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My biggest problem with Amazon at this point is Prime. The free 2 day shipping use to justify the cost of Prime by itself, but at this point more often than not

My biggest problem with Amazon at this point is Prime. The free 2 day shipping use to justify the cost of Prime by itself, but at this point more often than not I don't get my stuff within the 3-5 day period, so I don't even know what I'm paying for. And it's not like I'm off in the middle of nowhere, I live in a major US city. Then when you add in the incredibly lacking search functionality, and the fact that you can no longer trust the reviews you get a company that has completely lost the trust of it's users.

rhexs 8y ago
I started ordering at Target. They have a similar program for free "2-day" shipping (through USPS, so the same issues as Amazon. Averages 2-3 days) if you sign up for their credit card. Obviously a vastly smaller selection, but the prices are competitive and often cheaper than Amazon at this point. Feels good breaking away from Amazon as I was only shopping there from the momentum of what was once a good company.
- Aunche 8y ago
  I can second Target. Like Prime, you also get 5% off and you can open a debit card, if you don't want to open an extra credit card.
  - Stratoscope 8y ago
    Thanks for the tip about the Target debit card. I'd heard about their credit card but didn't want to open a credit account. Their debit card links to your existing checking account: https://www.target.com/c/redcard/-/N-4tfyn https://www.target.com/c/redcard/-/N-4tfyn
- riku_iki 8y ago
  There is also Google Shopping/Express, which works with major retailers including Target, and from unknown reasons I was able to order from Target via Google Express for cheaper than directly from Target..
kirse 8y ago
but at this point more often than not I don't get my stuff within the 3-5 day period If they miss their 2-day shipping guarantee then you call CS, complain, and get a free month of Prime added. Ad infinitum. A way to increase your chances of missed 2-day shipping is to spread out your item orders so it gives them more opportunities to screw up. This also increases their costs of S&H across the entire logistics chain and maximizes the usage of your Prime membership. Plus it feels like every day is Christmas when a new random Amazon item is coming in. Another key is to order stuff that weighs a lot (40lbs+). Last time I did FBA the UPS rate for Amazon shipping was ~50 cents / lb . So if you're getting a 40lb item (especially if it has weird dimensions) they're likely not paying much lower than $15-20 to get that to your door in 2 days.
- chickenfries 8y ago
  It sounds like you get something out of this more than stuff, you get the fun of gaming the system. > Another key is to order stuff that weighs a lot (40lbs+). Last time I did FBA the UPS rate for Amazon shipping was ~50 cents / lb . So if you're getting a 40lb item (especially if it has weird dimensions) they're likely not paying much lower than $15-20 to get that to your door in 2 days. This is like overeating at a buffet to feel like you got your money’s worth.
  - kibwen 8y ago
    When companies become openly consumer-hostile, we should expect consumers to become company-hostile. It's true that this leads to an antagonistic race to the bottom, but the alternative is a leisurely stroll to the bottom as one party pulls the other along by the neck. I don't know of any way to really reconcile this; trust is easy to lose and hard to earn, and in an environment of perpetual betrayal no party is eager to be the first to risk having their trust be taken advantage of.
    - chickenfries 8y ago
      My point is that Amazon or the buffet owner will not be brought down by a few customers who are a net loss to them shipping wise. They have already done the math. You can either use amazon because you’ve decided you need it or you can actually stop giving them money and recommend others do so. That is a much bigger threat to them. Continuing to use prime and buying things you don’t need from Amazon isn’t being “hostile” to Amazon.
jolmg 8y ago
> and the fact that you can no longer trust the reviews you get a company that has completely lost the trust of it's users. Aren't many (maybe most) of these fake reviews done through Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's like instead of taking the cost to moderate the reviews, they decided to monetize them. Why pay money, when you can earn it?
- tivert 8y ago
  > Aren't many (maybe most) of these fake reviews done through Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's like instead of taking the cost to moderate the reviews, they decided to monetize them. Why pay money, when you can earn it? I know a lot of them come though Facebook. There hundreds of groups (like this one https://www.facebook.com/groups/amznlove/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/amznlove/), where sellers are soliciting fake reviews in exchange for free product and PayPal refunds and commissions. Here's the Washington Post article that describes this practice: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-merchants-secretly-use-facebook-to-flood-amazon-with-fake-reviews/2018/04/23/5dad1e30-4392-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-merchant... Here's a page that came up after a quick Google search that appears to be a review solication howto: https://www.amzfinder.com/blog/top-100-facebook-groups-list-amazon-reviews/ https://www.amzfinder.com/blog/top-100-facebook-groups-list-...
rco8786 8y ago
Interesting. We order on Prime multiple times per week and I can think of once, maybe twice where they didn't get it to us in 2 days. Conversely, I can think of times where it came in 1 day also.
- stronglikedan 8y ago
  Same experience here in a metro.
hbosch 8y ago
IMO Prime to me is about more than shipping. I actually don't shop on Amazon often, though my wife for sure appreciates the quick shipping (we live in a suburb). Prime Photos/Amazon Cloud Drive has been my most used Prime perk, probably. I use it a ton as a Dropbox alternative (it's not as nice as Dropbox but whatever). Followed closely by Prime Video. Then Prime Music, which I actually don't use on purpose but allows our Echo to 'just work' when it comes to playing music (I often forget to say "...on Spotify") especially themed stations. Twitch Prime is a thing I don't use much, but happy to be ad-free there. Not sure how they do ads anyway. Honestly I think Prime Video alone is worth the subscription.
- genericone 8y ago
  $10 per month for prime video alone would be worth the subscription? Netflix is $8 and at least its UI doesn't completely suck. Every time I used prime video in the past it seems like one of the intended dark-patterns of the prime video UI is to direct you to as many pay-to-watch videos as possible, even if you were browsing by the "included in my prime video account" filter.
dwild 8y ago
>I don't get my stuff within the 3-5 day period That's crazy because I'm in Canada and it's the reverse. I don't care about the free 2 day shipping because I usually get it quicker using their actual free shipping. I used the free 2 day shipping of Prime a few time in the past using the student discount but each time, they ship the day after, which still means I receive it in 2 days. When I get the free shipping, more often than not, they ship it the same day and I receive pretty quickly. It's like on Prime they still hope I'm going to buy the overnight shipping while not on it they just ship whenever they can.
- symmitchry 8y ago
  I have to agree with you, because I've never received a package late, and I've gotten a couple in < 24 hours. Maybe Canadian shipping is better?
goostavos 8y ago
>The free 2 day shipping The dark pattern the retail side now seem to employ is listing everything under the 2-day shipping Prime label, but not _actually_ shipping it for several days to weeks. Sure, they technically honor 2-day shipping once they actually ship, but as an end user, if something listed as 2-day shipping takes 8 days to be delivered... it isn't actually 2 day shipping. It used to be go to amazon, enable the "Only Show Prime items" filter, and BAM, get your item 2 days later. Now the prime label is completely useless. You've got to manually investigate each option to see when it will actually be delivered. God help you if you mindlessly decide to change the color on the product page and expect the shipping date to hold.
AmVess 8y ago
Exactly. My 2 day shipping is always 4-5 days. I am not including non shipping days in this, either. My last item was a small SSD that took 5 days to arrive.It was bubble packed and about the size and weight of a Blu ray movie case. I ordered SUV tires from Tire Rack, and they had them to me in 18 hours. 2 day shipping on their end is wildly misleading.

