The ethics of unnecessary deliveries

[nomdefuckit]

AIBU to wonder about this?

We're doing a 12 week lock down as DH in the shielding group. Nobody gets in or out, including toddler

I would love to order more stuff to keep him entertained, garden stuff, DIY stuff etc

I haven't because I thought it was wrong for a number of reasons

1: infection risk - every delivery has that potential
2: employees of delivery companies should not be pressured to work more than necessary for their own health
3: more drivers going out and about is more opportunities for the virus to spread
4: there is limited capacity in the system for deliveries. It should be left for essentials

Yet I have seen on here and elsewhere (fb mainly) people talking openly about the nice candles, home furnishings, make up etc that they have ordered

Anybody else a bit shocked by this?

It’s no different to getting food delivery, in fact you are more likely to get it from a food delivery than a package as you can just unpack a package and put it in the recycling then wash your hands whereas grocery is more likely to have been touched by more people whether bought in a shop or online

Just yes that chimes with what other postal workers are saying pleas to limit non essential deliveries

I am 9 months pregnant and have recently moved house. There has been many items that I've had no option but to order and get delivered recently. I remove all packaging with rubber gloves and dispose of immediately I also spray the items with antibacterial spray. I do worry that the drivers may think I'm purchasing unnecessarily at this time but I have had no option as I'm preparing for a baby to arrive any day and hadn't planned for the closure of all shops and lockdown.

I have accepted that there will be deaths and that is inevitable. Those deaths might be directly as a result of CV. Those deaths might by suicide as secondary result of the pressures of CV - job loss, financial worries, grief, MH when services were already dire and now being diverted. Those might be people with long term illnesses that weren’t treated accordingly because their routine medical appointments were cancelled. Those deaths might be as a result of abuse victims stuck at home with no escape for their abuser. There will be many deaths related to Covid-19, it’s just not all of them will have Covid-19 as the cause of death. It’s not a case of reducing primary deaths by Covid-19 through closing all shops, stopping all deliveries and cancelling all routine appointments. It’s a radar chart, by pushing one element to zero, you push all the others to 10. If you keep the economy afloat, the number of primary covid-19 deaths would be astronomical. However, likewise if you kill the economy to reduce to primary covid-19 deaths, then deaths by the secondary causes will sky rocket.

It sucks and it sounds heartless but we have to accept there will be deaths as a result of this pandemic, they will be labelled many different things but there will be deaths. It’s not as simple as keeping the death toll down because this thing is so far-reaching, it has disrupted so much of the way we live, it’s just not possible to not have those secondary covid-19 deaths. You have someone who is in the risk category for Covid-19 and rightly you don’t want them to die. There will be people who have delivery drivers in their family who aren’t going to get any financial assistance for this and they rightly don’t want them to commit suicide due to monetary issues.

@JustStayAtHome

Before patronising others, try to ensure that your post actually makes sense. You mentioned a “two man lift” which wasn’t clear. Obviously I know that more than one person would have been involved in packing it, delivering it etc. However, as I said ordering things is helping to keep the economy afloat and my “non essential tat” as you soon charmingly put it is helping me navigate the challenges of being trapped at home with an emotionally abusive husband and little girl with SEN as best as I can during this time.

lol i think '2 man lift' is clear enough for most people....not sure how you are struggling to understand that?

its not keeping the economy afloat either, what a stupid attempt at justifying your greed

Why don’t you crawl back under your rock? Honestly, I despair when I see nasty people like you commenting on threads like these, whatever happened to being kind and trying to see someone else’s point of view? Does it give you some sort of thrill to put down and insult others?

And I hardly think buying a slide for my daughter is ‘greedy’ - you really are laughable. Plus, yes, buying things does help to keep the economy afloat whether you agree with it or not. If everyone thought like you millions of businesses would go under and retail workers/delivery drivers lose their jobs.

I’m not buying anything except necessities but I don’t understand why you are judging others. Now you’ve made me want to buy candles online and fill up my suitcase with unnecessary plastic items.

If you take care of your own family and do what you think is right, you’ll be fine. Why is what others are doing your problem?

@Hopefulmama34 don't take the comments to heart/personally even if they are quite mean.

In all fairness Just is one of these people working to get the deliveries sorted and she is scared ,overworked,understaffed and working in what she feels are unsafe conditions. She'd probably love to be at home,much safer and on 80% pay like her other coworkers.

now it's competitive quarantining
This made me

It’s competitive bloody everything on MN these days!

@PrincessConsueIaBananaHammock

I didn’t know that, it must be very difficult but there is still no excuse to post rude/abusive comments. I do think some posters get a buzz out of belittling others :(

I know . I just think that it's possible that this tread,you,other posters are an outlet for her frustration and worry . It's not an excuse but something to consider.

competitive quarantining

😂😂😂😂😂😂

For those who feel they have to order online but would like to be as ethical as possible:

www.lewiscotter.com/brands?fbclid=IwAR0bmu1gvcETgOkC2G_o3-a8f7U8jiCVBH3GaNORYcUL69uDL7x0cRSQevc

So far this last week I have bought:-
Candles X 3
Books X 4
Accessories for the bathroom
Flowers
1 x food delivery and one due Sunday
Music book for ds
Easter eggs
Toilet rolls
4 dresses
3 tops
Pair of jeans
3 t-shirts for ds
Hoodie for ds
A few takeaways

Has the law changed on deliveries? That would be a no, only physically going shopping has changed. So what I do, has zero irrelevance to you.

I'm all right jack, ay?

My yodel man says he doesn’t mind and he’s made more money the last week than ever before.
You have no idea what your neighbours ‘needs’ are and it’s foolish to project.
Just because we are indoors doesn’t mean we have to self flagellate too.

*Candles are genuinely bad for your lungs.

It's not dissimilar to passive smoking*

What bollocks.

No I can’t order anything for the same reasons as you OP. I am very fortunate in having a huge amount of books and toys at home for the children and a lot of things not even opened from Christmas. I’m a real shopping fanatic but now I’m only ordering very basic food and cleaning products and pet supplies. I wish everyone well. I am having a very difficult time. I know we all are.

So what I do, has zero irrelevance to you.

I do appreciate a nice double negative.:)

Demel haha

^*
I'm hoping we will. I have never been so scared in my life and blasé way that people are treating it all is incredible.*^

You may well fine that if we do you'd no longer have been hoping for it.

Knowing someone who has been in real lockdown in China until yesterday you'll find that, even for someone who has good mental health and a healthy family around her, the reality of a camera controlled government imposed lockdown is quite horrific.

The fear that if she, her husband or her two young children got ill they'd be removed from the apartment and kept entirely separate - even the 4 year old - with no visitors, no FaceTime, nothing. I think you'd realise that a proper lockdown would not help you feel safe in other ways actually. She didn't. She felt terrified throughout the time that one would develop symptoms - they had to report their temperature twice a day to government officials - and be taken away for an unknown time period with no contact.

And despite that she was still allowed state controlled deliveries including some non essential goods. And some people she knew who had their camera controlled isolation stopped before then were still allowed to leave parcels of non essentials at their doorstep and wave to them from the balcony, etc. She had toys for their children deliveries, birthday gifts from friends, gifts of alcohol, birthday cake etc.