Customer repulsed by overlooked scene on store shelves: 'I have learned to just stay out of them'

When a lone, dissenting voice cries out from within the cacophony of consumerism, it's heartening to see the supporting voices that follow. 

"It's so great to hear this, it gives me a little hope for the world," was one reply among many to a Reddit post. 

The original poster, posting in the r/Anticonsumption subreddit, was, in their words, "repulsed" at seeing some store shelves stocked top to bottom with lotions, soaps, body sprays, and every other bottle imaginable. 

Consumerism can be said to be the host (the mindset of people who indulge in mass production and abundance — "I am what I own"). In contrast, capital consumerism is the parasite, bloated and gluttonous, feeding on the masses. 

In the meantime, how many of these products end up in a landfill, fueling an epidemic of plastic waste in America? These bottles are loaded with surfactants, emollients, fragrances, preservatives, ultraviolet filters, and antibacterials, which are all potentially harmful to the environment, animals, and people.

Some people are on the right track, making the most out of far less: "I buy pretty soap dispensers like that and then just refill them. They last years." Nevertheless, 85% of U.S. plastic waste (40 million tons) ended up in landfills in 2021.

That's one of the kinder statistics. If you work in retail, you're probably well-versed in the amount of product that rotates in and out on a monthly basis. According to Ernie Herman, CEO of TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods), "1,300 buyers sourced products from 21,000 vendors in 2023."

Per Retail Brew, Herman also added: "TJX's business model allows it to shift our buying, distribution, and store mix to quickly react to the hottest trends in the marketplace and changing consumer preferences." 

In other words, a lot of products are rotating on and off the shelves in a hurry. If it's not selling, it hits the clearance rack. If it doesn't sell, it goes to the TJ Maxxes of the world — consumerism and capital consumerism, the former feeding the latter. 

As the headline of the Reddit post indicates, there is hope. The slew of comments was encouraging. "Reading threads like this makes me so happy. Let's all free ourselves from this plastic garbage," read one reply.

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Others resist the allure of consumerism, choosing to stay away: "These stores are/were my kryptonite for buying stuff I did not need. I have learned to just stay out of them."

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