Shop local when you can

Not sustainable for me, I price it from time to time and local stores are usually, at best, double what Amazon or even Walmart has it for and that's if the local store even has what I'm looking for to begin with

So my choices are Amazon or Walmart (or similar big name stores) and going to Walmart....yea fuck that it's a last resort for everything but groceries...

There's so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.

I keep seeing this over and over, but I order a lot off Amazon and I've never had a problem with it. Don't know if I'm just incredibly lucky or what, but the only times I get counterfeit / cheap Chinese crap is when I order it on purpose.

Ofc, those things I can just get off AliExpress too and sometimes I do when I don't mind waiting which is the biggest issue with AliExpress, the waiting

I, and probably millions of others, are shopping where the best price/value is and nothing else because we can't afford not to. I wouldn't mind shopping locally owned and paying the premium...if I could afford it. Stop pushing for expensive alternatives people can't afford and push for regulations instead.