[titanomachy]

"That will lead to some combination of better wages for the driver, cheaper delivery, or more profit for the furniture company."

Realistically: the driver will be paid close to minimum wage because he doesn't have any rare skills, and the customer will be charged as much as possible. The owners of the company will probably get decent return on their capital, though.

[cameldrv]

It depends on the economic and political climate. The efficiency aspect is undeniable -- the IKEA style driver is able to deliver more furniture in a work day.

As for who that efficiency accrues to, under properly competitive conditions, the customer should get most of it, and in fact, this type of furniture delivery is generally pretty cheap in the U.S.

What the driver gets depends largely on the aggregate supply/demand for low skilled labor, and labor's ability to bargain. Fifty years ago in the U.S., for example, low skilled labor, particularly in the trucking industry could do a lot better than today.