Shopping made easy 24/7
I love going shopping in the 21st century. Yes, shopping has become so easy and fun.
I however remember a time when large shopping was a nightmare because one had to carry wads of cash when buying presents for loved ones, particularly during the festive season.
In my mind I can visualise this very tired mum, who though a seasoned shopper who loves dashing from one shop to another buying this and that, loathes the cash transaction drill—every now and then reaching into her handbag for cash, counting it carefully, note by note, and then handing it to the cashier. She hates even more the instances when the teller punches the cash register and the tally on the screen shows she has spent more than the cash she carried to shopping. On other days, it is receiving the change that irritates her, specifically when it comes in small notes and coins that fill and wear out her purse.
My mind wanders off to this mum’s dreamland. Fatigued, her evening beckons early and she gets into a fitful night’s sleep, punctuated by dreams of the next eposide of festive shopping—and cash handling ordeals…
Then the thought strikes her sleepy self; a most brilliant light bulb shines in her mind. ‘What if,’ she speaks in her sleep, ’shopping could be made easier? Wouldn’t that be great for women? What if one could have a card, which acts as a visa to the land of shopping? And all you would have to do is pick everything you needed! Then you cart the load off to the till, swipe the card and off you go! Wouldn’t that be pleasantly practical? Take the load off the shopping experience?’
Back from my day dreaming, something resonates with this mum’s dream. I remember my Equity Card, without a doubt a brilliant innovation which many women, once accustomed to, would never leave home without.
The swiping experience of this card, which is as easy as a-b-c, has attracted my masculine self to a regular shopping schedule. Yes, I really enjoy swiping for my family! It makes me look forward to shopping during festivities.
In a way, this innovation may achieve an objective far beyond what it was envisioned to do—it can bring the family closer together.
To make shopping too easy may encourage careless expenditure which would then sink one into debt. One guard against this would be the fact that the card only allows me to use only ‘funds available’ in my bank account; there is no debt involved.
Second, I am encouraged to have a budget; to write down exactly what will go into the trolley, knowing well that lack of planning may mean swiping away all my hard-earned currency and ‘cleaning up’ my bank account.
Third, with the card tucked safely in my wallet, unnecessary trips to the ATM or to the banking hall beforehand are eliminated, which avails even more time for me to carefully pick out my wares and gifts.
Now that my shopping is this technology savvy, I have come to understand why some shoppers get impatient when a person ahead on till queue overestimated the cash they had and picked too many items. Now, I am sure you too do not enjoy the part where the teller has to spend what seems to be an eternity, cancelling out what the shopper cannot afford—and in many cases keeping everyone waiting for the supervisor to come unlock the till with some password.
Luckily, armed with my card, I am past that kind of embarrassment and the risk of going home without a number of essentials.
END: BL37/10