The Falsity of Amazon’s Shipping
Posted February 8th, 2009 @ 10:02pm by Erik J. Barzeski
The timeline goes something like this…
February 6, 2009: At about noon, I make a $676 purchase. Not needing the items all that quickly, I opt for the "free" 7-10 day Super Saver shipping. The only shipping estimates on the order pages are "order in the next 13 hours to have it by tomorrow!"
February 8, 2009: Puzzled by the fact that I didn't get a shipping notification, I check the order status and Amazon tells me that my order will ship on February 11, most likely. It lists the delivery dates as February 19 - 25 - a full 13 to 19 days after the order date.
That's not even 7-10 days if you subtract the five days it's taking them to put my stuff in a box. And why's it taking Amazon five days to put my stuff in a box? You can order the same exact things I've ordered and they'll be delivered to you (or me) tomorrow if pay more money - the products are in stock. Delaying putting the items in a box probably takes more time and effort than if they just packed up the products immediately like every other order. It's apparently a custom feature to "delay" shipment to cheap customers.
This is exactly the opposite of "surprise and delight." The opposite of "under-promise, over-deliver." This is "screw you, cheapwad - you should have paid $7 for our 5-7 day stuff, and oh yeah, we lied when we said 7-10 days and are going to do all we can to ensure that you don't somehow get a good bargain."
This rubs me the wrong way. It introduces fakery and lying into the process in a lame attempt to, what, get me to pay for faster shipping in the future? I'm more likely to avoid Amazon than I am to choose faster shipping.
P.S. I don't order enough stuff from Amazon to make a $79/year Prime membership at all attractive, and while I was willing to wait 7-10 days, that's not the same as waiting 13 to 19 days. I've heard, too, that once something actually ships from the local warehouse it'll only take 1-2 days, but even if that holds up and I get the stuff on the 13th (seven days), it doesn't mean Amazon shouldn't handle this better. Why tell me the 19-25?
P.P.S. The items I ordered are also a few bucks less today. I could re-buy them right now and pay for five-day shipping at $7.35 and be within a dollar of the original price… yet I can't cancel my first order because it's "being processed." You know, so it can ship in two more days.
Donate Life
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 10:44am #
Maybe one of the items was delayed for some reason, and you chose to ship all items in one shipment. At any rate, nothing is perfect, including Amazon. They most certainly did not delay your shipment because you chose the cheapest shipping just to punish you for being a "cheapwad". Next time you spend about $700 online, the extra few bucks might be worth it huh?
I'm a member of Amazon Prime, and have been since they started it. Although the price has gone up considerably, it is still worth it even if you only order a few things a year. I got free shipping on my big screen TV because of Prime, can't beat that!
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 10:52am #
Razorhog said on February 9, 2009:
I ordered four of the same thing and they're all in stock. They remain in stock. Nothing was delayed.
Razorhog said on February 9, 2009:
No. Did you read what I wrote? I was fine with 7-10 days. I made that choice knowingly and willingly. But 7-10 != 13-19.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 11:26am #
Actually, he's right. I just ordered 3 books from Amazon 2 days ago. I had not yet recieved a shipping notice, so I checked the site. Turns out, my order will not be shipped until Monday (estimated per Amazon). No special instuctions from me, nothing that should hold anything up. Also, it took me 16 days to get a water filter from them (chose free shipping there too). I've always paid for shipping in the past and had my stuff in a couple of days. Amazon usually has the lowest prices, so I haven't spent a lot of time looking for better deals. Next time I will, due to their "free shipping".
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 10:54am #
My extensive experience with Amazon free shipping has been that my orders ship either the day of or the day after I place my order and typically get to me just as fast as standard shipping. My guess is that something is holding up your order.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 12:00pm #
This is precisely my experience. I always choose free super-saver shipping, and I have even received some of my items on the next day, if I order early enough in the day.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:01am #
Amazon has a 30 day price match guarantee. You can request a refund of the difference from them via their customer service page.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:10am #
Jonathan Johnson said on February 9, 2009:
Thanks. Will do that now. (Edit: Now the price is $168.48, or $0.52 cheaper than I paid. Earlier today it was $162.xx. BTW, it's just four PocketWizard Plus IIs.)
