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I hope Amazon is using this to take over last-mile delivery. That would be an amazing opportunity to roll out something like http://www.cargocap.com/ - though probably not in a typical US suburb.

In a somewhat denser city, doing last-mile delivery by something other than a people-killing, air- and noise-polluting truck just makes a whole lot of sense. I know it's far off but there are few companies other than Amazon that I would trust to pull it off.

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Grocery delivery is the kind of thing that only makes sense in the suburbs (for able-bodied people, anyway). I live in Berlin right across from a grocery store, around the corner from another one, and a five minute walk from 3-4 more.

That's a little more than usual, but really any well-planned moderately dense city should have most of your immediate shopping needs within a short walk. This is a service for suburban areas where you'd otherwise have to drive.

It would be nice to see them use electric vehicles, though.

Ocado, Tesco and others seem to do a reasonable line in home delivery in London - no matter how close the shop, if you're doing a week's worth of grocery at once home delivery helps.

But small urban retailers have some disadvantages: Higher prices, small selection and lousy experience.

E-commerce might improve the total value.

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