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Costco is the anti-Amazon

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Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#491

Post by cogman10 »

mike50 wrote: post #486
Insanity wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a metropolitan area and can walk to many stores within a 30 minute radius. (First supermarket is less than 5 minutes away). But there is the added complication of weight. I can’t buy food for a week without driving there. Nor can I go and buy a TV by just walking to the hardware store.

Personally owned folding shopping carts exist.

For those to be effective, you do need good walking infrastructure.

I'd grab one of those except for the fact that I don't have a sidewalk connecting me to the grocery store. Totes end up working better for me as a result.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#492

Post by luisln »

dietr1ch wrote: post #482
mlinsey wrote: post #472

Costco is an elegant solution for the suburbs, where everyone is driving around a vehicle large enough to store giant boxes off a pallet and bring them home. Here in NYC, it's really impractical to go to a warehouse and carry a month's worth of supplies home on the subway. The flip side is that the Amazon last mile deliveries are done on electric scooters that can bring a whole trailer worth of packages to the mailro…

I wish cities should design a delivery railroad. I don't want to let food delivery robots take over pedestrian spaces and having standardised package sizes and weight limits would help make things efficient.

Large cities are designed to get people outside, not keep them inside. A delivery raiload would take up space that could otherwise be used to transport people.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#493

Post by mike50 »

dietr1ch wrote: post #482
mlinsey wrote: post #472

Costco is an elegant solution for the suburbs, where everyone is driving around a vehicle large enough to store giant boxes off a pallet and bring them home. Here in NYC, it's really impractical to go to a warehouse and carry a month's worth of supplies home on the subway. The flip side is that the Amazon last mile deliveries are done on electric scooters that can bring a whole trailer worth of packages to the mailro…

I wish cities should design a delivery railroad. I don't want to let food delivery robots take over pedestrian spaces and having standardised package sizes and weight limits would help make things efficient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube_mail_in_New_Yor...

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#495

Post by wilg »

mike50 wrote: post #484
mlinsey wrote: post #472

Costco is an elegant solution for the suburbs, where everyone is driving around a vehicle large enough to store giant boxes off a pallet and bring them home. Here in NYC, it's really impractical to go to a warehouse and carry a month's worth of supplies home on the subway. The flip side is that the Amazon last mile deliveries are done on electric scooters that can bring a whole trailer worth of packages to the mailro…

This has to be astoturfed or something. There is literally a Costco in Manhattan and several in suburban Queens and Staten Island. Nothing stops you from going to Costco and just getting a cab back for a once a month trip.

It's also possible its not a conspiracy and you and the other poster just have different opinions.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#496

Post by jatins »

oa335 wrote: post #23
pupppet wrote: post #4

Whenever someone says America can do great things, I don't think of battleships, fighter jets, or AI models, I think of Costco.

Agree 100%. Costco exemplifies american dream... recent immigrants perusing well-stocked aisles, friendly employees, ample parking, cheap tasty hot dogs, etc.

> friendly employees

Where are the employees? There are so few employees (other than cashier) on the ground in a football field sized warehouse. Good luck finding someone if you have a question

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#497

Post by seaal »

mlinsey wrote: post #472

Costco is an elegant solution for the suburbs, where everyone is driving around a vehicle large enough to store giant boxes off a pallet and bring them home. Here in NYC, it's really impractical to go to a warehouse and carry a month's worth of supplies home on the subway. The flip side is that the Amazon last mile deliveries are done on electric scooters that can bring a whole trailer worth of packages to the mailro…

Don't know what I would do without Instacart.

Closest Costco is 1 hour on a bus or 22 minutes/9 miles driving. The Wegman's that delivers to me is 40 minutes/26 miles driving, all for a like 10-20% fee on every item. Honestly I'm surprised more people don't use it considering how much time they waste going to these places, and how much more they spend by walking through the stores in person. Sometimes I'll get the receipt and the price will be more than what I paid after delivery fee/tip.

I'm sad the 80$ for 100$ Instacart giftcard deal at Costco is gone. And the $2 off scheduled delivery. At least uber eats/doordash/walmart+/whole foods keeps this market competitive. Wonder how much trader joe's would make if they turned on deliveries?

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#498

Post by underlipton »

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 are correct, and the problem is an embarrassing lack of understanding and imagination on the part of the people criticizing you. An entire car dedicated to delivering one meal at a time, directly to the recipient, should be exorbitantly expensive to cover labor and resource costs for the driver; the artificially low prices customers pay are borne by drivers, who see essentially zero return in the long run when their profits are netted against vehicle costs.

What actually works is delivery of multiple orders to a semi-central location for last-mile pick-up by the customers. In a sense, this is what restaurants and grocery stores are. But to retain the variety, readiness, etc. of delivery, obviously some new solution must come around.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#499

Post by close04 »

mongol wrote: post #453
close04 wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s an unrealistic number to justify the argument. Unless you consume for the sake of consuming, there’s no way anyone needs an offer that rich for routine usage. Aldi and Lidl carry ~2-3k SKUs. A regular grocery will carry maybe 20k. In places where enough of these are built close to where people actually live you don’t ever need to touch the car for shopping. Small shopping centers (those that also have a somethin…

I use to shop at Lidl. As you say, they carry a limited SKU assortment. But I have found it doesn't really matter. When I go to a grocery store that carries more variety, it feels exciting, but in the end it makes no difference. As long as I can get the essentials, I will manage. I don't need 20 types of hamburger dressing. I can make my own from first principles. I don't need 40 types of yoghurt. I buy can natural a…

The rotation is because they stock the product for which they can negotiate the best discount.

But as you say the 20k SKUs premium stores stock aren’t a necessity. They drive up the costs for the store and the price for the buyer all so the buyer has the feeling they bought something different, when many brands are anyway the same product under different labels.

The premium store 3 minutes from my home stocks 30 types of mineral water. Aldi and Lidl stock maybe 3 of those 30. That’s what 99% of people buy anyway.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#500

Post by layer8 »

luisln wrote: post #492
dietr1ch wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish cities should design a delivery railroad. I don't want to let food delivery robots take over pedestrian spaces and having standardised package sizes and weight limits would help make things efficient.

Large cities are designed to get people outside, not keep them inside. A delivery raiload would take up space that could otherwise be used to transport people.

It could be an underground system, like sewerage. However, noise might be an issue.
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