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I'm pretty sure that Amazon will use the best positioned stores as forward stocking locations. They experimented with a similar concept at WebVan i believe. I a

by bastian 12y ago

I'm pretty sure that Amazon will use the best positioned stores as forward stocking locations. They experimented with a similar concept at WebVan i believe. I also think they now realize that what Postmates and Instacart are doing today (using the city as a warehouse) is actually working and can be attractive to customers.

baddox 12y ago
My initial impression is that Radio Shack stores are too small to be used primarily for stocking.
- AdamTReineke 12y ago
  They're small but if you took Amazon's warehouse layout and Kiva robots, you'd get an incredible storage density. Coupled with lockers, pre-stocked with Amazon's top products, and staffed by one or two people, you'd have a pretty good system.
pbreit 12y ago
Wouldn't one cheap warehouse in the city(ies) suffice?
- bastian 12y ago
  I can only talk about our (Postmates) experience but having multiple pickup and drop-off locations increases the efficiency of a fleet dramatically. In larger cities like New York, LA, etc. multiple warehouses are a huge advantage. Off course i'm mostly referring to on-demand or same day deliveries here. Maybe i should add some more color here. If you think in terms of traditional delivery, one warehouse is enough. But i'm not sure that this paradigm (one van drives to a warehouse, collects a bunch of stuff and delivers it), is what works best for on-demand, 2-hour or same day deliveries. Multiple, fast and easy to reach pickup locations are an advantage at scale. Especially for deliveries where minutes matter. Ultimately, we will probably see a combination of both.
  - pbreit 12y ago
    Probably true but there's not much that needs to be delivered in less than a few hours.
    - bastian 12y ago
      Figuring out if this statement is true or not, is very interesting indeed.
    - CamperBob2 12y ago
      That's a call that has to be made on the demand side. Some of us have a steady flow of overnight boxes coming in from DigiKey and Mouser containing, well, nothing very expensive or interesting to most people.

by bastian 12y ago

baddox 12y ago

My initial impression is that Radio Shack stores are too small to be used primarily for stocking.

AdamTReineke 12y ago
They're small but if you took Amazon's warehouse layout and Kiva robots, you'd get an incredible storage density. Coupled with lockers, pre-stocked with Amazon's top products, and staffed by one or two people, you'd have a pretty good system.

pbreit 12y ago

Wouldn't one cheap warehouse in the city(ies) suffice?

bastian 12y ago
I can only talk about our (Postmates) experience but having multiple pickup and drop-off locations increases the efficiency of a fleet dramatically. In larger cities like New York, LA, etc. multiple warehouses are a huge advantage. Off course i'm mostly referring to on-demand or same day deliveries here. Maybe i should add some more color here. If you think in terms of traditional delivery, one warehouse is enough. But i'm not sure that this paradigm (one van drives to a warehouse, collects a bunch of stuff and delivers it), is what works best for on-demand, 2-hour or same day deliveries. Multiple, fast and easy to reach pickup locations are an advantage at scale. Especially for deliveries where minutes matter. Ultimately, we will probably see a combination of both.
- pbreit 12y ago
  Probably true but there's not much that needs to be delivered in less than a few hours.
  - bastian 12y ago
    Figuring out if this statement is true or not, is very interesting indeed.
  - CamperBob2 12y ago
    That's a call that has to be made on the demand side. Some of us have a steady flow of overnight boxes coming in from DigiKey and Mouser containing, well, nothing very expensive or interesting to most people.