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This is a remarkably bad idea. What happens when someone who's delivering a package gets robbed? Think that's a remote possibility? Pizza delivery guys get robb

by ebbv 14y ago

This is a remarkably bad idea. What happens when someone who's delivering a package gets robbed? Think that's a remote possibility? Pizza delivery guys get robbed constantly. Also, it says a lot about Wal-Mart's opinion of its customers that it thinks the customers would be willing to do this for cheaper than any other method Wal-Mart could use to get this done.

deleted 14y ago
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largesse 14y ago
Wal-Mart is big enough that they can take those thefts as a loss. I see it working. If done right, it could leverage into neighborliness. It should be marketed that way. I can see people doing it just to have an excuse to meet their neighbors.
- ebbv 14y ago
  You misunderstand the problem. It's not the loss of the $20 of goods or whatever that are lost. Obviously they can absorb that. It's the lawsuits due to the emotional/physical trauma of being robbed while delivering for Wal-Mart.
  - largesse 14y ago
    There's that, but I'm sure they'd have lawyers work out some sort of indemnification. The first media reports would need careful PR handling. I see this as something similar to what AirBnB went through. It's not unprecedented.
    - ebbv 14y ago
      AirBnB is miniscule compared to Wal-Mart, though. Not even a blip. The ambulance chasers would be all over this. Not to mention widespread fraud. It's just a dumb idea.
EliRivers 14y ago
Casual courier companies already exist. Employees are paid daily, piecework. They drive their own cars and pay their own fuel. They just pick up parcels at the start of the day and deliver them as best they can. This already exists, so whatever objections you have must have already been surmounted.
- ebbv 14y ago
  > This already exists, so whatever objections you have must have already been surmounted. There's a huge difference between some fly-by-night operations working in this model already existing and a company the size of Wal-Mart taking it on. Additionally there's a huge difference between a person coming in daily as a contract employee and a company like Wal-Mart recruiting its customers at the checkout. The difference is lawsuits and liability when something bad happens. If it's a small company there's not so much assets to go after. If it's Wal-Mart the ambulance chasers will come out of the woodwork.

by ebbv 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

largesse 14y ago

Wal-Mart is big enough that they can take those thefts as a loss. I see it working. If done right, it could leverage into neighborliness. It should be marketed that way. I can see people doing it just to have an excuse to meet their neighbors.

ebbv 14y ago
You misunderstand the problem. It's not the loss of the $20 of goods or whatever that are lost. Obviously they can absorb that. It's the lawsuits due to the emotional/physical trauma of being robbed while delivering for Wal-Mart.
- largesse 14y ago
  There's that, but I'm sure they'd have lawyers work out some sort of indemnification. The first media reports would need careful PR handling. I see this as something similar to what AirBnB went through. It's not unprecedented.
  - ebbv 14y ago
    AirBnB is miniscule compared to Wal-Mart, though. Not even a blip. The ambulance chasers would be all over this. Not to mention widespread fraud. It's just a dumb idea.

EliRivers 14y ago

Casual courier companies already exist. Employees are paid daily, piecework. They drive their own cars and pay their own fuel. They just pick up parcels at the start of the day and deliver them as best they can. This already exists, so whatever objections you have must have already been surmounted.

ebbv 14y ago
> This already exists, so whatever objections you have must have already been surmounted. There's a huge difference between some fly-by-night operations working in this model already existing and a company the size of Wal-Mart taking it on. Additionally there's a huge difference between a person coming in daily as a contract employee and a company like Wal-Mart recruiting its customers at the checkout. The difference is lawsuits and liability when something bad happens. If it's a small company there's not so much assets to go after. If it's Wal-Mart the ambulance chasers will come out of the woodwork.