{"id":1319378,"date":"2020-04-09T18:23:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T00:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=995446"},"modified":"2020-04-10T07:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T13:57:51","slug":"one-super-shopper-carbondalian-visits-store-every-day-so-others-can-hopefully-make-fewer-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/one-super-shopper-carbondalian-visits-store-every-day-so-others-can-hopefully-make-fewer-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"One super shopper: Carbondalian visits store every day so others can hopefully make fewer trips"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"719\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-1024x719.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-1024x719.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-768x539.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/citymarket-gpi-041020-2048x1438.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Peter Mertz exits the Carbondale City Market Wednesday morning, April 8, after taking a quick survey of the items in stock at the store.<\/strong><br \/><em>Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As Peter Mertz walks out of the Carbondale City Market, he checks the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSix minutes. I\u2019m lagging,\u201d he mutters.<\/p>\n<p>Just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, Mertz has completed his daily survey of the store, looking at the stock of various items that have been in higher demand than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Thermometers, toilet paper, sanitizing wipes, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol, vinegar, yeast, tofu were all out. There were about 10 bags of rice, same for flour, plenty of produce, eggs, milk and meat.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/pi-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He walks quickly through the store, taking a few quick pictures of certain sections, and types up what\u2019s in stock and what\u2019s low as he walks through the parking lot.<\/p>\n<p>Mertz then posted the results on a Carbondale Facebook group, something he\u2019s done every day since the middle of March.<\/p>\n<p>What kicked it all off was the events of March 15, which Mertz refers to as the Ides of March.<\/p>\n<p>Mertz came into the store after it opened that Sunday morning, and asked employees what had happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe staff was all freaked out, they told me the story,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"He then wrote a feature story, and submitted it to the Xinhua News Agency, China\u2019s state-run press agency. (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2020-03\/16\/c_138883168.htm\" target=\"_blank\">He then wrote a feature story and submitted it to the Xinhua News Agency, China\u2019s state-run press agency.<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody in Carbondale got mad about the story,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n<p>Mertz his story was significantly edited, and defended the facts in the Facebook comments.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Mertz made his first post about the supermarket\u2019s stock levels on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, March 17.&nbsp; That was the day after Gov. Jared Polis ordered all restaurants to close their dining rooms.<\/p>\n<p>After his first post of what the supermarket had, and didn\u2019t have, Mertz said he got a lot of responses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s kind of what inspired me,\u201d Mertz said. One person commented that the updates were a community service, and Mertz hopes the information is helpful.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps an elderly person needs one sort of item, but doesn\u2019t know if it\u2019s on the shelves. Mertz\u2019 post could let them know whether a trip to the supermarket is worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an information service I\u2019m providing that, hopefully, could even save lives,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also picked up items that people need during his morning trips and made deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had hundreds of thank-yous, so it\u2019s kind of rewarding,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n<p>When the store does have precious packs of bathroom tissue or other high-demand items, Mertz frequently reminds people to take only what they need.<\/p>\n<p>Only a few people have criticized his daily posts on Facebook, Mertz said. As long as people find the posts helpful, he said he\u2019ll continue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m totally open to not doing this at all. I\u2019m not here for any reason, I\u2019m just here to help in my own way,\u201d Mertz said.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:tphippen@postindependent.com\">tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/one-super-shopper-carbondalian-visits-store-every-day-so-others-can-hopefully-make-fewer-trips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter Mertz exits the Carbondale City Market Wednesday morning, April 8, after taking a quick survey of the items in stock at the store.Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent As Peter Mertz walks out of the Carbondale City Market, he checks the time. \u201cSix minutes. I\u2019m lagging,\u201d he mutters. Just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, Mertz has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 12:58:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319387,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319378\/revisions\/1319387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}