WelllllllllAndy Chalk said:Most consumers aren't driving big, diesel-sucking UPS trucks. Individual product deliveries eat up a lot more fuel, spew a lot more carbon, etc., than picking up all your shit in one or two trips to the mall. Carbon footprint doubles or triples if the UPS guy has to make two or three trips to deliver your shit. You're probably driving past the mall anyway, so why not nip it and pick up your shit rather than having a delivery company make extra, unnecessary trips?
I'm not saying he's right, but I don't think he's quite so obviously wrong either.
take into account that those diesel spewing trucks are already a factor even before the consumer reaches the store (because they have to get the product to the store), and that shipping now uses a complex logistics network to reduce inefficency in freight usage as long as you've selected a large enough timeframe (your overnight or one day shipping does more damage), i think i could trust that to be better at judging the cost as opposed to going to a store and hoping that everybody who goes to the store is individually efficient enough to balance the cost out
if you operate under the assumption that the truck coming to your house for the delivery is in the area just for you, you've either paid more for the service, or aren't considering that the truck also carries shipments for other customers, on a planned route that goes as far as to avoid making left turns so that the trucks aren't idling
free shipping programs operate under a larger timeframe and encourages you to stick to larger shipments as opposed to separate things so i think that goes a long way towards making things better