Amazon Rant

[Cubsfan]

Any item sold by, or fulfilled by Amazon has always met or exceeded my ship expectations. I've been a Prime member for at least five years and have ordered over 1000 items. I try to avoid buying from third parties as much as possible though.

I've had this exact same experience. Great service, amazingly fast shipping.

[Poobah]

100% agree with CocheseUGA!

If I want it tomorrow or in two days I buy it through Amazon Prime (some 3rd party retailers sell a few items this way too). In fact I hardly ever order anything that isn't Amazon Prime because they are that dependable. And I hate taxes, but I digress ...

Secretly I can't help myself and pay the $3.99 for next day sometimes on insane items like the 10 inch Jet jointer planer or the Incra LS/TS system. I can't imagine how much next day air would normally cost for that kind of stuff!

I did have to wait a week for a book that was in stock and shipped from about 90 miles from my house. I figured I'd get the book the next day or for sure in two days. However, that wasn't prime so all I can do is remember that and order from someone else next time.

[Dal300]

I'm glad all of you have had such good luck with Amazon. I haven't and I go with the idea that once burned I ain't touching it again.

[Bruce Cohen]

Mark,
If that's the worst thing that happened to you this month, you're in way better shape than most of us.
Seriously, I have ordered more stuff than I care to think about from them and always found them to be one of the best web sellers (with the exception of Lee Valley) around.
Sorry you have to get messed with, but there's greater things to get pissed at.

Bruce

[BigguyZ]

[QUOTE=Poobah;496582]
Secretly I can't help myself and pay the $3.99 for next day sometimes on insane items like the 10 inch Jet jointer planer or the Incra LS/TS system. I can't imagine how much next day air would normally cost for that kind of stuff!

QUOTE]

I guy a lot of low-dollar items from amazon, with the two day shipping it's great. But when I bought the cast-iron bed extension for my Jet mini lathe, I also paid the $4 for overnight, just because I'm sure it'd regularly be $100+ to do it...

[JimD]

I will add my voice to favorable experience with Amazon. I also agree the experience with their affiliates is more variable - less favorable. I had a problem with a camera ordered through an affiliate, however. I thought the description was misleading. Amazon stepped in to make sure the issue got resolved. With respect to shipping, if it is Amazon, even the free shipping gets to me in a week plus or minus a day or two. With an affiliate, it's hard to say. One thing you can do is put a warning on their website in the reviews so others are not surprised. I usually look at both the best and the worst of the reviews before ordering.

Jim

[Black wallnut]

I will add my voice to favorable experience with Amazon. I also agree the experience with their affiliates is more variable - less favorable. I had a problem with a camera ordered through an affiliate, however. I thought the description was misleading. Amazon stepped in to make sure the issue got resolved. With respect to shipping, if it is Amazon, even the free shipping gets to me in a week plus or minus a day or two. With an affiliate, it's hard to say. One thing you can do is put a warning on their website in the reviews so others are not surprised. I usually look at both the best and the worst of the reviews before ordering.

Jim

Thanks for the tip Jim! I do not buy much online, actually I do not buy much other than groceries and gas period. I received the package today.

My rant really boils down to I think retailers should process orders quicker than this, especially during a slow time. Looking back they do offer a disclaimer on their shipping page their timetable but there are two ways to read that or into that. one is a reasonable worst case the other is actual reasonable estimate. If it were me I would use it as a disclaimer as to worst case and try to be much better because that is good customer service. It seems in reading this thread many are willing to accept poor or mediocre service for a better price. Oh well, it at least added to the discussion.

First impressions of the router....


WOW pretty cool stuff!

[LCHIEN]

The ideal service model for a customer is to have businesses with excess service personnel so there’s never any waiting. The ideal economic model for businesses is to have the variable work force continually working with a backlog, i.e. not waiting. The ideal model to maximize customer satisfaction where low price and fast service is both a requirement is to have a workforce that’s just large enough to be approach 100% busy with no backlog. In practice that’s hard to accomplish because of the random component of orders – the average for a long period is predictable but the daily amount fluctuates.

At Christmastime most businesses know that delivery by Christmas is paramount to customer satisfaction, at other times, speed is important but not nearly as critical.

For Christmas they probably hire extra people as the load is going to be 4 times normal. If the daily load is lower than the expected load then shipping will appear to you to be instantaenous.

Otoh, In February, they cut back the work force to the anticipated February loading. If there was a heavy couple of days then your order could be delayed a bit. Maybe two days before they would have shipped instantly.

For the same reaosns, likewise, UPS, FedEx, USPS all staff-up and work overtime in December and revert to normal after January.

Since you also expect Amazon to be a low price leader, you must respect their attempts to minimize labor cost (until everyone has a 3-D printer in their house that they can deliver your stuff to you over the ‘net). A day delay here or there is the cost of trying to maximize their profit in a competitive market.

I personally think you’re being too hard on them. If I want instant gratification I pay $50 for overnight shipping (rarely or never) or pick one up at the local B&M stores.

