Episode notes
Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (pen name David Wong) for a look at why grocery stores are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Pre-order Jason’s excellent new novel: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250195791
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
LINKS FOR OUR GUEST:
- Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick by David Wong (Jason Pargin)
- pre-order on Amazon
- pre-order on IndieBound
- Jason Pargin on Twitter
RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
RESEARCH SOURCES:
- Number of supermarket stores in the United States from 2011 to 2018, by format (Statista)
- Grocery stores carry 40,000 more items than they did in the 1990s (Marketwatch)
- Grocery Stores: An American Miracle (The Atlantic)
- Millions of Food Desert Dwellers Struggle to Get Fresh Groceries (U.S. News & World Report)
- The Grocery List Sketched by Michelangelo (Atlas Obscura)
- Why Doesn’t France Refrigerate Their Milk? (Frenchly.us)
- This Is the Reason Why Americans Refrigerate Milk and Europeans Don’t (Reader’s Digest)
- Nation of shoplifters: the rise of supermarket self-checkout scams (The Guardian)
- Wouldn’t it be better if self-checkout just died? (Vox)
- Australian woman printed own barcodes in £2,760 self-service Coles supermarket scam (Evening Standard)
- Guy Switches Price Tag On Walmart Plasma TV, Tries To Buy It For $4.88 (Consumerist)
- Self checkout’s ambiguous future (Produce Blue Book)
- The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery (The Atlantic)
- Steve Martin — “You Can Be A Millionaire”
- What grocery shopping looks like in 10 places around the world (Business Insider)
- The Surprising Way a Supermarket Changed the World (TIME)
- The Rise Of The Supermarket (American Heritage)
- Why Self-Checkout Is and Has Always Been the Worst (Gizmodo)
- Reinventing the Shopping Cart (Smithsonian)
- The History of the Bar Code (Smithsonian)
In this episode...
Guests
- Jason Pargin
- David Wong
About the show
A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way!
Get in touch with the show
@sifpod
@sifpod
SIF on Discord!People
How to listen
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