Amazon Launches One-Hour Delivery Service In Baltimore and Miami 110
schwit1 writes Amazon.com announced the launch Thursday of its one-hour delivery service, Prime Now, in select zip codes in Baltimore and Miami. It initially launched in Manhattan in December. The one-hour service, available to Amazon Prime subscribers through the Prime Now mobile app, costs $7.99. Two-hour delivery is free. From the article: "Amazon Prime's success has blown away the company's projections and 'petrified' local and national retailers, said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a national retail consulting and investment banking firm headquartered in New York City. 'If you're a retailer and you're not scared of Amazon ... you should be,' he said. 'They are the change agent. They are leading the change in retail.'"
The death of delayed gratification (Score:5, Insightful)
Big difference (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Big difference (Score:5, Insightful)
It depends on the PoV. It's also $8 to cut the waiting time in half.
Re: Big difference (Score:1)
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Are you suggesting that the free delivery in two hours will actually be the next day? Or did you not even bother to read the summary?
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He's saying that getting something within one or two hours makes no difference to him, it's still delivered the same day and he doesn't need to go outside.
Me? I buy things on eBay because of the free shipping from Hong Kong. Two weeks, four weeks... who cares, it's free shipping and I've never had to pay customs or brokerage fees. It's also why I'll never order something from the USA ever again.
Re: Big difference (Score:1)
I actually missed the line saying that the two hours is free.
I live in the UK and where I live I get my packages at work because if I miss a home delivery it gets sent in a remote place which takes me some time to get to. So one hour vs. two hours could mean that I receive it today instead of tomorrow for late orders.
I may pay for it since 1 hour can mean to wait for tomorrow, but maybe I misunderstand the way it works in the US: can you specify a 1 hour slot to receive it as well ?
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The way Amazon says this works is that you get what you've ordered within two hours of placing the order without paying any additional fee or within one hour if you pay $7.99 extra.
The person you responded to was implying that the difference between getting something within one hour rather than within two hours isn't worth the $8 that it costs to get the faster delivery.
Opportunity cost (Score:5, Interesting)
8 dollar to not wait one hour extra? Wow, that's a huge difference.
Might be but I can see cases where it might be worth it to some folks. Honestly pretty much anything I would get in my car to go get would take at least 30-60 minutes of my time + gasoline. In a place like Manhattan I could easily see it taking much longer than in the midwest suburbs where I live. My hourly wages are significantly higher than $8 and the opportunity cost to me and my company if I have to leave for an hour to go buy something could easily justify an $8 delivery charge if we needed it right away.
I buy a lot of stuff through Amazon (and other online vendors) precisely because of the opportunity cost to shop in person. Sometimes shopping is fun but most of the time it's just a chore plus it puts wear and tear on my car and takes up time I could put to better use.
Re:Big difference (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Big difference (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I can think of a ton. You're hosting a party and you discover you're out of something. You're a company who just had a critical item break and you lose money until you can get another. Your flight leaves soon and you discover that you forgot to pick up something. You're cooking a big dinner and discover that you don't have a key ingredient. And on and on, there's no end to the list.
This "it's not my typical usage needs" attitude that many here are displaying is also the problem I see with many attitudes about electric cars. "Well, I drive 300 miles every day and only have enough money to buy a used jalopy and live in an urban apartment with no electricity". Fine - then don't get a freaking EV yourself.. It doesn't mean that everyone in the world's needs are the same as yours.
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> You're a company who just had a critical item break and you lose money until you can get another.
If it's that critical, it's not going to come from amazon. You'll have a service provider on call.
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Consider video/moviemaking. The big ones have "runners" to get what's needed. This service replaces them -- probably at a lower cost. But most production teams are too small to have a dedicated runner, so this service is a godsend.
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If it's that critical, it's not going to come from amazon. You'll have a service provider on call.
Perhaps, and a company should have spares on-site... but things happen and stuff gets missed and not every company is big enough to have it all on hand...
