Delivery Trucks ready to serve at Marshall Field's (1897)

chicagotribune.com - Field's images.jpg
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

This photo is for Steven of Stolen Mix Tape-Midwest Music. It's a Chicago Tribune file photo from 1897 (I snagged this today while looking for something else--some articles by Mary Schmich on Cabrini-Green, which I thought were relevant to Joseph Heathcott's excellent presentation today about Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis--I am looking forward to the book...).

It responds to your comment about schlepping stuff for miles on public transit. I stupidly carried a hulking CPU back in the day via WMATA out to Falls Church... (I don't think I really needed the computer that badly, in retrospect). What a pain...

I think that delivery services need to be encouraged through BIDs and requirements that commercial districts as a whole develop "transportation demand management" plans.

One of the best responses would be the creation of a shared delivery service. Think of the big shopping extravaganza coming to Columbia Heights, which will include a Target and a Bed, Bath & Beyond (both kind of scary when it comes down to it--cool stores--but orgiastic displays of consumerism).

In any case, if all the businesses in the GRID USA project shared one service, it would make a lot of sense, and make it easier for small businesses to participate. Plus, it'd be great for the customers.

If Home Depot can do it in Manhattan, what's stopping us in DC?, or other cities? This can be a competitive advantage offered by urban retailers.

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