As a retailing device, the Internet is wildly oversold. Compared to old-style mail order, it merely offers one delivery delay instead of two. Against that, anything you order from anybody is instantly noted by any number of interested parties, who will use the information to pester you for the rest of time. And, of course, when the courier turns up with the long-awaited parcel, you will be out.

In this connection, Daedalus remarks what a brilliant invention the front-door letter-box is. It lets a postman deliver mail even if you are not at home. And it is wonderfully secure. A thief cannot get in through it, nor remove a letter that has been pushed in, or even tell if one has been delivered. For e-commerce to take off, says Daedalus, we need an equivalent domestic ‘parcel-box’. It is a low-tech problem beside the digital wonders of the Internet. But it does need to be solved.

The first requirement is a standard parcel, acceptable by all parcel-boxes. The standard freight container, 10 feet by 10 feet by 20 feet, is rather big for the job. Daedalus recommends something the size of a small suitcase. Like a freight container, it would be freely re-useable, and would accept most consumer items. Even a large grocery order (say) could be fitted into a number of such ‘minicon’ containers.

The matching minicon-receiver will need some subtlety. It must have a door which opens only to accept a minicon, and then swallows it irretrievably. Inside, a conveyor system must let it pack and stack many minicons in succession. It should be able to read a coded delivery note, imprint it with a valid acceptance signature, and log the reception for the householder. It must resist entry by a grappling device, or even a diminutive thief, and should not be stealable itself. And it must be easily ‘retrofitted’ to buildings of all kinds.

DREADCO engineers are devising a sandpit which, when activated by a special deliverer's key, is fluidized by a stream of air. A minicon laid on it would then sink in and vanish from sight. At other times nothing could be made to pass in either direction. But the field is still wide open. A rival company may leap in to establish the standard minicon and its receiver. Whoever does it will catalyse a commercial revolution. Mail, groceries, consumer durables and trivials, all will flow as freely and safely as information. And many bulky consumer items will be usefully redesigned and miniaturized to fit into a minicon.