this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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The cheapest way to get groceries in the States has always been do all your grocery shopping in the same store, preferably a discount store like an Aldi, instead of cutting coupons and going to multiple different stores due to the simple fact that the gasoline used for driving around is most likely going to cancel out any saving from shopping around, an unfortunate side effect of America's car centric infrastructure.
You don't really need an AI to make this list, plus, I think there are apps that already trying to do exactly that.
However, getting a computer to draw yourself in ridiculous situations (usually with an equally ridiculous number of fingers) is great entertainment.
This kind of small scale optimization is not really the best use case for AI anyway. Considering the actual cost of running that kind of code at a large scale... I'm not convinced the savings are worth it even setting aside the petrol issue.
AI doesn't need to be in the hands of consumers. It should be a step removed, working behind the scenes to make all those basic foods cheaper before you even go shopping. It should be optimizing supply chains, reducing production costs, and otherwise making us more efficient at a societal level.
Which, well, in some cases it already is. Sadly many companies just use it to optimise their marketing ๐
I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Here in suburbia, there are different stores every couple miles. Figure even a 5-mile detour to go to another store, and that "simple fact" of gasoline used turns out to cost less than a dollar. I save that much on a pair of salad kits by going to one store over another, and it's really more of a one-mile detour anyway. Plus, there are simply things that one store does better than the other and I like to take advantage of that too.
Seriously. Sale items are often several dollars cheaper per item. It is well worth the time and gas driving to several stores unless they are very far apart, then just roll that into another trip. Some big "what could it cost, 10 dollars?" vibes off that comment.
You also need to factor in opportunity cost or concede that your free time doesn't have value.
If you value your free time at the same rate that you work hourly, then suddenly it's very hard to save money by spending more time. If you value free time as overtime equivalent, it gets even worse.
Dude, we all waste more than enough time on any given day that we don't need to worry about the value of losing a half hour to save tens of dollars on our grocery bill. I can't imagine anyone using a site like this one is particularly worried about lost productivity during their free time.
It's not about "lost productivity". It's about what you enjoy doing. If you don't enjoy shopping for food, it's the same as if it were part of your job.
There are only two logical situations:
You dislike shopping - you should go to one store maximum because your time is valuable. Get everything else delivered online. Do something you like in your free time.
You like shopping - you should work for a shopping delivery service in your spare time. You can make hundreds of extra dollars and get your own groceries at the same time
Getting value for time is productivity. Up to you if value is in money or enjoyment. Your "logic" seems extreme. I'd have to have some irrational hatred for shopping before I'd spend even more on groceries to get someone else to do it. Similarly, I'd have to have some pretty strong feelings to love it so much I'd take a minimum wage job to do it in my spare time. I think the average person is going to fall firmly in the "if shopping for an extra 30 minutes saves me 20 dollars, I'm doing it" camp.
30 minutes for 10 hours and all the unnecessary waste of gasoline? Hard, hard pass. In fact, I'd work so that this was punished, what a waste of a limited resource that harms the environment.
Standard IRS reimbursement rate per mile driven is 67ยข per mile this year, which is essentially the per-mile average cost for driving a car. But like, with this sort of thing everyone has their own personal calculus for what they want to optimize for. Do they want to save as much money as possible? Do they want to have fun while shopping? Do they want to shop as quickly as they can? A lot of people will balance these priorities against each other and come up with a solution that isn't optimal in any one specific area.