I am conflicted. On one hand I hate the idea of getting into my car and driving from store to store looking for the exact brand, size and style of cross trainers that I wear. A quick search online and I can almost guarantee that I’ll have exactly what I want in two days. Direct to my front door delivery works for me.
Box Guilt
I feel guilty when my shoes arrive in a cardboard box within another cardboard box. There is usually a pile of cardboard in my dining room, where I unwrap my online purchases. Granted on the weekend, we load up the cardboard and take it to the recycling drop site, but the energy to produce and breakdown and reuse the boxes is wasted.
So I have to ask - is it better for the environment to buy online or get in my car and go shopping?
Carbon Footprint
Wasted cardboard aside, the e-commerce model beats conventional shopping by consuming less energy to get a pair my preferred kicks to my door. A 2009 Carnegie Mellon study showed that Buy.com’s model had a lower carbon footprint than a brick and mortar model. Since the study, online retailers like Amazon have increased their efficiency by improving their distribution models.
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