
Our home delivery habit reshaped the world - opaque
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/21/how-our-home-delivery-habit-reshaped-the-world
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Nasrudith
The media really seem to love pushing downright naive logistical assumptions
trying to make online shopping a villain while expecting us to believe our own
cars and brick and mortar store's logistics run on pixie farts. You never see
them talking about the impact of junk mail.

To be frank at this point it feels like they are trying to extort ad money to
stop negative press coverage.

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dashundchen
I think that assessment is unfair to the author. The article even talks about
the warehouses and logistics in a pre-same-day shipping world, and compares it
to the pace and scale required by the new delivery model.

The point I took from the author is that the expectation of same-day or even
two hour shipping is erasing the barriers to consumption. There's a big
difference between a weekly walk to shop or drive to the mall, and 24/7
instant delivery with just a click. It's no secret that the pitch on fast
delivery speed is that people will consume more.

Anecdotally, many people I know who have Prime seems to have steady streams of
packages arriving at their door - snacks for the kids one day, a new sweater
the next, a package of toilet paper the next - with the logic that they have
paid for the delivery, they might as well use it. Each in a separate trip, box
etc. And if an item is incorrect or damaged, they often don't even bother to
return it, they will just order something else.

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kilo_bravo_3
I consume less with online shopping.

With groceries, I plan out my week's meals with the Paprika app, shoot the
list of ingredients over to notes, and then order only what is on that list,
which is delivered to my door.

No more "hmm, this looks interesting" as I'm wasting my time walking up and
down aisles specifically designed to make me spend more.

My fridge and cupboard now look almost empty, despite having the week's
shopping in it because I don't have jars and boxes of HFCS-laden garbage that
I bought on a whim.

As far as non-consumable goods go, I spend the time I used to waste driving to
and from stores and trying to find objects hidden in a sea of shelves finding
written and video reviews of big-ticket items and I do not purchase anything
unless I know it has passed the muster of several trusted reviewers, has all
of the features I want, have seen it from every angle, know its precise
dimensions, and know it has documentation and patches/upgrades available on
the manufacturer's website.

Can't really do that looking at a box on a shelf in a store.

Regarding a steady stream of deliveries, it is too easy to set up a once-a-
week delivery, at least with Amazon Prime. I set mine to Saturday.

People who impulsively buy things online are the same people who would have
gone to the dollar store for "shopping therapy" pre-online shopping and come
home with a basket full of cheap Chinese crap.

~~~
1996
> cheap Chinese crap

It may rhyme but it remains offensive.

Can you please change that? Maybe not for that post, as it is too late, but
for your future posts?

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nkrisc
But most of the stuff in a dollar store is cheap goods manufactured in China.
Was it the word "crap"? Maybe "cheap Chinese goods" would be more palatable?

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1996
Just that makes a world of difference to me.

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nkrisc
Fair enough. But I have to agree with the GP: it's crap.

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jefurii
When I lived in Japan I would pass dozens of small shops every day on my way
to and from work: in my neighborhood and in the areas around the train
stations I passed through. On weekends I went in to the city to buy things I
couldn't buy otherwise, or just to browse around. On one hand, I spent a lot
of time on trains or buses or walking around looking that I could have spent
doing other things. On the other hand, I got a lot of exercise that I don't
get now and I spent a lot more time outdoors. I felt like I had more energy
and I slept better.

~~~
blackearl
Japan is way more compact than the average US city, though I do love a place
that's really walkable like Montreal or Boston

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ptah
I think it is fair that the increased usage of public infrastructure warrants
a substantial increase in taxes

~~~
crazygringo
I'm pretty sure online shopping dramatically reduces use of public
infrastructure, i.e. roads and parking.

Every UPS truck that goes out with 100 packages means, what -- conservatively,
maybe 50 separate car trips that it replaced?

And so that much less traffic, congestion, pollution, gas used, etc.

~~~
glofish
I am going to venture the hypothesis that people will make the same number of
car trips - just to other destinations.

Similar to how building more or wider roads do not reduce congestions - more
traffic takes its place.

~~~
crazygringo
You're right in that the, say, 20 min saved per person is going to go to some
other activity.

And certainly some of those activities can involve driving, like going to
visit friends. But many other activities will just be spending more time at
home -- e.g. coming home straight from work instead of running errands, or
staying home Saturday afternoon to read or play video games.

To your point: in areas where traffic congestion is already extreme, it may
not make a difference because there's so much pent-up demand for car trips.
But in most of the rest of the country (suburbs, rural, etc.) that doesn't
suffer from congestion, I think package delivery would have to result in
reducing traffic to some measurable degree.

