
Google offering same-day delivery from retailers in the Bay Area - gasull
https://www.google.com/shopping/express/about/index.html
======
zoba
I've used this service for a couple weeks now, and it is an astonishing time
saver. Same day delivery opens up very a different way of thinking about
things. I have a couple thoughts though:

1) I currently feel guilty because its so easy to just buy one thing at a
time, and theres nothing stopping me from doing it, that I end up making
micropurchases. I wish Google would either prevent this or say "Oh its fine we
use all electric vehicles any way."

2) I'm curious what their pricing plan is going to be like. I've compared the
service to instacart which has minimum delivery amounts to avoid delivery
fees. Google Express looks to be going more along the lines of an Amazon Prime
type membership, where one price gets you unlimited deliveries. I don't know
if they'll end up with this though.

3) Groceries! I would love to be able to buy produce, dairy, etc from Google
Express.

4) I wish the delivery windows could be tighter... Maybe it sounds picky but
Instacart has very nice delivery windows compared to Google Express.

~~~
bbulkow
I have used it for a few weeks too. Google needs to fix the ordering interface
to focus you on stores you already have purchases pending with. If I can save
a buck at one store but that causes two-store delivery fees.... oh the
headache.

I worry that Goog isn't getting valid data - the clear reason to run the trial
- because the selection is low (compared to Prime) - and the multi-store fee
is not active. They could bump the per-store fee up to $1 per store, and get
more valid data.

My primary desire for same-day is groceries (milk and bananas) but I admit I
live a 3 minute walk (literally) from a nice little Mexican grocery that has
an in-house butcher, milk and most veg. It's good to get into the sunshine for
a few minutes.

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dewitt
This was announced publicly back in March, if I recall correctly:

[http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2013/03/calling-all-sf-
ba...](http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2013/03/calling-all-sf-bay-area-
residents-help.html)

I'm a fan. We use it several times a week.

~~~
austenallred
We also use it several times a week. It's easier now with no delivery fee
(will eventually be $5), but you order a case of root beer online and it's on
your doorstep the next day. Simple.

I'm not sure how the economics will work out or how prices may change once it
will reach scale.

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gasull
A lot of people in SF don't know they can use Safeway online for groceries:

[https://shop.safeway.com/ecom/home](https://shop.safeway.com/ecom/home)

~~~
epoxyhockey
Thanks for the link, I didn't realize that Safeway offered a 1-hour delivery
window. One note is that a $49 minimum order is required for delivery service
and a $12.95 shipping fee on purchases under $150.

Google Shopping has no minimum order amount and for this 6-month trial period
has no delivery fees. Though, their site eludes to a $5 delivery fee per store
you order items from once the trial period ends.

Of course, Safeway offers delivery of perishable foods, while Google shopping
does not.

------
cbhl
Previous Discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5454677](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5454677)
(41 points, 46 comments, 122 days ago)

------
helper
I've been using this for a few months. It's super convenient for buying common
items sold from places like Target and Staples.

If it wasn't free shipping I don't think I would use it over amazon prime
though. There is no comparing the selection from Amazon to what is currently
available from express shopping.

~~~
cbhl
I notice that they added "* Some restrictions may apply" to the landing page
-- do they ever state the restrictions anywhere?

------
TheMakeA
I've used it a couple of times but it still has some flaws. For instance, you
can only buy things that are listed on the website. I decided to give it a
shot to get a new PS3 game delivered. The item would be located no more than 3
feet away from other items listed, but Google would not pick it up for you.

In another case, I just wanted a new filtered water pitcher. It ended up
taking three days to get something delivered because the item I had selected
would be out of stock, and there was no way to select an alternative. Getting
any product on day one would have outweighed any marginal price differences
between selections.

Compare this to Instacart which gives a lot of freedom in what the shoppers
pick up for you. That being said, when the service did work, it was a good
experience.

~~~
matchu
Stores tend to keep the new PS3 games locked up these days, so the shopper
would have to find an employee to get the item, and then probably ring it up
as a separate purchase in the entertainment section in addition to the final
checkout—and then might get extra guff for the already-purchased game and have
to show the receipt.

I'm not sure what their general policy is, but, for a delivery service with a
decent emphasis on speed, it makes sense to me to exclude items that could
significantly slow down the shopper with extra employee interaction,
especially since they'd probably only have one video game order per trip,
tops.

