5 ms·

Lately I've heard a lot of radio spots pushing Target's free shipping and pick-it-up at your local store. Which is competing / catching up with WalMart.

tdb7893 9y ago
I've had a lot of issues with Amazon recently so I'm happy that these retailers are doing more e-commerce
- WaxProlix 9y ago
  Agreed. I've been considering dropping Prime, since something like 8 out of 8 deliveries didn't arrive within the 2 business days promised - often with delays of up to a week. Customer service would waste an hour of my time each time I called to ask and verify just so I could know whether I needed to go to a brick and mortar store to buy the item in time. Really, really unpleasant.
  - mh- 9y ago
    I've been experiencing this as well- seemingly with increasing frequency as they use their own "AMZL" delivery service. It's rapidly discouraging me from ordering things from Amazon if I'm going to rely on the delivery date. Or casually ordering things (i.e. via Alexa) that I might not be paying attention to the delivery of. I've had prime since it became available, and this is a very disappointing turn for Amazon from my point of view.
  - astura 9y ago
    >Customer service would waste an hour of my time each time I called to ask and verify just so I could know whether I needed to go to a brick and mortar store to buy the item Amazon customer service is just the worse. They seem to only know how to press two buttons: "refund order" or "ship item." Or maybe "cancel order" and "return" too. If you need something that doesn't get solved by one of those buttons you're going to have a really, really frustrating experience. Every person I ever talked to has a fundamental lack of understanding of the English language, way worse than your typical Indian call center. You ask a question and they just don't understand what you're asking, they get confused, and tell you some irrelevant information. It's a frustrating, time consuming, back and forth to ask a simple question and sometimes you don't even get an answer and your issue is literally never addressed. It just astounds me that it's that bad. But because they reflexively just press "refund order" most of the time the average person thinks they are getting good customer service... In contrast, Walmart's free two day delivery has been on point.
    - esturk 9y ago
      Agreed. Sometimes, you may not even be able to get the a refund. Amazon seems to be incurring a growing cost for refunds and its reneging on them whenever the chance arises. That's what happens when an entity becomes a monopoly.
  - cryptoz 9y ago
    Yes, I've also had similar experiences. I rarely get 2 business day delivery! Such a scam. The service is amazing only if it works nearly 100% of the time. Otherwise, you don't know if your Prime item will come in 2 days or 6 and it gets really hard to order some things with that uncertainty.
    - phil21 9y ago
      Curious where you guys live to have these experiences? I split my time between Minneapolis and Chicago, and have yet to have a (noticed at least) delayed Prime package. Prime Now is even more insane. Last item I ordered arrived in 18 minutes from pressing the button. I'm sure this happens, I just am wondering where one must live for it to be a common occurrence.
  - Glyptodon 9y ago
    My experience is that things still mostly take two days to ship/deliver, but that they often don't get shipped for random period of time (I just ordered something, for example, that looked like a regular Prime shipping product, but the ship date won't be until the 25th, though it of course notified me of such during checkout, though it's an extreme example). (Tangentially, I only have Prime when they offer a free month and then I cancel near the end of it.)
  - SkyPuncher 9y ago
    My wife and I have noticed this lately. If seems like they're trying to play a numbers game by setting too many items as prime and too aggressively setting delivery dates. Just give me a date that you can hit 99% of the time. I don't mind a missed delivery every now and then, but lately 9 out of 10 deliveries are late.
- hangonhn 9y ago
  Yeah I've had two packages lost and one package stolen in the last month.
koolba 9y ago
I’ve used both Target and a Walmart’s pickup options and the former is superior. Walmart makes you go to the back of the store. The walk alone takes a few minutes. Then you wait for an employee to show up, then you wait for them to lookup your order, then they go into the back room to get it. Then walk all the way back out. For Target the pickup spot is right by the entrance and there’s already a person waiting there. They just scan your barcode, show your ID, and hand you your item.
- lighthazard 9y ago
  Don't forget when you can't find an employee or they tell you someone is coming and 20 minutes later no one remembers you even existed.
- astura 9y ago
  Walmart is totally revamping the store pickup and putting a huge emphasis on it with lots of branding. My store has already switched over to the new system but they may still be in the process of rolling it out. They moved it to the front of the store next to the entrance and you check yourself in on a touch screen kiosk, either scanning a barcode or looking up your order by name or order number. Then an employee gets a notification on a smartphone and they grab your order. There is a status bar on a monitor letting you know what's going on. When it works it works really, really, really well. I mean, in and out in less than two minutes. However, there was a time the employee didn't get a notification, so it might still need to get the kinks ironed out. I agree that previously the store pickup was an afterthought and not always run very well.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
    Yup. I did an in-store pickup at Walmart last night. I got a text message with the pickup # and when I went there (Walmart's on my way home and I stop there most days), the greeter at the door was the person who got my order. Pickup station was right by the door and I was done in under 2 minutes. It's improved a lot in the last year!
- adventured 9y ago
kwillets 9y ago
My kids figured out that the online target.com prices are much lower than the local store, so they still shop there but price-match everything at the register.

