On the East Coast, two companies, Kozmo.com and UrbanFetch, took instant gratification a step further: both promised same-day delivery. But the question was, could anyone make money doing that? That pint of Ben & Jerry’s a customer ordered on a rainy afternoon? Kozmo would send it to them for less than it would cost to buy at the local bodega across the street. And Kozmo still had to pay the army of bike couriers who made the delivery. It was retail without the overhead of real estate, sure, but what about the costs of warehousing, of labor, of the website and logistical back-end systems?
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