# In Person Shopping - Pleasure or Chore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064 "2011-01-10T03:42:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/1 "2011-01-10T03:42:54Z")
I’ll discuss why I’m interested in this when I’ve seen some stats. Assuming that the price is about the same (including delivery if relevant) and assuming that there is no particular reason why a given item has to be bought in person (such as because you need to try on clothes before buying, or you cannot wait for delivery), for non-grocery shopping do prefer to shop at bricks and mortar stores or on-line (see poll)? Second question, which is open ended so I will just ask for responses in thread, if you do generally prefer to shop on-line, why? ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/2 "2011-01-10T03:47:37Z")
To me, there is something about the instant gratification of the purchase, as well as being able to hold the item and really determine it’s what I want. Perhaps a knowledgeable salesperson could make a recommendation on a different product. Then there’s that relationship with the salesman that lays the foundation for return visits, whether it be for repairs or other merchandise. If I have the time and I know the product I want is in the store, all other things being equal, I prefer brick and mortar stores. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/3 "2011-01-10T04:00:35Z")
It depends on what I’m shopping for, and how much time I have. If I want to stop by a bookstore and pick up a book for a friend that I’m meeting later today, then I want that book to be IN STOCK that minute. And if it’s a fairly recent book, I expect it to be in stock. If it’s a book I’m buying for myself that I’m undecided about, I’ll want to read a few pages, at least. If it’s clothing, I want to be able to feel the fabric and see how it looks on me. Most clothes are designed for tall, slim women. I’m short, and even when I was slim, a lot of clothes didn’t look good on me because I’m so short. I’d prefer to shop B&M, but not everything is available at B&M stores, so I go online. There, I find books that are long out of print, and clothes that are made of 100% cotton. And I grit my teeth and pay the shipping costs. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/4 "2011-01-10T04:01:05Z")
As always with polls, one needs to qualify poll questions in ways one can never think of till after you start seeing answers. **feppytweed** your last line prompts me to say this: the answer I’m looking for is one that takes the realities of your life into account ie you say “if I have the time and I know the product I want is in the store” you prefer to shop in store. Do you generally have the time and do you generally know the product is in store? The answer for me would tend to be “no” in both cases, which is part of why I would answer my own poll “on line”. It would be great if people could answer accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/5 "2011-01-10T04:04:12Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > …then I want that book to be IN STOCK that minute… > > If it’s clothing, I want to be able to feel the fabric and see how it looks on me… > > …and pay the shipping costs. Hence the specific assumptions in my OP. What I am looking for is your vote assuming these are not factors in the particular case. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/6 "2011-01-10T04:05:27Z")
Prefer online - basically the convenience. I prefer not being tied down to some shop’s schedule, wasting my time after work looking for thing X, not even being sure if they have it (yes I can call ahead… that takes more time, assuming I find someone on the phone who has any idea what they’re talking about). Plus, living in the city without a car, anything remotely bulky or non-portable is way better shipped. For example, I buy flats of cat food from Amazon. I could buy them at a pet store, for a similar price, but I’m not carrying 72 cans of catfood 10 blocks my ownself. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/7 "2011-01-10T04:28:52Z")
If I want a very specific thing, I’ll go with online. If I want to be able to compare things or consider multiple options, I definitely prefer going to a store in person. When it comes to buying clothing for myself or gifts for people, I always go to a store. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/8 "2011-01-10T04:48:32Z")
I would love to do all my shopping online. I hope for the day I can just click through some online advert like Kroger has, select what I want and have it delivered. They don’t deliver but they have the ads and you can get samples or online coupons loaded onto your Kroger card. I hate shopping. I’m not lazy (okay I’m lazy but not that lazy) I just hate dealing with the hassle of getting it all without blowing too much on impulse shopping, and lately we’re getting homeless people come right up to us as we’re walking down an aisle and start telling us they just need 2 dollars more to get some item for their kid’s birthday, or some fix-a-flat or whatever. I’d love to avoid this sort of confrontation. It may seem petty to some but I’m just being honest. If I can get it online for around the same price (including shipping) I buy it online. Usually I find it cheaper online anyway. Most of my Christmas gifts I ordered on Amazon or Walmart so I didn’t have to get out in the holiday rush. It just seems to make more sense all around. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/9 "2011-01-10T04:49:41Z")
I have and do shop online, but I prefer shopping in person. Mostly I like to get out of the house and see all kinds of neat things and get some exercise. Plus, like **feppy** says, I get to buy it and take it home right away. Shopping online is cool because things magically show up at my house, but I still prefer buying them with my own two hands. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/10 "2011-01-10T05:00:33Z")
For most things, I would buy them on line if I could. Because, no people to put up with! I don’t like fooling with people, or the whole rigamarole of driving-parking-looking-waiting at the counter-finding my car-leaving. There are some items which require a more careful selection. Those I’m usually happier with if I can look at/feel them in the store. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/11 "2011-01-10T09:51:44Z")