This will help someone... It just might not be you...
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I don't see why people who can't immediately see a use for something are so quick to jump to the conclusion that their isn't one.
You must be new here. ;-)
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I just paid for next day delivery last night from Amazon... for a part for my toilet tank that broke.
It was Thursday night, about 7pm, when I noticed the toilet wasn't filling up.
Can I run over to Home Depot? Sure, but that takes time and I had kids to get into bed and work to do.
So Amazon charged me $5 to have it here this morning (Friday, showed up about 10am) and I have it fixed.
$5 to have my toilet fixed in less than 24 hours and I didn't have to take 30 min to go to Home Depot?
Bargain!
---
Note: I don'
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and then, go the way of the "Domino's 30 minutes or It's Free" campaign.
Does this hurt 3D printing? (Score:2)
Or will Amazon offer to print your models and put them in your hands 2h later.
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The print time, and certainly the queue time for the printer head, for many things probably exceeds the delivery time.
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Not with systemd's integrated drivers. It'll print it before you know you want it!
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Not with systemd's integrated drivers. It did print it before you knew you want it!
There. Fixed that for you.
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Unless they use the new 3D printer [slashdot.org] that was announced three days ago.
What's more interesting to me... (Score:5, Insightful)
...is not that Amazon are offering same-day courier delivery - that concept is centuries old - but that the high street fails to provide an in-demand version of what used to make it unique: trained staff providing demonstrations and support on custom products and services, from meat to electronics.
I don't (didn't) go into local shops because they're cheaper, but because they are (were) better. Mind you, the local independent greengrocer - who is so resourceful with purchasing that they even pay local gardeners such as ourselves for the fruit of the dozen redcurrant bushes we have - also happens to be cheaper, as well as offering the rich flavours of fresh produce.
There was once a local independent electronics store run by someone who could fix any TV or telephone - and a short walk beyond that, a ham radio outlet full of half a century of gadgets, and he'd understand anything about anything at HF. A local computer store used to have an engineer who would build and sell co-processor cards in the back room. Going to any of these places was an education.
The hardware stores weren't staffed by snotty kids who just pointed at some Chinese junk on the shelf and shrugged if you asked them what was the best option, but people who were involved in building or carpentry or plumbing themselves, and who took joy in explaining how to operate some piece of kit - and, of course, if you weren't sure, you could pay them to do the work.
A retail job at places like this was a respectable career, not something you did because you failed at education or wanted something to get you through your undergrad studies. A customer wasn't someone you tried to fleece and then he'd fuck off disappointed but out of pocket, but someone who'd come back year after year.
So, I say it's not that Amazon has displaced the high street, but that the high street no longer delivers what it used to deliver. Is this because consumers have become lazy, compulsive and throwaway in their purchasing decisions? Probably partly. But the high street tried to chase the sell-quick-and-high starting in the '80s, and they've suffered terribly for it.
Re: What's more interesting to me... (Score:4, Informative)
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There's even a word for it - showrooming.
Add value or lower your prices (Score:4, Interesting)
If you have retail experience you will see that many people will come to the shop to try and then buy online.
People do this when your prices are higher than online or when they get no extra value from your "retail experience". People engage in showrooming at Best Buy precisely because their prices have historically sucked compared with online and the retail experience is nothing special. People shop at places like Bass Pro Shops because the retail experience is outstanding for their target audience. It adds value to the trip so people are willing to go out of their way to go there. People shop at Walmart almost entirely because the prices are low despite the fact that the shopping experience is widely acknowledged to suck. People shop at Nordstroms for exactly the opposite reasons - they know the prices are high but the service is generally excellent and that has a value to many people.
You can compete on price or you can differentiate yourself with added value in some way.
One counter is to sell your own products but that does not work in every sector.
Name one please. I can't think of one offhand where it couldn't work.
Re: Add value or lower your prices (Score:1)
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Could you manage to sell locally video games, DVDs/BlueRays ?
