Apparently the internet marketers have decided I am interested in meal services, and are now serving up a series of advertisements in my social media feeds and even when I open up the browser. Probably because I often blog about going to the grocery store, if only because that’s just something that is regularly on my to-do list for once a week, like going to the laundromat or washing Big Red.
I should become a better cook, and make healthier food but my kitchen is small and rundown, and I’m busy. When I own my own land, I probably get more into cooking so I can harvest more of my own food from my animals and plants. But I can’t imagine paying money for an overpriced meal service, one that comes in styrofoam and tons of packaging — even if I lived out in the country and had a burn barrel to burn up the packaging. I always buy bulk in store, and try to minimize packaging — so I have less to bring to transfer station. I don’t do TV dinners or anything excessively packaged — why pay for something your going to have buried in landfill or burn on up?
It just seems like so many things these days are over-packaged and waste — trying to get you to part with your money to throw it away. 🍌 👉 🗑
While I don’t own a colored television and are immune to much of the advertising these days, it seems like many of the frenzied sales of years past have been dialed back with the pandemic and the problematic nature of crowded shopping mauls. But to a certain extent its moved online.
I really don’t understand why people would want robot vaccums or internet connected toasters. But a quick search of the internet says they’re hot gifts this year. I don’t know, I tend to think they’re toxic e-waste meant to be used for a while and tossed. Kind of silly if you ask me.
I don’t plan to stand on line to get vaccinated from the China virus nor do I plan to stand in line for overpriced Chinese junk with some fancy label on it. I hate lines and I hate crowds, and social distancing is helping to keep myself safe. I’m heading up to the Adirondacks where I doubt I’ll see many except for an occasional hunter passing by in a pickup.
Not realizing the impact of my actions, I accidentially turned on Google Ads Experiments which lead to 50% of page loads including those floating banner ads on the bottom. I find them incredibly annoying, and have turned them off. While I wouldn’t mind the extra 5% in ad revenue month, I am not going to go that far to uglify my blog for an extra $4 a month.
Well maybe until he let the world know about his views on the COVID-19 vaccine, which from a business perspective probably wasn’t his best decision but is fully consistent with his world views. You can argue still to this day, Salatin is one of the most successful homesteaders out there. I wouldn’t say, go woke, to broke.
I was listening to the NY Magazine podcast this morning when they were talking about the origins of the word “woke”. The term has become associated with left-wing political activism, particularly that worn on one’s sleeve without much conviction. Feel good politics not grounded in reality. And a sober look at how people exploit it.
Humans like stories and good feelings. Many if not most successful businesses – outside of commodities and essentials for living are about telling a story. People need a reason to buy your product. Smart business owners find ways to tell a story.
People should be aware of what is happening in their community and in the world. They should care about others. Good business people are savvy when it comes to maximizing their resources. Salatin has developed some neat ideas to run his homestead that reduce the need for inputs.
And he’s built a story about it and diversified himself both in his ag business and the books and lectures he does. I’ve supported his farm by buying his books even though I’ve never been to his part of Virginia.
Like many people, being woke leaves me with a bad taste in myself as it is often based on denying reality and hiding yourself from the real world. But if you can play into consumer beliefs while being grounded in reality behind the scenes then I see no problems with being woke.
That ad from Rent a Center for $19.95 a week tires 🛻
Last autumn I was pretty annoyed about the rubber shortage and how much more I had to spend on tires for my big jacked up truck then I had originally budgeted for with my truck getting old and rusty. To say nothing about burning up the wheel bearing in West Virginia and the strut links that needed replacing. It was big bucks but so is everything these days – especially for a truck that is going to be smashed, shredded into scrap and landfill material in a few years. Whether it’s rust, the engine or transmission failing, it’s going to garbage before long. I hate spending money on garbage but I like my big jacked up truck and new trucks are so expensive. Delays meant my truck was off the road for two weeks in December but I was able to cut a few big checks, bite the bullet and get it back on the road relatively unscathed.
I have a tendency to click on advertisements directed towards the working poor and lower middle class. So the internet assumes that I must be interested in such products and shows me more of them every day. I get constant advertisements for Amazon EBT food stamps, lifeline phone services, and HEAP heating assistance. At the same time my interest in homesteading and farming – and frugal, low consumption living reinforces the internet advertisers belief that I must be very poor. I’m a bit of a car geek – even though I’m not that bad besides my truck – but I get tons of ads for jobs in manufacturing, mechanics, truck driving and warehousing.
But when I see these ads I have to always browse through them for the fine print. Many of them are incredibly scammy, with high interest rates and fees often hidden from the unsophisticated. I’m no financial genius but certain products I know I wouldn’t want to touch with a 10 1/2 ft pole. But on the other hand, for some people, these expensive fee-laden products might be their best choice compared to the alternative. Renting tires might be a good alternative to loosing your job as you need a car to get to a job in the suburban office park. Often being poor and having no money can be very expensive. It’s often much cheaper to buy with cash, shop at the big box store or even own a car for many trips then take a taxi. And heck, the banks don’t charge me for money, they pay me for the privilege of holding my money for me.
Now that I make a good middle class income, I often get looked down at for my working class tastes and my choices not to live a higher consumption lifestyle. I’ve had the same run down apartment since college. I don’t have parking at work, even though I could have a spot in nice garage in a premium indoor garage if I wanted. I take the bus to work every day, I don’t have internet or television at home except for my phone. I do watch YouTube but usually it’s things like videos about farming, the woods, off grid living or sometimes technical topics like programming or building electronics at home. I keep my heat at 50 degrees except in very cold weather and don’t have air conditioning. I shop at Walmart for food, clothing and basic supplies. I like how Walmart is one stop shopping and often has good prices on basic and bulk goods. I prefer camping in the woods where I can have a fire and drink cheap beer to any fancy vacation. And I really avoid buying stuff if I can avoid it.
So much of this world these days is about high consumption and throwing away as much possible. If you don’t buy a lot of stuff and throw a lot away, you must be severely impoverished. The only way to be green after all is buy greenie branded electric cars, fancy bamboo tooth brushes, compost boxes and solar panels, not to consume less. Even though solar panels are made out of toxic materials. Living simple less stuff just isn’t considered green – just impoverished. But some day, hopefully not that many years in the future – I’ll have my own land. I’ll be able to heat with wood, make my own electricity, manage my own trash, raise livestock and produce my some of my own food. Not waste my money on compost boxes but feed food scraps to pigs and chickens or mix in with the manure to actually make the land grow food. Be actually closer to the land that I hunt and farm and not just spending my hard earned money pretending to be a greeny by buying the latest in disposable green products to soon be buried in a landfill.
