XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: news{@bestley.co.uk   
      
   Your Name  wrote:   
      
   > In article ,   
   > Doc O'Leary  wrote:   
   > > In article ,   
   > >  tmcd@panix.com (Tim McDaniel) wrote:   
   > > > In article ,   
      
   > > It's amazing what can be happening in the world and we have no idea.   
   > > Thanks for that link.  Just another case of history continually   
   > > repeating itself.   
   > >   
   > > My main question is why such a delivery service always seems limited to   
   > > one industry (e.g., lunch boxes).  I mean, it should be pretty easy (I   
   > > did it for my network) to abstract the need to just move *things* in   
   > > boxes.  It makes no sense to me, for example, that FedEx and mail and   
   > > pizzas and newspapers (and on and on) all use completely isolated local   
   > > delivery networks.  At the same time, I can't buy groceries from my   
   > > local co-op because they don't do deliveries at all, even though they're   
   > > right next to the pizza shop that does!   
   >   
   > In the "good ol' days" the small local stores used to deliver your   
   > groceries, and milk was delivered to the door in bottles.   
   >   
   > Part of the reason for the decline is because the stores used to be   
   > owned and run by someone who wanted to please the customer, rather than   
   > owned and run by some anonymous big business simply wanting to put   
   > large wads of money into management and shareholder pockets.   :-(   
      
      
      
   I suspect more likely that there was no competetion on price and so   
   service mattered, or that was the way it was always done. Then   
   sipermarkets came in and competed on price and with cars people could   
   get their shopping easily. The old sytle shops lot out on price. No need   
   to invoke shareholders etc.   
      
      
   --   
   Mark   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)