Sony did sell Sony branded video games and DVDs in their own stores. Microsoft too at least for the video games. You definitely can sell your own brand of stuff. I'll say again that there is no fundamental obstacle to a company selling their own branded merchandise in any sector I can think of.
You have a bit of a bias, younger audience will go a long way to save a few pounds and are not as appreciative of the staff skills as you are.
It's not a question of personal bias (which BTW you misunderstand mine badly). Some stores are popular because of the customer experience - they provide extra value and charge for it. People don't shop at the Ap
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Re: What's more interesting to me... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you have retail experience you will see that many people will come to the shop to try and then buy online. One counter is to sell your own products but that does not work in every sector.
Which reinforces the OP's point that shops need to offer more than aisles of product and a cash register. I went into a hobby store yesterday to look at, and possibly buy, an RC truck. I'm completely new to the hobby so I had many questions, such as "what would you use 5 channels for in an RC truck", "can the model with the brush motor be upgraded to brushless, and how much would that cost", "Can the 2WD models be upgraded to 4WD", etc etc. I needed a sales person who knew how to help me find what would be best for me. Instead, the shop was staffed by a 10 year old kid (not kidding) and a couple of older kids whose ages were a bit ambiguous but definitely under 16. I'm sure they are good kids but they don't know how to be a good salesperson.
This is kind of an extreme case but you can't sell product if you put no effort into selling product! In this case Amazon prices are the same as hobby shop prices (probably due to strict MSRP rules) so I would have been happy buying locally. And it doesn't help that nowhere are there comparison charts between some of the different RC models. Traxxas has about 8 different versions of the 1/10 Slash truck, but no table of differences. I expected a 30 minute education and buying experience, but now I have to research all over the internet, through countless forums, to answer all my newbie questions. Give me a decent salesperson any day of the week.
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Eat shit, AC.
I'd rather (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd rather live in a state where Amazon wasn't, have 2 day free shipping, and not have to pay sales tax.
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I don't see how this delivery model can scale... (Score:3)
They currently are offering this service to 25 ZIP codes - likely those directly surrounding a distribution center. However, there are several logistical factors that just seem to make this unworkable to scale:
1. If I place seven orders a day, I alone have monopolized a driver and his vehicle for an entire work shift if the distribution center is 30 minutes away from me. That's the labor cost and vehicle cost for an entire day that my orders must pay for in "shipping".
2. 30 minutes one way trip is optimistic, I live in the 25th largest city, and it took me 80 minutes round trip just to go to a Radio Shack that had an item I needed in stock, 1/3 of the metro area away.
3. Even if there were distribution centers where every Walmart has a store in the US and they had a fleet the size of FedEx themselves (FedEx even just does a daily route), can they really keep the kind of items everywhere that I would order? Today, soldering iron tips, NiMH battery sub-c cells with solder tabs, replacement cherry mx keycaps, other days Loc-tite blue adhesive, 55" 4K TV, USB floppy drive, heat pump valve, that Spiderman comic from 1993...let alone that 80% of the items on Amazon are single-item-only things from marketplace sellers, very few of whom ship their entire inventory to Amazon for safe-keeping.
The challenges here are likely why they are thinking WAY out of the box, like delivery drones.
Re:I don't see how this delivery model can scale.. (Score:4, Informative)
1. If I place seven orders a day, I alone have monopolized a driver and his vehicle for an entire work shift if the distribution center is 30 minutes away from me. That's the labor cost and vehicle cost for an entire day that my orders must pay for in "shipping".
Only if there are no other deliveries to be made anywhere near you.
Batching and operations research (Score:5, Interesting)
If I place seven orders a day, I alone have monopolized a driver and his vehicle for an entire work shift if the distribution center is 30 minutes away from me.
Probably not true because the delivery person would probably batch several deliveries into a single run. In fact it would be seem to be economically insane to do otherwise. This only works in high population density locations (presumably) so you aren't likely to be the only person ordering stuff at a given time near your location. It would take some clever software and planning but it's doable. My undergrad degree is in industrial engineering and this is a pretty nifty operations research [wikipedia.org] problem.
