Mail order has become big. Once a specialist product may have been ordered once in a while, has become an everyday experience. This instant and easy shopping experience allows you to receive goods direct to your home. Instead of having to go to your local shopping area to buy clothes, food and other things you might need, it is now possible to order each of these individually from seperate retailers, or from one, without having to leave home.
The trouble of this independence dream is the environmental and sociological disaster. Each item having been shipped individually and commonly returned individually via a custom and personal delivery service means that every person is possibly creating about 10 times the amount of wastefully energy just in the delivery of these items. Things to consider.
- Often the items are already locally stocked having been transported in large singular quatities.
- Returns are more common and expected. Doubling the entire delivery process of something unwanted.
- Each item has to be sorted and transported individually from the stockist. This is after the initial delivery as a large stock quantity.
- Each item has to be packed individually in heavy duty packing materials used only once.
- The IT systems to support the purchasing systems are extreamly energy consuming.
- The managing of the transport systems are extreamly energy consuming.
- Low quality and unsafe products are sold without detection.
- The shopping experience is extreamly isolating.
- Local economies and social structures are lost.
- Helps increase the wealth divide by funding dominant global companies.
The benefits. These often include.
- Wider selection
- Cheaper
- No need to leave the house
I think the negatives outweigh the positives.