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City tax payers are ultimately paying the price for “2-day shipping” in the form of more congestion and pollution, and compromised safety. Shouldn’t the compan

by xyst 7y ago

City tax payers are ultimately paying the price for “2-day shipping” in the form of more congestion and pollution, and compromised safety. Shouldn’t the companies causing these problems pay for enhancing the infrastructure (roads, parking) they use to make their $$$? I imagine it’s a much more costlier option since you have to work with the city but it should be a net positive gain (packages delivered more efficiently). Or maybe the city should tax companies that abuse the public infrastructure? This may cause smaller companies/independent contractors to close up shop, but should increase the push towards cleaner delivery options (drone delivery?) Albeit, this wouldn’t be a problem if people would order less from Amazon and meal ready companies (Hellofresh, blueapron ...)

SllX 7y ago
They could tax them, sure. The customers would ultimately bear the cost of those taxes, but that might lead to a self-correction and cause them to order fewer deliveries, perhaps by bundling their orders together into larger deliveries.
crooked-v 7y ago
> City tax payers are ultimately paying the price for “2-day shipping” in the form of more congestion and pollution, and compromised safety. "2-day shipping" is only a cause if it makes people order more packages in general (which it probably does, but it's a leap that should be considered rather than automatically made). The delivery companies involved are pretty efficient at this stuff and aren't going to waste money by deploying half-empty trucks, so the delivery traffic corresponds very linearly to the average total number of packages being delivered. > Or maybe the city should tax companies that abuse the public infrastructure? What about taxing individuals that abuse the public infrastructure by leaving cars to constantly take up street parking? Delivery companies are certainly much, much more efficient in terms of road usage and parking space needed than somebody driving a car to go buy stuff in a shop.

by xyst 7y ago

SllX 7y ago

They could tax them, sure. The customers would ultimately bear the cost of those taxes, but that might lead to a self-correction and cause them to order fewer deliveries, perhaps by bundling their orders together into larger deliveries.

crooked-v 7y ago

> City tax payers are ultimately paying the price for “2-day shipping” in the form of more congestion and pollution, and compromised safety. "2-day shipping" is only a cause if it makes people order more packages in general (which it probably does, but it's a leap that should be considered rather than automatically made). The delivery companies involved are pretty efficient at this stuff and aren't going to waste money by deploying half-empty trucks, so the delivery traffic corresponds very linearly to the average total number of packages being delivered. > Or maybe the city should tax companies that abuse the public infrastructure? What about taxing individuals that abuse the public infrastructure by leaving cars to constantly take up street parking? Delivery companies are certainly much, much more efficient in terms of road usage and parking space needed than somebody driving a car to go buy stuff in a shop.