[losteric]

Depends on delivery density.

Apartment complex with loads of items delivered each day? Makes sense, though packaging is still environmental overhead. Lots of single family homes ordering individual items distributed across suburbia? Less efficient than customer driving to the store once a week to get everything they need.

[dantheman]

You are assuming they only go to the store once a week; and that there isn't a cost to them not having what they need when they need it. The cost can be in reduced productivity/time loss, etc or it can be in over-provisioning in which you buy extras that aren't needed (and may never be used).

[davidw]

Lots of assumptions and unknowns.

Implement a carbon tax and watch the market reconfigure itself.

Also: let's re-legalize corner stores!

[harimau777]

Just because a carbon tax re-organizes the market doesn't mean that the organization that it "chooses" is good.

[davidw]

It means the reorganization will optimize for less carbon usage though, which I happen to think is pretty good.

Electric vehicles might complicate things some (they still present some other negative externalities despite using less carbon); perhaps at that time we can look at other incentives or taxes.

[petra]

Those suburbanites probably work in a high density office building.

Amazon would deliver to the trunk of their cars.