rant - Time to drop Amazon

[k0ua]

Another happy (so far) Prime user.. signed up a few months ago, The streaming movies and the now streaming music is worth something. Plus we order a lot of stuff and not having to find other things to put with what we want to get "free" shipping (yes I know it is not really free, nothing in this world is) makes it nice to have. We got in just under the 79 dollar wire. Do I think Amazon is making money off of Prime? Yes, I would sure as heck hope so, and I hope they make a ton of money off of it. A 30% margin does not sound like too much to me.

 

[300UGUY]

I usually get stuff locally, if I can. But increasingly, the locals don't stock much. I needed a rear wiper blade for my HHR. Local Autozone, it was 19.95 + 6% tax. I was going to pay it. But they didn't have it in stock, they would have to order it. I went home, got it on Amazon for 9.95 +6% tax. I had it in 2 days, same as Autozone. I heard a old salesman, who called himself a peddler, say " you can't sell from a empty cart". I still think that is true. Btw, the peddler sold multi million dollar machines to industry.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Sometimes I've had Prime items take longer than 2 days, but they always told me up front when I ordered. With the new price increase, I may rethink continuing prime.

 

[pwright]

I have Prime and it's fantastic. I buy a lot of music and a lot of stuff that just isn't commonly available here in a small town like Las Cruces. I like that I can order a single paperback book, get it at a discount and get it delivered to my house in two days. I've never had a failure in the 2 day delivery to my house. Items have come in FedEx, UPS and USPS. Just last week I got my notice that UPS had delivered an item but it wasn't anywhere to be found. I popped online at 7PM that night, hit the Help Chat window and the lady sent me a no-charge replacement that got here less than 48 hours later.

Buying local is great and I do try to do that when I can. Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply and others have all gotten a pretty good chunk of my money lately.

I'm not sure how a failure by the USPS to actually deliver the item is somehow Amazon's fault. I would have contacted Amazon when it didn't show up as expected and they would have addressed the issue. I doubt Amazon's customer service is monitoring the forums on TBN.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

So I've got Amazon prime with FREE 2 DAY DELIVERY!!

It's not worth the bits it's written with. Besides the standard doesn't include weekends etc. it's been taking 4 days or more to get stuff. This last was the worst. Ordered a hard drive NEEDED for backup on Sunday. Delivery PROMISED BY WEDNESDAY.
Oh they delivered it ok, except to the @#$%## post office who MIGHT get it delivered by Saturday, or not.

Everything is Amazing and nobody is happy.

 

[tcreeley]

I like prime, useful for somethings. I find that if FedEx handles the delivery- it is later. If UPS does it, it arrives here sooner. The drivers are both great, friendly- just the way things are.

 

[s219]

I don't have Prime, but recently I have seen numerous Amazon shipments routed through USPS get held up for days longer than they should. It's getting ridiculous. Not only are the shipments delayed, but the USPS tracking info is virtually worthless. I'd pay extra to have reliable shipping.

 

[jimpen]

Well I ordered my passport with fast shipping. The state department sent it UPS. UPS dropped it at a post office that is about thirty miles north of mine. Then USPS delivered it to some business about ten miles north of the post office. So USPS then had to get it back from the mis-delivery and send it to my local post office and then I finally got it eight days later. UPS made me wait a day and half before they would take the mis-delivery report. You want to talk about frustrating. So it just isn't Amazon that is screwing up.

 

[CowboyRon]

Well I ordered my passport with fast shipping. The state department sent it UPS. UPS dropped it at a post office that is about thirty miles north of mine. Then USPS delivered it to some business about ten miles north of the post office. So USPS then had to get it back from the mis-delivery and send it to my local post office and then I finally got it eight days later. UPS made me wait a day and half before they would take the mis-delivery report. You want to talk about frustrating. So it just isn't Amazon that is screwing up.

If UPS doesn't deliver to your address I don't see why the shipper would use them in the first place. Wouldn't it be easier just to use the post office?

