... and a car to haul all that stuff, and time to drive to the nearest Costco.

It really is a luxury that a ton of people can't afford.

pluralmonad 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Time to go and acquire necessary food stuff is not a luxury in any reasonable framing. What is the alternative, eating drive-thru every day or having Instacart deliver overpriced groceries?

	▲	adrianN 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I believe eating food from street vendors was the usual way for paupers until quite recently. Recall that it was common to rent a bed for a few hours and share it with someone who worked different shifts.

▲

geodel a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Indeed. And I say this as Costco member. There are lot of factors that make Costco memberships work. And a lot of people won't be able to make much benefit out of Costco membership.

	▲	andrew_lettuce a day ago \| parent [-]
		I say this as someone who admires their business model and how they treat customers & employees: your typical Costco experience is drive to the suburbs, spend $500 and load up your car with nice to have food products and discretionary purchases. Poorer people cannot do any of these things.

▲

cyberax a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Why is car a luxury? A clunker car worth $2000 will still work fine for years with minor maintenance that can be done by yourself.

Oh, yeah. Cities. Cars are expensive when you live in a 100 sq. ft. box.

Perhaps that's what is causing problems?

▲

doublepg23 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The $2000 daily driver died with covid.

▲

JambalayaJimbo a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The cost of the car itself is minimal compared to insurance, gas and storage costs.

▲

cyberax 21 hours ago | parent [-]

What "storage"? You put it on your driveway. The minimum liability insurance around here is about $50 a month.

	▲	energy123 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Some people do not own a driveway or a car space. There is an active rental market just for that.

▲

Waterluvian a day ago | parent | prev [-]

A competently planned city makes car ownership unnecessary.

▲

tlb 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There's no way to plan a city so most people can walk to a Costco. Warehouse stores are an inherently car-based phenomenon.

	▲	Dylan16807 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		They don't require everyone to own a car. At the very least, they can run an efficient delivery service. And there's got to be a way to make a 3 hour rental or single taxi drive once a month much cheaper than owning a car.

▲

energy123 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sprawl comes from urban planning. I think you mean to say a certain approach to planning makes it unnecessary.

▲

cyberax 21 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A competently planned _country_ makes cities that only seem to create generational poverty unnecessary.