E-commerce, gas prices, and the economy

It is Sunday afternoon in Jimville. I need to be working on the 2nd edition of Mastering Exchange Server 2007, a series of articles on e-mail archiving, my presentations for Exchange Connections, and my Ithicos Solutions-related business stuff. Not to mention the pile of things on my other desk at work. Yet, I installed a new shower head in my bathroom and a new faucet in the kitchen sink. I realized that the filter on my water purifier needed to be replaced and I was out.

I got ready to hop in my truck and run down to Home Depot to pick up some new ones. Home Depot is about 8 miles from my house, but in traffic it takes 25 minutes or so to get there and I figure I would burn about $5.00 in gas.

I googled the water filter part number and came up with dozens of places that sell them, did some quick price comparisions, found the best deal from a reputable looking place, bought them and had them shipped for just over $5.00. Total time was less than 10 minutes. Now, while I love Home Depot, this saved me a lot of time on a busy Sunday afternoon.

I wonder if others are having similar experiences and are turning to e-commerce not only to save time, but to save gas?