- I'd rather have shipping be separate (but prominently displayed), so that buying multiple items in one order would be beneficial. But obviously a site has to have consistently good prices for this to make sense. (And eventually, a meta-buy engine that optimizes sourcing from multiple suppliers, but we can dream).

- I figure the prominence of free shipping has more to do with price fixing by the manufacturers (minimum advertised prices, etc), and perhaps rate secrecy by shipping companies as well. Since walk-in stores build logistics into the price tag, online retailers had to move to that model as well to have comparable prices.

- I still don't believe that direct shipping is three times the cost of brick and mortar fulfillment. I'd really like to see that accounting to make sure that it is including things like the full expense of running a retail store with employees, additional distribution centers, and clearance markdowns. I can see a strong temptation for a traditional brick and mortar retailer to count much of that as necessary overhead for their entire brand rather than attributing it directly to retail sales.