September 9, 2026 – Americans like stuff. Here in the United States, they crave to see stuff, smell stuff, touch stuff. Mostly, they yearn to order stuff and get it delivered … next day, same day, even yesterday, if possible. Well, not quite yet for the last one, but give artificial intelligence time to read our minds. Just remove the titanium helmet and let Siri do her thing.
These days, thanks to the pandemic, getting stuff is so much easier and gratifying. You can shop from the privacy of your own home, on your smart phone while lounging on the couch munching on snacks and watching television. There’s one more typical place, but let’s move on, shall we? Could it get any more convenient?
These days, daily deliveries to our doorstep come from those blue electric Prime vans, brown UPS vans, white FedEx vans and during the pandemic, the dented gray hatchback driven by a woman clad in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. The last one is true and actually happened.
The bottom line? Wanting stuff is fun. Getting stuff can be costly. Don’t think of this as a condemnation of avarice, envy, greed or gluttony. Think of it as a way to offset and balance out the pleasure of growing or replenishing your personal inventory. There’s little-to-nothing wrong with wanting stuff so long as you recognize and acknowledge the costs to get and have the stuff, not to mention disposing of it when you no longer want it.
Getting stuff requires distribution and logistics; having the stuff requires storage and warehousing. Woven throughout those functions are people and technology to enable either as effectively and efficiently as possible – well, for clinical purposes anyway.