7-11 is a convenience store we can see all over the world. There are so many 7-11s in Taipei, you can see 10 of them every kilometer.

People may think that convenience stores help society a lot, since they offer so many services. Besides buying food or drinks, you can use the bathroom, print documents, buy train tickets, etc. However, these convenience stores may also cause big problems in society.

1. Drives other stores out of business

Since there are so many 7-11s, they can drive other stores out of business easily. When this happens, 7-11 can raise prices, and people will still have to pay because it’s the only place left to shop.

2. Causes environmental problems

7-11 causes serious problems for the environment in lots of ways. For example, because there are so many stores and all the stores are so close to each other, delivering goods causes lots of pollution; trucks cause pollution if they often stop.

Also, because most of the 7-11s are open 24 hours, they use lots of electricity even though no one is in the store. If all 7-11s were only opened for 8 hours per day, they can certainly save the Earth, the environment, and us. Plus, convenience stores use a lot of plastic bags, forks, bowls, and other disposables. Plastic doesn’t break up easily in nature, so trash takes up lots of space.

3. People waste money

Because there are sticker-collecting activities in convenience stores, people often use too much money on what they don’t need. Instead of wasting money in convenience stores, people should use their extra money to help children who are starving in other places.

4. People become lazy

Since these convenience stores give people so many services, they make people too lazy. When people all get so lazy and don’t like to work, the productivity of a country will decrease. Taiwan may turn to a poor country if people keep being lazy.

Compared to traditional markets, 7-11 is very convenient. However, it causes lots of problems and affects the environment a lot. If there weren’t so many convenience stores like as 7-11, people would still work as hard as they can to make the society a better place. 7-11 is so convenient, but it worth it to bring so many problems?