 

[jimpen]

I telecommute. I see a UPS go up and down my street practically every day. I think UPS is pulling off some kind of slick operation that the shippers don't realize is going on.

 

[CowboyRon]

I telecommute. I see a UPS go up and down my street practically every day. I think UPS is pulling off some kind of slick operation that the shippers don't realize is going on.

That's very possible. I don't see why they would do that. I would be very curious as to why they are doing it.

 

[caver]

I try and wait an order when it is over $25 and then I get free shipping

Some time back they upped it to 35$ so I subscribed to Prime before they upped the yearly Prime fee.

 

[timster2]

Delivering the "last mile" is the most expensive for the shipper. UPS and FedEx have made deals with the USPS to handle the last mile of the delivery. If the UPS of FedEx truck gets to the post office and they sort the packages before they start their routes you get your package that day, if they don't you wait an additional day or more until things get sorted out. If the package is larger it seems to be delivered by the shipper and not transferred to the post office, however, smaller packages seem to end up at the post office for delivery.

Logically this all makes sense and could help to keep the USPS in business and regular mail being delivered in rural areas. Giving the post office a piece of the delivery pie keeps the mail coming as well. This would give the post office one less excuse to stop mail delivery and force us all to go to the post office to pick up the mail.

The UPS and FedEx handing off to the USPS seems to happen more in rural areas then in the cities. I guess it has to do with population density and the miles a truck would have to travel to deliver all the small packages.

 

[wngsprd]

Glad to see feedback on Prime. I always declined to join until they announced the price increase, and I had just paid about $15 for shipping a few small orders. So I signed up...so far I'm pleased, for example, ordered a lawnmower part on a Friday night, and got it in the US Mail before noon Monday. Still not sure I'll get my $80 worth, but with a few more orders, and movies and music, should come out okay.

 

[k0ua]

Delivering the "last mile" is the most expensive for the shipper. UPS and FedEx have made deals with the USPS to handle the last mile of the delivery. If the UPS of FedEx truck gets to the post office and they sort the packages before they start their routes you get your package that day, if they don't you wait an additional day or more until things get sorted out. If the package is larger it seems to be delivered by the shipper and not transferred to the post office, however, smaller packages seem to end up at the post office for delivery.

Logically this all makes sense and could help to keep the USPS in business and regular mail being delivered in rural areas. Giving the post office a piece of the delivery pie keeps the mail coming as well. This would give the post office one less excuse to stop mail delivery and force us all to go to the post office to pick up the mail.

The UPS and FedEx handing off to the USPS seems to happen more in rural areas then in the cities. I guess it has to do with population density and the miles a truck would have to travel to deliver all the small packages.

This seems like a good explanation to me.

 

[chopped]

Well Explained...

Delivering the "last mile" is the most expensive for the shipper. UPS and FedEx have made deals with the USPS to handle the last mile of the delivery. If the UPS of FedEx truck gets to the post office and they sort the packages before they start their routes you get your package that day, if they don't you wait an additional day or more until things get sorted out. If the package is larger it seems to be delivered by the shipper and not transferred to the post office, however, smaller packages seem to end up at the post office for delivery.

Logically this all makes sense and could help to keep the USPS in business and regular mail being delivered in rural areas. Giving the post office a piece of the delivery pie keeps the mail coming as well. This would give the post office one less excuse to stop mail delivery and force us all to go to the post office to pick up the mail.

The UPS and FedEx handing off to the USPS seems to happen more in rural areas then in the cities. I guess it has to do with population density and the miles a truck would have to travel to deliver all the small packages.

 

[Fidler4]

Recently I was looking for a particular propane torch. I have Prime so I narrowed the search to Prime items. Found the torch I wanted in Amazon Prime, but read the screenshot below. It might be Prime with supposedly two day shipping, but....???? :laughing: <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/rural-living/381514-rant-time-drop-amazon-torch-jpg"/> I do like Prime in most cases saves me a wasted trip to a local store that many times doesn't have what I want and I use the movie feature with it, so to me it's worth what it costs. On an item like that hard drive or similar, try B&H Photo . I ordered a portable drive from them this past Monday and it was delivered Tuesday (NY to MA). They are pretty quick.

