We Can... Because its New York... Part II

After yesterday's posting, I was reminded of another interesting curiosity of NYC. Why are there price tags on all my stuff?... My curiosity drove me to a Google search... which revealed yet another factor contributing to groceries being obscenely overpriced in New York City. It is burried section 5, article 67 in the summary of the New York City Consumer Protection Law (link is a pdf), I found the following:

"5-67. ITEM PRICING IN FOOD STORES - Stores are required to mark individually the prices of most food items. This applies to stores, or chains, doing at least $2 million of business yearly. Exemptions include frozen foods and sales items that appear in special displays."

So, that means pretty much all food stores are required to put price tags on nearly all merchandise. How much does the union labor for that drive up the cost of food? (5 cents an item perhaps?) Now, I understand that it is nice to have a little paper label on everything that I put in the basket (I haven't seen price tags on merchandise in a grocery store for the better part of twenty years), but is it really necessary?

The reliance of shelf labels and use of scanners has worked pretty well in the rest of the country since the last century, and when faced with penalties for not charging the correct price, retailers elsewhere are pretty good at self regulating. Besides, it cost more to do business when a customer has little or no faith in the scanner system, and it is in a stores best interest to get it right.

And what about the two million a year in sales requirement? That equates to an average of about $5,500 in business a day.... Or, 220 customers spending $25 bucks on groceries.

Given the 99.5% reliability of scanners, I would rather take my chances.

We Can... Because its New York...

My friends apartment where I am staying has a typical New York kitchen for a studio apartment. By local Realtor™ standards, it would be called a "cooks kitchen" (it has a drawer!). This 5 x 5 space would be the laughing stock of the rest of America, but in New York, there are many that would give a testicle or finger, or something else comparable just to have this much space to make coffee.

You see, New Yorkers have small kitchens not because they live in small apartments (which they do), but because nobody cooks here. Why cook, when you have have anything you want delivered within the hour... or walk a few feet from your door and have a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. It also doesn't help that landlords live by the rule that; to spend any money on such items as cabinets or counter tops is an absurd waste of their profits.

Well, as I am at the moment unemployed, and trying to watch my duckets, I decided that I would learn to make do with what I had, and do some grocery shopping to get some basics ( things that don't involve a lot of actual cooking, since my dear host is among those that uses his oven for storage). So, this afternoon, I headed down to the Brooklyn Heights Gristede's to stock up on real groceries that could be used to put together meals and save the need to eat out three times a day.

It was as I pushed my cart down the 36' wide isles, squeezing between people, displays, and support columns for the housing above that I had a complete and total realization of the real reason that people eat out as much as they do. It's Cheaper!!!! (Note to any fellow New Yorkers that may be reading this... do you know how much you are being screwed when you got to the grocery store?)

Now I know that rents are higher for grocery stores too, but that is why NYC grocery stores are tucked into small basements or other crevices, to help make up for the higher rents. And, I expected things to be more costly.... But, as I walked down the isles, everything was 20- 30% more expensive that what I was used to paying in Chicago. And if it was even remotely healthy, that gave them an excuse to increase the price even more. I saw items that I would normally expect to be $3.99 priced at $7.99. WTF??? I then found myself spending the next 45 minutes wandering around the store to see just how expensive everything was going to be. (Example: Kellogg's Crispix Cereal... In Chicago, I would usually pay about $4.19 for a 12oz box, here... $5.29!) After the initial shock wore off, I went through the check out and spent $75.00 on four bags of groceries... I felt worse than I do when I leave Whole Foods spending the same amount on the same quantity... At least Whole Foods gives the illusion that it is money well spent.

So... Lesson learned... New Yorkers eat out all the time not because of their impossibly small kitchens, but because it is simply cheaper and easier.... Not to mention the added benefit of using one's oven for additional storage.

Birthday Revisited...

Last night I celebrated my birthday by going to a going away party for Ken, a friend of a friend. OK, well enough... I had had a nice dinner the night before for my b-day, and being that I am not exactly established yet, I tend to go with whatever comes my way.

So, back to last night and the going away party... After having an average dinner with friends at the venerable Fortune House (not) in Brooklyn Heights where I am staying... I found myself watching gay men line dancing to Country Music on the tiny dance floor at Catty Shack, a lesbian bar in Park Slope. Now, I am not exactly a fan of Country Music, I couldn't tell you who sang what, but I do enjoy watching line dancing, and two stepping. There is something to the rhythm of it that I find quite appealing. Not that you would likely ever find me doing it. In the end, the juxtaposition of it all, made for quite the fun evening, and a memorable way to spend my birthday. I also got to finally meet several people I had heard about over the past few years.

Good Luck in Arizona Ken.

Another Birthday...

Today is another birthday for me. Yes, if you have been paying attention, I have actually revealed that my age is 42. I don't feel 42 in my head, and since most of my friends are younger than I am, I feel that at times, I am at somewhat of a loss for what to talk about when I am with people my own age. Perhaps it because I am not married with children living in the suburbs with a white picket fence and two SUVs in the driveway, listening to 80s music... I'm not sure.... But what I do know is that I have no intention of growing old in a way that will eventually shutter me off into a corner. My worst fear is being stuck in a poorly decorated old folks home with a bunch of boring people my age, still reminiscing about the 1980's. Another words, life is about moving forward, no matter how old you become.
Happy Birthday to me!

Pay Phones Everywhere...

It seems like every corner I turn, there is another pay phone in New York City. I find this quite curious being that it is 2007, and even homeless people have cell phones. After living in Chicago for the past eight years, I have (or thought I had) come to the understanding that pay phones were a relic from the 20th century, and that there were occasionally a few to be seen (such as "L" platforms in Chicago) they were pretty much gone. I cannot think of a single free-standing pay phone in the Chicago Loop (let me know if you know of any). I never see anybody using them, as all the drug dealers have Blackberries, so I ask.... Why are there pay phones everywhere?