rhexs 8y ago

I started ordering at Target. They have a similar program for free "2-day" shipping (through USPS, so the same issues as Amazon. Averages 2-3 days) if you sign up for their credit card. Obviously a vastly smaller selection, but the prices are competitive and often cheaper than Amazon at this point. Feels good breaking away from Amazon as I was only shopping there from the momentum of what was once a good company.

Aunche 8y ago
I can second Target. Like Prime, you also get 5% off and you can open a debit card, if you don't want to open an extra credit card.
- Stratoscope 8y ago
  Thanks for the tip about the Target debit card. I'd heard about their credit card but didn't want to open a credit account. Their debit card links to your existing checking account: https://www.target.com/c/redcard/-/N-4tfyn https://www.target.com/c/redcard/-/N-4tfyn
riku_iki 8y ago
There is also Google Shopping/Express, which works with major retailers including Target, and from unknown reasons I was able to order from Target via Google Express for cheaper than directly from Target..

kirse 8y ago

but at this point more often than not I don't get my stuff within the 3-5 day period If they miss their 2-day shipping guarantee then you call CS, complain, and get a free month of Prime added. Ad infinitum. A way to increase your chances of missed 2-day shipping is to spread out your item orders so it gives them more opportunities to screw up. This also increases their costs of S&H across the entire logistics chain and maximizes the usage of your Prime membership. Plus it feels like every day is Christmas when a new random Amazon item is coming in. Another key is to order stuff that weighs a lot (40lbs+). Last time I did FBA the UPS rate for Amazon shipping was ~50 cents / lb . So if you're getting a 40lb item (especially if it has weird dimensions) they're likely not paying much lower than $15-20 to get that to your door in 2 days.

