Conceptually this reminded me of "The Feed" from Neal Stephenson's Diamond age book (without the nanotechnology)
Free Shipping
31–40 of 50 posts
Re: Free Shipping
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
> With B&M shopping, even if you know exactly what you want, you have no idea if it's actually in-stock at your local $store. Many stores, especially the chains, have webpages that tell if an item is available in a store or not.
And then I order from said website. Why would I go to the store when I'm already on the web?
Because I get same day shipping at no extra charge. I've done it myself a few times. It is really nice to walk in and have everything waiting for me (this is even more important now that my kids are of the age to fight over who gets to push the cart until they dump it). Better yet, if they don't have it at that store I can go to the next store, their competitor, or pick a different model they do have in stock.
Amazon uses fast shipping, but they won't guarantee when it ships. I've been burned more than once (I mostly quit using them a couple years ago) because the thing I wanted didn't ship in time.
Re: Free Shipping
#33Instead of an Airbnb-style bartering economy, I'd expect a Netflix for household items would be more feasible. No worries about strangers using and breaking your things, no microtransactions to track. That sounds specially interesting in denser areas. Make it fast and easy for people to request and return stuff, and homes suddenly have a lot of extra space.
The challenge for household items is cleaning and hygiene. If I rent a construction tool, I don't mind if it has dirt and paint spots on it. For kitchen hardware, or many other household items, it needs to be clean. There are a lot of re-intake, cleaning and processing costs that are hard to avoid.
Re: Free Shipping
#34How about a service to take things OUT of the house. eg I have some metal waste - take that to a metal recycler. Used beverage cans (with deposit) to a charity.
Re: Free Shipping
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then I order from said website. Why would I go to the store when I'm already on the web?
Because I get same day shipping at no extra charge. I've done it myself a few times. It is really nice to walk in and have everything waiting for me (this is even more important now that my kids are of the age to fight over who gets to push the cart until they dump it). Better yet, if they don't have it at that store I can go to the next store, their competitor, or pick a different model they do have in stock. Amazon…
Hmm, seems like Europe is further ahead in this field (I'm in Prague, Czechia). I can order the item and have it in less than 6 hours delivered to my doorstep and professionally installed, guaranteed. It costs just around triple of what would driving my own car cost.
Re: Free Shipping
#36"Autonomous Amazon Locker on wheels". Check from mobile the schedule and track the exact location, go to pick up your goods when the vehicle is at your house.
I could imagine using this as a delivery mechanism if the price was right.
Re: Free Shipping
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because I get same day shipping at no extra charge. I've done it myself a few times. It is really nice to walk in and have everything waiting for me (this is even more important now that my kids are of the age to fight over who gets to push the cart until they dump it). Better yet, if they don't have it at that store I can go to the next store, their competitor, or pick a different model they do have in stock. Amazon…
Hmm, seems like Europe is further ahead in this field (I'm in Prague, Czechia). I can order the item and have it in less than 6 hours delivered to my doorstep and professionally installed, guaranteed. It costs just around triple of what would driving my own car cost.
That is available in some parts of the US as well (I have friend who get 2 hour delivery). I live "in the middle of nowhere", I can get to a big store in half an hour, but we the town is no big enough that anybody has got the fast delivery model down yet.
Re: Free Shipping
#38How about a service to take things OUT of the house. eg I have some metal waste - take that to a metal recycler. Used beverage cans (with deposit) to a charity.
I don't agree with all of David Siegel's views, but I first came across the concept of having a set of things you own always passively for sale (what he calls 'passive commerce') in his vision for pillar: "https://youtu.be/2VdICMlvo68?t=230"
(from https://medium.com/@pullnews/announcing-the-pillar-project-1... )
As someone who wants a more waste-free society and already keeps a running list of craigslist items for sale, ebay/cl watchlists, etc. I'd be open to innovation in this space.
Re: Free Shipping
#39How about a service to take things OUT of the house. eg I have some metal waste - take that to a metal recycler. Used beverage cans (with deposit) to a charity.
In Brazil we have this http://www.cataki.org/ (pt-br) an app that connects waste pickers to people who want to dispose reusable or recyclable materials.
According to this site 800,000 waste pickers in the country and 300 registered on the service.
Re: Free Shipping
#40Instead of an Airbnb-style bartering economy, I'd expect a Netflix for household items would be more feasible. No worries about strangers using and breaking your things, no microtransactions to track. That sounds specially interesting in denser areas. Make it fast and easy for people to request and return stuff, and homes suddenly have a lot of extra space.
Omni is pretty close to that - https://www.beomni.com/ - though it does feel like maybe a subscription fee would be better than one off rentals, maybe credits?