4 ms·

I'd have to agree with you. I've had 2 bad experiences with Amazon orders, and USPS was to blame for both. They put the envelope/package in the wrong mailbox i

by gt565k 10y ago

I'd have to agree with you. I've had 2 bad experiences with Amazon orders, and USPS was to blame for both. They put the envelope/package in the wrong mailbox in the apartment complex I live in and marked it as delivered. I've received other people's mail in the past too... Amazon's customer service has been exceptional, they send an overnight replacement with UPS and required a signature. Recently, Amazon opened a pickup location near where I live, and I've been shipping more expensive items there. The pickup process takes less than 15 seconds. Literally, walk in, scan barcode, locker opens up, and I pickup my package. Can't wait for Amazon to own the entire vertical and optimize the living shit out of it.

imatworkyo 10y ago
Hmmm this is a human problem at the end of the day. You don't get the wrong mail because of USPS policy. When the mailperson that delivers your mail currently gets fired by USPS and gets hired by Amazon - do you think much will change in that regard??
- microcolonel 10y ago
  There are policy changes around labelling, IT, or whatever that I'm sure could reduce the error rate for this. Amazon has a direct incentive to, at least for Amazon packages, solve these problems. UPS has an incentive to ignore complaints.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  If that person is paid a better wage, or given better hours, or less-unreasonable targets/deadlines, then the service might change.
  - jmelloy 10y ago
    We are still talking about Amazon here.
    - scentedmeat 10y ago
      USPS pays fairly well, I thought. Don't know much about working conditions though.
    - djsumdog 10y ago
      Yea, they're not know for their wages or working conditions, unless you're in IT ... or a robot.
  - robryan 10y ago
    Or just has these delivery issues treated more seriously. Amazon knows exactly which orders they reship and the complaint that the customer makes, they could directly track that metric against delivery drivers.
    - travanx 10y ago
      Very much so. Early on in our Prime experience about 2 years ago one of the delivery men, after dropping off the package, went back to the van, whipped it out and started peeing in the street. All while our neighbors kids were playing in the front yard. I thought twitter would be a good place to contact Amazon's support, and they didn't seem to care. That guy never delivered again, but no real response to my concerns was a bit creepy to say the least. Otherwise packages come from all makes and models of cars over the last 6 months. Still pretty cool to get most things same day delivery cheaper than me driving to Fry's for a piece of hardware. I don't see how they make money though and compete in the long run after VC runs out.
  - achr2 10y ago
    None of that will happen, what might happen is better technology, like having to take a photo of the delivery address that gets OCRed and compared before the package is confirmed as delivered.
  - mattnewton 10y ago
    More likely they will go from a union job with more security to being worried about their job all the time..
- jedberg 10y ago
  Definitely. Amazon would fire them after about the second time. They have much better data and know exactly which one of their people makes a mistake. When you give bad shipping feedback, if the same person gets bad feedback multiple times, they get retrained and then fired.
  - chrischen 10y ago
    Not unless there's some strong union action going on.
  - umsm 10y ago
    It comes down to a price. These big shipping companies started out good, but with time things slid downhill. You don't start out with the goal of providing mediocre service. The problem is if you want top employees, you have to pay top dollar. Amazon's shipping service company will probably start out good, but it may windup in a similar place once they start trying to "optimize" their shipping service. They will cut cost, overwork existing employees, and try to extend the reach of their service. If they don't, you will be over-paying for "Amazon" services and many will look elsewhere when it comes down to paying an extra 5% or more for better service. On the topic of feedback: You can provide feedback to shipping companies. I called FedEx and reported their driver for dropping 2 packages in a row (and damaging the contents). He came back 2 days later with the 3rd package, apologized, and read me back my report. You just have to be proactive and communicate with them.
- djsumdog 10y ago
  Exactly. I mean everyone has a horror story from UPS/USPS/FedEx, but for each of those, millions of packages get delivered every year without a single hitch. Amazon running their own service just adds another one to the list. Personally, I stopped shopping on Amazon after I returned to the US. I realized they had become the new Wal-Mart, and I haven't shopped there since 2009.
- nowprovision 10y ago
  I think Amazon will use the data. USPS operator probably fills in a paper form, it get stamps and then it get filled never to be used in any meaningful way again.
FireBeyond 10y ago
Yeah, last week USPS delivered $1800 of SSDs to my house. Great. Except they flagged it as "delivered, on front porch", two days prior, leading to much consternation, shoulder shrugging and the like while I attempted to find them.
- smokey_the_bear 10y ago
  So this happens to me all the time. I'm pretty sure they deliver it to my neighbors, and two days later a neighbor puts it on my porch.
- jayess 10y ago
  Same has happened to me twice, although I'm pretty sure the mailman is scanning items as delivered in order to make a quota and then waiting until the next day to deliver them.
  - jordanthoms 10y ago
    This. I'm pretty sure there is a huge problem with USPS workers fraudulently scanning items as delivered (to meet Amazon's SLA) and then actually delivering them a week later. I'm surprised Amazon hasn't done anything about it yet.
    - lotharrr 10y ago
      Hm, now I want my order email to include a (nonce) barcode that I print out and leave on my door, and the USPS worker has to scan that before they can claim anything was delivered.
      - dancing_shark 10y ago
        In general, USPS does have the infrastructure to do this: Managed Service Points are barcodes placed on mailboxes that can be scanned by the carrier, to establish when he/she reaches certain checkpoints. https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs02/2f3.htm https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs02/2f3.htm It's a more modern version of the mechanical "watchclocks" installed in buildings to ensure that guards make their appointed rounds. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchclock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchclock I have no idea how regularly USPS examines or audits their MSP data.
megablast 10y ago
> The pickup process takes less than 15 seconds. Literally, walk in, scan barcode, locker opens up, and I pickup my package. So they magically transport you there in a second as well?

