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I’m not sure why everyone continually romanticizes brick and mortar retail. Its terribly inefficient, and wasteful of time, energy, space etc. Think of all the
by morelandjs 5y ago
I’m not sure why everyone continually romanticizes brick and mortar retail. Its terribly inefficient, and wasteful of time, energy, space etc.
Think of all the Walmart, Dicks, Big Lots parking lots and strip malls that could be converted into better space. Think of how much waste there is when you have to pack, unpack, stage and repack merchandise.
Amazon’s distribution is a superior business model which is why it is popular. I’d also reckon that the carbon footprint per package is lower if you account for the driving that is required for more traditional shopping.
I’d rather see more competition using a similar business model than a return to concrete strip malls full of big box retailers.
- annoyingnoob 5y agoAmazon is putting in a new warehouse near where I live. They bought up farm land and are converting into a crazy large building that spans the distance between to major roads. Its going to impact traffic on both of those roads, construction already has. We'll probably need a bigger bridge on one of those roads too. It will also have a huge parking lot for the people that will work there. This building is bigger than Walmart, Dicks, and Home Depot combined. I don't see how this is an improvement, just another big addition.
- plandis 5y agoThe contractors are not economically benefitting? Some Amazon customers won’t benefit from faster shipping? New employees won’t benefit from the added jobs? The local government won’t benefit from the added tax revenue?
- annoyingnoob 5y agoI was commenting on the parent comment about Amazon being 'better'. I'm arguing that its just different than, and in addition to, brick and mortar stores. Not clear that its any 'better' for whatever a measure of 'better' is.
- gruez 5y ago>Its going to impact traffic on both of those roads, construction already has. You think that big box stores and/or malls don't impact traffic on nearby roads?
- annoyingnoob 5y agoRight, so how is the Amazon warehouse better?
- gruez 5y agoBecause each vehicle at the amazon warehouse delivers to dozens of customers.
- annoyingnoob 5y agoWith less efficient vehicles. If I order 10 things from Amazon its guaranteed to come in more than one box on more than one trip. If I drive to Target I can buy all of those things in one trip.
- gruez 5y ago>With less efficient vehicles It's less efficient, but not by much. The most popular passenger vehicle that's not a truck is the toyota rav 4[1], which gets 30 mpg[2]. A ford transit connect gets 22[3]. Using those figures, an amazon van that delivers to at least 2 houses in a suburb probably spends less fuel than those two households driving directly to a store. Even if they make separate deliveries, it will probably be worth it.
- annoyingnoob 5y agoThe Sprinter type vans that Amazon uses in my area get closer to 18 mpg. And they have some that are just like the UPS trucks, big and boxy in Amazon blue - no doubt these are much worse.
- 8note 5y agoBrick and mortar retail is an advertising scam from the last century. It's built to waste people's time by making them walk by different products to get to the things they want.
- cma 5y agoLike Amazon's sponsored listings and "Amazon's choice" (highest margins for Amazon) recommendations.
- bobsmooth 5y agoThe problem with algorithms is that they rarely show you something new. I like walking past rows of things to see what catches my eye.
- dannyw 5y agoI personally hate how supermarkets are designed to make you go everywhere and how milk and eggs are purposefully out of way. If I want to walk around and browse, I will do that without you forcing me to.