#Quarantinecats is the best thing to come out of the quarantine (besides flattening the curve and saving lives, of course)
The local shop has been out of business for a couple months, but you can still order great coffee beans from Southern Season (not a paid link). We’ve also sent two orders to nuts.com for non-perishables (also not a paid link). Are there any non-Amazon mail-order businesses you’d like to give a shout out to? (I suspect Zingerman’s is doing fine, even with all the college kids gone from Ann Arbor…)
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
March 21, 2020 at 10:39 am
Thank you, I had kind of forgotten about Postmodern Jukebox, and they are pretty awesome!
March 21, 2020 at 10:42 am
They really are! Even when you like the original song, they do a great job of giving it new meaning.
March 21, 2020 at 12:05 pm
March 21, 2020 at 12:49 pm
I am sharing #quarantinecats with everybody i know!
March 21, 2020 at 1:14 pm
Yay!
March 21, 2020 at 1:26 pm
Shout out to Brookline Booksmith, who is offering free shipping on online orders. Support independent bookstores! Paying a few extra dollars to buy a book at cover price supports vital intellectual and creative communities. (https://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/) Your local bookstore may do the same.
March 21, 2020 at 1:47 pm
https://www.indiebound.org/ has information on local bookstores if your community no longer has one!
Thanks for the recommendation!
March 21, 2020 at 2:04 pm
Excellent suggestion, thanks!
March 21, 2020 at 3:50 pm
March 21, 2020 at 4:47 pm
I’m on the waiting list to buy a care package from The Ripped Bodice (for myself), and I know they are taking regular web orders. Several of my favorite local businesses have free local delivery, too: Harvard Bookstore is closer to me than Brookline so they’re my go-to, I like Pandemonium Games and Gather Here for my other hobby needs. Harvard Bookstore is also offering free (media-mail) shipping to anywhere, it looks like: http://www.harvard.com (they are not affiliated with the university, despite the name!)
I had ordered from Jet.com and Boxed.com about a week before the panic started, so I am trying not to overload the delivery folks again if I can avoid it. Jet = Walmart’s attempt to be Amazon, for the record. Boxed is similar to Costco in that it’s all bulk stuff and the inventory rotates a lot. Plus free samples! I will take a look at nuts.com when I need food again – I just did a rough calculation and I am good for at least two more weeks, though it will get a little boring if I don’t venture out for bread & eggs at some point.
March 21, 2020 at 6:20 pm
Great suggestions!
March 21, 2020 at 5:41 pm
That professor spoof, . . . that’s me. “Computer, show me my students.” I wish it could! The two trial runs I’ve had, either my computer or the students’s computer totally froze up. I’m not optimistic about classes “starting up” on line soon. Meanwhile, I’m going to get a good sock and go eat cars. Thanks for the links!
March 21, 2020 at 6:21 pm
My trial runs were fine until the k-12 schools got closed and now my internet is spotty, just like in the summer.
March 21, 2020 at 10:32 pm
I also enjoyed the car-eating shark. And the subway ride simulation at home. Hilarious!
March 21, 2020 at 8:36 pm
Peets.com for coffee whole or ground to various coarse levels. Currently shipping is free.
The nuts mentioned above is quite good. Maisie Jane has other types of nuts as well.
Thank you for writing. Wishing you all well, be careful, very careful.
March 21, 2020 at 10:23 pm
I have an ask-the-Grumpies question.
Why are businesses and government officials doing things that are bad for business in response to coronavirus (when they wouldn’t in response to the climate crisis)? I like it, but I don’t get it. It’s not like they suddenly have morals. I don’t think they were pressured by their customers or citizens. Now that it’s started, there’s plenty of peer pressure. But I don’t see what inspired the first people to start doing the things (like canceling events and closing down bars) that previously would have been considered crazy.
Most unbelievable example: our president wants to send large checks to people, regular non-rich people, without any sort of work requirement or other requirement. That is way more socialistic than anything Bernie Sanders has proposed. I know President Trump has a long history of using other people’s money to make people like him, but nevertheless, this seems out of character.
March 22, 2020 at 9:05 am
I will believe that Trump is going to send large checks to regular non-rich people when I see it. Last I heard that was Romney, not Trump, and Trump was backing huge give-aways to large firms.
March 22, 2020 at 8:09 pm
I remember seeing it coming out of Trump’s mouth and just assumed it was a one-time thing he would insist he never said later, but then it stayed in the news. (Sadly, I assume that any idea he espouses that’s not completely ignorant is not his.) But I still don’t get how this issue has led to action (though not enough) where so many other issues have not.
March 22, 2020 at 8:12 pm
Has it led to action? All I’m seeing is more money to corporations?
March 23, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Not yet that I know of. But events have been canceled. Libraries, gyms, schools, and many other places have been closed. A bunch of people have been switched to working at home. Even in Texas you can only get take-out from restaurants now. In some cases, the organizations themselves have taken the initiative, in some cases, city and state governments have (even my state!?!). I don’t really get why. What talked them into doing this? And can we use that information to get them to do easier things that also solve important problems (social justice, climate change).
March 23, 2020 at 7:47 pm
That part I can actually answer (and can make an ask the grumpies some time). It’s the “why is trump giving money to regular people” part I can’t because I don’t think that’s his plan.
March 23, 2020 at 8:55 pm
Cool. Looking forward to it. Thanks!
March 22, 2020 at 12:11 pm
March 23, 2020 at 4:14 pm
ImagiKnit info@imagiknit.com Knit and crochet store in San Francisco. It is big. It has quality inventory. They have a newletter and are still shipping mail order requests. IF you do these crafts it is possible online resource. People who work there are wonderful. I have no connection to them other than being occasionally in their store over past 10 years. They are fabulous people and it would be nice if they can stay in business……….