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Amazon Shipping

Started by SGOS, December 16, 2017, 03:24:47 PM

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SGOS

I used to be impressed, but I've gotten enough shipments from them to say with a fairly high degree of confidence that it's gone downhill, like a lot downhill.  I believe it's part of their new business strategy to nickel dime customers.  First, two day delivery, which used to be more or less expected back when they were good at it, is still available, but is now priced so high that it should be classified as "dire emergency" delivery.  Second, free delivery is often available, especially if you make a substantial purchase, but it takes a very long time, at least compared to their service in the past.

I placed two orders two days ago, one from LL Bean, which came today as a free delivery, and placed an order from Amazon listed as "in stock", and (not one of their secondary sellers), which hasn't even been processed or shipped yet.  I'm betting it's being throttled at the warehouse in order to blackmail customers into opting for Amazon Prime where two day free delivery is offered, but not all the time depending on items.  I can't justify prime, because I don't buy that much stuff, and I tried it one year because of the streaming service, which didn't have enough quality.  It's more like a way to get you to view their pay per view streaming, where most of the good stuff is.

I understand big corporations need to increase their profit each year to make shareholders stay with them, but in the past, increased revenue seemed to be generated through better services and better selections.  Eventually, they can find nothing to make the service better, so they decide to charge customers for the services that that were part and parcel of the original transactions. 

I find myself buying some things from Best Buy lately, which oddly has decided to compete with Amazon, even though they have to support showrooms.  Best Buy doesn't always match Amazon prices, but they often do, and when they do, I make a trip to Best Buy, sometimes even when their prices are a tad higher, but still in the ball park, and I get to take it home that day.  Of course, some stuff isn't available at Best Buy, and Amazon is the only choice.  I bought a couple big ticket items at Best Buy this last year, which amounted to around $2000 when they matched Amazon, but I doubt that Amazon cares if they lose a thousand here and a thousand there.

Also, when I buy something expensive I will wait a couple of months before making a purchase, especially from Amazon.  I do this partly because I tend to deliberate and research.  Watch Amazon pricing.  They have some kind of strange algorithm to price many items.  A $200 item can be $220 one day, and $149 the next.  I track the prices long enough to determine what seems to be the bottom and buy it when it comes around again.  I bought a Hudson's Bay blanket from Amazon two years ago.  The usual price at the time was around $430, but a couple times a year, without fanfare or a sale announcement, the price would dip to $287.  I guess they know what they are doing, but I don't automatically expect a good deal from Amazon, unless I've been tracking the item.

Amazon is still a good place to buy things, but not all the time, and they are cutting back on the service and quality that made them what they were.  They are still expanding, and good for them, but they aren't what they used to be.

Gawdzilla Sama

I do enough business with Amazon to make the Prime worth the shipping. Haven't had any problems with them.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Munch

I tend to avoid amazon best I can, and go to ebay first to find anything. I know the horrible shit the workers in the amazon warehouses go through and feel guilty just ordering anything from them what the poor workers go though.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Munch on December 16, 2017, 04:12:02 PM
I tend to avoid amazon best I can, and go to ebay first to find anything. I know the horrible shit the workers in the amazon warehouses go through and feel guilty just ordering anything from them what the poor workers go though.
So you want them to lose their jobs?
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Quote from: Munch on December 16, 2017, 04:12:02 PM
I tend to avoid amazon best I can, and go to ebay first to find anything. I know the horrible shit the workers in the amazon warehouses go through and feel guilty just ordering anything from them what the poor workers go though.
I met a woman in Chicago who works in an Amazon warehouse shipping.  She did tell me they laid off a lot of the shipping clerks about a year and a half ago.  I had already noticed that their speed of shipping had slowed down, so it kind of explained part of the slide in service.

Munch

'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Baruch

I worked in an early automated book warehouse in the early 90s (inventory was automated by hand scanners, the stocking was by hand).  Wasn't too bad then.  But I suspect that the Frederick Taylor folks have ruined it.  And more and more robots being brought in.  Too bad management is impossible to automate ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

When a corporation achieves maximum efficiency and market saturation, there are only two ways left to increase profits.  You can nickel dime the customers or the employees.  Although if you are a bank you can commit fraud until the government pays you for it, and if your big enough you can pay politicians money to create laws that force people to buy your product.

OK, so I guess there are more than two ways to increase profit.

