Does it? A truck uses around the same road space as a car
Well, if you ignore fuel consumption, pollution, and parking impact. Anyway...
so if it removes one person in the neighborhood's round trip to the store
No, I was referring to the specific "on my way home" use case you referred to... which is the typical case. If you stop by the store on the way home, you aren't adding a trip in either direction. Having delivery adds two trips, from and to. Two trips vs. zero.
"No, I was referring to the specific "on my way home" use case you referred to"
I don't think you read my entire comment: "When I lived in an area where I could commute by subway, I had a full service grocery store and several smaller specialty markets (a produce market, a butcher and a bakery) on my way home"
I was referring to the comment asking how to shop by subway -- the answer is to shop in smaller increments, but now that I bus/bike to work and no longer walk past a grocery store on my way home, I just have groceries delivered.
Your answer seems to be saying that the answer to shopping on the subway is to not take the subway and drive to work and stop at the store on the way home.
Depends on zoning. If each customer has to go a mile out of their way, but each customer's home is within a mile of the next, the traveling salesman route (start at the store, visit each home, finally return to the store) is shorter and doesn't need to happen during rush hour.
