Passing the Test

I arrived 10 minutes early at the San Mateo CVS for my appointment. CVS, Walgreens, and Costco were acceptable vendors to screen travelers to Hawaii for the coronavirus.

There was a line of cars building up behind me, so I offered to drive off to the side, swab my nose, and drop the package into the receptacle. The young man behind the drive-through window insisted that I stay so that he could guide me through the process. I’m glad he did, because there were plastic packages and documents to mess around with. Also, sticking the Q-Tip up my nose wasn’t pleasant, and I could see why someone needed to watch patients to make sure they were digging deep, both literally and metaphorically.

The results were sent via email this morning, less than a 24-hour turnaround. The final step was to create an account on the Hawaii Safe Travels website and upload the pdf file (screenshots not acceptable). I will also carry a hard copy with me, as Hawaii requests.

I followed all the instructions, and I am confident that nothing could go wrong.

Sign of the Times

CVS, Foster City

In Foster City the second most common language is Chinese, not Spanish.

"Face mask out of stock" is printed, indicating the shortage is not confined to one store.

Masks are cheap, non-proprietary, and available at CVS competitors.

Expect the shortage to be rectified quickly. Hooray for capitalism.

Shopping Till I'm Dropping

Costco: temptation averted

Buying in bulk to get the lowest price--like finishing everything on the plate--is a compulsive behavior that I'm trying to control.

Needing only six AA batteries, I nevertheless was tempted by the Costco display in Hawaii Kai; the pack of 40 Duracell AA's was on sale for $13.99, 35 cents per unit.

There was no foreseeable requirement for buying extra for my own use in Hawaii; my local relatives are also hoarders prudent shoppers and had plenty of their own, and I wasn't going to carry nearly three dozen batteries onto the plane, possibly slowing the TSA process.

Safeway: nope.

Safeway was selling them at 4 for $7.49, or $1.88 per. I would have to buy eight for $14.98, just to get six. Nope, I would rather buy the Costco 40-pack and leave 34 on the sidewalk for someone else to use.

CVS' promotion had the Duracell AA's on "sale" at 8 for $7.99. $1 per battery was much improved but still wasteful since I'd have two extraneous units.

I finally settled on the CVS store-branded six-pack for $5.49.

Paying 92 cents each was 2.6x the Costco price but was the optimal decision.

After all this running around, there's a philosophical point that I've been pondering for quite a while.

My investment portfolio has reached the point where I can gain or lose thousands of dollars each day.

Is it worth spending an hour agonizing over $14 vs $8 vs $6, especially since the sands of time are running low? We know that we should change our behavior to adapt to changing circumstances, but it's much easier said than done.