Even if there were distribution centers where every Walmart has a store in the US and they had a fleet the size of FedEx themselves (FedEx even just does a daily route), can they really keep the kind of items everywhere that I would order?
Of course not. It will necessarily be a limited menu so to speak. Same reason Walmart doesn't stock everything in their stores that you can buy through their website.
Amazon are single-item-only things from marketplace sellers, very few of whom ship their entire inventory to Amazon for safe-keeping.
I shop a lot through Amazon and only about 20% of what I buy comes from marketplace sellers and maybe 5-10% is stuff Amazon doesn't stock themselves. 90% of the time Prime delivery is an option. In any case this rapid delivery service will almost certainly be for stuff you buy from Amazon themselves only.
It's actually kind of a brilliant idea for the same reason that Walmart opening big stores in small towns is a great idea. If they can get there first and be the first to make it work at scale, it (potentially) takes a lot of the oxygen out of the room for competitors. The biggest threat to Amazon right now is companies like Walmart realizing that their stores can also serve as warehouses and getting their IT up to snuff. Amazon has been building warehouses all over the place to get ahead of this competitive threat. Amazon will have a hard time matching Walmart in small towns but with this Walmart might have a hard time matching Amazon in big cities.
Radio Shack (Score:2)
I'm kind of surprised they didn't buy into the radio shack storefronts to get every-town distribution locations - even if it's just a "pick up" site.
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I'm kind of surprised they didn't buy into the radio shack storefronts to get every-town distribution locations - even if it's just a "pick up" site.
I'm sure they thought about it but that's a VERY speculative bet, even for Amazon. Radio Shacks are not exactly prime retail space and it's not clear if it makes sense to use it as a sort of post office box. The entire value proposition of Amazon to most of us is that we don't have to go anywhere to get what we buy. Once we have to go somewhere to pick it up there is no longer any advantage in choosing Amazon over say Walmart or Target. Remember that Amazon is a low margin business at least on the physi
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There's a lot of retailers who have realized it - and who have gotten their IT up to snuff and offer "order online, pickup in store in an hour" services. (Concentrating on getting the customer in the store isn't a mistake.)
The problem for these retailers isn't IT (as it so often isn't), it's the infrastructure and overhead involved in setting up
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1. If I place seven orders a day, I alone have monopolized a driver and his vehicle for an entire work shift
A solution to this problem is to put more than one package on each truck, rather than sending out a separate truck and driver for each package. I am not sure if they thought of that, since it is a pretty deep concept.
can they really keep the kind of items everywhere that I would order? Today, soldering iron tips, NiMH battery sub-c cells ...
No. Amazon sells over 20 million items, but only about 10,000 are eligible for Prime-Now.
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UPS does it by bundling a whole days worth of stuff in a truck and creating an optimized route via server software for that purpose then giving it to the driver. How is Amazon
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They currently are offering this service to 25 ZIP codes - likely those directly surrounding a distribution center. However, there are several logistical factors that just seem to make this unworkable to scale
It's always been Amazon's stratergy to take a loss when entering a new market. They'll do that here too.
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I live very close to the Baltimore distribution center. What they've done there is position it right in the middle of where all the major highways here intersect. You really can get to any other part of Baltimore in 25 minutes from there. I suspect they're going to limit this service to popular items in cities where the layout makes things feasible.
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In Miami, that would be somewhere near State Road 836 and the Palmetto Expressway... both of which are surrounded by some of the most dysfunctional arterial roads in the world (even if the new 826-836 interchange itself is pretty sweet).
Golden Glades? (ROTFLMAO, pounding the floor and gasping for breath).
Turnpike @ 836? Maybe if they bought the FHP office & got their private on/off ramps in the deal. Via 107th Avenue? HAHAHHAHA. That's a good one.