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:01am #
Well it sucks your shipment got delayed, but I highly doubt Amazon was trying to be deceitful, or trying to punish you into opting for the more expensive shipping method in the future. You act as if this has happened to you multiple times. If that is the case, I'd be pissed too.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:17am #
Razorhog said on February 9, 2009:
I order from Amazon so infrequently that I can't really recall. But perhaps this is why I order from them so infrequently - every order leaves a bad vibe? Maybe not.
I posted this to see if anyone else had similar experiences. Seems like that's not the case, and I can give them a break if this is a one-time thing.
I'll probably update the post when it ships and when I receive the package.
P.S. I just bought a book on January 28 and paid $3.99 for USPS shipping. It shipped the same day and arrived two days later. So again, why the five-day delay in shipping this time? I don't know.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:35am #
Jonathan Johnson said on February 9, 2009:
Wrong. They did away with that policy a few months back. Amazon will no longer refund you the difference if you see the price lower after placing an order.
My experience has generally been the same as yours; when choosing the faster 2-day or Next Day shipping (or using Amazon Prime), my orders ship out the next day or even the same day. But, when not using it and choosing free shipping, my orders are held for a while before they are shipped out.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 12:00pm #
Amazon started this new shipping practice a few years ago. I do my best to shop elsewhere. It's my experience that they intentionally hold orders with 'free shipping' selected.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 2:41pm #
It's important to remember that Amazon's "Super Saver" shipping is not just regular shipping made free. As they put it:
When you choose FREE Super Saver Shipping on an order, you're letting us know you are willing to wait a little longer to get your items as long as the shipping is free. This option allows us to better manage our inventory and order demand and pass the savings on to you in the form of free shipping. Most Free Super Saver Shipping orders will ship out within 5 business days.
My understanding is that when you use "Super Saver" shipping they'll do whatever it takes to minimize the total cost (to them), while meeting the 7-10 day delivery window. Sometimes this means they use their own internal systems to move items around from warehouse-to-warehouse before shipping to you. If shipping immediately from the item's current warehouse will incur the lowest total shipping cost, they'll do that, but if they can reduce the cost (to them) by moving an item and shipping from a different warehouse, they will take advantage of that cost savings at the expense of a small delay. Similarly, if an item is "in stock" at one warehouse, it may actually be better for them to order another from the distributor, have it delivered to a different warehouse, then ship it to you. Just because it hasn't shipped yet doesn't mean nothing is happening. Of course, it's still possible that nothing is happening; I'm sure Super Saver orders are the lowest priority. If delaying your order can save them some labor cost until a lull in other orders, I'm sure they'll take advantage of that savings, too.
My best advice at the moment is to relax. It's only been three days since you ordered. You have another week before they will have missed the original delivery window. Delivery estimates can be wrong and there's no sense freaking out prematurely. Believe me, I speak from experience. I completely lost it when Apple delayed the estimated ship date of my last MacBook Pro just before I was scheduled to go on a trip. Just as I was calming down, the doorbell rang and there it was: early. It was another two days before I received an email with the tracking number.
But by all means, set aside the evening of the 16th for a more timely freakout.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 2:48pm #
Brad said on February 9, 2009:
Well, that pretty much ends any beef I thought I had. I was going to say that I still don't understand how delaying a shipment is less effort/time/expense/etc. for them than just shipping it normally, but the internal warehouse shifting likely covers that.
Oh, and I'm fairly relaxed. If I truly cared when the stuff would get here (within reason), I'd have paid a little money.
Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 11:26pm #
Wow, I had no idea. I was about to order a book from Amazon because it was half the price as the one I bought from Borders that day, but the notice that I might be waiting over a week made me change my mind.
Adding paid shipping to have it delivered within a few days boosted the price to almost what Borders charged, so I just kept the book.
Thanks for the info - I didn't realize it wasn't just free shipping because they liked me.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 2:56pm #
I order quite a bit on amazon (but not enough to justify Amazon Prime) and just about always use their free shipping option. Usually it does take around 1-2 days after placing the order before they ship it, but it usually only takes around 3-4 days (and often less) in transit before I get it. But often the delivery estimate will be 7-10 days later than the actual delivery. As far as I can tell, the delivery estimate on the free shipping is a worst case scenario.
btw, Razorhog, you don't need Amazon Prime to get free shipping on TVs. All TVs over a certain size always ship free from Amazon. I just bought a 46" Samsung LCD from Amazon a few weeks ago and got free shipping.
