“What do you mean you don’t have a charging cable?” I stared at the gas station cashier in horror.
Where I’m from every gas station has charging cables available for purchase. I was lost in the southern stretches of New Jersey, surrounded by cows, corn, and Amazon Prime drivers. My mother’s birthday was that night, and I had decided to stop by a bakery to pick her up a cake on my way home from one of my stores (brief side note – in addition to managing my own store, I oversee several others. For lack of a better term, I suppose you could label me as a type of district manager within my company).
Cake freshly acquired, I had secured it into my passenger seat, turned my car on, plugged my phone in – and watched its loading screen flash and turn black. Dread creeped in as I realized I must have been out of battery (I should upgrade my phone, but I’m stubborn), and I spent some time frantically plugging and unplugging it in (as if that would somehow help). I was pretty sure my charging cable was shot – at least, I hoped that was the problem and not an issue with my actual phone.
Resigned, I decided to drive around until I could find a convenience store.
An hour later I realized what a fool I had been. I had passed exactly zero convenience stores, and I am now fairly convinced that the fine folks of southern New Jersey subsist entirely on roadside stand produce, beef, and whatever Amazon Prime has to offer as there really weren’t any grocery stores or other retail outlets that I could find. I made a bit of a game out of counting how many Amazon vans I passed in my travels – I stopped counting once I reached the high 30s as it was beginning to depress me. Finally – shining in the distance – a gas station appeared.
Salvation.
Which leads me back to the beginning of this chapter. I wound up going to 3 more gas stations, the last of which had exactly one of the coveted charging cables I was after. I was able to charge my phone and headed west. Rolling fields of corn turned into massive warehouses and I eventually found my way back to the bridge.
The whole debacle got me thinking though. Why weren’t there any retail stores in the area I was driving around in? I’m sure it wasn’t for lack of need – the sheer amount of Amazon vans I had passed were proof that the people living out there were consumers in need of product.
Naturally, I had to do a deep dive on Southern New Jersey and its economy – and what I found both fascinated and horrified me.
My understanding is that most areas of Southern New Jersey used to be farmland. Its proximity to major roadways (I-95, NJ Turnpike, Route 322, Route 130, etc) and adjacency to freight infrastructure led to a perfect storm of industrial development – one that is still rapidly being developed (especially post-Covid). What was once bucolic farmland is being converted into a mess of concrete and warehouses – leading to increased concerns regarding air pollution, heat island effects, flooding potential, loss of habitat, higher electricity demands (especially where data center construction is a concern), increased infrastructure pressures, etcetera etcetera. Many of these warehouses (some would argue a majority of them) are created to sustain the burgeoning e-commerce industry.
It is very clear that development proposals are no longer community oriented in some parts of Southern New Jersey – instead they are increasingly focused on a logistics-based economy (which is probably why I couldn’t find a charging cable for my phone when I needed it – why focus on building stores and community hubs when you can build warehouses!). Many towns are now completely reliant on the tax revenue that the warehouse complexes provide, and unfortunately it looks like this is a trend that will continue to grow within Southern New Jersey (and will continue to eat away at our country’s farmland).
Warehouses and fulfillment centers do provide a growth engine for Southern New Jersey’s economy. However, there is speculation as to the sustainability of warehouse development. According to an article put out by New Jersey Real Estate Report, “The new data fuels claims that the warehouse market is overbuilt, and that developers are continuing to construct the giant buildings, some of which are built before tenants have committed to occupation, regardless of market demand, and despite strong opposition in some communities.” In plain terms – they’re building shit just to build shit, regardless of whether or not there’s a reason to put it there.
Obviously I have a horse in the anti e-commerce narrative. As an indie retailer, I’ve seen first hand how e-comm has destroyed some of the local businesses in my community (at an alarming rate, I might add). I admit it fully – I am very biased. That being said, I do believe that there is a side to e-commerce that most consumers never think about – which is the logistics of it all. There are major concerns about the infrastructure needed to sustain that particular business model, and sadly I don’t believe that most consumers think that those concerns apply to them (if they even think about them at all). Those issues happen in someone else’s backyard, after all.
Until it isn’t someone else’s backyard.
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