18 hours is overnight.

Last night "Hmm. Toothpaste almost gone. Let me check the linen closet. Nope. Excuse me while I whip this out. (gasp) Swipe, tap, tap, t-o-o-t-h (autocomplete), scroll, tap, tap, tap. Done."

Used the last this morning, new toothpaste delivered at noon.

I shop online exclusively because one of my first jobs was in retail and it is my solemn duty to do everything I can to annihilate the brick and mortar store, to erase it from existence to the point that it remembered only as a distant cultural echo by future generations.

This is all I can do, and it is enough.

I even get booze delivered so I don't have to stand in line as some tweaker tries to buy lottery tickets with handfuls of quarters at the liquor store.

Despite what the internet might have you think, fulfillment centers for every single distributor or retailer are run the same so I choose amazon because they can get many things here in 4-6 hours, most of the rest the overnight, and weird stuff in two days.

You have an interesting (and I find pitiable) perspective here. I live in a small town, and brick and mortar stores are how many folks survive here.

I, and many other townfolk go out of our way to expressly shop in town. This helps create an interesting, culturally vibrant downtown, filled with shops and restaurants.

My saturday mornings usually involve me walking the town, poking my head into shops, saying hi to folks I might know along the way, and supporting a local business here or there.

I can't imagine wanting to get rid of all of this, possibly even irreversibly so, for the sake of efficiency.

Who hurt you?

You obviously live in a much nicer place. Sounds like the GP lives in a rougher neighborhood in a larger city, which if you’ve never experienced, can definitely leave you wanting to avoid having to shop in public.

It is crazy how things are different around the world. I can't imagine buying something online what I can just walk 6 mins and buy in a shop.

My local brick and mortar store is less than five minutes away. Why the hell do I have to replace it with an even more expensive alternative store that increases the waiting time by a factor of 216?

It's almost never 5 minutes though, is it? You have to get there, park if you are using a car, possibly pay for parking, depending on the location, go look for the things that you want all over the store, possibly not find some of them, wait in line which could be quite long, get to the car, drive back. All this time will add up.

Instead, I can do some of that shopping on my computer or phone, then quickly reference it again or even set up auto deliveries. A lot of times it'll be cheaper too because I can comparison shop.

For me, it's about convenience and saving time and money. It won't be the same for everyone, of course. The location where you live will dictate whether this shopping experience is similar to yours or not.

A next day thing can save a trip to the shops, and more importantly one less thing on the todo list. You don’t need to remember to buy it.

2+ days is a world away from tomorrow. If it is that it needs to wait until the next shopping trip.

For “now” I would just have to go to the shops. Although Uber could deliver it from a petrol station for three times the price if desperate and lazy.

I have got embarrassing small orders on uber before :)

Imo it’s less about the speed than the predictability.

I routinely pick the “next Monday and we’ll give you two bucks digital credit or whatever” option because I assume it’ll make the shipping a little more efficient or make some factory grunt’s life easier, and I’ll still pick Amazon over other vendors because when they say Monday, they mean Monday.

I’m always able to track the shipment, it’s always predictable, I never have to wonder. It’s a less tangible feature but far more valuable.

>18 hours is a pretty stupid selling point IMO. You either need something immediately or you can wait. Rarely do I need anything 18 hours from now.

Stupid or not, hard to argue with Amazon's income sheet. Obviously most people disagree. I don't disagree fwiw.

18 hours is a fantastic selling point for me. I am willing to wait a couple of days for something that I bought. Beyond that, I'd rather just go out and buy it.

Lol Amazon would disagree and are laughing their way to the bank.

Amazon's retail branch is supported by AWS' profit, so no.