Confessions of a cop-out consumer or “prosumer”?

I’ve had to look at my own “consumer behaviour” quite critically and have noticed a slight inconsistency.

I’ll begin by reviewing my consumer profile. I could arguably be considered to fall into a comfortable middle-class financial- and lifestyle bracket. Looking at my history of access to education, my home life growing up and leisure activities, I am certainly what many would regard as privileged.

However, at my present life-stage and considering my financial position and its move towards complete autonomy, I believe I fall into a mass middle class bracket and subsequently, feel (and notice) the effects of a financial recession and the rising costs of living in the most basic areas: electricity, food and fuel. In fact, I grudgingly admit that I feel these things quite significantly. I also have to acknowledge that I have become acutely aware of the radical jump in price over the past two years of the most meaningless items, for example, a tin of tuna, a 4-pack of chicken breasts and a single roll of one-ply toilet paper.

I resigned myself to the fact that a shift from free-range chicken to no-living-conditions-mentioned chicken was necessary. Included in this, I gave up John West in favour of bland-packaged tuna and even accepted the fate of the cheapest one-ply toilet paper. Simultaneously, I despise the fact that I have no control over what I pay for things and very little knowledge as to why I pay what I do.

You’d think that with such conscious shifts (I’ve only mentioned a few) and a fervent distrust of my position as consumer, I’d be the type of person to make every effort to shop where prices are low and quality is lasting. I should be the person who actively shops for personal care and cleaning products at Shoprite (where I noticed they are slightly cheaper), but who buys her fresh produce from Pick n Pay because their longevity is more reliable, and hence more valuable than the few Rand discount Fruit & Veg City offers me. Essentially, I should be a discerning and cautious shopper with the objective of surviving, if not beating, The System.

I am (sadly) not.

While I have given up brand names in favour of cheaper, not-so-pretty-looking products, and while I do dig into the back of the fridge to ensure I find the milk with the most distant sell-by date, my efforts at being Miss-Conscientious-Consumer have been completely insulted by the fact that I shop at the Spar down the road where prices are noticeably inflated. I shop purely for convenience at the expense of price.

You may be thinking that I’m clearly exaggerating my financial situation and that in fact, I am a born-and-bred privileged consumer, who fakes fitting in with the masses, but who can actually afford to shop for convenience over value. The reality is that I cannot.

I shop for convenience because I cannot stand the Monday evening queues in Pick n Pay or their perpetual lack of items I tend to want or need. I loathe the fact that they have too few baskets for Monday night month-end shoppers. I despise the shop layout and that silly perpendicular section that creates traffic jams, especially with my superfluous trolley. I do not like walking down the stairs to my car with four full and heavy bags and I get quite upset when a week later, I realise that a person living alone should never have bought a month’s worth of fresh produce in the first place.

Alternatively, driving to Checkers or Shoprite is a hassle and parking is unpleasant, and shopping on a quiet Sunday is like sending me to Siberia to find inspiration and meaning in life.

Instead, while I am still brand- and quantity-conscious within my local Spar, I disregard their overall pricing strategy in favour of short queues, friendly staff, every random item I might need for my spontaneous cooking occasions or awkward cravings, a mostly guaranteed parking space, and the only outlet that seems to sell electricity (without complications or extra charges) for my block of flats.

I admit that convenience is expensive (and perceived to be a privilege), but the overall experience of convenience when I work and study and value the time in between, is priceless. Convenience may be considered counter-recession, but I do believe that it still holds on to the essence of “prosumerism”- i.e. the things that count to me.