How a Tobacco Shop Becomes Your Mailman

Israel's postal service collapsed. Private courier Cheetah stepped in with a pickup-point model that now handles over a million parcels a month. This episode traces the money from a Shenzhen factory to a tobacco shop cash register in Tel Aviv, revealing the cross-subsidization, razor-thin margins, and unexpected economics that make free shipping on a $3 phone case actually work. We also explore how this system rewired an entire country's expectations for e-commerce — and why "slightly less terrible than the post" became a viable business model.