by gt565k 10y ago

imatworkyo 10y ago

Hmmm this is a human problem at the end of the day. You don't get the wrong mail because of USPS policy. When the mailperson that delivers your mail currently gets fired by USPS and gets hired by Amazon - do you think much will change in that regard??

microcolonel 10y ago
There are policy changes around labelling, IT, or whatever that I'm sure could reduce the error rate for this. Amazon has a direct incentive to, at least for Amazon packages, solve these problems. UPS has an incentive to ignore complaints.
Symbiote 10y ago
If that person is paid a better wage, or given better hours, or less-unreasonable targets/deadlines, then the service might change.
- jmelloy 10y ago
  We are still talking about Amazon here.
  - scentedmeat 10y ago
    USPS pays fairly well, I thought. Don't know much about working conditions though.
  - djsumdog 10y ago
    Yea, they're not know for their wages or working conditions, unless you're in IT ... or a robot.
- robryan 10y ago
  Or just has these delivery issues treated more seriously. Amazon knows exactly which orders they reship and the complaint that the customer makes, they could directly track that metric against delivery drivers.
  - travanx 10y ago
    Very much so. Early on in our Prime experience about 2 years ago one of the delivery men, after dropping off the package, went back to the van, whipped it out and started peeing in the street. All while our neighbors kids were playing in the front yard. I thought twitter would be a good place to contact Amazon's support, and they didn't seem to care. That guy never delivered again, but no real response to my concerns was a bit creepy to say the least. Otherwise packages come from all makes and models of cars over the last 6 months. Still pretty cool to get most things same day delivery cheaper than me driving to Fry's for a piece of hardware. I don't see how they make money though and compete in the long run after VC runs out.
- achr2 10y ago
  None of that will happen, what might happen is better technology, like having to take a photo of the delivery address that gets OCRed and compared before the package is confirmed as delivered.
- mattnewton 10y ago
  More likely they will go from a union job with more security to being worried about their job all the time..
jedberg 10y ago
Definitely. Amazon would fire them after about the second time. They have much better data and know exactly which one of their people makes a mistake. When you give bad shipping feedback, if the same person gets bad feedback multiple times, they get retrained and then fired.
- chrischen 10y ago
  Not unless there's some strong union action going on.
- umsm 10y ago
  It comes down to a price. These big shipping companies started out good, but with time things slid downhill. You don't start out with the goal of providing mediocre service. The problem is if you want top employees, you have to pay top dollar. Amazon's shipping service company will probably start out good, but it may windup in a similar place once they start trying to "optimize" their shipping service. They will cut cost, overwork existing employees, and try to extend the reach of their service. If they don't, you will be over-paying for "Amazon" services and many will look elsewhere when it comes down to paying an extra 5% or more for better service. On the topic of feedback: You can provide feedback to shipping companies. I called FedEx and reported their driver for dropping 2 packages in a row (and damaging the contents). He came back 2 days later with the 3rd package, apologized, and read me back my report. You just have to be proactive and communicate with them.
djsumdog 10y ago
Exactly. I mean everyone has a horror story from UPS/USPS/FedEx, but for each of those, millions of packages get delivered every year without a single hitch. Amazon running their own service just adds another one to the list. Personally, I stopped shopping on Amazon after I returned to the US. I realized they had become the new Wal-Mart, and I haven't shopped there since 2009.
nowprovision 10y ago
I think Amazon will use the data. USPS operator probably fills in a paper form, it get stamps and then it get filled never to be used in any meaningful way again.

FireBeyond 10y ago

Yeah, last week USPS delivered $1800 of SSDs to my house. Great. Except they flagged it as "delivered, on front porch", two days prior, leading to much consternation, shoulder shrugging and the like while I attempted to find them.

smokey_the_bear 10y ago
So this happens to me all the time. I'm pretty sure they deliver it to my neighbors, and two days later a neighbor puts it on my porch.
jayess 10y ago
Same has happened to me twice, although I'm pretty sure the mailman is scanning items as delivered in order to make a quota and then waiting until the next day to deliver them.
- jordanthoms 10y ago
  This. I'm pretty sure there is a huge problem with USPS workers fraudulently scanning items as delivered (to meet Amazon's SLA) and then actually delivering them a week later. I'm surprised Amazon hasn't done anything about it yet.
  - lotharrr 10y ago
    Hm, now I want my order email to include a (nonce) barcode that I print out and leave on my door, and the USPS worker has to scan that before they can claim anything was delivered.
    - dancing_shark 10y ago
      In general, USPS does have the infrastructure to do this: Managed Service Points are barcodes placed on mailboxes that can be scanned by the carrier, to establish when he/she reaches certain checkpoints. https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs02/2f3.htm https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs02/2f3.htm It's a more modern version of the mechanical "watchclocks" installed in buildings to ensure that guards make their appointed rounds. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchclock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchclock I have no idea how regularly USPS examines or audits their MSP data.

megablast 10y ago

> The pickup process takes less than 15 seconds. Literally, walk in, scan barcode, locker opens up, and I pickup my package. So they magically transport you there in a second as well?