chickenfries 8y ago
It sounds like you get something out of this more than stuff, you get the fun of gaming the system. > Another key is to order stuff that weighs a lot (40lbs+). Last time I did FBA the UPS rate for Amazon shipping was ~50 cents / lb . So if you're getting a 40lb item (especially if it has weird dimensions) they're likely not paying much lower than $15-20 to get that to your door in 2 days. This is like overeating at a buffet to feel like you got your money’s worth.
- kibwen 8y ago
  When companies become openly consumer-hostile, we should expect consumers to become company-hostile. It's true that this leads to an antagonistic race to the bottom, but the alternative is a leisurely stroll to the bottom as one party pulls the other along by the neck. I don't know of any way to really reconcile this; trust is easy to lose and hard to earn, and in an environment of perpetual betrayal no party is eager to be the first to risk having their trust be taken advantage of.
  - chickenfries 8y ago
    My point is that Amazon or the buffet owner will not be brought down by a few customers who are a net loss to them shipping wise. They have already done the math. You can either use amazon because you’ve decided you need it or you can actually stop giving them money and recommend others do so. That is a much bigger threat to them. Continuing to use prime and buying things you don’t need from Amazon isn’t being “hostile” to Amazon.

jolmg 8y ago

> and the fact that you can no longer trust the reviews you get a company that has completely lost the trust of it's users. Aren't many (maybe most) of these fake reviews done through Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's like instead of taking the cost to moderate the reviews, they decided to monetize them. Why pay money, when you can earn it?

tivert 8y ago
> Aren't many (maybe most) of these fake reviews done through Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's like instead of taking the cost to moderate the reviews, they decided to monetize them. Why pay money, when you can earn it? I know a lot of them come though Facebook. There hundreds of groups (like this one https://www.facebook.com/groups/amznlove/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/amznlove/), where sellers are soliciting fake reviews in exchange for free product and PayPal refunds and commissions. Here's the Washington Post article that describes this practice: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-merchants-secretly-use-facebook-to-flood-amazon-with-fake-reviews/2018/04/23/5dad1e30-4392-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-merchant... Here's a page that came up after a quick Google search that appears to be a review solication howto: https://www.amzfinder.com/blog/top-100-facebook-groups-list-amazon-reviews/ https://www.amzfinder.com/blog/top-100-facebook-groups-list-...

rco8786 8y ago

Interesting. We order on Prime multiple times per week and I can think of once, maybe twice where they didn't get it to us in 2 days. Conversely, I can think of times where it came in 1 day also.

stronglikedan 8y ago
Same experience here in a metro.

hbosch 8y ago

IMO Prime to me is about more than shipping. I actually don't shop on Amazon often, though my wife for sure appreciates the quick shipping (we live in a suburb). Prime Photos/Amazon Cloud Drive has been my most used Prime perk, probably. I use it a ton as a Dropbox alternative (it's not as nice as Dropbox but whatever). Followed closely by Prime Video. Then Prime Music, which I actually don't use on purpose but allows our Echo to 'just work' when it comes to playing music (I often forget to say "...on Spotify") especially themed stations. Twitch Prime is a thing I don't use much, but happy to be ad-free there. Not sure how they do ads anyway. Honestly I think Prime Video alone is worth the subscription.

genericone 8y ago
$10 per month for prime video alone would be worth the subscription? Netflix is $8 and at least its UI doesn't completely suck. Every time I used prime video in the past it seems like one of the intended dark-patterns of the prime video UI is to direct you to as many pay-to-watch videos as possible, even if you were browsing by the "included in my prime video account" filter.

dwild 8y ago

>I don't get my stuff within the 3-5 day period That's crazy because I'm in Canada and it's the reverse. I don't care about the free 2 day shipping because I usually get it quicker using their actual free shipping. I used the free 2 day shipping of Prime a few time in the past using the student discount but each time, they ship the day after, which still means I receive it in 2 days. When I get the free shipping, more often than not, they ship it the same day and I receive pretty quickly. It's like on Prime they still hope I'm going to buy the overnight shipping while not on it they just ship whenever they can.

symmitchry 8y ago
I have to agree with you, because I've never received a package late, and I've gotten a couple in < 24 hours. Maybe Canadian shipping is better?

goostavos 8y ago

>The free 2 day shipping The dark pattern the retail side now seem to employ is listing everything under the 2-day shipping Prime label, but not _actually_ shipping it for several days to weeks. Sure, they technically honor 2-day shipping once they actually ship, but as an end user, if something listed as 2-day shipping takes 8 days to be delivered... it isn't actually 2 day shipping. It used to be go to amazon, enable the "Only Show Prime items" filter, and BAM, get your item 2 days later. Now the prime label is completely useless. You've got to manually investigate each option to see when it will actually be delivered. God help you if you mindlessly decide to change the color on the product page and expect the shipping date to hold.

AmVess 8y ago

Exactly. My 2 day shipping is always 4-5 days. I am not including non shipping days in this, either. My last item was a small SSD that took 5 days to arrive.It was bubble packed and about the size and weight of a Blu ray movie case. I ordered SUV tires from Tire Rack, and they had them to me in 18 hours. 2 day shipping on their end is wildly misleading.