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Comment by fr0sty | Hacker News Reader

I appreciate the blurb but my point is Amazon.com will not be selling gasoline over the internet. Nor will your monthly Costco run be replaced by a giant insulated box delivered by UPS.

Yes online retail is a small and growing portion of the retail sales market and the market is large but it is not as large as some might think.

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You could sell gasoline over the internet. A tanker could find your car and fill it up overnight sometime as the delivery mechanism. In urban areas this might be more efficient than gas stations...

It's more efficient for someone to deliver that box from Costco to several houses close to each other than it is for several people to all drive to Costco. When most people visited several stores then driving into town was more efficient but the big box stores really change that equation.

EX: Giant home delivery is not free, but compare how much it costs to drive to the store and do the shopping yourself and it quickly comes out significantly ahead.

Not to split hairs, but I think it's interesting: If you drive somewhere to pick up, you pay cost of transportation, while if they deliver, they'd pay that cost. Therefore, the delivery service might raise prices making consumers believe that driving to get it yourself is a better deal. Kind of like the guys willing to drive 300 miles to save $500 on buying a car, I find people often underestimate the opportunity/transaction costs of purchases made in person.

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