The morality and ethics of buying groceries during a pandemic

Turns out this country isn’t worth saving. Pretty incredible that we are in the midst of a pandemic that should strongly reinforce M4A as the only moral and effective healthcare system for this country, and we nominate the worst candidate running who wants to smooth over the milquetoast ACA.

Gotta say though, I’m not shocked at all that a forum that has thousands of posts about how to make a profit in the market during this pandemic, has dozens of able bodied posters using Instacart (and tipping a whole $20!) so some poor single mom can body people at Costco to get the last 50 pack of toilet paper for them, and all the other gross signs of upper middle class privilege around here, has, for the most part, decided that it’s totally fine to vote for a senile rapist that won’t do shit for the poor.

Fuck Joe Biden and fuck the Democratic Party.

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Get em

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It’s nice to have an actual adult voice in a room full of fat children.

You can use whatever fifth grade logic you want to make yourself feel better about exploiting the labor of a gig worker at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. These workers don’t have PPE, hazard pay or customers that know how to tip. Unless you are high risk, go get your own fucking groceries. Anyone posting here will be taking better precautions than 99% of people in a store.

As a bonus, here’s what people in the OKC metro can make for risking their life to shop for your bougie ass (tip included!).

The self-flaggelation ITT is getting absurd. Everyone seems to be trying to do the right thing wrt grocery shopping, but I haven’t heard any clear guidance from experts on whether it’s better to get a pickup service or not.

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I haven’t left my house in ~ a month to go anywhere other than the grocer. I wear an N95, use self checkout and take all distancing and hand washing precautions. I’m a regular Typhoid Mary.

Paying someone else to put their life at risk because you can afford to (and you even tipped a whole $60!) doesn’t make you compassionate. It makes you a capitalist.

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I must have struck a nerve when I called out stock profiteering, grocery delivery and support for a senile rapist. I generally like your posting, but we clearly aren’t going to agree here.

Take a step back from your cushy work from home gig for a second and ask yourself “How did he get those screenshots?”

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Fwiw I think you both make compelling arguments and I don’t know what the answer is. I am buying my own groceries personally.

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If you’re using instacart right now, you should be tipping a ton, like $40+. Even though instacart takes like 20% of your order plus a delivery charge in fees, almost none of that goes to the people who do the work.

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I agree there doesn’t seem to be a clear right and wrong on this one. But the different lived experiences between the “middle” class and the working poor is being very starkly drawn these days, and for many of the latter being essential means being expendable.

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How about you do the right thing and donate your N95’s to a hospital. My wife is working an assisted living facility right now without any PPE besides gloves and a surgical mask (which does fuck all ldo). I’m sorry but this whole holier than thou bullshit routine you’re doing ITT is pretty tired.

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This seems pretty trollish. The people in the investment thread aren’t unconcerned with the human suffering going on, and I’m pretty sure they’d be fine with taking a financial loss if it benefited public health.

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I think I’ll hold on to my single expired N95 mask. My partner is a funeral director without proper PPE either. What do I win?

Not a goddamn thing. None of us win anything for 2020. This year has already been fucking terrible and it’s only going to get worse.

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It’s not pride or a holier than thou attitude. It’s class solidarity. I have much more in common with the grocery clerk than I do the people ITT with 100s of posts in the stonks thread. Direct correlation between who’s most rustled and who posts in that thread.

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I have moral qualms about supporting the gig economy as currently constructed, so I would never use something like Instacart. I have never used AirBNB. I have never used Uber. (I used Lyft once.) These are all businesses that try to make money by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. (I wouldn’t have a problem with a store offering curbside pickup, but I want seniors and other vulnerable people to have first crack at it.)

It’s up to you on how you weigh protecting your health vs. cooperating with exploitation. I can afford my choices and I have the luxury of going with my conscience because I don’t have kids or anyone who depends on me being healthy.

I don’t gainsay anyone for having their personal calculus lead to a different choice than mine. Life is complicated.

This guy is like the MLK of gig workers.

So does taking vaccines from BIG PHARMA.

It’s like Debs said, where there is a public health crisis I am flouting expert opinion.

What’s the point of protecting others if we’re only preserving them to be cogs in an inhuman capitalist machine?