Don’t tick the “next day delivery” box without really needing it. Urgent delivery means that delivery vehicles go out only partly full and travel further to get to delivery sites that are more spaced out. It basically chops off a large part of the energy, human and cost efficiency of mass parcel delivery, but it’s ooooh, soo seductive. Please don’t fall for it (it’s a marketing ploy), unless the sky is going to fall in if you don’t get widget A by tomorrow. #climate#Mail#Delivery
@helenczerski I understand there are probably business reasons why this changed, but I miss the days where it was an option to explicitly say: Don’t do partial orders, wait until you have it all, then ship it to me in one box.
What’s the point of having half the parts for a DIY project early, for example?
@helenczerski Story about this. Once upon a very long time ago I had some new servers to build up, and there was some minor component I wanted for them. So, on a Saturday, I ordered it online, and, since I planned to do the build on the Monday, I ticked the box.
Sunday morning, 10 a.m., there's a knock on the door. I open it, and there's a very tired Dutch man with the package. There had been none in stock in the UK, so he'd driven through the night from the Netherlands to Scotland!
@helenczerski I wonder if this varies by shipper and location? For amz it now doesn’t seem to matter how far off the delivery date is, it still ships to me the same amount of time ahead of the delivery date. I changed my shipping preferences for awhile (thinking environmental impact & safety), but stuff was mostly still getting shipped next day or maybe, sometimes, two days. I wonder if it’s because I’m in a major metropolitan area, so most orders are filled hyper locally.
@helenczerski Yes, right. The first thing I ask when placing an online order is, "Do I need to get this right away?" Pretty much every time, the answer is, "No!" It will get here when it gets here.
@helenczerski Just like net zero, your small change won’t make a difference. Changes need to be made at scale for it to matter, so stop blaming yourself for the meta crisis.
You won’t put more delivery vehicles on the road; those are level loaded. Lower-priority packages are bumped to a following day to make space.
The big difference is that you’re making it more likely that your logistics has to use air freight to meet promise. Order of magnitude more carbon-costly.
Those planes fly regardless of fullness, but the 1-Day delivery is used for capacity planning. More 1-Day’s, more planes leased and scheduled.
@helenczerski
I always hit the button for "group into as few deliveries as possible" and then they deliver it next day anyway so I'm not sure what's going on there.
@helenczerski
Not a great Amazon fan, I try to spend elsewhere. If necessary I can pick up from the Post Office at the top of the hill by bike, that makes me happy.
@helenczerski Next day delivery was impossible when it took two days for the order in the post and then three working days for the cheque to clear... Can't remember the last time I saw the phrase "allow 28 days for delivery"...
@helenczerski In urban areas I would say that's not the case. The vehicle covers the same area every day and most depots aim to load all parcels every day so there's nothing left in the depot - everything's out for delivery
@helenczerski Thay doesn't match my experience when younger doing deliveries, have you seen studies that show that's how it's done nowadays? Perhaps during transition phase it was done that way, but that wouldn't be very profitable. I'm not finding academic sources easily but business sources suggest something different https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/beyond-the-distribution-center
@CliffsEsport I’ve been told this repeatedly by people who work in the delivery industry, in the past two years. It’s definitely an issue now. And they make the point of saying there’s no such thing as “free” delivery, as well.
@helenczerski I'm just profoundly curious. I'd agree same day/next day delivery would not be competing on price with slower delivery (ie nothings free), it would be a premium service. But it would still be competing w other same day/next day delivery. Suspect there is literature on food delivery (pizza etc) which should be at least somewhat similar business wise. My guess is move towards more hubs with X delivery radius mainly in areas w enough business volume to be profitable.
@helenczerski one thing I've noticed from personal observations w Amazon here in the States: I'm cheap and always use free shipping, it used to actually take longer to travel from warehouse to me via tracking updates; now they just wait to ship till 2 days before ship date. So it's traveling at same speed through the system as premium fast delivery they just don't ship it same day they receive order. 🤷♂️
@helenczerski Everything is wrong with parcel delivery - an industry that developed with as much planning as the average shanty town. Neighbourhood delivery hubs are the answer - max 100 m from any home; no re-visits by drivers etc. Could be very (energy & time) efficient with a bit of thought.
@helenczerski When using Amazon, I always try to get my deliveries to go to my local Amazon Locker. It's not only better for the environment (as they are going there anyway), but also more convenient for me as I can collect the items at my leisure.
@andycarolan@helenczerski I imagine it's more comfortable than having the packages left on your doorstop or having rando drivers come to your place, too.
@falcoskywolf It's actually really convenient. I would happily have all my parcels go to a local locker... size depending. I mean, I wouldn't want a heavy mattress delivered to a locker for me to carry home on my bike lol. @helenczerski
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