Costco is the anti-Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#411

Post by mlrtime » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 11:42 AM UTC

cyberrock wrote: post #370

serial_dev wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t need time limit, you just need to deal with the company frequently enough for this to work. How I would imagine this work if there was will (I don’t think there is)… there are online grocery delivery services that do this already, it’s not that complicated. You get your stuff delivered in a reusable bag. They charge you 1 dollar for the bag. Next time you have something delivered, you give the bags back and…

That also leads to my other (perhaps main) issue with this idea, which is that it requires some level of coordination or synchronicity with the delivery courier that's simply inconvenient for both of us. I've lived in apartments that 90% of couriers of any service cannot find their way around, because they weren't simple take-elevator-and-walk-to-unit designs, so I thanked the stars when we got lockers at the gate. P…

It's a really bad idea, I don't see it happening any time soon. Cardboard is too cheap and easily recyclable.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#412

Post by mlrtime » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC

glpgeFwac wrote: post #342

bluegatty wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still probably more efficient for you to just drive to the centralized place. The amount of optimization and process improvements required to 'beat that' will be enormous, like infrastructural change enormous. Your car is very useful an generalized and adaptable. So are you. Only you know what you really want, the nuances of comparison, seeing things real, returning them. Economies of scale work extremely well f…

Home delivery being a first world luxury is a joke. Delivery is a labor intensive low-skill activity. It's fifty times better in developing countries, at least in the cities, where the marginal cost of sending someone to your house is so much lower. Unless you meant it's a luxury only in the first world, which I could get behind, especially food delivery.

Agreed with this statement. I've lived all over the world and have seen the wide differences.

I still remember living in a large suburb in India (not in the city; people had cars). We sat down for dinner and I asked if they had any ketchup. The host picked up the phone, spoke for 10 seconds, and 5 minutes later a boy knocked on the door with nothing but a single bottle in his hand. There wasn't even a grocery store close to the house that I could see.

Never living in any top-rated US cities have I seen anything close to that.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#413

Post by bell-cot » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC

> That said, there is no question that, in a better society than the one we have, key parts of Amazon’s operation would be retained for offering functions that contribute to the social good. The capacity to deliver prescription medicines same-day to the elderly is a genuine social contribution.

You know you're old when...

1920's-era "kid on bicycle" tech could do that. Ditto any healthy local social network. I do it occasionally for less-healthy family & friends.

Or - how many housebound elderly folks are already using DoorDash & similar?

Bigger picture, the best practice would be a dedicated service for this. Staffed by Nurse Aides, who interacted enough with their clients to notice developing problems early. Because compared to occasionally cycling old folks through the hospital - for "easily treated, if noticed sooner" conditions - that would probably have a negative cost.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#414

Post by mlrtime » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 11:52 AM UTC

bluegatty wrote: post #363

light_hue_1 wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Home Delivery - in most situations - is effectively a first world luxury. The comments here always blow me away by how totally out of touch with the rest of the world many posters are. No, home delivery is not a luxury, it just works really poorly in your country. India is going through a 15 minute or less delivery boom right now. It's gotten so popular that the government is asking companies to not promise 10 minu…

The comments here always blow me away by how totally out of touch with the rest of the world many posters are. Yes, home delivery is a luxury, and it 'does not work' in India - it's only evidence of an utterly broken system. It's a sign of radical inefficiency and economic failure that labour is being used for those kinds of things because it's extremely unproductive . "It has nothing to do with loopholes on anything…

You state things as fact without citing a reason.

For the person getting the item, it is [extremely] productive.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#415

Post by mlrtime » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 11:55 AM UTC

antiframe wrote: post #282

NavinF wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon already gives a discount if you're willing to wait for them to batch deliveries. Personally I would still have an order arriving every other day regardless of walkable/bikeable infrastructure. Same as most Americans.

