Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't know if I agree with the first para. Delivery of something has always been expensive. In the case of IKEA (what the previous poster was talking about), they contract out their delivery service, so everyone gets a cut. It's not cheap though.
Ikea delivery usually includes assembly, which needs to be factored into your assessment.
Anyway you could still self deliver for $20 or less with a Zipcar.
Ikea delivery usually includes assembly, which needs to be factored into your assessment.
Anyway you could still self deliver for $20 or less with a Zipcar.
Not here it doesn't. We had stuff delivered, and DH put it together. The assembly fee was separate.
As an aside, I have a friend who does "handyman" work, and he frequently gets calls to put together IKEA stuff after the purchaser can't figure it out.
As far as zipcar, you'd better rent an SUV. We had to have the stuff delivered b/c it wouldn't fit into our CR-V. No wonder zipcar has lost money almost every year it has been in business, if that's all it charges to have a car for a day. (Go to IKEA, find the stuff, buy it, take it home will take the better part of a day.) Home Depot used to charge $20 for 75 minutes.
But that's a circular phenomenon--if delivering goods was really a widely offered and used service, the cost would drop a lot. Businesses would treat it to some extent as a cost of doing business, but they don't have to now.
To me, a City Target above a transit hub like Atlantic Station, even if the store is huge, is a good thing, because it facilitates transit-based shopping. This brings us back towards major shopping being aligned with major transit.
I agree with this. You guys are going to get tired of hearing me say this but "back in the olden days of the fifties," I remember my mom shopping downtown at Marshall Field's in Chicago and having everything from clothes to furniture delivered by Field's own delivery trucks to our apartment in our neighborhood at no charge. One could have anything delivered then. That was before everyone had a car or depended upon them as much as they do today.
I remember when Sears began charging separately for their furniture delivery. There was a lot of complaining about it. Other furniture and appliance stores began delivery ads touting they too did not charge extra for delivery in their ads. One large applicance store had the slogan "Of Course, It's Always Free Delivery." But if you were able to take it home yourself, you could negotiate a few bucks off the purchase price like my dad did.
When people began buying larger station wagons, trucks and vans, furniture and appliances stores switched to ads saying they would give discounts to people who took their purchases home with them as opposed to having the store deliver them. Then they began charging for deliveries.
Not here it doesn't. We had stuff delivered, and DH put it together. The assembly fee was separate.
As an aside, I have a friend who does "handyman" work, and he frequently gets calls to put together IKEA stuff after the purchaser can't figure it out.
As far as zipcar, you'd better rent an SUV. We had to have the stuff delivered b/c it wouldn't fit into our CR-V. No wonder zipcar has lost money almost every year it has been in business, if that's all it charges to have a car for a day. (Go to IKEA, find the stuff, buy it, take it home will take the better part of a day.) Home Depot used to charge $20 for 75 minutes.
I believe they pulled their first profit last year. Also it just got bought by Avis so it'll be interesting to see if it changes at all.
There's been a lot of work done in this "big data" age about how to optimize delivery schedules, minimize costs.
Yeah, I know, I worked on that stuff. The catch is that except for parcel delivery (which are a field of their own), it doesn't work with occasional ad-hoc deliveries. So for one-offs which can't be shipped by a parcel carrier you end up spending a fortune.
Yeah, I know, I worked on that stuff. The catch is that except for parcel delivery (which are a field of their own), it doesn't work with occasional ad-hoc deliveries. So for one-offs which can't be shipped by a parcel carrier you end up spending a fortune.
Sounds like an interesting project. If you're big Ikea doing a lot of these, you can wind up doing a lot of deliveries. Not as many as UPS, but not one offs either. But the main thing is whether stores accept deliveries as a cost of doing business, as Marshall Fields did in the 50's. The business model would change.
Sounds like an interesting project. If you're big Ikea doing a lot of these, you can wind up doing a lot of deliveries. Not as many as UPS, but not one offs either.
Yeah, real furniture companies do that. Typically they break the area up into zones and they'll handle one (or more, depending on how many trucks they have) zones on a particular day. Still expensive, but not like rolling a truck for one item.
Quote:
But the main thing is whether stores accept deliveries as a cost of doing business, as Marshall Fields did in the 50's. The business model would change.
Not just the stores, though; someone has to be there to take delivery. Tough with so many 2-income households. Also, you can't make it a cost of doing business unless a large majority of the purchases are delivery; otherwise your competitors will beat you on price for items which are picked up.
Most americans are safely in a bubble at all times. If they really sat and thought about it, quite frankly they barely interact with anyone their entire lives. Urban living is the only way to LIVE in comparison.
Having met and dealt with other people, I can safely say i'm happy to NOT interact with them. In fact my happiness often requires running into them as infrequently as physically possible.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
