The delivery services of retailers may be showing us the real cost of convenience
Reading that Walmart is entering the South African market with a 60-minute delivery service gives a severe case of déjà moo… that sense of suspecting that you’ve seen this BS before. Of course, it’s a convenience for single parents, the elderly, and even women who may not feel safe going out at times. But is the 60 minutes really necessary?
Delivery bikes becoming a hazard
Thanks to delivery riders, comedians finally have something more ubiquitous than airline food to discuss. More than that, one can’t really give much claim to the good that the 60-minute window does. Does it make it easier to plan? I guess, but guess what, one could plan better and cater for a two-hour window. Surely 30 minutes is more convenient than 60, but somebody with a brain thought that may be too little time in an era before teleportation.
If one notices that the rush is affecting driver behaviour, perhaps they should step in and change something. Walmart may have missed the campaign of a lifetime, offering an anxiety-ridden country a calming ad asking, “What’s the rush?” Instead, they leaned into a silly market without even trying for a competitive edge. Marketing gurus, you can use the term “repetitive edge” for free.
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And yes, we have bigger problems. It’s not like John Steenhuisen is lining up with his credit card to sign up for whatever Walmart is calling its delivery service. It’s not like the Emfuleni mayor’s office is simply going to shift from its fast food favourites just because there’s a new player in town.
One cannot just keep adding pressure, never check on the food, and expect the result to taste good. Surprisingly, the ingredients in the pot still matter.
Just look at how your top local schools are always boasting about a 100% pass rate for however many years. May they have all the kudus and make biltong with it, but all it does is empower the parents to dump the kids in the school and expect results. After all, that’s what the school positioned itself to offer. Similarly, when you position yourself to have one’s stuff delivered in 60 minutes, you don’t place much emphasis on safety, quality of the goods or even the driver’s well-being.
Is the convenience worth it?
If you want a good podcast, start one discussing the horror stories of delivery drivers – especially those who take a 65-minute liberty.
Some things just require us to take a step back and ask whether the convenience is worth it. Sixty-minute delivery? It certainly sounds cool, though it may never have been properly considered why 60 minutes is the magic number. Is it the right number? Do drivers need more time? Can customers afford more than 60 minutes? Is the rush a threat to road safety, and does the pressure affect drivers negatively?
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It would be interesting to hear how many road users have stories to tell about witnessing a delivery driver-related accident. What would be more interesting is having the conversation about why this service is important beyond convenience, and whether convenience can be constricted for a greater good.
Maybe there is no greater good to be had. Maybe we are far too reliant on the convenience element. Perhaps we’re even happy with the cost. We’ve come to accept road deaths for the convenience of being able to drive, which, on reflection, is pretty wild.
But convenience often trumps risk when the risk seems low, even if the effect is significant.
If, however, these institutions want to direct us to turn to online shopping with same-day delivery, that low occurrence can become a higher number pretty easily and before that happens, we need to ask whether it will be worth it.