There are items I like to buy in person because the browsing ability is greater, but if I don’t need/want to browse (for example if I’m looking for a specific, already-identified book or game), I prefer online. If the item is available, it is. No need to chase someone and ask whether they have it, whether they will have it… And seriously, if I tell you that I’m looking for a book by Enrique Jardiel Poncela and you’ve never heard the name before, ask me “how do you spell that?” - do not type Garden in the computer. There ain’t ever been, to the best of my knowledge, an absurdist writer called Enrique Garden Ponceda; there has definitely been an Enrique Jardiel Poncela. Trying to buy books which are not on any bestsellers list in the immense majority of Spanish bookstores makes me feel old ☹ I swear to God, Valle-Inclán did write more than one single book. So did G.B. Shaw. Seriously. Music: online, I can buy one song. Also, I generally loathe shopping. “I’m just browsing, thanks”. Five minutes later: “I’m fine, thanks”. Later on, “just looking, thanks.” Do I take my mother or not? If I take her, there will be in every single store the same scene where she offers something absolutely frumpy, I reject it and she declaims that I’ve known my mind about clothes since I was little; if I do not take her, she will always refer to whatever item I have bought as if I’d reclaimed it from a dumspter. Last week I managed to combine in one day: Mom there, me in the mood to buy, the need for several new blouses/shirts/tops and I actually found things I liked… so I’m pretty much done clothes-shopping for the whole year. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/12 "2011-01-10T10:13:49Z")
There are a very few items I prefer to buy online - large whitegoods for instance, where I’ve generally researched it online or in Choice magazine, and the look and feel of the thing really isn’t important. Sometimes books (if I’m getting something I’ve actually read and just want to own, or if it’s an author I know) For everything else - look and feel is a pretty important aspect of a purchase for me. Also, I like an excuse to get out of the house. ETA: I realise I answered your OP, but not your title. Despite my vote for in-person shopping as being superior, I definitely wouldn’t say _pleasure_. Just “more likely to result in an item I actually like, therefore worth the pain.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/13 "2011-01-10T14:51:12Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Second question, which is open ended so I will just ask for responses in thread, if you do generally prefer to shop on-line, why? I dislike having to wander around a store to find what I want. I dislike having to physically go to various different stores to compare. I dislike the noise of crowds and standing in line at the checkout. I dislike sales staff trying to pressure me into a warranty or convince me that I should by this more expensive model. And I don’t know what they put into the air at large stores and malls but it causes the inside of my nose to burn if I breathe it for more than a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/14 "2011-01-10T15:08:02Z")
Of course, things are rarely equal. It all depends on the product. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/15 "2011-01-10T15:10:44Z")
I buy almost everything online. I hate stores, hate driving there, parking, finding out they don’t have my size, teenagers on their cell phones, I just hate the entire experience. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/16 "2011-01-10T15:17:14Z")
I hate shopping entirely. Going to a store gets me what I want in a couple hours. Ordering online means you wait a long time and it won’t arrive the day you stay home for the delivery. Think how bad it would be for multiple orders out there all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/17 "2011-01-10T15:23:46Z")
I buy almost nothing on-line. I really don’t like shopping either, but if I need something I have no problem going and getting it and would rather touch and feel it before purchasing. ETA: I never “go shopping.” If I need jeans, I go and buy a pair of jeans. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/18 "2011-01-10T15:40:05Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I hate shopping entirely. Going to a store gets me what I want in a couple hours. Ordering online means you wait a long time and it won’t arrive the day you stay home for the delivery. Think how bad it would be for multiple orders out there all the time. I don’t have to stay at home for my packages. USPS packages get dropped at my door inside my apartment building (the postman has a security key to the building), and Fedex/UPS can be left with the Super. That’s probably a huge distinction between people who like to shop online and those who don’t - how hard it is to receive your packages. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/19 "2011-01-10T15:43:03Z")
Depends. I like shopping for clothing at real stores, usually. The exception is if I want a specific item–say a green cashmere sweater–and don’t want to drive all over town looking for it. About once a month I enjoy spending a few hours just roaming around stores (not malls, though; I don’t go to malls) looking at the merchandise. I especially like looking at shoes. If I’m looking for a book or an electronic item, though, I prefer shopping online, reading reviews, comparing prices, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064/20 "2011-01-10T15:53:01Z")
I"m split, but I voted for “In store” for a few key reasons. First off I’m an impatient man. If I want to buy something, and have the money for it, I don’t like to wait regardless if I could or not. Since the pricing is the same, I’d rather just drop by the store check it out in person and make (or not) my purchase. I also like to see what my options are in person and examine most products before I buy them. Our budget is very tight so mistakes must simply be lived with. Generally, checking things out in person helps with that. I also prefer to spend my money locally and avoid big box store wherever possible or prudent to do so. On the other hand, online stores generally have a large, in stock, selection of goods and are excellent for shopping for items that are not common in your area. For specialty purchases, geeky stuff, hard to find art supplies, chemicals, tools, and the like they can’t be beat. I can almost always find _exactly_ what I want at a good price. So I also do a lot of online shopping. So generally speaking, I’ll check to see if someone locally carries an item I want. If they don’t, or have to order it in, or it’s more, then I’ll just order it online and skip the hassle and save the cash. If I’m unsure about a purchase, or simply don’t want to wait, then It’s off to a B&M store. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-person-shopping-pleasure-or-chore/567064.md?page=2)