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Given that Amazon seldom seem able to even dispatch my orders within two days, I think they'll have to implement some serious upstream process improvements befo

Given that Amazon seldom seem able to even dispatch my orders within two days, I think they'll have to implement some serious upstream process improvements before "30 minutes" becomes anyway imaginable. In my recent experience the actual physical delivery process is only about one-third of the overall waiting time. But I suppose warehouse processes are less PR-friendly than sexy drone stories. In contrast vendors selling through ebay consistently have the item inserted into the delivery system on the same day.

BillinghamJ 10y ago
In London, Amazon is consistently able to deliver many items within one hour via courier. It's called Prime Now. Two-hour delivery is free if you have Prime. One hour is about £5. On the normal Amazon.co.uk Prime, they dispatch same-day and always deliver next day, usually by ~1pm.
- dingaling 10y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the info. Living in 'the regions' in the UK I wasn't aware of those London services. It does illustrate why in my experience non-Prime customers are drifting away from Amazon, though. They're sharpening their localised and top-tier delivery experience whilst seemingly letting 'ordinary' orders languish. Whereas I can go to another retailer, or straight to the manufacturer, and have my order on my carpet before Amazon even put it in a delivery lorry.
  - sudhirj 10y ago
    Depends entirely on what the item is and who the seller is. If it's on the Marketplace, Amazon has almost no involvement is dispatch and delivery. If it's Amazon Fulfilled, they pick up and handle delivery once the seller is ready for dispatch. I think the Prime and Prime Now items are stocked in Amazon's warehouses and allow for full control.
    - camtarn 10y ago
      Items which are 'Fulfilled By Amazon' are actually stored in Amazon's warehouses. The seller just ships a bulk order of the item to the warehouse any time stock gets low. Very useful for small or white label manufacturers who get their stock made in China, and don't have any facilities to store it in the US/EU. https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/features-benefits.html https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/...
  - treigerm 10y ago
    Yes, I think a big factor is the region your living in. I am studying in Edinburgh and when I order something from Amazon there it usually takes around a week to arrive. But when I'm back home (Germany, NRW) even orders without Prime arrive in 2-3 business days.
    - pjc50 10y ago
      Rather surprising given the warehouse is just north of Edinburgh in Fife.
- pricechild 10y ago
  Two hour is "free" but there's both a minimum order amount and driver tip included by default.
gambiting 10y ago
I've had 250 orders with Amazon last year alone, all of them with Amazon Prime - I've had things which arrived a day late, but literally everything dispatched the same day, always. I'm in UK.
- pricechild 10y ago
  Amazon 'told' you they dispatched the same day... but they would, wouldn't they?
  - gambiting 10y ago
    Well I always had a tracking number...and parcels which were late were always shown on DPD website as being stuck somewhere in the country, not in Amazon's warehouse.
    - pricechild 10y ago
      Aha, I'm used to Amazon Logistics delivering all Prime parcels!
  - thirdsun 10y ago
    There isn't a lot of guessing when you have a tracking number.
CannisterFlux 10y ago
Do you have Prime? I don't use it, since I only buy 1 or 2 things off Amazon a year and my experience has been similar to yours. It takes 3-5 days to get an order out, then only 1-3 days actual in-transit shipping time. My conspiracy theory is that Amazon is making non-Prime purchasing - where you pay a one-off fee - a worse experience so that you'll be "forced" to try Prime. Or at the very least they put non-Prime customers to the back of the warehouse queue more often. All it has done is turned me off Amazon, and I try to buy things someplace else if I can. It helps that I don't live in the US or UK, and our provincial Amazon is a much worse offering compared to those 2.
- thirdsun 10y ago
  Of course they are. I'm a Prime-subscriber and love the guaranteed next-day arrival (Germany) of my orders. However when I have to order something from our non-Prime office-/-work-account, Amazon never ships the items on the same day, regardless how early I order. I'm certain this is intentional and I'm ok with it. Having my frequent orders reliably arrive on the next day is worth the subscription. If you don't think so, you'll have to be patient. I think that's how Amazon sees it too.
Already__Taken 10y ago
I don't have prime and have sometimes gotten same day delivery with free postage by ordering early and getting delivery to a UPS dropoff. I guess they have drivers that just lap the dropoffs. North West UK.

