Sum total of all this is you are not on the road, traffic congestion (admittedly only slightly) and gas expenditures are reduced, and time is saved.
3. Online Shopping in General- Who doesn't shop online? Exactly. Thing about me is that, I shop for just about every tangible thing that I need online. You generally avoid state tax and you are not doing the shopping cart, traffic congestion, parking lot, line-waiting crap at the local Sav-On, Rite-Aid, Home Despot.
Sometimes, the prices are ludicrously good. I bought a Samsung "extended life" battery for 19.95 and 3 bucks shipping; my local Sprint store wanted $40 and tax for a "standard life" battery (then throw in my aforementioned refrain about "parking lots). I wouldn't be surprised if an increase in online shopping is directly tied to an increase in energy costs.
So, I order the electronics and other items online and then have them delivered to a mail box store. Once a week I go to the store and pick up anything that I ordered. The people running the mail box center sign for everything for me so there is never the "you weren't here, you can pick up your package at our convenient Tuscon location," that kind of thing. Fact is that I get what I need and I don't waste time or gas and I save money!
4. Netflix et al- Look, video entertainment, for the most part, is not something you should be driving around for. Mailing stuff back and forth is a little 1970's chain-letterish, but we'll let that slide. Don't drive to Blockbuster video store (see my gas and parking lot refrain). Yes, order Netflix and get it delivered in the mail; yes, they will be providing Hi Def DVDs next year, too. Better yet, do pay-per-view by Satellite or Digital cable or use Starz Online hooked to by S-VHS or Optical to your TV monitor. I do these things and it keeps my heavy-drinking Old Jeep off the road!
5. Teleconference - Hey, even locally, it is an excellent way to see your friends and coworkers, not to mention if you are doing it nationally or internationally. The quality on some services, like Yahoo IM, is fairly solid, 30 frames per second and, yes, somewhat imperfect audio. But, this keeps me off the road in a lot of cases and its a more complete communication that a telephone call. I know you are thinking that teleconferencing is like having the family Thanksgiving dinner by video with your uncle who's on death row at the SuperMax :). But it's actually a lot of fun and you don't even have to bathe to see people or do business! Big future in teleconferencing sales, BTW. And, did I mention it keeps you off the road and away from Airports.
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