I love BH PhotoVodeo. I always check there
First.

 

[Gem99ultra]

From my experience, the problem is with SurePost or SmartPost, whatever UPS or FedEx calls it. When they hand off a package to USPS for delivery, the responsibility turns into finger pointing. And service drops like a rock!
USPS is definitely in trouble though - but we need USPS.

I don't know if the delays is their system or their people. In my case it's their people. I've had their postman not deliver packages, left a note for me to go to the next town and pick it up "because he didn't have room in his Jeep for it". That's not good service in my book - especially when I paid an extra $26 for home delivery.

As for Amazon vs eBay, there's no contest. Amazon has an impeccable guarantee. If you don't like an item for any reason (or no reason), you can return it for credit. Amazon backs the customer.
\With eBay - Ha! Lots of luck. And even if your purchase is received there's absolutely no assurance that it is not counterfeit, used, remanufactured, etc. And don't expect eBay to do much for you if you need or want to return the item. eBay backs the sellers. Returns will cost you dearly.

Nonetheless, one MUST shop out every purchase. Sometimes I find items priced better at the local brick & mortar store, and sometimes not. Time and cost are the key deciding factors.

 

[300UGUY]

From my experience, the problem is with SurePost or SmartPost, whatever UPS or FedEx calls it. When they hand off a package to USPS for delivery, the responsibility turns into finger pointing. And service drops like a rock!
USPS is definitely in trouble though - but we need USPS.

I don't know if the delays is their system or their people. In my case it's their people. I've had their postman not deliver packages, left a note for me to go to the next town and pick it up "because he didn't have room in his Jeep for it". That's not good service in my book - especially when I paid an extra $26 for home delivery.

As for Amazon vs eBay, there's no contest. Amazon has an impeccable guarantee. If you don't like an item for any reason (or no reason), you can return it for credit. Amazon backs the customer.
\With eBay - Ha! Lots of luck. And even if your purchase is received there's absolutely no assurance that it is not counterfeit, used, remanufactured, etc. And don't expect eBay to do much for you if you need or want to return the item. eBay backs the sellers. Returns will cost you dearly.

Nonetheless, one MUST shop out every purchase. Sometimes I find items priced better at the local brick & mortar store, and sometimes not. Time and cost are the key deciding factors.

I've had very good service from our postal folks and UPS. I have noticed that we get a lot more packages from USPS than we used too. The brown truck delivers the bigger stuff. FEDEX is a pain here, it may be a local thing.

 

[dmccarty]

Around $30 of the $100 is profit. Here's an interesting article about Prime. It's about 10% ($500 million) of Amazon's total net income!

Re-Evaluating Amazon Prime's Strength - Forbes

That article has issues. It only addresses video streaming and makes in their own words a assumption of Prime's profit. The article ignores Amazon's costs for shipping and publication rights for books. From what I have been reading for years, Amazon is LOOSING money on Prime. They are using it as a loss leader to get people to buy more products from Amazon.

I compare prices on Amazon and it almost always is cheaper to buy the product from Amazon. The "free" shipping saves even more money. I ordered something recently cost $15 to ship. It does not take many shipping costs at that level to pay for Prime. For us, Prime saves us money, even at the the $99 cost and that just includes shipping. I do borrow a book from time to time and we stream video as well.

Amazon delivers to us on USPS, UPS, and FedEx. We have only one or two problems with deliveries arriving on time which given the amount of stuff we buy from Amazon is a pretty good record.

Given it costs us quite a bit of money to go to a non grocery store, Amazon Prime saves us a bunch of dollars. Heck, the stores usually do not have what I need anyway which just wastes my time and money....

Later,
Dan