by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
A supermarket of the Waitrose chain in Dorset is the latest to turn back the clock by using cycles to deliver groceries to its customers.
Waitrose in Poole has joined three other stores in that chain by trialling the scheme to boost online deliveries without putting more vans on the road.
The bicycle and trailer can hold six trays of groceries and keep products frozen and chilled for up to two hours.
Groceries delivered by bicycle were a common sight in the late 19th and early 20th Century and it is a shame that we saw the demise of those, especially for local deliveries.
The type of bicycle in use with the Poole Waitrose store is equipped with a battery-powered electric motor to aid the rider on steeper hills.
Melanie Goddard, from the Poole store, said: "We have a lot of customers who actually use their cycles to do their shopping here, so many we have had to put in extra cycle racks, so we were an obvious choice."
She admitted the bike would not mean any vans could be taken off the road but said it was more environmentally friendly than getting any extra vehicles.
"It is a small amount of the deliveries we do, it is a very new venture. Everybody has to do something and you start small and you build from there."
The truth is that is they would be prepared to put some more cycles on the road they could reduce the fleet of vans by a couple, for sure.
Cycle deliveries are the ideal choice for shorter distances of up to say 4-5 miles, in my opinion, Further than that it might be a little too much to get the groceries, especially the chilled and frozen stuff, to people in good condition.
Bicycle deliveries should, however, be considered, in my opinion, by stores that do deliveries and that serve a circle of customers that do not live too far away from the store's locations, and is ideally suited for anything that is not immediately perishable.
© 2009
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Waitrose Store offers bicycle deliveries