One final thought: having enough service people is like having enough inventory to satisfy demand. Except, that if the inventory doesn't sell you can sell it again next week, the only loss being warehouse costs and cost of debt service. If you have idle service labor standing around, you lose 100% of the cost of the labor and its associated cost (benefits) but the overhead expense remains (lights, building costs, etc). The labor is not recoupable for guys sitting on their asses and doing nothing.

Final, final thought - As Cochese mentioned farther down, paying for a prime membership enables you to probably jump any backlog. Probably worthwhile if you are impatient and buy a lot from Amazon... Jim D suggests that free shipping is slower than standard shipping - I don't mind to save $5-10, I'd expect that to minimize costs for free shipping they move it to the back of the backlog after standard and after prime shipments and possibly negotiate with UPS or USPS for lower rates for a guaranteed volume or slow day pickup.

[JimD]

I order a lot of things on line. Sometimes because that is the only way I can get it and sometimes just because it's easier. Rarely is price the determining variable. I order from Amazon because their price is usually quite good but also because I think their customer service is good. They make it very easy to buy with one click ordering - which I rarely do - and maintenance of not only your address but also the addresses of people you have shipped to before (I use them for presents). They also have gift wrapping and messages you can apply. At least to me, they are definitely not a low end on-line retailer.

I also order books for my Kindle from them. They arrive in moments over the internet. Can't hardly beat that.

My only gripe would be their "free shipping". They put big banners on their website talking about it but then the default is the standard shipping - with a fee. So you have to change your order to free and they increase the number of days. So what do they do for standard shipping that they do not do for free shipping? Do they fill the order slower or use a different shipping method? I'd rather know it was a different shipping method. The part I agree with Mark about is the order should be filled as soon as they can. If they are overloaded and it takes a day or two I can live with that but I'd rather they get it moving quicker. If they sit on my "free shipping" order to fill orders for people paying for shipping I don't care for that.

Jim

[Cochese]

I order a lot of things on line. Sometimes because that is the only way I can get it and sometimes just because it's easier. Rarely is price the determining variable. I order from Amazon because their price is usually quite good but also because I think their customer service is good. They make it very easy to buy with one click ordering - which I rarely do - and maintenance of not only your address but also the addresses of people you have shipped to before (I use them for presents). They also have gift wrapping and messages you can apply. At least to me, they are definitely not a low end on-line retailer.

I also order books for my Kindle from them. They arrive in moments over the internet. Can't hardly beat that.

My only gripe would be their "free shipping". They put big banners on their website talking about it but then the default is the standard shipping - with a fee. So you have to change your order to free and they increase the number of days. So what do they do for standard shipping that they do not do for free shipping? Do they fill the order slower or use a different shipping method? I'd rather know it was a different shipping method. The part I agree with Mark about is the order should be filled as soon as they can. If they are overloaded and it takes a day or two I can live with that but I'd rather they get it moving quicker. If they sit on my "free shipping" order to fill orders for people paying for shipping I don't care for that.

Jim

I'm a Prime member ($40 a year for me), and get free 2-day shipping standard. $3.99 for next day. It's the best bargain on the internet, because it doesn't matter how big an item is, as long as it's eligible. From the ink I just ordered yesterday (and will be here today, a day ahead of schedule) to a Dewalt 735. I buy primarily from Amazon precisely due to price, and because there's no tax. I saved $12 easily on the ink purchase instead of driving up to the store.

Before I had Prime, I noticed that the free shipping would be split between USPS and UPS, depending on the size of the item. Now with that 2-day shipping, I have to think it's an increased rate from UPS for guaranteed delivery - I've never had anything show up later than 10a the second day. For overnight, it's just guaranteed to get there at some point that next day. For those who have paid for the service, it's a 'it needs to get on this plane.' For free, it's a 'it can go on the next one, or a truck.' But even if it was a case of it being not prioritized in prep, isn't that an incentive for the customer to pay more to get their goods faster? I'm not sure I see a problem with it.

[Poobah]

How can I join the $40 prime membership club? I pay $79 a year I think.

[Cochese]

I switched my membership from regular Prime to Student (free). I received an offer nine months later to upgrade to Student-Paid for half price to receive the streaming benefits regular Prime users get.

I'm eligible for this reduced rate for three years, then it goes back to full price.

[Poobah]

Cool! Hmmm <wheels spinning in noggin> ... Wonder if my 7 and 8 year old girls qualify as students ...

[Rand]

I use a very helpful free add-on called invisible hand. When I'm viewing a product page on Amazon it searches for the same product in the background. If it finds a better deal it notifies me. It has saved me quite a bit of money - and if I don't buy from Amazon I don't have to pay sales tax.

http://www.getinvisiblehand.com/

[jnesmith]

I've had this exact same experience. Great service, amazingly fast shipping.

Me three. I love Amazon, and have been Prime member for years. I can order a $3 pack of pencils and have them on my front door step in less than 48 hours, and not pay a penny towards shipping.