tdb7893 9y ago

I've had a lot of issues with Amazon recently so I'm happy that these retailers are doing more e-commerce

WaxProlix 9y ago
Agreed. I've been considering dropping Prime, since something like 8 out of 8 deliveries didn't arrive within the 2 business days promised - often with delays of up to a week. Customer service would waste an hour of my time each time I called to ask and verify just so I could know whether I needed to go to a brick and mortar store to buy the item in time. Really, really unpleasant.
- mh- 9y ago
  I've been experiencing this as well- seemingly with increasing frequency as they use their own "AMZL" delivery service. It's rapidly discouraging me from ordering things from Amazon if I'm going to rely on the delivery date. Or casually ordering things (i.e. via Alexa) that I might not be paying attention to the delivery of. I've had prime since it became available, and this is a very disappointing turn for Amazon from my point of view.
- astura 9y ago
  >Customer service would waste an hour of my time each time I called to ask and verify just so I could know whether I needed to go to a brick and mortar store to buy the item Amazon customer service is just the worse. They seem to only know how to press two buttons: "refund order" or "ship item." Or maybe "cancel order" and "return" too. If you need something that doesn't get solved by one of those buttons you're going to have a really, really frustrating experience. Every person I ever talked to has a fundamental lack of understanding of the English language, way worse than your typical Indian call center. You ask a question and they just don't understand what you're asking, they get confused, and tell you some irrelevant information. It's a frustrating, time consuming, back and forth to ask a simple question and sometimes you don't even get an answer and your issue is literally never addressed. It just astounds me that it's that bad. But because they reflexively just press "refund order" most of the time the average person thinks they are getting good customer service... In contrast, Walmart's free two day delivery has been on point.
  - esturk 9y ago
    Agreed. Sometimes, you may not even be able to get the a refund. Amazon seems to be incurring a growing cost for refunds and its reneging on them whenever the chance arises. That's what happens when an entity becomes a monopoly.
- cryptoz 9y ago
  Yes, I've also had similar experiences. I rarely get 2 business day delivery! Such a scam. The service is amazing only if it works nearly 100% of the time. Otherwise, you don't know if your Prime item will come in 2 days or 6 and it gets really hard to order some things with that uncertainty.
  - phil21 9y ago
    Curious where you guys live to have these experiences? I split my time between Minneapolis and Chicago, and have yet to have a (noticed at least) delayed Prime package. Prime Now is even more insane. Last item I ordered arrived in 18 minutes from pressing the button. I'm sure this happens, I just am wondering where one must live for it to be a common occurrence.
- Glyptodon 9y ago
  My experience is that things still mostly take two days to ship/deliver, but that they often don't get shipped for random period of time (I just ordered something, for example, that looked like a regular Prime shipping product, but the ship date won't be until the 25th, though it of course notified me of such during checkout, though it's an extreme example). (Tangentially, I only have Prime when they offer a free month and then I cancel near the end of it.)
- SkyPuncher 9y ago
  My wife and I have noticed this lately. If seems like they're trying to play a numbers game by setting too many items as prime and too aggressively setting delivery dates. Just give me a date that you can hit 99% of the time. I don't mind a missed delivery every now and then, but lately 9 out of 10 deliveries are late.
hangonhn 9y ago
Yeah I've had two packages lost and one package stolen in the last month.

koolba 9y ago

I’ve used both Target and a Walmart’s pickup options and the former is superior. Walmart makes you go to the back of the store. The walk alone takes a few minutes. Then you wait for an employee to show up, then you wait for them to lookup your order, then they go into the back room to get it. Then walk all the way back out. For Target the pickup spot is right by the entrance and there’s already a person waiting there. They just scan your barcode, show your ID, and hand you your item.

lighthazard 9y ago
Don't forget when you can't find an employee or they tell you someone is coming and 20 minutes later no one remembers you even existed.
astura 9y ago
Walmart is totally revamping the store pickup and putting a huge emphasis on it with lots of branding. My store has already switched over to the new system but they may still be in the process of rolling it out. They moved it to the front of the store next to the entrance and you check yourself in on a touch screen kiosk, either scanning a barcode or looking up your order by name or order number. Then an employee gets a notification on a smartphone and they grab your order. There is a status bar on a monitor letting you know what's going on. When it works it works really, really, really well. I mean, in and out in less than two minutes. However, there was a time the employee didn't get a notification, so it might still need to get the kinks ironed out. I agree that previously the store pickup was an afterthought and not always run very well.
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
  Yup. I did an in-store pickup at Walmart last night. I got a text message with the pickup # and when I went there (Walmart's on my way home and I stop there most days), the greeter at the door was the person who got my order. Pickup station was right by the door and I was done in under 2 minutes. It's improved a lot in the last year!
adventured 9y ago

kwillets 9y ago

My kids figured out that the online target.com prices are much lower than the local store, so they still shop there but price-match everything at the register.