4 ms·

The climate stakes of speedy delivery

43 points by nwrk 7y ago

gwbas1c 7y ago
No mention of the amount of CO2 _saved_ because of less trips to the store! One delivery truck driving to everyone's home in a neighborhood is significantly less CO2 then everyone in the neighborhood driving to the mall!
- mehrdadn 7y ago
  It is, but only if you don't end up consuming significantly more, or with a poorer consumption pattern. I have no data on this but I wouldn't be surprised if delivery made people consume noticeably more than they otherwise would, and/or batch up fewer things at a time than they would.
  - viraptor 7y ago
    I'm really curious about the result. While your point is valid, there's the other side as well - never shop hungry. And considering the local supermarket is busiest after 5pm, I'm sure many people do. So there's buying extra for convenience vs impulse buying what you see. In my personnel experience shopping online, the impulse buys go away, but I make the shopping list the same way, with one big batch a week, so overall buying less.
    - mehrdadn 7y ago
      Yeah, I am too. My point was just that it's harder to know than appears at first glance without actually measuring. It could easily go either way.
  - nradov 7y ago
    That can't possibly be true. For most people, consumption is limited by income. And average incomes are barely rising.
- plushpuffin 7y ago
  It absolutely does mention this, in language almost identical to yours. From the article: > In theory, e-commerce is good for the environment... Instead of a neighborhood worth of people driving to stores in their personal cars to shop, one truck can deliver everything. But that calculus is changing.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Surely you have to factor in the number of trips - one trip to the mall and going to a dozen shops whilst there, would be replaced by multiple deliveries from multiple suppliers. Especially with Amazon doing their damnedest to encourage people to order as little as one item in an order via subscriptions and what not. It's the overall CO2 that matters - which stays opaque.
codingdave 7y ago
There used to be an option to either have items ship when they are ready, or in one shipment. I can understand that if items are in different warehouses, they might need separate shipping. But these days, I order three items in one order, and get all three the same day, from different trucks. This is silly when I don't care about speed. If I cared that much about getting items ASAP, I'd find it locally. The fact that I am ordering online means that I can wait. I'd prefer efficient delivery to ASAP delivery.
- travisporter 7y ago
  Does Amazon prime still incentivize for slower delivery? I used to pick that option pretty much every time since like you said if I wanted something faster I’ll drive to the store.
  - sokoloff 7y ago
    On most items, I am offered either $1 off a digital product or $5 off a PrimePantry order (Amazon's choice which to offer on the page). I often take the digital offer, rarely the Pantry offer. Tip: If you are ordering multiple things, you can often order N-1 of them with the delayed shipping offer and then order the last one with 2-day shipping and you'll often get the orders all picked and shipped together. (It's far from guaranteed, but seems to happen about 50% of the time, so you get the discounted digital offer and still get the items shipped efficiently and quickly.)
- pkulak 7y ago
  Amazon has a "your delivery day" thing now. I love it for all the stuff where I don't care about speed. And it's way nicer to have everything show up on one day, instead of scattered throughout the week.
- ctoth 7y ago
  I agree that this is silly and so does Amazon! Check out https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17928921011 https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17928921011
- 7y ago
legitster 7y ago
I'm not one for future fetishism, but drone delivery has huge potential to impact our daily lives.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- adrianN 7y ago
  Quite literally...
Proven 7y ago
There are no climate stakes here. I wish all climate alarmists used their money to bet on supposed future disasters and then invest in tech to save the world, but they'd rather tax and plunder now, either directly or by outsourcing it to the State or the UN.

43 points by nwrk 7y ago

No mention of the amount of CO2 _saved_ because of less trips to the store! One delivery truck driving to everyone's home in a neighborhood is significantly less CO2 then everyone in the neighborhood driving to the mall!

mehrdadn 7y ago
It is, but only if you don't end up consuming significantly more, or with a poorer consumption pattern. I have no data on this but I wouldn't be surprised if delivery made people consume noticeably more than they otherwise would, and/or batch up fewer things at a time than they would.
- viraptor 7y ago
  I'm really curious about the result. While your point is valid, there's the other side as well - never shop hungry. And considering the local supermarket is busiest after 5pm, I'm sure many people do. So there's buying extra for convenience vs impulse buying what you see. In my personnel experience shopping online, the impulse buys go away, but I make the shopping list the same way, with one big batch a week, so overall buying less.
  - mehrdadn 7y ago
    Yeah, I am too. My point was just that it's harder to know than appears at first glance without actually measuring. It could easily go either way.
- nradov 7y ago
  That can't possibly be true. For most people, consumption is limited by income. And average incomes are barely rising.
plushpuffin 7y ago
It absolutely does mention this, in language almost identical to yours. From the article: > In theory, e-commerce is good for the environment... Instead of a neighborhood worth of people driving to stores in their personal cars to shop, one truck can deliver everything. But that calculus is changing.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Surely you have to factor in the number of trips - one trip to the mall and going to a dozen shops whilst there, would be replaced by multiple deliveries from multiple suppliers. Especially with Amazon doing their damnedest to encourage people to order as little as one item in an order via subscriptions and what not. It's the overall CO2 that matters - which stays opaque.

codingdave 7y ago

There used to be an option to either have items ship when they are ready, or in one shipment. I can understand that if items are in different warehouses, they might need separate shipping. But these days, I order three items in one order, and get all three the same day, from different trucks. This is silly when I don't care about speed. If I cared that much about getting items ASAP, I'd find it locally. The fact that I am ordering online means that I can wait. I'd prefer efficient delivery to ASAP delivery.

travisporter 7y ago
Does Amazon prime still incentivize for slower delivery? I used to pick that option pretty much every time since like you said if I wanted something faster I’ll drive to the store.
- sokoloff 7y ago
  On most items, I am offered either $1 off a digital product or $5 off a PrimePantry order (Amazon's choice which to offer on the page). I often take the digital offer, rarely the Pantry offer. Tip: If you are ordering multiple things, you can often order N-1 of them with the delayed shipping offer and then order the last one with 2-day shipping and you'll often get the orders all picked and shipped together. (It's far from guaranteed, but seems to happen about 50% of the time, so you get the discounted digital offer and still get the items shipped efficiently and quickly.)
pkulak 7y ago
Amazon has a "your delivery day" thing now. I love it for all the stuff where I don't care about speed. And it's way nicer to have everything show up on one day, instead of scattered throughout the week.
ctoth 7y ago
I agree that this is silly and so does Amazon! Check out https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17928921011 https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17928921011
7y ago

legitster 7y ago

I'm not one for future fetishism, but drone delivery has huge potential to impact our daily lives.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
adrianN 7y ago
Quite literally...

Proven 7y ago

There are no climate stakes here. I wish all climate alarmists used their money to bet on supposed future disasters and then invest in tech to save the world, but they'd rather tax and plunder now, either directly or by outsourcing it to the State or the UN.