A few years ago, in a piece I wrote about home delivery, I mentioned my childhood in North Wales where I made a bit of money delivering newspapers door to door. In fact, pre-Millennial U.S. children shared a similar rite of passage. Although we said goodbye to milk delivery and newspaper routes for a long time, thanks in large part to the convenience of online shopping, at-home delivery is making a comeback. Just look around your neighborhood and you’ll see—in addition to Peapod trucks—everything from milk and dry cleaning to local grocers dropping off the week’s shopping. Calling it “the return of the milkman,” a recent Nielsen study asks, “Could the wave of the future be a blast from the past?”

When I wrote on this subject in 2010, home delivery was led by Peapod in the U.S. and companies like Waitrose in the UK. In France, La Petite Reine took home delivery a step further, serving the inner city with “cargo bicycles” and giants like DHL were just getting into the business. My questions at the time were about how package design could accommodate online shopping and home delivery.