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Comment by _ph_ | Hacker News Reader

That very much depends on what one can consider an essential item. Here in Germany, grocery and drug stores as well as pharmacies are still open. So I can go shopping for the immediate essential items. But all other stores are closed, so online shopping is the only way to these products. That starts with shoes and any kind of clothing. Which is pretty essential in my eyes too.

Also, there are a lot of things which might not be considered "essential" but quite important. Working in home office, I might need cables, a headset, a power supply. Also, if you consider that people are restricted to their homes for weeks to come, even entertainment/toys can quickly be considered essential.

So Amazon probably does its best to use its available resources in storage and delivery, the categorization of items as essential might not be as clear-cut as it might sound.

And of course, toilet paper is out of stock on Amazon as at the local stores :p

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Also, if you consider that people are restricted to their homes for weeks to come, even entertainment/toys can quickly be considered essential.

I don't think you understand what "essential" means. Things to avoid being dead are essential. You can get those things quickly. Things to avoid being bored are not essential. Just be bored until the global pandemic is over.

"Just be bored" doesn't quite cut it. Domestic violence was already a thing before the pandemic. Now imagine being constrained to home with a larger family. And even if it doesn't end up in violence, stress levels are raising largely during confinement. Fortunately I am able to work from home office, but I have to say the psycological effects are quite noticeable. And to fight the pandemic, we do depend on the cooperation and discipline of the population.

I am not saying that Amazon should do things differently, but that things, which on the surface seem to be non-essential can be far more important than it looks.

Essential is defined by what can arguably save lives and not create more load on the health system of the country. For example: Pet food is currently deemed essential because you can't have pets dying on their owners and creating a health hazard. Another example that makes sense: Selling heaters and spare parts. I'm not convinced toys prevent domestic violence. You can always make toys with a bit of imagination though.

idk about the domestic violence angle, but bored people are more likely to go out and expose themselves/others to the virus. seems like anything that keeps people inside voluntarily should have at least a low spot on the priority list.

Shoes and clothes are essential if you happen to need new ones during a prolonged pandemic (eg you find that your toddler has outgrown his existing shoes). When you turn off the shopping spigot long enough, things just crop up that you have never thought to be essential before.

Having to wait 4 weeks for Amazon to send you a pair of shoes would be tremendously inconvenient, but all it requires is some forward thinking. Buy them before the child needs them so they arrive in time. If you can do that it's obvious they're not really an essential that Amazon need to be pausing shipments of bandages and disinfectant for.

Obviously this raises questions about paying for shoes, but that's a social welfare and government support for poor people issue, and discussions of that nature usually don't fair well on HN.

It is really hard to think ahead with a toddler, when are their feet going to grow, when do their shoes become too small. Are we going up one or two sizes?

Anyways, Target and Walmart still being open is a life saver for everything that isn’t food.

Is your toddler going to be seriously sick or hurt for not having shoes? If not then it'd say not as essential as other things.

I don’t think you have a toddler, right? They don’t know it’s the apocalypse.

> hings to avoid being dead are essential.

Things to protect physical and mental health even short of imminent risk of death are essentkial.

> That starts with shoes and any kind of clothing.

Unless you are a designated critical worker who has to go out, you should be staying at home anyway and if you are doing that, why would clothes shopping be essential?

There's a LOT of designated workers who have to go out, though.

>why would clothes shopping be essential?

I'm fairly certain you'll freeze to death without them. Broken & torn clothes are bad at keeping you warm.

We're talking about whether or not Amazon should ship things like clothes on a 2 day or a 4 week schedule during a global pandemic. I think a 4 week schedule is fine because Amazon need to concentrate on shipping essentials, and clothes that people buy from Amazon aren't essentials. If you're suggesting that Amazon should prioritise clothes in case the buyer has literally no other wearable clothes then you're going to need to justify that argument.

Anyone can make spurious points about extremely unlikely edge cases, but suggesting Amazon should plan their logistics around them is not a helpful contribution.

Not everyone can afford multiple sets of clothing for themselves. A lot of people live in poverty, day to day with what they've got. Denying access to all clothing will undoubtedly cause distress

Does Germany not have department stores?

Sure, but all but groceries/drug stores are closed.

Real is the only bigger one I late last week was still able to buy from a decent selection of non-food stuff here in Berlin. Kind of funny, since this particular business model doesn't seem to have run that well in Germany pre-epidemic, with them just recently announcing to close down stores.

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