Ron Johnson Surfaces Driving A Delivery Business

Former JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson—who before that ran Apple Retail—is reportedly launching an on-demand service for the delivery of electronics. A report from The Information said it will be “a high-end, on-demand delivery service for gadgets.”

AppleInsider added that “the upcoming service reportedly involves branded eco-friendly vans that are sent out on delivery runs on an on-demand basis. Similarities can be drawn with Uber, which is also experimenting with quick deliveries of food.”

Quite a few companies—including Amazon and Google—have tackled such delivery efforts, which are key to strategic same-day delivery plans. Aside from Amazon’s regulator-challenged and much publicized flying drone delivery efforts (which, please forgive me, may never get off the ground), all have struggled with making cost-effective deliveries. The problem is that E-Commerce pricewars have made free delivery common, which places obvious and extreme cost limits on doing deliveries profitably.

In dense urban areas—New York City and San Francisco are common proving grounds—such deliveries are much easier to complete. But in suburban and rural areas, the economics become decidedly less favorable.