The city today is filled to the brim with logistics and platform companies vying for the chance to deliver goods to us. For example, the rise of dark retail and ghost kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that as restaurants and shops closed shut, their operations were relocated from the high street to basements, industrial estates, and other dark sites not welcoming to customers. This »compensatory convenience«, as Aaron Shapiro has called it, has exacerbated a trend in which delivery has in many ways displaced retail. Delivery promises a particular kind of convenience: where even a visit to the local convenience store for convenience food is a hurdle, companies like UberEats offer fast meal delivery and others such as Getyr promise delivery of everyday basics within a 10-minute timeframe. Amazon is inscribed in this broader landscape of logistical convenience oriented around delivery, and stands out both for its push towards speed in offering nextday or same-day delivery, for the breadth of goods on offer in its everything store, and for the spread and coverage of its logistical operations.
The whole issue will shortly be avaiable at Universi.