Is 24 hour delivery a good idea in this age of scarce and expensive energy plus environmental concerns?

Question

I'm not talking about medical supplies or other obviously urgently needed goods. I'm talking about consumer goods that are often offered along with a promise of 24 hour delivery.

Answer 1

Your question is puzzling to me; possibly because I work in transport and distribution.

I suspect that you do not understand how it all works.

The fact is, the big delivery companies run scheduled services on a daily basis, and to fairly rigid timetables: companies like DHL, ANC, The Post Office, Parceline, Palletforce etc etc.

Many of the big mail-order companies and consumer goods companies such as Argos or Currys (for example) are big enough to do similar things on their own, with a dedicated fleet provided by outrside contractors. In fact, because central “hubs” are used, the whole process is very efficient.

If you can imagine a spoked wheel, and draw a line across it, the spokes at the top are the input to the hub, and the spokes at the bottom are the output. This means that things fan in and then fan out again, more or less to a rigid timetable and on a daily basis. As things arrive, they have digital codes, and if something is 24 hours delivery, it receives priority and goes out on the first vehicle, (when everything is running smoothly). It doesn’t mean that there is an additional vehicle. Once the priority packages have been dealt with, the remainder of the packages are then processed, until a deadline is reached. After that, the lower priority items just join a queue of unfinished business, to be sent out at the next available opportunity.

It doesn’t matter what it is called (24 hours, first class, registered, special or priority), it does NOT involve additional transport, but merely additional attention and first-class status.

Of course, there are always problems, and sometimes, couriers have to deal with certain failures of the system, but that applies to anything in life. Also, the peak period before Christmas creates its own nightmares, and drives things beyond normal capacity.

It’s all actually quite eco-friendly (relatively speaking), and the alternative of people going around to collect their own goods, would be an environmental and transportation disaster. Trucks and vans, running through the night on clear roads, are very, very efficient.

Did you know, that a 44 tonne truck with a payload of 26 tons, will achieve about 8mpg of diesel?

If the same quantity of goods were collected by customers using their own cars and vans, it would probably use 100 times that amount of fuel.

Answer 2

I understand your question but whether it is delivered in 24 hrs or 24 days still takes the same amount of energy.

Answer 3

What's wrong with it?  These people are paying the freight, not asking you to do it.  Preventing them from doing business isn't going to make you any more money, or give you greater access to the resource.

It's clever marketing.

Answer 4

I think it is making our roads unsafe.  

It's always some yellow van (can't mention the courier company) that near misses me on the small roads here.  It can't be fun for the driver when one of the sheep gets out either, but why the hurry?  Oh that's right, multi drop and back again tomorrow to the same addresses because they are at work and no one home to sign for it.

Answer 5

Yes ... and no. I live in the exurbs; even paying a premium for overnight delivery, I can frequently get consumer goods delivered to my home at a lower cost to me than driving to the "city". The delivery company creates a lower carbon footprint delivering to the homes on my road than would be created by each of us driving in to the city on a given day.

24-hour delivery is NOT a good idea when it happens because of my lack of planning; as an environmentally conscious consumer I strive to place my orders so that as many as possible can be delivered on one specific day (by the usual companies). When one of my favorite vendors recently awarded its delivery contract to a company that has lower volume in my region, I stopped doing business with it.

This is an interesting question; I would guess that UPS or DHL websites, as well as USPS and FedEx could provide some statistics to show the carbon footprint of the delivery companies vs individuals driving all over to purchase one item here and another item there.

Of course, if you live in a pedestrian-friendly city, your milage may vary.

Answer 6

yeah - sod the energy and environment. we just want our goods - quick !

Answer 7

You obviously don't run a business. Turn your computer off if you wanna save some energy.

Answer 8

how many idea's found in business practices every single day are good for the planet?