COVID and the housing market | Page 82 | GTAMotorcycle.com

COVID and the housing market

Lightcycle said:
One thing I miss about living in a big city is availability and choice of shopping. ie. In smaller towns, not one grocery store is going to carry all the brands and products you like. We call it the "Supermarket Shuffle": buy most of your groceries at the cheap place, go to another place to pick up the bread you like, go to another place because it's the only place that stocks the spices you need. In Toronto, most of the large grocery stores stock a wide selection of brands and specialty items.

The big box stores (CT, Walmart) in small towns also tend to have empty shelves. Not sure if that's a COVID thing, but people around here tell me that this has always been the case. Got fed up waiting for a 1/2" to 1/4" socket wrench adapter to be restocked at the local CT, and ordered it via Amazon. Months later, they *STILL* don't have that adapter at CT. Common part, no?

Also, on the topic of commerce, stuff takes longer to get shipped out here. Order from Amazon (non-Prime), and it's anywhere from 7-10 business days. By the time stuff shows up in the mailbox or doorstep, I don't even remember ordering it!

On the flipside, the proximity to trails and nature for motorized vehicles and outdoor sports is sublime!
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Funny enough for the first paragraph we still do pretty much that in the city. The supermarket may have most of the "type" of things we want but the specialty shops have way better. Basics at the supermarket only. Of course with COVID we are getting as much as possible in one stop to limit exposure and/or loading up more at the small shops at once instead of once a week.

For trails (non-paved of course), Toronto has lots and very good quality, but for human powered travel only.... (although e-whatevers are breaking that rule).
 
Lightcycle said:
One thing I miss about living in a big city is availability and choice of shopping. ie. In smaller towns, not one grocery store is going to carry all the brands and products you like. We call it the "Supermarket Shuffle": buy most of your groceries at the cheap place, go to another place to pick up the bread you like, go to another place because it's the only place that stocks the spices you need. In Toronto, most of the large grocery stores stock a wide selection of brands and specialty items.

The big box stores (CT, Walmart) in small towns also tend to have empty shelves. Not sure if that's a COVID thing, but people around here tell me that this has always been the case. Got fed up waiting for a 1/2" to 1/4" socket wrench adapter to be restocked at the local CT, and ordered it via Amazon. Months later, they *STILL* don't have that adapter at CT. Common part, no?

Also, on the topic of commerce, stuff takes longer to get shipped out here. Order from Amazon (non-Prime), and it's anywhere from 7-10 business days. By the time stuff shows up in the mailbox or doorstep, I don't even remember ordering it!

On the flipside, the proximity to trails and nature for motorized vehicles and outdoor sports is sublime!
Click to expand...
Slower amazon is an adjustment. Moving from GTA suburb to Barrie turned most prime shipments from next day to at least two days, often a week.

If you are outside of a relatively urban centre, slow internet is a real problem (hopefully SpaceX fixes that). I have friends on unstable 2Mb as that is the best they can get.
 
That two day prime delivery shift has changed my life. We ran out of vaccuum sealer freezer bags , didn't need them at all , but the idea that Amazon would take 2 days to replenish the stock that I did not need was disconcerting .
Life changer.
 
crankcall said:
That two day prime delivery shift has changed my life. We ran out of vaccuum sealer freezer bags , didn't need them at all , but the idea that Amazon would take 2 days to replenish the stock that I did not need was disconcerting .
Life changer.
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Well for some things with same day/next day it was almost faster to order from amazon than to drive to store, buy thing and got home. It definitely took less of my time.
 
GME had some technical merits

Get rich scheme is like dogecoin

Are there any Up north rural places with Asians?
 
george__ said:
GME had some technical merits

Get rich scheme is like dogecoin
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Gme had financial merits around its stable number months ago. Since it blew up, the price is completely unrelated to gme. It could be any random ticker. It is being driven by people attempting to manipulate the market not any financial basis in gme.
 
backmarkerducati said:
Funny enough for the first paragraph we still do pretty much that in the city. The supermarket may have most of the "type" of things we want but the specialty shops have way better. Basics at the supermarket only.
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I dunno, it feels like it's on a different kind of level. We never did the Supermarket Shuffle in Toronto. We're really not that picky about our food, we don't go to specialty stores (like bakeries) all that often. Back in TO, the local Loblaws had everything we needed. Here, it's like everybody acknowledges the bread at the local RCSS is sh1t, so they go to Save-On, but the Save-On doesn't stock the PC drinks or even close to equivalent, etc.
 
