There's an old maxim in photography that film is cheap. What that means is that getting to the right spot, or waiting for the right moment, or getting the right people together for a photo is the hardest part. It might cost you time or hardship or money, but once you do, the thing that cost the least is the celluloid on which the pic is recorded. It's all about capturing a moment in time. And once the stars align for that moment, snap, snap and snap once more, because you might never get the same chance again.
Still, back when it was a physical thing to snap a shot there was most definitely a cost. The film itself had a price, as did the developing and printing. Unlike today where you can see the results of your efforts immediately, every time you pressed the shutter release you took a certain leap of faith. Did you have the right kind of film? Did you have it framed right? Did you have all the settings correct? Have any of them wrong and your efforts were for naught. And so before you pressed that button, you did your due diligence to make sure you had the best chance of getting the shot.
Fast forward to today, and that equation has been flipped on its head, as the cost of film isn't just cheap, its non-existent. And so we snap pics of anything and everything with no thought or consideration. To be sure there are talented photographers who take time and care to make an image come alive. But the vast majority of us just pull out our phone and snap wherever and whatever we feel like with no thought beforehand. That cute puppy? Snap. That nice sunset? Snap. But also the car in front of me, the doodle on the pavement and the sign outside the bakery? Snap, snap, snap. Shoot first, ask why it needs to be memorialized later.
Shopping seems to have undergone a similar reversal. For years the mantra was try before you buy. We would go to a store, and test out prospective acquisitions. That might mean trying on a pair of shoes, or sitting in a chair, or even unpacking your pocketbook in the store and repacking a new model to see if all of your stuff fit. Only after we had some sense of whether the item in question might measure up to our needs did we head to the register and check out.
No more. Now we buy before we try. With generous return policies and free shipping each way, it's no longer a matter of testing and trying, but of clicking and delivering. There is no research involved, unless you consider research sitting on your couch and scrolling through reviews from people you don't know with views and opinions for which you have no reference.
It goes like this. First, you check the shipping speed: can it be here in 72 hours, hopefully less? Next, is it an item that allows for free returns? With those table stakes in play, you move on to ratings. Like the Olympics, you throw out the high ("The best footrest EVER!") and the low ("The adjustment knob broke a week after I got it. Crap."). Then you average the rest, and if the over/under doesn't seem too bad, you click "Add to cart," checkout, and go back to finishing your bag of Doritos. Two days or so later you find a package on your front stoop. If it fits you or the counter or next to the bed as hoped, all good. If not, you go back and click return because "item is defective" or "website description inaccurate" so there's no chance of getting hit with shipping. Then you try again, dropping the item at The Mail Box Store on the way to the supermarket. Rinse. Repeat.
To be sure, it doesn't work for some things: tissues, underwear and food come to mind. But for most stuff, as long as UPS is in business, it will be hard to put the genie back in the bottle. Save your wedding, never again do you need to go the store to try on an outfit. And even then? Turns out there is a DavidsBridal.com. Now if you could only do the same with your spouse, returns included.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford orders entirely too much online. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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