themselves are privileged enough that they can’t imagine not being able to get up and walk to the store to buy their food. Like that’s ultimately where the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach comes from. It’s thinking “well I’m just being lazy” cause other people are calling it that, which, no!
Some of us need these services! They enable us to live without further suffering and that’s vital!
And inevitably the same people saying this kind of thing will turn around and say “well I don’t mean you, obviously, I mean lazy/able bodied/ neurotypical Susan” which no! You’re not getting it! This is infomercials all over again!
I don’t care if lazy able bodied, neurotypical Susan uses this service, because without the lazy, able bodied, neurotypical Susans creating a demand for this sort of thing, it wouldn’t be available! If this service existed only for disabled people, it would either cost ten times as much, or it wouldn’t exist! Gah!
Just let people live, and maybe think more carefully about the things you’re criticizing as lazy before you condemn them. Just because something is a luxury for one person, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid and vital necessity for someone else.
Which also doesn’t mean we can’t not talk about how the drivers doing these deliveries are underpaid and relying on tips to live. Like holy shit that is such a valid and necessary point to make and it should absolutely be taken seriously. But calling everyone who uses these services lazy or “problematic” is…uh, well I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, if you’re social activism doesn’t include people with disabilities, then you’re already failing.