Do most American's have an Amazon delivery every other day? It's not what it feels like where I live, but I might live in a part of the country unusually avoiding Amazon. While I see an Amazon truck every day, they visit 1-2 houses around me out of hundreds. If feels like there are Amazon households that get a delivery every or every other day and non-Amazon households that order 1-5 times a year (if that) and batch…

That's not the real question.... The real question is "On my block, what is the probability of any given house having at least one delivery on any given day"

I can say for certainty that Amazon delivers to my block every day. Adding 1 extra package is definitely more energy saving than me driving to Costco for the same thing.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#416

Post by throw1234567891 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC

tstenner wrote: post #403

hx8 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that has lived in a walkable neighborhood with a lot of shopping let me tell you, it doesn't solve the problem. Realistically you aren't going to reach more than 250k skus within a 20 minute walk of your home, and probably less. Even this is very heavily biased towards using retail space instead of space for anything else (homes, restaurants, parks, offices). You can only build up to add more space within…

I live in a walkable quarter and I can reach three full supermarkets and 2 specialty supermarkets within 5 minutes. Doesn't matter whether I need to stock up on milk, vegetables or hand peeled shrimp in garlic sauce, I can get it. Same with public schools (5 within a 2 mile radius), childcare (3), hospitals (2) and the park.

As you have to carry everything, how often do you go shopping?

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#417

Post by 5555624 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 12:40 PM UTC

khurs wrote: post #126

All the comments appear to be US centric, but Costco is also in other countries. So to tell you about the UK: Here membership is unusual in that it isn't technically open to everyone, it's business and certain professions: https://www.costco.co.uk/membership but in reality anyone who wants to join can find a way. Also no mention in the article of non-food. In UK Costco is known for special offers on electrical and wh…

> Here membership is unusual in that it isn't technically open to everyone, it's business and certain professions:

Price Club, a Costco predecessor was the same way.

In the early 1990s, Walmart (Sam's Club) wanted to merge with Costco. Costco said no and merged with Price Club.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#418

Post by mathgeek » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 12:54 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #406

ekianjo wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much more expensive when you have stores in the city so much cheaper to buy in larger surfaces in the suburbs

This is complicated, though, by the question of how you get there: suburbs may have lower land prices but everyone buys more of it and needs the expense of having a private car (usually one per adult). In the region where I live, 20-35% of household income is spent on cars and that doesn’t include the expense of the land devoted to them or road maintenance. If you live in a dense environment where you don’t need a ca…

> In the region where I live, 20-35% of household income is spent on cars and that doesn’t include the expense of the land devoted to them or road maintenance.

Statistically, a large amount of that is beyond what they need most of the time (whether size, quality, or range).

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#419

Post by Broken_Hippo » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 12:58 PM UTC

throw1234567891 wrote: post #416

tstenner wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a walkable quarter and I can reach three full supermarkets and 2 specialty supermarkets within 5 minutes. Doesn't matter whether I need to stock up on milk, vegetables or hand peeled shrimp in garlic sauce, I can get it. Same with public schools (5 within a 2 mile radius), childcare (3), hospitals (2) and the park.

As you have to carry everything, how often do you go shopping?

not who you were asking, but I walk to the store and carry my groceries home. Usually, twice a week or something. It's great. 10 minute walk each way, approximately, and never more than I can easily carry. I buy for two people. I'd go more often if I shopped for more. I do occasionally visit other stores - once or twice a month - because they have different selection of goods. To be fair, I'm still carrying the stuff because I walk or use a bus for most of my transportation needs.

It means my fridge can be smaller because I don't need to keep as much in there. It means it is really easy to shop whatever is on sale - I have two grocery stores near me. I rarely have vegetables that go bad because I can just buy the stuff I need. I can just stop on the way home from work if I'm working the day shift.

I did this for a while when I lived in the states, too, in a small town. I had a similar experience, but it was far less convenient and really only doable because I was in such a small town and lived alone.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#420

Post by jstanley » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

tstenner wrote: post #403

hx8 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that has lived in a walkable neighborhood with a lot of shopping let me tell you, it doesn't solve the problem. Realistically you aren't going to reach more than 250k skus within a 20 minute walk of your home, and probably less. Even this is very heavily biased towards using retail space instead of space for anything else (homes, restaurants, parks, offices). You can only build up to add more space within…

I live in a walkable quarter and I can reach three full supermarkets and 2 specialty supermarkets within 5 minutes. Doesn't matter whether I need to stock up on milk, vegetables or hand peeled shrimp in garlic sauce, I can get it. Same with public schools (5 within a 2 mile radius), childcare (3), hospitals (2) and the park.

Ok but that doesn't come close to the variety of products you can buy online.