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Frictionless Returns

Nice article on the future of delivery robots and how it may change consumer behavior. The author says

 If the arrival of automated delivery robots could lower the effort to sell or return goods to the minimal amount it now takes to buy them, users might exchange products through a new kind of logistical network that would make the process of acquiring and trading physical objects as frictionless as that of downloading and deleting digital files. Users might trade products among themselves through new kinds of logistical networks — a kind of peer-to-peer sharing for physical objects.

 I have very little use for a mall already and grocery shopping is the only thing that still requires a trip to the physical store. For many years I arranged by life in a way that I could pack my belongings into the trunk of an SUV and be on my way. Anything more than that was too much. That continues to be my ideal footprint of existence. Maybe in the future it will become an achievable reality for many.

 The social isolation caused by all of these amazing conveniences is the price we will pay in the end. I can imagine there will be a time when those of us who have most digitized their lives will also most crave for the bin and bustle of a farmer's market, spice souk, street food and the crush of humanity bustling around.

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