BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

It often isn't, but it is much more convenient.

E.g. I'm waiting for gear cables from Amazon today that are probably 20% more expensive than a local shop. But said shop is either Halfords and hour away which will probably have only one in stock, or will never have heard of such a thing, or 40 mins away but with a complex matrix of not open times, combined with the need to be patronised by a bike shop person if I ever find a day they are open. I would happily pay double to get them to my door.

And isn't it more efficient having one vehicle (haha, yes, I know) doing multiple deliveries than all those 'deliverees' driving various distances to choose a handful of items to take home? I don't know if there is any hard data on delivery miles per item comparing personal transport against delivery companies, but I imagine the differences must be quite significant, even with the multiplicity of delivery companies covering the same areas.

 

[PurplePenguin]

And isn't it more efficient having one vehicle (haha, yes, I know) doing multiple deliveries than all those 'deliverees' driving various distances to choose a handful of items to take home? I don't know if there is any hard data on delivery miles per item comparing personal transport against delivery companies, but I imagine the differences must be quite significant, even with the multiplicity of delivery companies covering the same areas.

Some people live a bit closer to the shops, so it is less of a factor. Also, the people who live miles from anywhere effectively have their deliveries subsidised by urban dwellers, so they are not paying the real cost.

Furthermore, it might be possible for First Aspect to combine his trip to a shop with a social activity such that the shop trip is a by product.

 

[Psamathe]

...
I think the issue is how the inevitable (at least partial) decline of the High Street is managed, whether that's by creating more welcoming experiences for shoppers (e.g. Oxford St pedestrianisation), or other means, (for which I haven't got sufficient imagination). It's always hard to 'manage decline', as the word 'terminal' then tends to hove into view.

I wonder if the decline started many years ago when the (now) big supermarkets moved out-of-town. I remember as a child Mum going to a small supermarjey at one end of a High Street - a High Street that then also included butcher(s), grocer(s) so some stuff from supermarket, other from the more specialist shop.

Also there are a lot of "vested interests". Some have businesses that can't move online (eg pubs) others own High Street properties (where value drops if High Street declines), etc.

Several years back local publican (only pub in village) had been losing money for years, couldn't sell because it wasn't a viable business, she got diagnosed with cancer so only way for her was to apply for planning permission to convert to residential use; at which point lots of objections as many wanted village pub to stay as village pub even though none of those objecting ever actually used the pub. Other local pubs only business is trades stopping off for a pint on their way home on a Friday, deserted rest of the time.

 

[First Aspect]

Some people live a bit closer to the shops, so it is less of a factor. Also, the people who live miles from anywhere effectively have their deliveries subsidised by urban dwellers, so they are not paying the real cost.

Furthermore, it might be possible for First Aspect to combine his trip to a shop with a social activity such that the shop trip is a by product.

In fairness I do try to combine going to said town centre on the way home from doing something else, e.g. lunch out.

 

[Psamathe]

Also, the people who live miles from anywhere effectively have their deliveries subsidised by urban dwellers, so they are not paying the real cost.

Not seen that before - source? I'd have thought a degree of swings and roundabouts as whilst a bit further between rural locations, no traffic jams for delivery drivers to sit in for 154 mins several times a day. But I've never seen the calculations.

 

[First Aspect]

Not seen that before - source? I'd have thought a degree of swings and roundabouts as whilst a bit further between rural locations, no traffic jams for delivery drivers to sit in for 154 mins several times a day. But I've never seen the calculations.

I think it's a peverse way of saying delivery charges are the same everywhere you live. It's about as stupid an argument as saying that food in cities is subsidized by the countryside.

 

[Shortfall]

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This seems like a perfect illustration of 'unicorn brain': like the pubs issue, the world has changed, and High Streets as we knew them are largely redundant. People have got used to drinking at home, as social connections are less dependent on all being in the same room together; and people have got used to buying stuff online. But they *demand* that politicians keep pubs open and High Streets thronged with people, simply because they can't let go of the memories of 50 years ago. It's absolutely nuts. But we know that no politician will dare tell the truth that that world ain't coming back, and seismic change is inevitable.

I love drinking in pubs and I don't think I'm alone. I reckon the reason most people are drinking at home rather than down the boozer is largely down to cost and not preference. Unless you're in Wetherspoons then you're looking at around a fiver a pint and much more in some towns and city centres. Throw in a curry and a taxi home and that takes the cost of a good night out with the lads to a days take home pay for people on minimum wage. There are many reasons behind this that I don't want to get into here, but the days of having a couple of pints after work with your mates and then having a session on a Friday and/or Saturday night are largely over for the working classes. Some people might see this as a good thing I suppose.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Not seen that before - source? I'd have thought a degree of swings and roundabouts as whilst a bit further between rural locations, no traffic jams for delivery drivers to sit in for 154 mins several times a day. But I've never seen the calculations.

Royal Mail is forced by regulation to make its urban customers subsidise rural customers despite these "swings and roundabouts". I cannot see how Amazon would not have to have a similar system of subsidies, unless it is allowed to offer a worse or more expensive service to rural communities.

 

[briantrumpet]

I love drinking in pubs and I don't think I'm alone. I reckon the reason most people are drinking at home rather than down the boozer is largely down to cost and not preference. Unless you're in Wetherspoons then you're looking at around a fiver a pint and much more in some towns and city centres. Throw in a curry and a taxi home and that takes the cost of a good night out with the lads to a days take home pay for people on minimum wage. There are many reasons behind this that I don't want to get into here, but the days of having a couple of pints after work with your mates and then having a session on a Friday and/or Saturday night are largely over for the working classes. Some people might see this as a good thing I suppose.

Agreed. Occasionally I even have the pleasure of being entertained by Mr @Ian H and his friends in my local though they definitely don't do curries.

 

[briantrumpet]

Several years back local publican (only pub in village) had been losing money for years, couldn't sell because it wasn't a viable business, she got diagnosed with cancer so only way for her was to apply for planning permission to convert to residential use; at which point lots of objections as many wanted village pub to stay as village pub even though none of those objecting ever actually used the pub. Other local pubs only business is trades stopping off for a pint on their way home on a Friday, deserted rest of the time.

This. It'll probably be the same people who want to stop any village businesses expanding their premises or new houses being built, but moan when the village school is threatened with closure because there are only 23 pupils. As much as I hate Jeremy Clarkson, and suspect he is terribly objectional in trying to do stuff on his farm, I think he had a point about his attempts to make Diddly Squat more profitable, against the wishes of vocal villagers.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think it's a peverse way of saying delivery charges are the same everywhere you live. It's about as stupid an argument as saying that food in cities is subsidized by the countryside.

That was the Rick Chasey standpoint: why should he subsidise those dreadful rural areas he liked to cycle through, as everyone was making shedloads of money in London just for lots of it to end up outside of the M25. We had to ignore the fact that everything he ate was grown in those greedy rural areas, or in greenhouses in Holland.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Not seen that before - source? I'd have thought a degree of swings and roundabouts as whilst a bit further between rural locations, no traffic jams for delivery drivers to sit in for 154 mins several times a day. But I've never seen the calculations.

Just applying some logic. Amazon sometimes deliver 10 parcels in one go to my block, then they walk 20m down the road and do it again. Then they walk another 20m etc. At some point, they shift the van 100m down the road. In contrast, in rural Cumbria, it can be 20 mins between each delivery.

 

[PurplePenguin]

I think it's a peverse way of saying delivery charges are the same everywhere you live. It's about as stupid an argument as saying that food in cities is subsidized by the countryside.

I don't get your argument at all.