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Munch on December 16, 2017, 06:42:55 PM
you don't think they deserve better jobs then that?
Save the strawmanning, please. I asked you if you think they should lose their jobs. Boycotting Amazon will do that if enough people buy into the "punishment" idea. The billionaires won't be hurt. The minimum wages Joes will be hurt, they'd need a job.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Baruch

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on December 17, 2017, 08:49:43 AM
Save the strawmanning, please. I asked you if you think they should lose their jobs. Boycotting Amazon will do that if enough people buy into the "punishment" idea. The billionaires won't be hurt. The minimum wages Joes will be hurt, they'd need a job.

A voluntary general strike is the usual Left response, except not for snowflakes.  An involuntary general strike is coming, Marx wasn't completely wrong.  And Adam Smith saying that the malefactors of wealth are constantly scheming unless restrained by competition or by regulation ... he was partly right too.

Are you in favor of forced government purchases, directly or thru citizen mandate, to save the buggy whip industry?

Cyclic declines in economic activity and employment are normal, if unpleasant.  What government does, thru bribery of elections etc ... is to suppress the natural cycle in favor of certain industries and individuals ... corruption on other words.  But how long can the government be successfully used as a tool of the Elite?  Usually quite a long time, with brief depressions and revolutions in between.  Revolutions replace one king with another, think of it as popular coup de etat.  Voting should be popular coup de etat on a regular basis, but the voters won't do their job vis-a-vis incumbents and dinosaur parties.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on December 16, 2017, 03:50:04 PM
I do enough business with Amazon to make the Prime worth the shipping. Haven't had any problems with them.
If you figure your break even point on what Amazon would have charged you for shipping, you save money with Prime if you buy enough.  If you figure your break even point at what others charge you to ship the same goods, you may have to buy more items to break even.  Either way, you are now paying more for a part of the service, which I view as a way to get more money from customers.  I view prime not as an extra service, but just a new charge for an old service, and made to look more attractive by raising the cost of the old service.

What I have experienced is that when I used to buy Amazon goods, I didn't pay much attention to shipping costs as they were nominal.  Now they can seriously affect the price, and sometimes cancel out any advantage from making an Amazon purchase.  Also, they use tricky devices to catch you off guard.  If they do offer free shipping on a product, their web page doesn't default to it. It will default to a more expensive shipping mode where Amazon can make more money.  Why not leave the choice of the shipping selection totally with the buyer, using the red "need more information" alert before the order is completed?  Maybe it's paranoia on my part.  So be it.  I'd prefer to make my own decisions on how much extra I want to pay, rather than have the merchandizer do it for me.  It's sneaky, although not unexpected in today's corporate strategies.

I can also say good things about Amazon.  This is just an observation that they are no longer fairer and less deceptive than other corporations, whereas in the past, they simply were better.  In fact, I find myself no longer checking their prices against Newegg when I'm buying electronics.  But I still check them against Best Buy, however.  And more and more, I check with Monoprice, a real "up and comer" although they are more specialized and don't offer Amazon's selection.  And Amazon does offer more electronic devices than any other supplier I can think of.  If I have a special need, even if it's for a gadget that I never heard of, but wished was available, I've sometimes found it at Amazon.

Gawdzilla Sama

I can assure you that I do more ordering than $99 would cover the shipping for. I'm not needing a lecture in inconsequential economics. We exceed that number in March.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on December 17, 2017, 10:32:26 AM
I can assure you that I do more ordering than $99 would cover the shipping for. I'm not needing a lecture in inconsequential economics. We exceed that number in March.
I did not mean that to be offensive.

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: SGOS on December 17, 2017, 10:36:45 AM
I did not mean that to be offensive.
Lecturing me on a subject I investigated carefully is tedious.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on December 17, 2017, 11:29:04 AM
Lecturing me on a subject I investigated carefully is tedious.
I didn't mean that to be tedious either.  In the end, if you are saving money and happy with your choice, it's a plus.  I quoted you as a lead-in to make further points to everyone reading the thread.  I did not intend to bore or lecture you personally, although I see how you could assume that would be my motive.  I have no misgivings about my post, however.  I had no malicious intent toward you or anyone else in the forum.  They are simply my personal impressions of Amazon.  Some may even be incorrect, and worth debating.  But there has been no attack on your character or the way you conduct your personal finances.