~~~
TheMakeA
You make very good points but I got the impression that Shopping Express may
work a little differently. It seems like Google might actually call the store
and have the store employees prepare the order, or at least confirm that some
items are in stock. One clue was an extremely quick turn around time for out
of stock items: my order would be canceled less than an hour after being
placed and hours before the intended delivery time for being out of stock. Of
course, this doesn't rule out the possibility that the shopper happened to be
at my Target at the time and was just buying every item for the day.

That being said, you do bring up good points and that may well be the reason.

------
RyanZAG
How was Google Reader not part of Google's business, but being a delivery
service is?

~~~
pavs
I don't understand why people are so buttburt about Google Reader.

Google's business is to make money, directly or in-directly. G-Reader didn't
make much money, they tried advertising, it didn't work. Turns out people who
use RSS, also tends to be tech savvy (a very small portion of overall internet
users), people who are tech savvy are less likely to click on ads.

So they don't make any money from it directly, and I can't think of many
indirect ways they could make a sizeable amount of money from tech-savvy
users. They could start charging small amount per month, and as much as
everyone said AFTER google decided to shut it down that they would be willing
to pay for a paid service; I suspect in reality most would have just moved to
another free service.

Another reason why it makes sense that google decided to shut it down, because
now they have Social Site, Google+, from a business point of view it makes
more sense for them if rss readers just subscribe to those site on G+. Less
fragmentation and all that. I don't necessarily like it, but it makes sense
from their point of view.

As to their delivery service. IF it actually turns out to be a serious
business venture beyond testing the waters. I suspect, this would start making
them money from very early days, if it really picks up that is. It has also
the added bonus of knowing name, address, shopping habits of individuals. I
would suspect, even if they don't make much money from delivery, those alone
would be immensely valuable for Google and their advertisers.

Compare to that, an RSS reader seems like minor inconvenience for google.
There is no comparison at all.

~~~
DanBC
> I don't understand why people are so buttburt about Google Reader.

Could Google have open-sourced it, and allowed other people to run the server
side stuff on non-google servers?

~~~
pavs
They could, but they don't have any obligation to. How many of their online
service they shut down was eventually open-sourced? I can't think of any.

Also there are other things to consider, we know that Greader was running on
auto-pilot for a long time, and the people who worked on it are either not
with Google any more or are working on some other project. In order for them
to open source this project, they either had to get those people back to help
them opensource it or they would have to get new people to run down the whole
codebase and take out portions that can be potential security/vulnerability
issue. Looks like to me thats a lot of work.

There are tons of free and open-source RSS readers out there, some are pretty
darn good. Why bother?

------
murtali
I can already envision it: Google self-driving cars making deliveries.

~~~
greeneggs
Just curious, how do you actually see this? Maybe:

A self-driving car pulls up and double-parks in front of your building. It
texts you to come outside and gives a four-digit pin. You go to the car, type
the pin in, and a small door opens with your package sitting there. I guess
the car has some weird conveyor system for moving packages into the pickup
area.

Is this what you are thinking? I'm not sure how well double-parking by a self-
driving car would work (delivery people do it, but they also can use their
judgement). The conveyor system also seems like it would create problems.

~~~
jfoster
The car could launch a quadcopter to handle the driveway-to-door part. The car
wouldn't even need to stop. By the time it's turned itself around, the
quadcopter would have probably made the delivery. Security of the package and
picking an appropriate drop point seem the most difficult parts to me.

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stevewilhelm
Been using it for a couple of weeks for deliveries to my Palo Alto based
office. Orders made by 11am generally arrive before 2pm.

Interestingly, it has not impacted my Amazon Prime purchases.

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jonny_eh
I wonder if the same day delivery is just a way to get people in, but the real
value is being able to shop at a bunch of local retailers from one place.

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northwest
So now they can add your "physical consumption" behavior to your online
behavior profile.

(Obviously that information will not be withheld from the NSA.)

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zengr
Have been using [http://ebay.com/now](http://ebay.com/now) from the last few
months and it delivers stuff within 40minutes.

They offer the same set of retailers which Google has to offer. Why wait a day
when you can get it within 1hr?

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dedosk
You can try it through early access, here is some free code
[https://plus.google.com/107119125214160307479/posts/RTLxcUZX...](https://plus.google.com/107119125214160307479/posts/RTLxcUZX6Pe)

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rogerbinns
If only they worked with Fry's and Costco ...

~~~
signed0
Instacart works with Costco.

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seanmcdirmid
We have services in Beijing that provide same day or next day deliveries. My
wife uses them a lot to great effect.

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dschiptsov
With driver-less cars, I suppose.))

Jokes aside, automatic delivery is what they making them for.

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greesil
Oh sweet, we finally get the matternet.

