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so, how do you think they do it?

You're going to have to actually ask me a question if you want me to answer it.

no i mean — you know how you brought up [] before right, and they have that thing where if you shill out an extra five bucks a months they make it so that you can pay them even more and get whatever package you want brought to in a day?

mmhm

like the whole thing seems pretty crazy when you think about it, because it's not like they got one big place where they make or get delivered or just get all the stuff because they sell everything. you've got all these little factories and sweatshops and whatever halfway across the planet but also in Brazil and stuff and they advertise that they can get the delivery done to anywhere in a day.

so first i was thinking, 'oh, they've gotta have like a bunch of planes which just fly to whatever airport's nearest and they just go from there' but then you look at the pricing and it doesn't add up. on average you're going to pay like an extra twelve bucks for this, maybe less if you buy more than one thing in a month but if they've got all these dinky little planes running there's no way twelve bucks a buy is going to cover the fuel cost. and then you've gotta offload the stuff to trucks but you can't just drive a lorry into a suburb and i know for a fact that they move the stuff again to vans before dropping off the package. and they have to do all this in what, twenty hours or less or else people are gonna get pissed.

what do you think?

I don't really know why you're asking me this.

well like, you know your dad...

He worked with maritime shipping which is the one thing which doesn't fit into the whole process you're telling me about. I can ask but I don't think he'll know.

aw, that sucks. i can go look it up later. you know if they're able to do this while staying profitable you'd think how they do it would be a company secret or something but at the same time, who else is gonna have enough planes and warehouses and other stuff to pull it off even if they know how to?

China? Because all the factories are already there like you said; they already have some pretty big companies and the shipping could just be local. Maybe Russia too, going out to all its satellites, though I'm not sure how many communists want gift cards or phone accessories.

i was asking rhetorically but you make a good point.

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I'm going to pick some stuff up at Yahui's after this so if you want anything,

right, was gonna ask. do you know if they got those, uh, what do you call them? the chocolate pies, do you know if those are restocked?

I think I saw some last time I was around. The boxes are all different colors though.

oh you always get yellow. the ones in the yellow boxes are the only ones that actually taste like chocolate. it's weird because there's the banana ones too and those come in white boxes. who even buys those?

Anyone's guess really, there's things like banana bread and banana ice cream too so there probably exists some foodie community out there which likes banana enough to justify the flavoring for all these other foods. There's a lot of weirder flavors for snacks though, like some of the chocolate bars in Japan.

yeah but i feel like then you're just getting appeal out of the novelty of it. like someone's gonna buy a beef or corn flavored donut because they wanna know what it'll taste like or just to tell everyone that they've had one, but banana? it's weird but it's not that weird, it's only weird to be having on the regular. it's in that nasty "slush range" of weirdness where it's not unusual enough for it to be a good one-time joke kind of thing but at the same time it's far enough from core flavors like chocolate or strawberry or hell, even almond that you're going to get some judgemental looks if people see you having it in public.

I personally don't think your typical passerby is as passionate about the dynamics of unusual snack flavors as you are.

Also, you consider almond a "core" flavor? For ice cream or other snacks here? Sorry I sort of lost track.

nah it's fine. i was just thinking because they have those chocolate pies in almond and they're alright, like I can see why people could like them.

anyway, you should get some for yourself. almond or otherwise

Oh, no thanks. I'm watching my weight.

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Mie,

Ah, mister Deng.

Place seems pretty empty today.

Most people get their shopping done over the weekend. Occasionally someone pops-in to grab one thing or another so it's still fair business through the work week, mostly college students though this time of year.

Say, anything new with Ai?

Said she wanted to stay in Stanley for a while longer. I wouldn't blame her, I think she wants to take Summer classes every year after this one; she'll have plenty of time with family then.

Well, can't be more than a week before she's back. If you see her, tell her 'hi' and that the books she ordered have been in for about a month now.

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Anything else I could help you with?

Oh, right. Those chocolate pies are still on the

Second aisle.

Thank you!

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(i'll continue this later)