[eadmund]

> In the US can you not order food for delivery directly from supermarket, same for restaurants?

I think it's available in larger, older cities (e.g. on the East Coast), but in the rest of the country it's a lot rarer. I think maybe it's much the same reason we no longer have bellboys, ushers or elevator attendants: minimum wage & payroll taxes rose to the point that it wasn't cost-effective for grocers or customers.

[DanBC]

In the UK we have higher minimum wage, and higher petrol duties, and yet we manage to have extensive supermarket delivery.

And it's been happening for many years - the first "online" shopping from home happened in the UK, from Tesco, in 1984.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24091393