The following essay was written by Jared Dalka, who was selected as the recipient of the Fall 2016 Tech Mastery Scholarship from Rentec Direct.
I don’t like shopping. I like staying at home in my pajamas and relaxing, at least when I have the extra time to relax. Unfortunately, I need things from time to time, like food and clothes and stuff so this requires putting on respectable clothes and shaving my face, and heading out in public to acquire these necessary things… or does it? One thing that is great about this time in human history is the fact that the way we shop is changing for things that are traditionally sold to us in department stores. Many industry giants such as Macys or Best Buy are being forced to close many of their stores due to declining sales, this is due in part to a massive shift to online shopping. The evolution in technology that we have all grown accustomed to has revolutionized the way we shop due to its increased convenience in acquiring the things we need and greatly expanding the options open to us.
Pajamas are wonderful, so comfy and warm. My wife doesn’t let me walk around in public with them though. Not even in Walmart where it is common place to see people walk around in pajamas. Thankfully I don’t even have to leave the house to buy most of the things I need. I can use my smart phone or tablet or computer to shop for what I want and compare my options. I can google the product and educate myself on which model is best for me and my personal situation. I can compare reviews and firsthand accounts of people who have already used versions of the product I am shopping for. Then after I have made my selection this can be sent right to my front door usually with free shipping. Everything accomplished through online sites using mobile technology, while sipping my coffee and enjoying relaxing in my fuzzy warm pajamas.
But even if I am forced to leave my cave (aka my apartment) and venture into the harsh sunlight to hunt for provisions in the outside world (aka shop for stuff in a store), how can I know if what I am getting are truly a good deal like the corrupt corporate store advertising systems claim they are? Well let’s say I need a mop to clean my floors with. I go to the mop section and see all the mops hanging there. The tags all say they are amazing at cleaning floors. The prices go from cheap to: “they want to charge how much for a mop?” How do I know that the mops presented are as amazing as the tag says they are? Some of these companies would have you believe that NASA has forgone the space program to focus their energy and engineering skills on designing this state of the art pole with a rag on the end so you can clean the living daylights out of your floor like never before seen in the history of this planet. Well the truth is but a thumbs click away. I pull out my smart phone and I google it and see what the reviews are, I see how other products compare, and I see if other people have cheaper prices, even online companies, which means I could have stayed at home in my pajamas and possibly ordered it with free shipping… but I digress. IF I find that the space mop 5000 is overpriced, or not up to the hype, I can simply walk away from the mop aisle and find my cleaning supplies elsewhere. This is now possible due to the evolution in technology.
In times past we didn’t have the options we do now when we went shopping. We had to go to the stores available around us and hope we were getting as good of a deal as they claimed we were. Now things have changed and continue to evolve in the direction of online retail. We can price compare almost anything from almost anywhere. We can see many more options that exist, and compare their results against one another. We don’t even need to leave the house to get the things we need if we don’t want to. The evolution in technology that we have all grown accustomed to has revolutionized the way we shop due to its increased convenience in acquiring the things we need and greatly expanding the options open to us. It is a very exciting time to be alive. I think I shall go shopping online right now, it’s getting colder lately and I could use some new warm fuzzy pajamas…
About the Author:
Jared is a freshman at Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT. Jared studying Information Technology with an emphasis in Information Security and hopes to be work in Cyber Security for law enforcement or the government one day.
