For at least some types of retail products, it seems like a system of standardized, reusable containers could be workable - the same Amazon, UPS, USPS delivery vans that bring a constant stream of packages to my apartment building could collect and return them without much additional energy expenditure.
Possibly using something comparable to the German Flaschenpfand[1] system? I'm unsure of how to develop a suitable packing system that would be machine-friendly, possibly wooden crates packed with shredded cardboard packing. The lid could be press-in cardboard, something like that used in tinfoil food storage boxes, but reliant on the cardboard bending to get past the lip and into the region where it is secured. Alternately, a suitable slide-in wooden lid with a stopping peg inserted and sealed with a wax-type substance could be used (as per [2], with the addition of a sealing peg setup). Sealing wax would probably be used in the cardboard variant also.
.jpg){kind=link}