February 06, 2009

Hard Times Please Help

With the pending arrival of the baby, mom and wife have made sure that I do as little as possible to minimize the possibility of me screwing up something important. So I have been assigned the task to search out a stroller. Went through the department store just to see what was available. The high-end Japanese strollers are light-weight and fully adjustable, but the build is plasticky and a bit rattly, and the wheels are small compared to the bumps in the less-than-smooth Taiwan sidewalks. Not to mention the kids department was overrun with them already, which makes me feel like I'd be paying Lexus prices for Toyotas.

Clearly I needed to do some more research. Ran into the Stroller Queen, which opened my eyes to a galaxy of boutique European and American strollers. Sure looked awfully tempting, but sourcing is a problem, not to mention the astronomical price tags. Figured I could rope Sam into stroller-hunter duty and decided to search the SF Craig's List for second-hand high-end strollers. Definitely some deals to be had, such as Peg Peregos for a quarter of what they sell for new in Taiwan. But it seemed like Bugaboo was the most common choice at the ultra-high-end price range. Not surprising considering its sleek design and sleeker promotion has made it into quite the status symbol.

Even as badly spoiled as our soon-to-be-first child surely will be, I can't quite make myself dropping a grand on a fancy push-cart. But I suppose we should be grateful for what we have, considering other people can't afford any stroller at all, and must ask for help from charitable folks of CraigsList.

bugaboo bugabee (mission district)

Reply to: sale-1021518997@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-02-04, 9:22PM PST

anyone who doesnt need a bugaboo stroller or bugabee and would like to donate to a young mother this is your chance i woud be very greatfull, i already am just by you looking at my post and reading it. by the way she is 6 months

I'm sure her kid deserves a good stroller just as much as mine, but I didn't realize people were just giving Bugaboos away to the needy, and it's not as if there aren't other perfectly serviceable strollers being given away or sold cheap. I guess the goal is to have the most coddled baby in line at the food bank, that's for sure. Hopefully the kid won't have the same sense of entitlement as her mom.

Posted by mikewang on 03:38 PM