to think being able to drive is KEY skill for a woman ( particularly)

[FolornHope]

or not

I didn't mean that people don't put in big, buy in bulk, internet orders. What I meant was that if I order from Tesco, and so do 5 other people in my village, then Tesco drops them all off after having dropped off to other people in town on the way. That is good compared to us all driving to the Supermarket.

But if I ordered, say, a new sofa from Laura Ashley (I wish!) then the likelihood of anybody else local having done the same at the same time in minimal. So a half full van trundles to my house, possibly only dropping off a few things between Wales and Yorkshire. That was what the study suggested anyway.

But I suspect that many car drivers also order things off the internet, particularly big, bulky things. A lot of it is about us wanting more choice, and seeing more because of the internet. I no longer choose the sofa made in the factory made 5 miles from my house, because I have seen a Welsh made Laura Ashley sofa I want more.

Furniture delivery works on the same principle, though. I have ordered a wardrobe for DD and the shop gave me the delivery date based on our address, as the deliveries are grouped according to destination.

Logistics is a real job! And good efficient logistics make a massive difference to a retailer's profitability.

but if you ordered a sofa in person at the shop how likely are you to take it home on your own in the car........haven't people (usually) always got that sort of stuff delievered, either from the shop in person (or more recently online)?

Yes, ALFA and Bonsoir, I agree.

But the rise of internet shopping means we all have more choice, and are less likely to choose goods that are already in our area. That creates extra journeys.

Or longer journeys, rather than extra journeys!

Awa, in places like Ikea, unless the items are particularly bulky, I would cart the items home in the car and save on delivery. But for large items, like our new fridge, it was delivered by 2 burly men in an enormous truck, and good job we had them too!

For the fridge delivery, it was quite a good system in that the deliveries were done in the morning, emptying the truck. Then the collection of old fridges etc for recycling were done in the afternoon, once the truck was empty.

I don't think that the internet has changed much. Take consumer goods companies: they rationalised production Europe-wide for the most part in the 1980s, long before any of us had even dreamed of internet shopping. Mars Bars and Corn Flakes and Ariel were already only being manufactured at a single location for the whole of the EU 20 or 30 years ago. Sure, they get to our front door by a new route these days - but not a longer one. And the newly complicated issue is the last link in the chain, which is often only a matter of a few kilometres.

Ikea makes me feel unwell. Possibly that is another thread though.

The internet is a vital procrastination tool.

I was going to say that chicken food would be easier to collect in a car. But the truth is I wouldn't have gone to get it today even with a car because I am too busy wasting time on the internet.

Bonsoir, apart from Mars bars, what has mushroomed in recent years is the advent of the online retailer, which sells via ecommerce rather than through high street shops or supermarkets. Their distribution systems are still basic - I am thinking of my latest Boden purchases delivered from their Leicester warehouse. It is such etailers that have given consumers more choice not dictated by distance but rely on delivery from a central location,

I think it's fine not to have a car as long as you don't rely on other people having one to get around. In general, I mean, not when you're not allowed to drive (eg epilepsy). I loathe it when someone tells me she'll ride with me because she doesn't want to take public transport. Admittedly, not many people do that though, phew.

I'm in London and have a car. I don't use it a lot - need to fill up the tank about once every 3 months or so. I did use it constantly about a year and a half ago when my son was in hospital pretty much unreachable by public transport, especially with a boy in a wheelchair and then on crutches. It's made follow-up appointments there much much easier as well.

Having a car and being able to drive is like insurance for me - useful for a lot of things and necessary every now and then.

It was an orthopaedic hospital way far away (from me ). It had a lot of parking, thankfully! It's terrible to get to on public transport.

blueshoes - it doesn't matter whether you are a pure online business or a bricks-and-mortar retailer - you still keep your stock in a single warehouse for the territory you cover, and you either deliver to a network of shops or you deliver to the end customer. The logistics of the very fragmented delivery at the end point aren't as difficult as all that (postal services, courier services etc have been in that business for years).

Thinking about this thread this weekend when two lots of friends who ALWAYS drive and never use pt (remember this is London) said they couldn't do various Christmassy activities, like the ice rink at Somerset House and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park because parking would be too difficult

So you can be just as limited when you get too car reliant