Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Errand Conundrum

Or perhaps it is the errand Catch-22.   

The "right" place to run the particular errand is usually far away or inconvenient; hard to park, has questionable hours, but will most certainly have the item, offer the service or provide the desired quality.

The "easy" place to run the errand is close, convenient, has great parking, generous hours, but may not have that for which you are looking. 

Going both places will clearly more time and effort than either one, and the "right" place will take longer than the "easy" place.  Think Fred Meyer (easy) vs. New Seasons (right).  or Winks Hardware (right) vs. Fred Meyer (easy).  I really don't mean to pick on Fred Meyer; the store offers much, I go there often and it IS easy.

In general,  I think the "easy' is often a big box retailer, and a trip there easy to justify as one can always pick up a few other things.   The "right" is most likely a specialty retailer.  And then, there is quality.  The "right" place usually has a higher quality product or service, unavailable at "easy".

My husband, often a doom and gloom kind of a guy, has some sort of innocent optimism that "this time" Home Depot will have it.   I tend to be a cynic, as I most often choose to put the extra effort into "right".

How do you choose?

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