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 5:50pm #
Tim Buchheim said on February 9, 2009:
Good to know
Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 1:41am #
I buy a good amount of items from Amazon, and since I'm usually not concerned with delivery dates I opt for Super Saver Shipping.
I've had things ship as soon as the same day of order or as late as 2.5 weeks later. Given the sporadic nature of the shipping I've thought for some time that amazon's systems send these to the packers when all the paid shipping orders have been filled. If there are a lot of paid shipping orders the order gets bumped back in the line. I think they just shuffle around human capital allocations to maximize packing capacity with fewer hands packing.
Similar to the way the post office deals with media mail, it's the last thing to go on the truck and if the truck is full, well the package waits till the next day.
I of course could be wrong but it seems as likely a theory as any.
Additionally it seems a relatively fair policy. In exchange for no cost shipping, I grant Amazon the ability to pack and ship paid shipping orders first. I don't think it's a matter of them actively holding back super saver orders, rather they are actively prioritizing paid shipping orders first. Ship all the paid orders, what time is left is devoted to free shipping orders.
Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 12:46pm #
Amazon also has the freedom to ship out early if it will help meet quotas for discounted shipping. (I would imagine that their shipping suppliers offer them prices breaks at certain volumes.)
Posted 11 Feb 2009 at 3:01pm #
I have the same problem and reading some of the explanations helps me understand what they are doing, but as a customer I don't really care.
If they say free shipping in 7-10 days then it should arrive on the 10th day the latest.
Otherwise their actions are letting me know that they value cost savings for them at the expense of my loyalty to them. That is how I saw it when it happened and I simply cancelled my order and gave my business elsewhere, locally as it happened to be last time.
Locally also helps because the sales tax I pay goes back into my own community in the form of schools, libraries, police, roads and what have you.
Posted 13 Feb 2009 at 12:17pm #
The shipment data for the PocketWizards:
Ordered on February 6.
Shipped on February 11.
Delivered on February 13.
So that's seven days, two of which were weekend days.
Some other recent orders from Amazon include a Lowepro camera bag (first) and a Canon G10 camera, both ordered on February 10 and shipped February 11. The bag was delivered on the 12th, and the camera on the 13th.
Given these numbers, and if you don't mind waiting a little, it makes almost no sense to pay for even the 5-7 day shipping and even less, imho, to pay for Amazon Prime.
Posted 13 Feb 2009 at 2:19pm #
So, in the end, they hit the shipping date right on the nose and the delivery date was at the low end of promise. It seems like their original delivery date estimate fall squarely in "under-promise, over-deliver".
Posted 13 Feb 2009 at 3:17pm #
The Plaid Cow said on February 13, 2009:
Not quite the same, no, but at this point I'm not really interested in hashing out all the minor details, either. Amazon shouldn't have ever told me February 19-25.
Posted 24 Mar 2009 at 6:33pm #
I think they are delaying shipping my last two orders have taken more than ten days to get them with free shipping option, used to get them within five business days, I'm going to start shopping around and will try not to buy from Amazon if at all possible. Not good for Business Amazon!!!!
Posted 24 Mar 2009 at 6:59pm #
With anything free, you get what you pay for. If you want it now, pay for better shipping.
Posted 24 Mar 2009 at 7:15pm #
The Plaid Cow said on March 24, 2009:
I think that misses the point that Amazon may be intentionally delaying something they could ship.
It's a guess as to whether they do that for "optimal inventory levels" or some other thing or whether they do it just to try to get people to pay for shipping.
Posted 24 Mar 2009 at 8:14pm #
I don't see how it could be good for business to piss off customers by delaying shipping unnecessarily.
I'd appreciate it if Amazon were more upfront that their free shipping comes with a different cost, though - nobody's going to read it when the reason is buried in an FAQ.
Posted 04 Jun 2009 at 10:23am #
Here's my experience with Amazon. This was a gift certificate so I had little choice. Fool me once, shame on you...
Here is the letter I sent them:
Here is another "bitch" letter regarding Amazon's shipping policy. I'm sure you get many of these.
