The Bright Side of High Gas

Over the Holiday, I was at my parent's house in Branchville, debating whether to buy fertilizer at double price from a local Dollar General, or drive 20 miles to Orangeburg and get it cheaper. Kind of a no brainer, huh? But its very hard to get over the mindset that its cheaper to drive to Wal-Mart and find bargains galore, when what we need may be in our own neighborhood. More expensive, true, but with gas prices the way they are it all evens out, right?

When I was living downtown Charleston on Vanderhorst Street, I frequented that little Eckards on Calhoun, which I dubbed my "little Wal-Mart". They usually had everything I wanted from coffee to DVD players, and pretty reasonable if I caught them on sale. Plus it was only 2-3 blocks away! How's that for sticking it to OPEC!

So I conclude that buying local not only saves gas, but also helps the small business man. Hard to make many friends in a superstore like Wal-Mart, where often the "greeters" aren't all that friendly. But the "little guy" surely appreciates you and more often than not has a smile waiting for you, and what you were looking for.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the bargains at Wal-Mart, but I'm trying to do better when supporting the locals, and cutting back on fuel consumption..