Before this year, I had never had to consistently buy food or cook for myself. Growing up, my mom stressed the importance of menu planning and grocery shopping. “Never go to the store hungry”, she’d say. “Take a list and stick to it”. It was an every week multi-hour stressor for her.
Now, as a 20-year-old college student with no mode of transportation, it takes me all of 20 minutes to do it all, thanks to Amazon Fresh. All my previous purchases, my address, and my billing information are saved for easy reordering. I even get suggestions on items I might like, based on my purchase history. The next day, at a time I pick, a friendly delivery driver drops off that week’s survival kit.
This type of ease is simply an expectation for my generation. But ever since Covid, we have seen mass adoption of instant access delivery across all demographics. This past week, my grandma made her first Amazon Fresh order. Before then, she was waking up at 6 a.m. to go grocery shopping so she could avoid exposure to others. Her experience is a microcosm of the pressures pushing all types of Americans to delivery options, be it with groceries, restaurant orders, or Christmas presents. Amazon stock has gained 60% since Jan 2020.
If you want something, you can simply tell it to the internet and it’ll magically appear within days or sometimes hours, but how? There are two ways: either Amazon’s ultra-efficient logistical models of warehouse storage or gig-delivery. One company making this magic happen is Dispatch. Similar to how you can order Chick-Fil-A through Uber Eats, Dispatch allows technicians to order spare parts while on the job, can help a business keep up with an overflow of orders, or can expand and grow logistical operations alongside the business. They’ve applied the proven gig-delivery model to a novel application, and I can’t wait to see where it takes them.
The online delivery experience is truly 10x better than the alternative and with Covid forcing more working-class and older populations to adopt the Gen Z “instant popcorn” mindset, the convenience of online delivery means converts like my grandma are going to stay converted.
Author: JJ Foster
