WebVan no more

According to CNet, WebVan has declared bankruptcy. It's really a shame. On-line grocery shopping should have rocked. But it sucked. Who didn't see this one coming last year?

Uh, excuse me, Cap'n Grocer, please explain to me why I would choose the convenience of having to wait at home for half-a-day for your delivery truck? Oh and the convenience of shopping for items on-line the night before? How about the convenience of realizing the supposedly wider selection of on-line grocers just wasn't true?

I hate Ralphs as much as the next guy. (I really don't like Ralphs, I'll write about that later.) But you have to do something significantly better than Ralphs to have me deal with those sorts of inconveniences. I can tell you two huge places where anyone who tried could beat Ralphs:

1. Selection.
2. Price.

You get these two things taken care of plus same-day delivery and oh-damn, I will stop shopping at Ralphs in a heartbeat.

And I know that beating Ralphs' prices isn't hard. Bristol Farms, an upscale grocery store, has lower prices than Ralphs!