Dadeland? Anywhere near I-95? You can't be serious. Every
delivery in one hour??? (Score:5, Funny)
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Not even if you forget the time to make the pizza. My local Domino's gets the pizza to my place in half an hour and that is including making it.
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It's not magic. They simply installed ovens in their delivery cars.
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FYI, I live 10 minutes out of the center of Baltimore, and this doesn't cover my zip code. I think the zip codes are a very small area.
Amazon Launches One-Year Delivery Service To Aus (Score:1)
Yes, I'd be afraid of Amazon (Score:4, Informative)
With great power comes great responsibility, with late-stage capitalism comes winner takes all. I'm prepared to give up optimal pricing and some of the the rational economic man stuff for 'choice' and 'quality of life'.
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However that was nearly always one class of products, this is a lot more 'horizontal', everything needs to pass through the Amazon door, if it comes to that.
Nothing to fear (Score:2)
I live in the UK and have cut down on Amazon for nearly 'everything'. I appreciate their efficiency, their systems and their prices but I don't want to live in a world where there's just one shop.
That's highly unlikely. Furthermore you might have that backwards. Think of it like this. Amazon is forcing lots of other companies, big and small, to step their game up with regards to online shopping which is almost entirely to your benefit. I assure you that Walmart and Target and other retailers have no interest in going out of business so shop where it makes sense for you and if the others eventually catch up then switch to them. Think of it like tough love for companies that haven't thought hard
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Wait, what? Did you really just claim that unless Amazon has a monopoly on the entire retail sector it isn't developing a monopoly on certain aspects. Retail is further divided by both,at least, a perceived quality of good and type of good
This is really misleading. Retail is not fungible. There are tons of places in America where there is literally one shop (either a dollar store or
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Wait, what? Did you really just claim that unless Amazon has a monopoly on the entire retail sector it isn't developing a monopoly on certain aspects
I'm claiming that Amazon getting a monopoly is highly unlikely. Name one area where Amazon has a monopoly. Go ahead, I'll wait. Having a big impact != having a monopoly. Amazon has a big impact but no part of their business could reasonably be described as a monopoly at this time.
This is really misleading. Retail is not fungible.
It's not misleading at all. Walmart has a huge impact but it's still not a monopoly. It has some very local areas where it might be considered one (one store towns) but across the retail marketplace it's merely first among ma
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I use local shops now (in a small village of about 8 to 10 thousand folk) to keep small businesses (and big UK) who are UK tax paying businesses in being. I now buy signifficantly less from Amazon (zero so far this tear of 2015). The are killing local businesses and avoiding paying their fare share of local taxes. Their mama management /remward is not so good, but 'just legal' to avoid prosecution. Also I do not have delivery slot problems, where I or wife had to wait in to receive parcel. (A major point!)
Amazon isn't what many people assume (Score:2)
Even though I do think brick and mortar stores should at least be aware of what Amazon is doing.
I assure you that they are acutely aware of what Amazon is doing.
The question still remains if Amazon can actually stop bleeding red and profit.
Amazon could be profitable tomorrow if they chose to be. You only have to look through their financial statements to show that. They reinvest heavily in growing the company and in some pretty speculative projects (Fire Phone) and as long as Bezos is CEO I don't see that changing. And honestly I think that is a good plan at least in principle - and so far the execution has been good. The biggest danger to Amazon is if a company like Walmart
Obligatory (Score:1)
They are getting closer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA_gwzx39LQ
It's how things used to be! (Score:1)
Drive to Baltimore (Score:2)
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I checked where I live (Glen Burnie) which is about 10 minutes outside of the center of Baltimore, and they didn't deliver there. I am unsure where in Balt they do deliver to.
If I could find a Starbucks in their delivery area, just have it delivered there and pick up a coffee while I am out. :)
finally (Score:1)
Retail is dead anyway (Score:4, Interesting)
Retail is dead anyway, but the brainless corpse hasn't quite gotten the message yet.
