2026-10-23 06:20 UTC
...it's true that if I had a leaky faucet or cranky toilet I could go online to find many more options for parts and fittings than might be available in a "brick and mortar" shop. But there's a high cost of access and extreme inequality when it comes to Internet access. And merely having Internet access isn't enough! One must also have a reliable place to get mail. Thanks to decades of disgusting right-wing treachery and hatred of public services, the U.S. Post Office has never been less reliable.
The #conservatives' loathing of the USPS has been a gift to Internet shippers: by starving and corrupting the Post Office, U.S. governments cleared the way for #tech startups to sell themselves as more "efficient" and certainly faster at shipping things.
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Replies (1)
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@mxchara@cyberpunk.lol 2026-10-23 06:29
Anyway, someone with a plumbing problem isn't going to want to wait even a day (much less a week) for parts to arrive through mail order, although of course people with far more money than sense are probably used to the idea that they can at any time pay to have any item delivered that day. The commercial landscape of the United States has been severely warped by this prioritization of Internet shipping over keeping local shops in stock. Stores are that icky evil thing which right-wingers and racist techlords don't like: they're places where anyone can go. Internet shipping means individual service, maybe (if you're lucky) not having to deal with another human being at all. (cont'd)