OK, I don't order much from Amazon but we received a gift certificate. We ordered several items (4 kids, you know). Each has a shipping charge. I can use the super saver shipping if I combine the orders BUT, a couple of items are future releases set for August sometime. I don't mind waiting for them and I don't mind the 7-10 days for the stuff that's in stock, but now Amazon is holding the items in stock hostage until the other items are released in August. The order was placed May 1st. This is unacceptable and I have changed the order for standard shipping which is $20+ on $35 worth of merchandise. I will pay this but I am not happy with Amazon's policy and I will not use Amazon in the future.
I probably should have just ordered the in-stock items first, received them, then placed the order for the future items.... or something. I just want to shop not f-ing play games.
Thanks for your answer. I just didn't like the answer.
Posted 12 Jul 2009 at 1:42am #
It is very deceptive to say 7-10 days for free shipping, and then put a date of 2 weeks on the invoice.
It seems mighty suspicious to change the dates so drastically.
I will look elsewhere in the future, but my girlfriend wants a Kindle. Good thing Amazon paid so much to be exclusive, or I would surely buy it somewhere without the shell game tactics.
Posted 12 Jul 2009 at 7:16am #
Andy, 10 business days is two weeks, so it isn't so suspicious.
Posted 12 Jul 2009 at 2:03pm #
Daniel,
To be shipped? Not received.
I expect it will come early.
Posted 12 Jul 2009 at 5:59pm #
In my experience Amazon deliberately sits on free shipping orders (they used to ship out on availability back when Amazon was fighting harder for customers) so that it can create an artificial demand for it's $79 two day shipping.
As Amazon opens up more distribution centers, many people could get sent items the cheapest method (first class is often just as cheap as media mail especially if you are on a dist center doorstep) and get them one or two days after the order. So why bother paying the steep 2 day or 1 day shipping charge? While in the past free shipping usually meant media mail, nowadays even that method will end up cannibalizing Amazon's HUGE markups on 2 day and 1 day shipping.
Amazon would rather get those markups.
What Amazon is doing is the darker shade of capitalism: manipulating their shipping times to create a new "service". Amazon's distribution center expansion is probably designed to facilitate its paid shipping, so it needs to artificially restrict free shipping customers from reaping the benefits.
What is shady as hell about this annoying practice is that Amazon does in fact freeze the order so that even while it is sitting in shipping purgatory--which they have no intent of releasing it from prematurely--you can't cancel the order and get the same thing at Walmart or Target. I imagine there is some truth to the warehouse stock theory, but telling customers they can't cancel the order while it sits for days afterwards in limbo is not kosher at all if you ask me.
A fairer and more truthful way to advertise free shipping would be to provide a checkbox that says "treat me as a second class customer" because that is what they will do. You have to wait, you can't cancel (usually), and their motive is to make you feel the pain and pay next time.
When I offer my customers freebies, I don't drag my feet on purpose to annoy them. If I did, they would stop being my customers. I feel pretty much the same way about Amazon, no matter what their excuse is.
Posted 05 Oct 2009 at 2:24am #
I order from Amazon multiple times a month. In a year, I probably spend close to $5,000. What I have seen in the past is that Amazon has gone down hill. Recently I ordered a converter box for my mother. It was EXACTLY $40, which meant I was able to use the $40 card that the FCC was sending out to purchase converter boxes. All I had to pay was shipping, which I did. A week later, I got a message saying my order was canceled because the item is not in stock and they don't intend to purchase more. Now, I know it was canceled because somebody decided they wanted to make some more money off of this digital transition and wanted me to spend more.
Then a few months later, I buy a DVD and it was cracked. So I emailed Customer Service and they simply apologized. No offer for a refund, no offer to send it back out. Nothing.
Now we have this Super Saver shipping. What a joke. I literally live within miles of the largest Amazon warehouse that ships out most of the electronics to the east coast. Every time I order electronics, it takes about 10 days for me to get it. 10 days to go a few miles. I know for a fact that they DO sit on free shipping orders. It's like a punishment. If I pay for shipping, I get it the next day from the same warehouse.
