JFNation, good morning. Your friendly neighborhood JFG here. I definitely have a case of the Mondays.

Amazon.com is recently rumored to be testing out, or maybe just contemplating, crowdsourcing its delivery service. In other words, instead of using drones or regular mail services to deliver packages, they would set up a program where you, as a normal person, could go to some product center and, for an incentive, deliver the package to another person. YOU are the delivery person.

To me, this seems totally shady, because I’d fully expect my sh*t to get jacked on a regular basis. Though, thinking it through, this process could come with certain safeguards – if a package went missing, they’d check to see who picked it up for delivery, and would probably somehow penalize for the missing package. But then, how could Amazon be sure? Let’s say someone DID deliver a package legitimately, and it went missing (packages get stolen off porches all the time across the USA). Would it be fair to penalize the delivery person? I dunno.

This whole thing reeks of litigation, which is maybe why Amazon hasn’t tried it yet. People looking at it compare it to Uber, another crowdsourcing platform where randos can become contractors of a company (except in California). But it’s not quite the same, is it? I mean, if a rando picks me up like a taxi, sure there’s a bit of risk involved, but *I’M THERE*. Aside from the inherent risk, I’m going to be aware if I don’t reach my destination. With this Amazon crowd delivery system, there are too many other variables.

But maybe I’m totally off base. What do you think of this prospect, JFNation? Maybe some of you out there drive for Uber and Lyft…you could also do this package delivery thing on the way to earn even more cash! Good? Bad? Let me know in the comments below.

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Chocolate Banana Crunchy Chips Ahoy! & Limited Edition Brownie Chewy Chips Ahoy!

I’ll admit – these Limited Edition Chocolate Banana Crunchy Chips Ahoy! & Limited Edition Brownie Chewy Chips Ahoy! confused me a little bit. Well, not the banana ones – I happen to be a person who loves chocolate and banana, so I was STOKED for these cookies. But Brownie Chips Ahoy? How is this limited edition? Don’t these exist already?

A quick Google search revealed that they did NOT, which is baffling to me. Really? Brownie FILLED Chips Ahoy exist, and I did a review of them here…but plain old Brownie Chips Ahoy is new? Weird. Well, whatever…let’s get to eatin’.

First junk food: Limited Edition Chocolate Banana Crunchy Chips Ahoy!

I had high hopes for these Limited Edition Chocolate Banana Crunchy Chips Ahoy!, because I love the combo of banana and chocolate. I know a lot of people DON’T like this combo, but I tend to enjoy any combo of fruit and chocolate.

Opening this package up, the smell of banana came tumbling out – unmistakable. I bit into one of these cookies and chewed – the cookie itself was nice and sweet, and the chocolate chips and banana chips mixed well together. Basically these tasted exactly how I’d expected – a good mix of chocolate and semi-artificial banana flavor, pumped up with sweetness. As I chewed, I thought the balance was good – I wasn’t looking for more banana or more chocolate flavor. Nor did the cookie drown it out – the chips to cookie ratio was balanced as well.

The only thing that threw me off was the crunchy cookie – I prefer Chewy Chips Ahoy! as a general matter, and I thought these would be even better if there were softer. Still, for a general crunchy cookie with chocolate and banana flavor, I couldn’t ask for more. Not my favorite cookie in the world, but nothing wrong with them at all. Expectations were met – a solid thumbs up for these.

Next junk food: Limited Edition Brownie Chewy Chips Ahoy!

Limited Edition Brownie Chewy Chips Ahoy! smelled sort of like brownies when I opened the package. They didn’t have that deep chocolate-y smell I wanted, but there was plenty of cocoa aroma to go around. I bit into one of these chewy cookies, and…these were just ok for me. While the texture of the cookie matched a brownie – these were nice and chewy – there wasn’t quite enough underlying chocolate flavor for me. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but I like brownies that have that almost stick-to-my-teeth consistency – where the chocolate that is baked in has a vaccuum-like softness that my teeth sink into but have a hard time getting out of.

These had some of that softness, but it was clear whatever other additives that were inside this cookie kept it from reaching that level of chew I wanted. The chocolate flavor was sort of muted too – while these cookies did a good job of not being TOO sweet, matching the semi-sweet flavor of a brownie that I enjoy, it didn’t go far enough in terms of the deep chocolate flavor, generally.

Basically, these Chips Ahoy! were close but no cigar. If Pepperidge Farm can achieve that cookie-brownie goodness, then I know it can be done. While I might buy the chocolate banana cookies again, I probably wouldn’t revisit these.

Overall, not bad as far as additions to the Chips Ahoy! line generally. I like where your head is at, Nabisco/Mondelez. Keep chugging along.

PURCHASED AT: Walmart, Germantown, MD

COST: $2.50 each

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy