I feel like I understand that it’s a logistical creation. I also get that there were potentially reasons for their existence in the past, but with ostensibly world-wide 2-3 day delivery on anything, how can they exist? I grew up in an island state that didn’t produce anything and yet we received all types of fresh produce and international products, and yet in the middle of first world western countries there is a lack of access to the same things?
In: Economics
It’s not about whether or not stores would be able to supply produce. It’s a matter of whether people want to open a business in a neighborhood with lots of crime where people don’t make much money.
The problem is the concentration of poverty in an area and the feedback loop that creates by causing businesses to flee the area, rather than an inability for the business to exist.
I don’t think it’s necessarily about shipment, it’s also because of supply and demand + the shelf / storage life of fresh produce is not that long. if there’s enough demand the supply will find a way to balance it out.
Depending on which area you used as a reference some food deserts is also caused by people inability to purchase fresh ingredients because they don’t have time to cook / prepare them, in some household families usually opt to deliver or buy ready-made / instant meal so it’s fast and simple to prepare after a long day of work and can be purchased in bulk rather than buying fresh groceries daily
Working under the interpretation that the question is asking how they can exist if it’s possible to just have things delivered:
Depending the severity, there is an access with shipping too.
It cost more to have fresh produce specifically delivered even more so where there is not the economy of scale an island would have shipping fresh food in. Ordering a pallet of bananas and sharing the cost between people is cheaper than specifically ordering one dude to go buy at and deliver it to you.
You know what delivery also cost more of? Money. The exact thing people in most food deserts don’t have a lot of. In most situations if someone has a car with gas money, or reliable public transit, they can just drive to the store regardless of if it’s 1 mile or 15 miles away.
Not everyone has reliable public transit or a car with gas money though. So cheap and close by alternatives like fast food fill in the gap.
The lack of access is more of a relative thing. An entire city isn’t going to be out of fresh food, but if you live in a neighborhood without easy access and don’t have the means to travel somewhere else to get it, then it’s effectively not there.
Food deserts aren’t where stores exist but can’t stock food, it’s where places that sell a reasonable variety of food doesn’t exist within a certain radius. So, no grocery store, no farmers market, no bodega, no Super Target/WalMart, no Costco/Sam’s, no organic co op, etc. These places are usually impoverished and either rural or inner city, and they happen in certain impoverished neighborhoods more than others (by design, but usually not for logistical reasons). Either they don’t think they can justify opening and maintaining the store due to the amount of money they won’t make, or they don’t think the neighborhood fits their image, or whatever.
Certain types of stores will always open in those areas, though. Stores with small footprints, low staff needs, limited stock, and due to the food desert, captive audience. Drugstores, “dollar” stores, gas stations, liquor stores, fast food joints. Those places sell food, but not a great variety (limited space) and not great quality (butcher meat and fresh produce needs refrigeration and human attention, frozen foods need freezer space), just shelf stable stuff that’s mostly junk, maybe some milk and a basket of apples if you’re lucky. It’s also expensive because there’s no Wal Mart or Safeway or Aldi or Whole Foods to compete with. So residents are limited to what the liquor store is selling or have to travel for good food.
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