But here's Amazon's new trick. They send out an email saying your package is shipping but USPS never actually gets it for at least 5 days. You can check the tracking number every day and you'll see. "No Record of this Package"
Posted 27 Oct 2009 at 12:27am #
Same as Mike (above), I have ordered several items from Amazon with "Super Saver Shipping" and have been very disappointed when, even though they send an email saying that it has shipped, I check 3-4 days later on the USPS website to track it, and USPS has never even heard of the shipment. I now assume that it will ship 5 days after I receive the shipment email, because that's what it has taken on average for me. Totally not worth the "free" shipping.
Posted 27 Oct 2009 at 9:25am #
Elizabeth,
Problems with Amazon's shipping are not related to problems with USPS tracking. In my experience, USPS tracking is horridly unreliable and outdated, regardless of who the shipper is. If I want something tracked, I do NOT ship it USPS - I use FedEx or UPS, preferably FedEx.
Posted 20 Nov 2009 at 2:48pm #
If you can find it somewhere else, buy it! The saving in shipping does not cover the aggravation of having to wait 7-10 days for something that should only take 2-3 days to arrive. I live less than an hour from Seattle and regular shipping between my address and any address near or around Seattle only takes 1 day (I do it all the time!). So when I ordered from Amazon (which is located in Seattle) and my item qualified for the SuperSaver, I said why not? I'm only a day, perhaps three if they drag their feet or simply want to walk my item from Seattle to my house. Well it's been 5 days and no item yet. WTF?
Well, to put mildly I am not a happy customer and AMAZON will never see my business again! To ship what I bought would only cost $3 tops for First Class shipping, but because I didn't want to pay the $7 I am now having to wait for something I should have received a long time ago. I could understand if I lived across country or if the item was on back-order (which is not, I checked), but less than an hour away? Give me a break! AMAZON simply sucks!!
Posted 20 Nov 2009 at 3:29pm #
Amazon doesn't ship from Seattle. They will ship from various warehouses depending on where your item is in stock: typically from Nevada or even the East Coast.
Free shipping doesn't need to be fast, if you want it faster you have the option of paying for faster shipping or using Amazon Prime to get unlimited free 2 day shipping.
Posted 20 Nov 2009 at 9:51pm #
I don't have a problem with waiting longer for the free shipping. My problem is that I judge which type of shipping by the estimate that they give you, but when you purchase the item(s) the shipping then becomes quite a bit longer. Give better estimates!
Posted 27 Nov 2009 at 3:43am #
I've ordered many things from Amazon and I could tell you that they DO hold the orders. They usually hold them for five working days. Even when I paid for 2 day delivery they held my order for five days (they did the two times I paid for 2 day shipping). It's a lie that usps tracking system doesn't work. Next time you ship something with them, check online and you'll see that it's being tracked (maybe not perfectly but why do you need to know where it is every ten minutes). At least they post when they receive a package so the person getting the package knows its shipped. 7 days to have something shipped is too long and 10 days is ridiculous. Anything shipped domestically doesn't take more that 5 days.
Posted 02 Dec 2009 at 9:18pm #
Guys quit your whining, Amazon is normally cheaper to buy from then other e-tailers or local stores. If you dont want to pay shipping, then dont expect the order to arrive the next day, Amazon.com is a business, not a charity. I alway use free shipping for orders less than $100 and I always get the item delivered under 8 days. USPS sucks, tracking is unreliable regardless of if you use Amazon or send mail through the post office. When using standard shipping (and paying for it) my orders always arrive within 4 - 5 days. If you dont want to wait that long, go to a store, pay the higher price, taxes, and shut up.
Posted 03 Dec 2009 at 12:41pm #
Yes, AK. Amazon has wonderful prices. Nobody is debating that. The issue here is that they keep the items in their warehouse for DAYS for no reason other than to punish people for not paying for shipping. If it's that big of a financial challenge, then they shouldn't offer it. Companies like Buy.com and Walmart are perfectly capable of sending their orders out VERY quickly and they have prices just as low as Amazon in most cases.
When I choose Buy.com free shipping, I always get it in less than a week. Why can't Amazon accomplish this? It seems simple enough. It just seems like Amazon is trying to wring every cent of savings out of an order at the cost of customer satisfaction. They're getting arrogant. They think we may complain but we'll keep coming back.
Yes, Amazon is a BUSINESS but if regular customers don't air their grievances with the company, they will go OUT of business. Just last night I bought an Xbox 360 from Buy.com and NOT Amazon because of this. If it keeps up, more of my orders will go to them.
