You are describing a traditional online retailer. I agree there is probably nothing inherently 'wasteful' about drop-shipping, but it is just another middleman

You are describing a traditional online retailer. I agree there is probably nothing inherently 'wasteful' about drop-shipping, but it is just another middleman and so it 'wastes' money for the buyer/seller, but that's probably a thin argument. But of course the main wastefulness of the process is the whole system of constantly pushing people to consume tons of disposable useless crap.