I love thrifting. Whether it is in person or online, I used to spend a lot of my time at my local Goodwill and on Depop prior to the pandemic. In fact, I remember the last thing I bought before everything shut down was a long mint green blazer I could wear to work in the springtime weather.

However, as I am searching on Depop, I was wondering how safe is it to online shop or more specifically online thrift shop during these times. As a scientist, I had to research how long the virus can live on surfaces (which was considerably long amount of time for a virus) and looked up various other articles about risk of contamination during shipping.

And according to the CDC, “[T]here is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures.” That is good news for me and online store businesses. However, when buying online I still pondered the thought Is it ethical?

When I buy from Depop for example, I think about the one person I am buying from and that’s it usually. But since the pandemic, I think about every person that has to put themselves at risk to deliver my product to my door and if it is worth it. I think them having jobs during this time is a necessity but besides the fact that there is no where to go, my online shopping urge has abruptly stopped as I am still thinking about these questions. I have still ordered some necessities online but I can’t get myself to shop for other things anymore..

What are your thoughts?