> City tax payers are ultimately paying the price for “2-day shipping” in the form of more congestion and pollution, and compromised safety.
"2-day shipping" is only a cause if it makes people order more packages in general (which it probably does, but it's a leap that should be considered rather than automatically made). The delivery companies involved are pretty efficient at this stuff and aren't going to waste money by deploying half-empty trucks, so the delivery traffic corresponds very linearly to the average total number of packages being delivered.
> Or maybe the city should tax companies that abuse the public infrastructure?
What about taxing individuals that abuse the public infrastructure by leaving cars to constantly take up street parking? Delivery companies are certainly much, much more efficient in terms of road usage and parking space needed than somebody driving a car to go buy stuff in a shop.
"2-day shipping" is only a cause if it makes people order more packages in general (which it probably does, but it's a leap that should be considered rather than automatically made). The delivery companies involved are pretty efficient at this stuff and aren't going to waste money by deploying half-empty trucks, so the delivery traffic corresponds very linearly to the average total number of packages being delivered.
> Or maybe the city should tax companies that abuse the public infrastructure?
What about taxing individuals that abuse the public infrastructure by leaving cars to constantly take up street parking? Delivery companies are certainly much, much more efficient in terms of road usage and parking space needed than somebody driving a car to go buy stuff in a shop.