I think what many people outside North America fail to grasp is the size of north America.
To give you an idea:
I live just outside Toronto (Ontario, Canada) and if i want to drive east to the next province (Quebec) it will take me 4 hours to cover the 450 KM. If i want to go to the next province to the west (Manitoba) It will take me 20 hours to cover the 2,000 KM. So to cut across Ontario you are looking at something like 2,450 KM
This is just my province of Ontario. The other provinces are not as large, but the country is vast when looking at Europe.
Using google maps, i can drive from the south (footbridge) to the north (ChargePlace,Scotland) and this ~ 1,200 KM?
In the case of my very simple order, one item is being shipped from 120KM away?
How often do you order something simple and one of the distribution hubs is 120KM away from you? There is a massive 1 million square foot hub a few blocks away but i guess it isnt big enough to hold what i wanted?
I hope this provides some context for you.