al_yrpal wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 10:53am
Even with my two 56 litre panniers there is no way I could get a major shop into them, they are just too small. Put in a 2 litre container of milk some cans of dog food, Bananas, a bag of potatoes, some tins of tomatoes and a couple of bottles of wine, the weight of all that would be becoming a problem too. This 78 year old is reasonably fit and well able to cycle a few miles loaded up but I would say that 3/4 of my contemporaries over 60 wouldnt due to lack of puff, various ailments and poor balance etc. Then, there is the question of weather, cold, rain, snow and ice as well as hills of which we have plenty.
And those situations are where e-bikes, trailers and e-cargo bikes help. I literally cannot remember (and this one not due to the medications!) the last time I took a car to the supermarket. A farm box brings the backbone of the seasonal veg, then I buy other things when I'm passing a butchers or a village shop and put them in my saddlebag or basket, I buy stuff (including fresh fish) off the open markets and put them in my panniers, and once every few weeks, I collect a clicked top-up order of heavy/large goods (mostly tins, flour, cartons and bottles) from one of the big box stores 3 miles away using the trailer. It's not fast, but it's not that difficult.
Pre-covid, there was one or two weekly small supermarket shops to load the panniers with the big goods, combined with other trips, but as click-and-collect expanded and people started acting stupid in later lockdowns, it seemed like a good idea to switch. It's probably slightly saved time. I don't think it has saved money.
The rain was testing on three occasions over winter, but honestly not as often a problem as I thought. The trailer collections are worst for that because they are pre-booked and can only be varied within an hour window, whereas other trips can be varied a bit based on short-range forecasts.
I wont be using the bike to shop because its impractical.
I can see how it might be for your situation, but that is because of choices you've made (not to get an e-bike, where you move to) and, as you imply later, choices government has made (to allow huge estates with no services and difficult cycling).
I think one big question is how we offer better choices to people. Do motorised-shoppers have any suggestions what they think would make them stop sucking the exhaust pipes? In some years, "no, never, you'll have to prise my car keys from my cold dead hands" might be an even less realistic attitude to now, as it doesn't look like there's enough resources for a one-to-one electric-for-ICE car replacement.