I miss the day of the independent hardware store, grocer, pharmacy, camera shop,hi-fi store, etc. The first wave of crushing those small businesses came in the 70's - 80's in the form of malls. Many independents went to the malls and survived. Those who refused, well -- I've seen entire city blocks of shops and cinemas close due to the malls. (Santurce, Puerto Rico, for example, lost I'd say over 90% of its cinemas and retail stores, all due to one mall.)
During the 90's big-box retailers such as Target, Walmart, etc. came and shredded what was left. Now malls are populated by franchise chains, not independents - and the malls themselves are a dying breed in the US.
So what do I think of Amazon and other e-tailers? I love it. Shopping for some things such as shoes and clothing can be a bit difficult, but for other goods such as music, blurays, books, parts, etc -- I don't even bother going to a mall, what with the crowds and stupid, ignorant sales staff. With Prime and a few dollars i have to wait only a day. Surely I can do that! Maybe not 20 years ago, but now I have the patience.
For some of my fringe hobbies I go out of my way to support the small businesses. Like Marshall Street for disc golf, for example - they're a little store in Massachusetts. Or Airline Museum for aircraft die-casts. Or RightStuf for anime. It's not all about Amazon, one can (and should!) give business to small online shops who deserve it!
Amazon is revenge on the big-box stores for wiping out small-time merchants. I don't think it set out to be that, but every time I see a walmart close I grin a little. I resented it when they popped up, and now I don't mind seeing them go.
I've even bought a few appliances from Amazon, without showrooming. Careful reading of descriptions and in-depth studying of reviews help to offset losing the ability to hold the object in your hand prior to purchase. So far I'm happy with my online appliance purchases.
It would be deliciously ironic if there's a renaissance of the small independent shop away from a mall. I'd love to see that. But then I'd love to see things made in the country of purchase again (USA for me) but that's, for now, just a dream.
Retail is dead, it shot itself in the head years ago. Good riddance.
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Of course you could have gone to Lowe's and talked to the sales guy and probably got it cheaper with a little haggling and a picture on your smart phone. Free pickup and with delivery install, go figure. If you time your purchase with sales you can get say all the blinds in the house installed for fr
Re: Retail is dead anyway (Score:1)
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I did go to Lowes, and Target, and even the hated Walmart - none of them had what I was looking for, so yeah, Amazon had it.
For truly big-ticket items such as washers, dryers, etc - that I would buy at a local store. But vacuums, wine fridges, etc? Amazon. The local selection of those two items, for example, is thin to none. Each store carries the same crap bottom-end vaccums and dyson hi-end, nothing in between. Amazon had the in-between. Wine fridge? None locally. I called. I perused web pages.
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With Prime and a few dollars i have to wait only a day.
It's actually far better than that. With Prime and a few dollars, I can avoid going to the mall entirely and wasting the two hours that horrendous experience entails. All-in-all, it's a profitable proposal for me, as time is precious.
When the need for having something immediately rises above my personal cost threshold for a trip to the mall, well, that's still an option. But in the name of all that is holy, why would you ever step foot in one of those things otherwise?
When malls first opened (yes, I'm th
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You're a business and a part breaks. That's why you have maintenance contracts.
Think of Amazon 1-hour as your maintenance contract, except not one one that leeches operating funds off of you every fucking month while the maintenance guy does nothing. Why hire a person to keep track of your supplies, when Amazon 1-hour can be your supply cabinet and you can stop tying up operating revenue with a stock room? Why spend all your time as a party coordinator when you can press a button on your phone and go enjoy your own party?
If you're a maintenance guy, or a paid planner, or a stockroom
"We also walk dogs" (Robert A. Heinlein) (Score:4, Interesting)
Am I the only wondering if Jeff Bezos was a science fiction fan? Robert Heinlein basically predicted an Amazon-like behemoth that did everything for everyone, called General Services. Granted, the book portrays them as less "product" and more "service," but the idea is very similar!
