this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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It's not obtuse regulation, it's explicitly by design. In most places in the US, you cannot operate a business in a residential area that serves the public. Businesses that do not do serve the public (like a tech startup or someone working from home) are fine. Ice cream trucks are also not allowed unless you have a proper business license / permit.
That laws sounds exactly like obtuse regulation to me. Why you cannot have a grocery store in your neighborhood? I really can't think of a good reason. If there is a case for ice cream trucks, proper business license/permit and all that, it makes even less sense for other business types.
C'mon, you really need to commute to the supermarket to buy some bananas? That's nonsense.
As an American that wishes for having stores just that close, the zoning laws are like that for a reason. That reason is to keep people dependent on cars. That is good for the fossil fuel industry.
I know it's nonsense. A fair amount of people know it's nonsense. But also a lot of people don't know, because they can't imagine a life without cars (or a life where you don't need to drive to do every mundane task). They only know no car = no job, food, or socialization and they will fight hard to guard it.
You can zone them there, it more over ends up being that large companies lowered prices to drive out competition, and then raise them back up after. If it cost your 30% more to shop somewhere when you are paycheck to paycheck, eventually the majority of people start going to the price selling at cost for those product and putting promotions on them because they can afford to stay afloat until you go out of business. Then they slowly raise the prices back up and they make their money, maybe a little higher because they don't have competition.
Also: If you order 50 cases of something it costs less as well. Ordering 1 case often makes a vendor not want to ship there as it cost them more time/labor/fuel to make those deliveries. So when a product cost $5 at Walmart vs $5 at your local convenience store, Walmart is making more money off the sale. Making it easier to use lower prices
In the US our culture has mostly adapted the grocery store routine to our car culture. The typical trip to the grocery store involves filling a large shopping cart with all the family’s food for the next week or two. People get in the car and drive a far distance to a big grocery store that sells everything. They buy more than they could ever carry, and they load it all into the car.
Also exacerbating this is how much we love shitty processed food. The big grocery stores have nice produce sections, but 80% of what’s in the store is shelf stable and in a box.