Chris T. Hendrickson Lester Lave H. Scott Matthews is a Research Scientist in Economics at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Chris T. Hendrickson is the Duquesne Light Professor of Engineering and head in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Lester Lave is the Higgins Professor of Finance and Economics of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, also at Carnegie Mellon. All three are active in, and Lave heads, Carnegie Mellon's Green Design Initiative , a research consortium interested in creating solutions for businesses interested in reducing non-renewable resources and toxic materials in products. At first glance, Web-based shopping seems to have benefits for both the consumer and the environment.
Consumers believe they are getting better prices and greater convenience.
Environmentalists believe that transportation and collateral costs are reduced because there are fewer trips to shopping malls. But the calculation is not that simple. Realistically, shoppers bundle errands together. The marginal effect of buying a book at the mall is small if, as part of the trip, other items are bought or other things are done. Likewise, the marginal impact in the community of a package delivered by FedEx could be seen as the last mile of the delivery from the previous stop on the route.