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Comment by dougmccune | Hacker News Reader

I've been surprised by how useful this has been over the past few months. Just last week I busted my phone USB charger by accidentally knocking it off the table and bending the connector. This was around 10pm, so I ordered a new one and it arrived around 10am the next morning on my doorstep, well before my phone ran out of battery. Call it a first world problem, but same-day (or next morning) delivery is a minor but surprisingly convenient luxury.

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I don't have a car, so I always use public transit to go to and fro the store. My biggest joy for GSE is ordering heavy/bulky items, like laundry detergent and paper towels--and not having to lug them onto the bus! It's a very convenient luxury indeed.

People always complain that Google is making us dumber. Now I guess they can complain it's making us weaker as well.

Whenever I go shopping, I bring two canvas bags with me and fill them. That's all I can carry, basically. And having to fill a lot of that space with heavy detergent or bulky paper towels means I either need to go on a second shopping trip (which I don't want to do), or decide what things I'm /not/ getting that week.

So sure, some people might end up weaker, but I'm still lugging some heavy bags home with me each week.

I'd liken this to the "washing machine effect" that Hans Rosling explaned in his TED talk [1]. He essentially made the case that the washing machine made a huge difference in the history of the world so parents could spend more time with their kids (among other things) instead of many hours a week just washing clothes. I would say Google Shopping Express has a similar effect for shopping trips where the time spent greatly affects the amount of things an individual can accomplish in a day.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZoKfap4g4w

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