Google offering same-day delivery from retailers in the Bay Area

Google can absorb some losses for now as they ramp up adding even more ads on search to subsidize this service (and others) but you know where this is heading. The math has to be there, either prices have to be sky-high or /and a delivery fee. See Kozmo, Webvan...

But, it looks like they are planning on charging a yearly/monthly whatever subscription fee, plus $4.99 per delivery per store. Whenever I order, I have my $4.99 (or $9.98 if it's from 2 stores) waived, and I'm currently on the 6 month free trial that claims to be waiving my subscription fee.

My behavior will definitely change if this is the structure they go with. I sure won't be paying $4.99 for each impulse buy I make.

I worry that Goog isn't getting valid data - the clear reason to run the trial - because the selection is low (compared to Prime) - and the multi-store fee is not active. They could bump the per-store fee up to $1 per store, and get more valid data.

My primary desire for same-day is groceries (milk and bananas) but I admit I live a 3 minute walk (literally) from a nice little Mexican grocery that has an in-house butcher, milk and most veg. It's good to get into the sunshine for a few minutes.

I'm not sure how the economics will work out or how prices may change once it will reach scale.

Google Shopping has no minimum order amount and for this 6-month trial period has no delivery fees. Though, their site eludes to a $5 delivery fee per store you order items from once the trial period ends.

Of course, Safeway offers delivery of perishable foods, while Google shopping does not.

I'm not sure what their general policy is, but, for a delivery service with a decent emphasis on speed, it makes sense to me to exclude items that could significantly slow down the shopper with extra employee interaction, especially since they'd probably only have one video game order per trip, tops.

Google's business is to make money, directly or in-directly. G-Reader didn't make much money, they tried advertising, it didn't work. Turns out people who use RSS, also tends to be tech savvy (a very small portion of overall internet users), people who are tech savvy are less likely to click on ads.

So they don't make any money from it directly, and I can't think of many indirect ways they could make a sizeable amount of money from tech-savvy users. They could start charging small amount per month, and as much as everyone said AFTER google decided to shut it down that they would be willing to pay for a paid service; I suspect in reality most would have just moved to another free service.

Another reason why it makes sense that google decided to shut it down, because now they have Social Site, Google+, from a business point of view it makes more sense for them if rss readers just subscribe to those site on G+. Less fragmentation and all that. I don't necessarily like it, but it makes sense from their point of view.

As to their delivery service. IF it actually turns out to be a serious business venture beyond testing the waters. I suspect, this would start making them money from very early days, if it really picks up that is. It has also the added bonus of knowing name, address, shopping habits of individuals. I would suspect, even if they don't make much money from delivery, those alone would be immensely valuable for Google and their advertisers.

Compare to that, an RSS reader seems like minor inconvenience for google. There is no comparison at all.

A self-driving car pulls up and double-parks in front of your building. It texts you to come outside and gives a four-digit pin. You go to the car, type the pin in, and a small door opens with your package sitting there. I guess the car has some weird conveyor system for moving packages into the pickup area.

Is this what you are thinking? I'm not sure how well double-parking by a self-driving car would work (delivery people do it, but they also can use their judgement). The conveyor system also seems like it would create problems.