Some of us pay way too much attention to the track-shipment function for e-commerce purchases, watching our parcels stop in exotic places we’ve never visited (like Avenel, New Jersey!), and riveted by the real-time trackers that say the package is just four stops—no wait, three stops—away.

We might glimpse the UPS or Amazon driver when they deliver, but what about the workers who plucked it from the warehouse shelf and packed it? Or who loaded it on the truck? And how did it manage to get to us so quickly (or slowly)?

To find out, on a recent Thursday, we visited a warehouse in Brooklyn where a third-party logistics (3PL) company, Ship Essential, has a unique approach to same-day delivery. We wanted to see how they do it by ordering an item and following its journey from their warehouse to our Manhattan apartment.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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With resale so in vogue and popular marketplaces like ThredUp and Poshmark starting only in the last 15 years, it’s worth noting that eBay, founded in 1995 just a year after Amazon at the dawn of e-commerce, has been at it for nearly three decades.

Now eBay is showing some of the swagger you might expect from a pioneer and declaring May 21 the first annual Recommerce Day. Lawmakers in both the California legislature and the city of San Jose, where eBay is based, have introduced resolutions to potentially enshrine the holiday in the state.

The company has partnered with Alicia Silverstone, who in a statement said she’s an eBay shopper and that “recommerce brings me so much joy because I know I’m not contributing to the waste that harms our planet.”

Keep reading here.—AAN

Home Depot’s DIY customers are feeling the pinch of higher interest rates, but the home improvement chain is anticipating that “pent-up demand” will eventually shift spending, CFO Richard McPhail told shareholders on Tuesday.

“At some point, spend on housing shifts from discretionary to something that you simply must do,” he said. “We know that there’s pent-up demand for household formation.”

In the meantime, business is hurting: The company’s Q1 earnings showed sales declining 2.3% in the quarter from the previous year. CEO Ted Decker said the drop-off in demand was likely due to “continued softness in certain larger discretionary projects.”

As McPhail put it, Home Depot is “seeing interest rates sort of weigh on the mind of customers.” But it’s not necessarily because consumers can’t afford to fund their home improvement projects.

Keep reading here.—AV

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