Giving time its proper value

By Pavlina Radia

Reality television is today’s version of Grimm fairy tales in which “reality” is the biggest casualty. I have nothing against fairy tales, but I am resentful of the image of a Prada-clad business vamp wiping out the competition on demand, running after the bigger/better deal in Blahnik stilettos while she moves mountains. Do these fembots ever eat?

My reality show plays like this: I put on whatever is clean, work, and then endure the drive to the grocery store to feed a family who just won’t eat Blahniks.

Gender aside, Stephen Tallevi, general manager of online grocery store Grocery Gateway, knows that “time is a scarce commodity for many professionals.” Grocery Gateway was founded on that premise, and today delivers to busy customers across the GTA and surrounding areas, including Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph. “We are all about convenience and giving back busy families, individuals and businesses some of their time,” says Rose Buick, account executive of Longo’s Catering and Grocery Gateway.

Grocery Gateway’s premise is actually quite Continental: Time is money. According to a 2008 report from market research firm Datamonitor, online grocery shopping is more “developed and diversified in Europe.” Why? Experts have theorized that Europeans give time a greater monetary value than North Americans, who lump grocery shopping into the “leisure activity” category.

But there is nothing leisurely about the following: On a good day, it takes me an hour minimum to find all the items on my list. Then I weather the wait at the cashier, or perhaps retrace an aisle because my favourite energy drink has been re-shelved. Again. Grocery Gateway eliminates the hurdles: “professionals pick, pack, and deliver [the] groceries,” says Buick.

This is one of those weeks when grocery shopping is not on my radar. With a click of the mouse, I can keep an eye on incoming work emails while filling out my online order to be delivered to my home or office. I’m prompted to replicate or edit last week’s grocery list. Click. I have just reduced my shopping marathon to several minutes. Supplied by Longo’s and shopped directly from Longo’s stores, my groceries arrive fresh. A simple mouse-click and I find the real value of time: I can spend it with family. A fairy tale? More like my new reality.

Pavlina Radia, Ph.D, is a sessional lecturer in Women’s Studies at the University of Toronto and president of Maven Business Network, leaving her little time for grocery shopping.

For ideas on how to use all your favourite groceries, visit the Recipe of the Week section of Women's Post.

Image courtesy stock.xchng