General Services got its start as a dog walking company, and grew from there. (Books anyone?) As a result of its humble beginnings, General Service's 's tag line is "We Also Walk Dogs." Really awesome read. I came across it in a compilation called "The Green Hills of Earth," which is chock full of other really nice little stories. And for those of you who have only read Heinlein's novels, I found the short stories a really refreshing read.
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Edward Bellamy, cousin of Francis Bellamy who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance along with prescribing its Nazi-like flag salute [cnn.com], wrote Looking Backward [wikipedia.org] in 1888 which included a prediction of "almost instantaneous, Internet-like delivery of goods". Well, that quote was from Wikipedia. Because the book predates Mickey Mouse, the full text [gutenberg.org] is available on gutenberg.org:
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"The Green Hills of Earth" sends me to the Way-back Machine(tm). Great stories. Lot's of optimism, despite whatever problems were in the stories. He wrote a lot about dystopian societies, generally communistic or religious totalitarianisms. The plucky protagonists always found a way out. It always helped that they were independently wealthy or off the grid.
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Not scared... (Score:2)
Evolution-De-Population of Rural America (Score:2)
Technology changes are making the mega-city areas more desirable. Is rural America going to be slowly boarded up?
Given the wholesale changes since 2000, it is easy to see that the mega-suppliers/dealers, Amazon, Walmart, drug dealers, etc, are only efficiently available in the denser areas, but now the (Un)Affordable Care Act is decimating smaller town hospitals along with the increasing difficulty of making small retail businesses profitable given everything from increasing regulations, taxes and lack of
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As somebody who works for a small retail business, I'm wondering, what are these "increased regulations" that you speak of? We haven't seen any and we've been in businesses for more than ten years.
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The most obvious are those associated with medical insurance, automobile & fuel requirements, electricity costs and added costs to electronics & devices for Energy Star & trace & potentially hazardous metals, like lead.
The increases are insidious in that most are built into requirements that the retailer, distributor and user never see as an individual cost. Some are indeed needed, like eliminating lead paint and asbestos. Others like using coal in power plants are questionable, but dozens
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Small town hospitals that display cowardice in battle are required to draw lots and 9/10 beat the losing 1/10 to death?
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Technology changes are making the mega-city areas more desirable. Is rural America going to be slowly boarded up?
Hu? I could live in Nowhere, Wyoming and, via Amazon Prime, get the exact same products at the same price and delivery speed as a guy in New York City.
I can, living at my semi-rural home, buy anything I need - and have it hand delivered to me. Why would I want to go to a city? What shopping is there that I can't get now?
A few years ago, for my wife's birthday, I had 50 gerber daisies shipped from central america, direct from the grower. (Surprisingly cheap, for the impact) I don't think a shop in my enti
Goodbye Retailers. Goodbye couriers. (Score:1)
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My Robot Avatar will then go to work instead of me; I can sit at home and watch TV,
eat potato chips (delivered by courier), and get Fat. I die at age 30 of obesity and
diabetes. This is good because a growing, young population is good for business.
I haven't figured out, though, if my Avatar will do the sex thing for me.
Dade County gridlock (Score:2)
One-hour delivery in Miami will be a good trick, considering that it can take an hour -- at 2pm or 9pm, let alone 6pm -- just to get from one side of 836 or the Palmetto Expressway to the other.
Miami doesn't have a road network... it has a random collection of point-to-point access routes that fan out like binary trees for the final half-mile beyond some hopeless traffic chokepoint at both ends. Other cities have gridlock in old urban neighborhoods. Miami has hopeless gridlock in brand new neighborhoods who
Re: (Score:2)
They'll be like autonomous trucks might be: 95% of the journey is GPS controlled, but the final approach and dropoff would be piloted by remote link. Making hundreds of landings a day will be mind-numbing and it will make the packing jobs at the warehouses seem like a day at the beach.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Beast starving patriots. Shop there more.