Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for September 24, 2015

Next time, give him a detailed list.

Where I live you have two choices: the expensive name-brand that the supermarket chooses to sell, and a house brand which is totally anonymous. What the ultra-selection markets don’t tell you is that under the label, they’re usually all made by the same two or three factories.

I understand Calvin’s dad perfectly well. I have a record of walking out of the grocery without having bought for example yoghurt because I couldn’t cope with the choices. (Obviously, Germany is no difference from the US in this respect.)

A friend of ours moved to Denmark a couple of years ago and says she was relieved. One brand of yoghurt, not that many flavors, so your worst decision was “small package or family size” or “strawberry or raspberry”?

@LeadingEdge Are Italian sausages meatless then?

clean up in isles one three five and six please..STAT..

ailes

aisles

I’ll’s

Here in America, we have two choices: enough to eat, or NOT enough to eat. I’ll take the former, Dopey Dad!.I’m sure the grocery store manager and Calvin’s school principal have had conversations together before, comparing their experiences!

Companies come out with lots of different kinds so as to take up as much shelf space as possible with their products, and crowd out the other ones. In some cases (e.g. toothpaste, I suspect), apparently different varieties may actually differ mainly only in packaging.

Would anyone be interested in buying a used dickshunary?

So much for PBJ’s this week.

I noticed the same overwhelming choices for band-aids yesterday. There were at least 10 different kinds, not counting the type for kids.

Who cares what kind? Just make sure you have plenty of it.

I think we can see where Calvin gets his style.

This time of year it takes longer to let the ink dry.

and it’s only gotten worse since this was drawn

At last, someone who understands my shopping! (I hate peanut butter though.)

Do what I do. Just go to the cheapest brand and decide on consistency there. I always go for the largest size. PB lasts a long time.

Sometimes Calvin & Hobbes can be dated by differences in technology- but these shopping strips show that some things haven’t changed much. Dad would find the same assortment on the shelves today, although perhaps gluten-free wasn’t as much a thing then.

Sometimes Calvin & Hobbes can be dated by differences in technology- but these shopping strips show that some things haven’t changed much. Dad would find the same assortment on the shelves today, although perhaps gluten-free wasn’t as much a thing then.

As a guy who worked in one of those factories (not food) that sold the “same” stuff to different customers, I have to comment. Sometimes the stuff is the same. But sometimes different customers demand different specs. You may have to shut down your line, clean out and isolate equipment. Always takes crafty production planning and sometimes slows you down. May also require different analytical procedures, because you’re dealing with different levels of whatever you’re looking for, all of which often entails extra costs. It’s not always as easy as you make it sound. If our normal specs weren’t good enough for a customer, a special spec request could turn into protracted negotiations on a corporate level.

I don’t like peanut butter anyway.

Like son, like father

Even Super Chunky sometimes isn’t crunchy enough for me. Smooth is too much like peanut BUTTER. Hmm, that’s what they call it, don’t they?

I can see everyone else discreetly heading for the other side of the store.

I find the reverse problem. Consider toothpaste. Our local megamart seems to have tons of shelf space dedicated to toothpaste, so one would think there is a ton of variety; yet it’s mostly 7 different sizes each of 3 main brands, with any niche brand either limited or ignored. When you ask why they stopped carrying a product you particularly liked, they say that it wasn’t selling enough . . . well, yes, if you only have a handful on the shelf and don’t re-stock it as quickly and are out of it half the time, people will buy whatever else is available while they’re standing there in the store, so of course the default crap sells more.

Now I know where Calvin gets it from.

Women’s bras! I walked into Kohl’s the other day. 90,000 sq feet of space, 50,000 of it devoted solely to bras.

Now we know where Calvin gets his sense of the ridiculousness.

Like I said earlier, life was a lot simpler 40-50 years ago, and we got along just fine without so many choices!

When I first started selling Toro lawnmowers in 1962, there were three models; a 19" push, 21" push, and a 21" self-propelled! When I sold that business back in 1991, we had more than 12 different choices; and that was just the walk behind mowers…

Sears makes nothing, but puts their name on things other companies make (Craftsman, Kenmore). I’ve always found that reprehensible.

Who knew Calvin’s dad was Bernie Sanders.

Smooth Peanut Butter for me every time! I’m obviously in the minority though because I think everybody loves the chunky.

xxx

Well, now we see where Calvin gets it from.

In New England (and maybe further out) there was a chain of small stores named “Kennedy’s Butter Store” Among other things, they made their own peanut butter fresh; it needed refrigeration, and they would scoop it out of a large tub and pack it for you into a container. God in Heaven, it was delicious! Very peanuty! The last one I remember was in Beverly Mass, when I was a freshman in college. A long time ago, and long time gone!

Peanut Butter is good for a song. I bet his dad wants to be a singer.

We see what Calvin will be like as an adult. Poor wife.

How old is this comic? Calvin and Hobbes stopped being written in 1995.

I just want the kind that doesn’t separate with 2 inches of oil floating on top — yuck!!

I like plain peanut butter! If I want lumps in my PBJ sandwich, I’ll use strawberry preserves…

hi im new

this amaz

Ok, Gramps. We get it. You don’t like multiple options.

Hmmm… it seems that this isn’t the first time Calvin’s dad has gone through this. Maybe mom should do the shopping.

I guess he is just a Bernie Sanders socialist.

“Eveningwear!”

He should read The Paradox of Choice. Really boring book, but then again his dad seems like a boring person.