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Hopefully they have a contingency plan to keep those Prime parcels on time. Edit: They must have contingency plans for such scenarios. That's part of the job.

Hopefully they have a contingency plan to keep those Prime parcels on time. Edit: They must have contingency plans for such scenarios. That's part of the job. But I think that it is not possible to keep to the initial schedule, so I'm guessing that the plan is to re-despatch ASAP to minimise delays while displaying the standard "delayed-apologises" to customers.

navbaker 8y ago
Are people downvoting because they think you’re being heartless? Is this not a valid concern that businesses have to deal with even in the midst of dealing with the tragic loss of life?
- entity345 8y ago
  I do know 3 people on board died, and yes that's tragic. But is there a need to comment to say and repeat it again and again? This is really the fake, superficial side of social media I hate. The disaster planning and recovery angle seemed on point to me on HN. This is not Facebook or Reddit...
- ikeboy 8y ago
  This is not a valid concern. The cost of refunding all the packages will be trivial compared to the cost of the plane, Amazon will apologize to the customers and refund or offer replacement, no special contingency plan needed.
  - entity345 8y ago
    Total loss of shipment is a valid concern in the supply chain and transport industries... Remember also that the total loss of the plane impacts more that this single flight. Like airlines, I am sure it had an utilisation schedule, and now it's gone so they'll have to account for that. That's why they do have contingency plans... And that's why they develop them with a cool head. Because when disaster strikes people tend to get emotional. Edit: Wikipedia says that Amazon Air operates 39 planes. Sudden loss of one has to have an impact that has to be planned.
    - ikeboy 8y ago
      Sudden loss of one is unlikely enough that they probably don't have a specific plan ahead of time.
      - entity345 8y ago
        You're saying that airlines/delivery services like UPS don't plan and prepare for air disasters... That's laughable frankly. Anyone who operates a whole fleet of 767 has a plan in case of a crash. That's the most elementary professionalism.
        ikeboy 8y ago
        This isn't an airline. Airlines operate many more flights with lots of people on them.
        ceejayoz 8y ago
        Atlas is an airline, with 112 aircraft. Airlines aren't limited to passenger transport - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_airline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_airline. That's certainly smaller than Delta's ~800 planes, but they're certainly not tiny.
      - Slartie 8y ago
        Sudden loss due to crash = unlikely (fortunately) Grounded for unknown timespan due to some kind of severe damage = does happen from time to time (good thing, because otherwise, crashes would become more likely...) Since the effect on the logistics chain is identical (at least apart from that single shipment in question), you just use the contingency plan for the latter when the former happens. And for the latter, you MUST have a plan.
        ikeboy 8y ago
        The plan there involves sending the same cargo through another plane or similar.
  - sokoloff 8y ago
    Indeed. We (not Amazon) had customer parcels on UPS 1354 and, upon learning of the crash, set about figuring which parcels were possibly/likely on the plane, starting re-orders for them, and upon getting final confirmation from UPS, notifying customers of the delay and that a re-order was already in progress and when they should expect to receive it. (Our products are all customized and so we didn’t want to wait for the final confirmation to begin making things rights.) As far as I know, zero customers complained about the obviously tragic and unusual circumstances of the delay. For Amazon, they almost surely know with immediate certainty what was on the plane, and are mostly selling from stock, making the resolution easier in some ways (though larger scale on the other hand). We treated this response as an ad-hoc process and have zero plans to systemize the response to a once every few decades issue.
- jcims 8y ago
  The problem is the phrasing I think, it seems too self-interested. That said, Amazon is a logistical beast and regularly deals with transport failures (semi-crashes, lost containers, train derailments, fires, etc) so I don't feel that this would necessarily warrant any out of normal response.
dopamean 8y ago
wow dude
mtmail 8y ago
I've seen a press release where Amazon replace all packages when a small van got into an accident 15 years ago. Since the plane crash is national news they'll likely track the shipment tracking numbers and resend replacement packages free of charge.

navbaker 8y ago

Are people downvoting because they think you’re being heartless? Is this not a valid concern that businesses have to deal with even in the midst of dealing with the tragic loss of life?

entity345 8y ago
I do know 3 people on board died, and yes that's tragic. But is there a need to comment to say and repeat it again and again? This is really the fake, superficial side of social media I hate. The disaster planning and recovery angle seemed on point to me on HN. This is not Facebook or Reddit...
ikeboy 8y ago
This is not a valid concern. The cost of refunding all the packages will be trivial compared to the cost of the plane, Amazon will apologize to the customers and refund or offer replacement, no special contingency plan needed.
- entity345 8y ago
  Total loss of shipment is a valid concern in the supply chain and transport industries... Remember also that the total loss of the plane impacts more that this single flight. Like airlines, I am sure it had an utilisation schedule, and now it's gone so they'll have to account for that. That's why they do have contingency plans... And that's why they develop them with a cool head. Because when disaster strikes people tend to get emotional. Edit: Wikipedia says that Amazon Air operates 39 planes. Sudden loss of one has to have an impact that has to be planned.
  - ikeboy 8y ago
    Sudden loss of one is unlikely enough that they probably don't have a specific plan ahead of time.
    - entity345 8y ago
      You're saying that airlines/delivery services like UPS don't plan and prepare for air disasters... That's laughable frankly. Anyone who operates a whole fleet of 767 has a plan in case of a crash. That's the most elementary professionalism.
      - ikeboy 8y ago
        This isn't an airline. Airlines operate many more flights with lots of people on them.
        ceejayoz 8y ago
        Atlas is an airline, with 112 aircraft. Airlines aren't limited to passenger transport - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_airline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_airline. That's certainly smaller than Delta's ~800 planes, but they're certainly not tiny.
    - Slartie 8y ago
      Sudden loss due to crash = unlikely (fortunately) Grounded for unknown timespan due to some kind of severe damage = does happen from time to time (good thing, because otherwise, crashes would become more likely...) Since the effect on the logistics chain is identical (at least apart from that single shipment in question), you just use the contingency plan for the latter when the former happens. And for the latter, you MUST have a plan.
      - ikeboy 8y ago
        The plan there involves sending the same cargo through another plane or similar.
- sokoloff 8y ago
  Indeed. We (not Amazon) had customer parcels on UPS 1354 and, upon learning of the crash, set about figuring which parcels were possibly/likely on the plane, starting re-orders for them, and upon getting final confirmation from UPS, notifying customers of the delay and that a re-order was already in progress and when they should expect to receive it. (Our products are all customized and so we didn’t want to wait for the final confirmation to begin making things rights.) As far as I know, zero customers complained about the obviously tragic and unusual circumstances of the delay. For Amazon, they almost surely know with immediate certainty what was on the plane, and are mostly selling from stock, making the resolution easier in some ways (though larger scale on the other hand). We treated this response as an ad-hoc process and have zero plans to systemize the response to a once every few decades issue.
jcims 8y ago
The problem is the phrasing I think, it seems too self-interested. That said, Amazon is a logistical beast and regularly deals with transport failures (semi-crashes, lost containers, train derailments, fires, etc) so I don't feel that this would necessarily warrant any out of normal response.

dopamean 8y ago

wow dude

mtmail 8y ago

I've seen a press release where Amazon replace all packages when a small van got into an accident 15 years ago. Since the plane crash is national news they'll likely track the shipment tracking numbers and resend replacement packages free of charge.