I come from a far away land – literally, it’s both far and away. Most of the distribution centers of the bigger companies are located in places that can be measured, in shipment terms, as “2 weeks by air, and also about 100% increase in cost because of S&H” away. In Israel, getting things from abroad is costly, and requires a long wait (two of the reasons I had to close my gaming store, but that’s a story for another time).
Even so, I think the lack of big mail slots in houses is the main problem of the Israeli mail services. It means that every package – even the smallest one, even books or CDs or t-shirts – needs to be collected from a post office, or delivered by a special (and costly) delivery person (and you still have to arrange a special time for it, and be at home, etc). That means that every package is a bother, both for the customer, and for the company. The mailmen don’t carry with them any parcels, only letters. Why should they? They can’t deliver them to an empty house.
In England, it’s almost the other way around. Since the mailmen are carrying packages anyway, they might as well carry the bigger parcels – so if you’re at home, you can take it right away. Going to the post office to get your packages is considered plan B, not the default.
Today, I get books from Amazon or The Book Depository in a matter of 2-3 days; I get Graze every week (if you want to try it out, here’s my sharing link); and generally speaking, I’ve moved a huge part of my shopping online, since delivery is cheap, reliable, and convenient. This is a luxury not to be taken for granted – those of you who are born into such a world, consider the gaming scene in a land where shipment of most English items is usually 50$ and 3 weeks away.