Posted 13 Dec 2009 at 6:15pm #
Posted 06 Jan 2010 at 11:48am #
The last three things I've ordered from Amazon with Super Saver Shipping have been delayed in one way or another. One I thought was the problem of the USPS, but I'm not sure. I ordered something on the 4th of this month, and the estimated deliver is now the 11th. There is no indication of it not being in stock. I would've bought locally, but there is no place locally that sells the item.
Posted 06 Jan 2010 at 2:32pm #
Okay, I have a new experience with Amazon. They recently had this deal where if you sign up for 12 months of Audible, you get $100 off an MP3 player. I was initially hesitant because I know Amazon's reputation but against my better judgment, I signed up for Audible and got my $100 off credit.
So I went shopping for the MP3 player I've wanted, which is the Creative Zen X-Fi2. I was so excited to get the new 16 GB X-Fi2 for only $140. Minus the 100, it would only cost me $40. I signed up for standard shipping. The item said it was in stock. So I ordered it.
Afterwards, I looked at the order details and it said it wasn't going to ship until January 22nd! I ordered this December 31st. I was furious, so I emailed customer service. They said that the item is listed as shipping within ONE TO TWO MONTHS, which was certainly NOT listed on the product page. They actually typed that and expected me to be okay with it. I responded and told them that it was certainly not alright. Their response was "You can cancel your order." That right there highlights Amazon's customer service philosophy: "If you don't like it, tough."
Now many of you may say that I got it at a huge discount, so why complain. Really? I'm stuck paying for Audible for 12 months at $15 a month. That's FAR more than the $100 I saved.
I've been sucked back in with Amazon too many times in the past and I'm done. I've reported this to the Better Business Bureau. Let them deal with these idiots.
Posted 16 Feb 2010 at 11:04am #
Initially, I wasn't sure of what Prime was about and what it had to offer but considering how much I buy there and my lack of patience for delivery, this service has worked very well for me. Now I have started to buy things other than books and music off the site. If you forget to turn off auto-renewal and are charged the membership after a month, don’t despair. The fee is refundable as long as you haven’t made any purchased through Amazon Prime outside of your trial period.
Posted 02 Mar 2010 at 12:18pm #
Add another annoyed customer to the list. Amazon's policies have driven me away - and I used to spend a lot with them. Their ever-changing prices are annoying - I've ordered stuff and the price dropped before I even received it. Buy something from a B&M store and if it goes on sale, they'll make a price adjustment. Amazon won't. Bye-bye Amazon...
Posted 03 Mar 2010 at 11:36am #
I must be the only one around these parts who has any success with Amazon's free shipping. When I order something with free shipping, it is almost always shipped out the next business day, and I almost always get it within 3-4 days after that.
Anyway: Tim: I hope you are letting Amazon know this, instead of just venting your frustration here, where Amazon won't see it...
Posted 16 Apr 2010 at 1:13pm #
Nice to see I'm not alone. I ordered a PS3 on the 13th with free shipping. Initially got a delivery estimate of the 19th (after the weekend, bummer, but hey, stuff USUALLY gets here faster than advertised - MAYBE I'll have it on Saturday). Then the order sat at "Shipping soon!" Wednesday, Thursday, and now, Friday. When I checked on it today, the delivery estimate was pushed back to the 26th-30th.
I contacted them through the "Call me" feature on the site, talked to someone with an Indian accent, and after some bitching, her explaining 'free shipping takes time,' and me saying that even at Christmas, I've NEVER had a free-shipped order take that long, she offered me 'free' 2-day shipping and said I would get it on the 20th. I took the offer, but I'm still debating going back and just canceling it.
Like others, I understand you get what you pay for (free = slow), but they really set up lousy expectations when 'free' stuff you don't really care about gets to you in a day or two, but something like a PS3 can take up to 17 days (by their estimate).
I guess it's true, a watched pot never boils.
Posted 03 May 2010 at 4:02pm #
I ordered some items (april 26) from amazon and used super saver shipping. This is what I noticed. Amazon sent a shipping notice (april 28) showing a USPS tracking number. These items were in stock and I could have had it on april 28th if I had opted for expensive shipping method. But this tracking number was not recognized by the post office until May 1st. On May 1st, postal tracking said they received shipping notice from amazon. On amazon's site, tracking the postal tracking number said it was arrived at an unknown place on April 29.