BillinghamJ 10y ago

In London, Amazon is consistently able to deliver many items within one hour via courier. It's called Prime Now. Two-hour delivery is free if you have Prime. One hour is about £5. On the normal Amazon.co.uk Prime, they dispatch same-day and always deliver next day, usually by ~1pm.

dingaling 10y ago
Interesting, thanks for the info. Living in 'the regions' in the UK I wasn't aware of those London services. It does illustrate why in my experience non-Prime customers are drifting away from Amazon, though. They're sharpening their localised and top-tier delivery experience whilst seemingly letting 'ordinary' orders languish. Whereas I can go to another retailer, or straight to the manufacturer, and have my order on my carpet before Amazon even put it in a delivery lorry.
- sudhirj 10y ago
  Depends entirely on what the item is and who the seller is. If it's on the Marketplace, Amazon has almost no involvement is dispatch and delivery. If it's Amazon Fulfilled, they pick up and handle delivery once the seller is ready for dispatch. I think the Prime and Prime Now items are stocked in Amazon's warehouses and allow for full control.
  - camtarn 10y ago
    Items which are 'Fulfilled By Amazon' are actually stored in Amazon's warehouses. The seller just ships a bulk order of the item to the warehouse any time stock gets low. Very useful for small or white label manufacturers who get their stock made in China, and don't have any facilities to store it in the US/EU. https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/features-benefits.html https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/...
- treigerm 10y ago
  Yes, I think a big factor is the region your living in. I am studying in Edinburgh and when I order something from Amazon there it usually takes around a week to arrive. But when I'm back home (Germany, NRW) even orders without Prime arrive in 2-3 business days.
  - pjc50 10y ago
    Rather surprising given the warehouse is just north of Edinburgh in Fife.
pricechild 10y ago
Two hour is "free" but there's both a minimum order amount and driver tip included by default.

gambiting 10y ago

I've had 250 orders with Amazon last year alone, all of them with Amazon Prime - I've had things which arrived a day late, but literally everything dispatched the same day, always. I'm in UK.

pricechild 10y ago
Amazon 'told' you they dispatched the same day... but they would, wouldn't they?
- gambiting 10y ago
  Well I always had a tracking number...and parcels which were late were always shown on DPD website as being stuck somewhere in the country, not in Amazon's warehouse.
  - pricechild 10y ago
    Aha, I'm used to Amazon Logistics delivering all Prime parcels!
- thirdsun 10y ago
  There isn't a lot of guessing when you have a tracking number.

CannisterFlux 10y ago

Do you have Prime? I don't use it, since I only buy 1 or 2 things off Amazon a year and my experience has been similar to yours. It takes 3-5 days to get an order out, then only 1-3 days actual in-transit shipping time. My conspiracy theory is that Amazon is making non-Prime purchasing - where you pay a one-off fee - a worse experience so that you'll be "forced" to try Prime. Or at the very least they put non-Prime customers to the back of the warehouse queue more often. All it has done is turned me off Amazon, and I try to buy things someplace else if I can. It helps that I don't live in the US or UK, and our provincial Amazon is a much worse offering compared to those 2.

thirdsun 10y ago
Of course they are. I'm a Prime-subscriber and love the guaranteed next-day arrival (Germany) of my orders. However when I have to order something from our non-Prime office-/-work-account, Amazon never ships the items on the same day, regardless how early I order. I'm certain this is intentional and I'm ok with it. Having my frequent orders reliably arrive on the next day is worth the subscription. If you don't think so, you'll have to be patient. I think that's how Amazon sees it too.

Already__Taken 10y ago

I don't have prime and have sometimes gotten same day delivery with free postage by ordering early and getting delivery to a UPS dropoff. I guess they have drivers that just lap the dropoffs. North West UK.