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I find it funny that earlier in another thread I read about how the working conditions in warehouses are terrible. Yet here I see suggestions like this for delivery workers.

Can you imagine working a job like this when it's cold outside and you potentially had ice the night before? And to solve this problem you'd basically reinvent the car/truck.

Why do you consider riding a recumbent bicycle an insurmountable hardship?

In icy conditions, it's likely safer for most citizens to have delivery done by bicycle. They're slower and lower mass compared to a van.

In cold, the delivery person can just add layers. And, they'll be moving more, so in all likelihood, the additional layers required is minimal. It's not like a UPS van is super warm inside - not with the driver constantly opening the doors and hopping in/out.

It simply boils down to priorities. Do we want cheap/easy delivery to merchants or do we want safe pedestrian and bicycle zones for customers. Or, is there a magical balance point in the middle?

I’d honestly vote for cheap easy delivery to merchants first. That being said bikes are important, but not necessarily at the expense of intra-city logistics.

What's so categorically terrible about this? If it's cold you wear warmer clothes, if it's icy you put on studded tires. The point is if you actually wanted to get rid of cars in city centers it would be absolutely doable.

Go cycle around a city, load/unload heavy things for 8 hours in the pissing rain and come back with how it's not terrible.

They don't have to have an 8 hour shift. What about a 6 hour shift with breaks?

So you are telling them to be less productive and/or take less pay?

Seems like if it's that physically taxing they might make slightly more hourly to have the same pay overall. Yes, costs of delivery would go up.

You can't unload a truck to a corner shop from inside the cab anyway.

But you do get back in the nice heated/cooled rain free cab between drop offs to shelter yourself from the elements.

Looks like a small truck to me. You solved nothing.

Also I highly doubt these tiny bicycle tires can handle a pallet of bottled water or beers. They will just get crushed.

How do you deliver eight pallets of bottled water in one hour to eight shops?

By having more than one bike. If we assume 2 km median distance from the re-loading zone to the shop then each bike can easily make 2-3 round trips an hour.

By the way, why is it so important that deliveries get done within an hour?