By Scott Beveridge
Lately I have been finding all kinds of excuses to avoid shopping in big-box stores.
It's not the stores themselves, or the mostly Chinese products they stock, but it's the rude and inconsiderate shoppers they attract that annoy me the most.
You know who you are; the lazy ones who leave their empty shopping carts in the stall where they parked their SUVs or people who block the isles with their unruly kids and belongings while they gab away or stare too long at the toilet paper selection.
When I am there I catch myself with clenched fists mumbling expletives under my breath until returning to the peace within my Ford sedan.
One of the ways to avoid this frustration, as most shoppers know, is to pay more for your groceries and household supplies at competing stores.
And, then there are such innovative companies as Harry's, which make the online shopping experience fun, affordable and, thankfully, rewarding.
I stumbled on the company selling stylish razors last month while reading the briefs in a GQ magazine.
It credits Harry's products to the same group of friends who gave the world Warby Parker, a company supplying botique eyeglasses at highly competitive prices.
Intrigued by what I had read in the magazine, I went to Harry's website and ordered a shaving kit known as The Truman with a white handle to match my bathroom. For $15, it provides a month's worth of shaves, and arrives in a stylish package delivered free of charge at my local post office. Better yet, you can sign up for automatic delivery of its German-engineered blades, which cost just $1.88 apiece if you buy eight at a time.
Seriously, this is the best razor I have used in my entire shaving life. I mean this razor cuts so close it almost feels as if it might remove a thin layer of skin along with the facial stubble, and it requires a steady hand and concentration. One blade gave me eight clean shaves, and it probably could have delivered more of them by the time I opted to replace the blades.
And then, you get a followup email from a company representative promising to help deliver to you all your shaving needs, an employee who doesn't come off as a robot at a computer and even politely returns your emails.
Best of all, I actually now look forward to shaving and feel better, too, knowing I'm helping to reduce fossile fuel and taking one small step to save the post office.
(Note: This blog does not accept invitations to write about or endorse products. It just occasionally publishes this sort stuff about things worthy of praise, such as Sour Patch Extreme Soft & Chewy Candy.)