It seems like, amazon is not really shipping this item on the shipping notice date. They attach a postal tracking number and then hold the item. They ship it out after a holding period to purposely delay the delivery. The customer gets the feeling that it is already shipped and see no reason to cancel it. Normally post office delivers an item with in 3-4 days.
It is game amazon is playing to make sure that you wait for the merchandize if you do not pay for the shipping. Notice that, if amazon is not the seller you get your stuff faster, most often.
I'll get my stuff on May 4th.
Posted 07 Jun 2010 at 8:48pm #
I personally have a theory--free shipping worked great for me UNTIL I signed up for the free trial of Amazon Prime. After a month of free overnight-2day service, I turned it off before they could charge me for PRIME. Since then I've had TERRIBLE service from Amazon. I ordered 2 books which were in stock on 5/12, and they just shipped today, 6/7. That's 3 weeks later! I also had items held hostage with an order including a preordered book that won't come out until September! In December, before my trial, I ordered a set of stuff including a preorder, and all the other in stock stuff was shipped immediately, while the preorder came when it was available, all with free shipping since the total order was > $25.
I think I've been put on some sort of black list for people who have sampled PRIME so that they get so frustrated with mail service that they sign up again. I honestly never had these problems until that trial service.
I'll probably be using Barnes & Nobles more now that they offer free shipping too. I agree that Amazon is driving away loyal customers with substandard service. Personally, I'm going to take this post and email it to Amazon's customer service, and see what they say.
Posted 08 Jun 2010 at 6:25pm #
I like to think of myself as a pretty regular Amazon shopper. Books, mostly. Heck, I even sold a few video games through their Marketplace system.
However, I have been getting the impression from them that the Super Saver Shipping option is causing orders to be, if nothing else, placed in a lower priority Queue.
In other words, if feels like they have a stack of products in this pile and in that pile. That pile is for paid-for shipping and will be loaded before the free shipping pile because the free shipping has a built in "grace period" as their listed ship date.
Ergo, a priority queue.
It's also likely due to how they might be consolidating items between warehouses. No doubt there might be one order in Warehouse 1 which is in (say) California and Warehouse 2 which might be in (say) Illinois.
They probably have regular inter-warehouse trucks that go between their warehouses that deliver such fragmented orders to the closest warehouse, to be assembled into one package and shipped.
Which could explain why a UPSP tracking number can be generated several days (3-4) before items actually ship. Delay due to consolidating. If you paid for shipping, they could very well still consolidate, but instead of waiting for the cheap inter-warehouse truck to deliver their goods, they could just ship it right away via UPSP to the warehouse and reship from there.
Who knows. *shrug*
Long story short, I've always taken free shipping, however it has felt like it's taken a lot longer to ship stuff than it use to.
However, the orders that feel this way are often for 6-7 items, oppose to just buying 1 item. So, I think there's a consolidation issue that causes the delay for the most part.
Posted 20 Jun 2010 at 9:37pm #
I also have been using amazon for years. The free super-saver shipping was great that entire time. Now, recently there has started to be this typical five-day holding time before the product is even shipped. This all started happening after sampling Amazon Prime for a month and not signing up. Coincidence? Maybe...
Posted 07 Jul 2010 (4 weeks ago) at 3:55pm #
OK here is a new one....I paid for shipping ...regular shipping and it still sits.....check this out...
Basically there is no reason to pay anyone for shipping if they allow packages to sit in one location for 3 days after they supposedly “shipped” …it’s complete BS
Oh what the hell I can explain…..
DVD order…ordered June 18…right?
You pay $2.98 for shipping…( should be .99 cents for a DVD but...)
They have a month to get ready for a "July 6 release date"…
They 'ship' it July 5...
OK fine….
You cannot check on progress for a 3 day waiting period? "in transit"....( till the 8th)...I suspect...it is sitting. I check by calling...
Obviously today it is still in the same location it was on July 5? The day it ‘shipped’?(obviously it did not ship)...why?
I complained...and they refunded the shipping cost altogether....This still won’t arrive till July 12……ridiculous. …it weighs the same as a letter.
What exactly are we paying for?...I did not even ask for free shipping in the original order?