ChrisCBR said:
Precisely. Its simply not suitable for the vast majority of people from a job perspective, hence the low prices and then throw in the lack of things to do vs city life and the abysmal weather...
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There are lots of things to do, they are just different that what you have here. I was surprised at the number of restaurants, sport/rec complexes. You don't have the same entertainment as a world class city, but neither does any city outside Toronto. As for weather, Ottawa is probably worse, as is anything between Timmins and the BC border.

If you like the outdoors, it's as good as it gets. No hassles on ATVs, sleds and dirtbikes - the powersport opportunity goes days in any direction and starts at most people's driveway.
 
crankcall said:
That two day prime delivery shift has changed my life. We ran out of vaccuum sealer freezer bags , didn't need them at all , but the idea that Amazon would take 2 days to replenish the stock that I did not need was disconcerting .
Life changer.
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I'm just not F-n baller enough to subscribe to Prime.

Looking back at all the Amazon purchases over the last 12-18 months, I think I would have benefitted. I just think that when you subscribe to Prime, you're almost obligated to buy *everything* from Amazon just to squeeze worth out of that monthly subscription. Don't like that.
 
Lightcycle said:
I'm just not F-n baller enough to subscribe to Prime.

Looking back at all the Amazon purchases over the last 12-18 months, I think I would have benefitted. I just think that when you subscribe to Prime, you're almost obligated to buy *everything* from Amazon just to squeeze worth out of that monthly subscription. Don't like that.
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If you're not in a rush, I used to do the $25 minimum order, one week free shipping deal. I have very rarely explicitly paid for shipping with Amazon. I started prime when I started a company as it is easy to get staples or paperclips or binding supplies tomorrow so you don't need to keep so much crap in stock. Prime video and amazon music are nice freebies but I don't think I'd pay for either one if they were separate line items.
 
Lightcycle said:
It's $35 now. So most things are strategically priced around $32, so you have to throw in an order of USB cables or something you didn't really need to qualify for free shipping.

Bastards.
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I would just throw stuff in the cart and press order once I past the threshold. Often that meant the first thing in the cart would be more than a month from the door.
 
Lightcycle said:
I'm just not F-n baller enough to subscribe to Prime.

Looking back at all the Amazon purchases over the last 12-18 months, I think I would have benefitted. I just think that when you subscribe to Prime, you're almost obligated to buy *everything* from Amazon just to squeeze worth out of that monthly subscription. Don't like that.
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There’s more benefit then the shipping, I binge watch their catalog sometimes.
 
Mad Mike said:
There are lots of things to do, they are just different that what you have here. I was surprised at the number of restaurants, sport/rec complexes. You don't have the same entertainment as a world class city, but neither does any city outside Toronto.
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It's not binary though. It's not as if there's only Toronto and the next step down is Timmins.

Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary all offer close-to-Toronto cosmopolitanism. Even second-tier towns on the spectrum, like Victoria, Edmonton, Halifax, etc also offer a lot more than rural northern Ontario.
 
Does Timmins still bus in weekly *ahem* entertainment? Last time I was in Dryden, I think they were down to once a month on Tuesday or something. You do get an interesting cultural experience eating at the local restaurant/dive bar/adult entertainment venue. Toronto won't have all of those in one spot.
 
Lightcycle said:
It's not binary though. It's not as if there's only Toronto and the next step down is Timmins.

Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary all offer close-to-Toronto cosmopolitanism. Even second-tier towns on the spectrum, like Victoria, Edmonton, Halifax, etc also offer a lot more than rural northern Ontario.
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Calgary?
Who paid you to say that ?
 
Lightcycle said:
It's not binary though. It's not as if there's only Toronto and the next step down is Timmins.

Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary all offer close-to-Toronto cosmopolitanism. Even second-tier towns on the spectrum, like Victoria, Edmonton, Halifax, etc also offer a lot more than rural northern Ontario.
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It pretty hard to put Calgary and cosmopolitan in the same sentence.

You are right that the urban stuff is deeper and more available in the big cities. About a third of the country lives outside a CMA (metropolitan area), and less than a third of Canadians live in a cosmopolitan metro area.
 
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