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> Very much so. It's a big factor in enabling "we don't have to own a car at all, because we can get anything we need shipped to us". 2-day shipping is the slow

> Very much so. It's a big factor in enabling "we don't have to own a car at all, because we can get anything we need shipped to us". 2-day shipping is the slow case these days, and if it's in a local warehouse you can expect same-day or next-day. (And in some cities you can get 2-hour delivery of fresh items.) Maybe, but my own experience is a counterexample. I'm a bike commuter who doesn't own a car, and I cancelled Prime because I found Prime's shipping to be unreliable at best. (Late deliveries, mostly.) If I need to order something I'll wait until I meet the minimum for free shipping or pay extra for shipping. Online shopping is the game changer, not Prime, as far as I'm concerned.

jschwartzi 7y ago
I have everything delivered to a locker that's 5 minutes away from me, and I work from home. Prime has been a big factor in me not driving 30 miles every time I need to buy a one-off part for some project I'm doing for work. Since I started using Amazon it's gotten really hard for me to justify driving to a place like Fry's because they almost never have exactly what I need, and usually what they do have is hot garbage. The resellers on Amazon frequently stock exactly what I need at pretty good prices and I can usually get it same day or next day. And if I need a technical book or something I usually buy it off Amazon too because other than maybe the university library(10 miles away) there's nobody who stocks the kind of books I need to do my job. Most of the stuff I get from Amazon I can probably get from Digikey or Mouser as well. I usually only order from Digikey when I need a very specific part. Amazon is where I order things like bulk LEDs, resistors, solderable breadboards, wire, and other consumables. And usually they have a great selection of tools as well.
JoshTriplett 7y ago
> I cancelled Prime because I found Prime's shipping to be unreliable at best. (Late deliveries, mostly.) I'm curious, are you located near one of Amazon's primary areas (namely, those areas where they offer Prime Now 2-hour delivery)? I get the distinct impression that the service quality is very different depending on if you're in such an area or not.
- btrettel 7y ago
  I live in Austin, which as far as I'm aware has Prime Now. I've mainly had issues with getting deliveries to the apartments I've lived in. I'm not certain that the problem was Amazon. It could have been that the carriers thought they could get away with claiming I wasn't home when I was, etc. I recall once that UPS or FedEx told me that they didn't want to deliver to my address and I'd have to go to a location in north Austin to pick up my package. I eventually convinced them to do their job and deliver the package. Another time I got a note from USPS telling me to pick it up from a specific post office, which I tried to do, but it wasn't there and was actually out for delivery again then as far as I recall. I decided that I'm not going to play these games. When I started getting delivery to my work address (which always has a person there to accept packages during business hours), the situation improved, but was not solved. Work doesn't like personal deliveries and this limits the size of items I can get. I made it clear to Amazon that they need to improve the reliability of their carriers if they want me as a customer. Amazon's statistics suggest my experience is quite rare, though, assuming those numbers are true. Once, I tried an Amazon locker, but the locker wouldn't open for me and I had to get a human to fetch the package. I would start to think that I'm on some internal Amazon shit list, but I later ordered a $100 electronic item from Amazon with Prime and it didn't come in on time (delivery to my work) so they refunded me fully. I think the problem for that package again wasn't Amazon's fault. I assumed the package was lost and wouldn't be coming in, but after about a week the package appeared. Amazon said keep it for free even though I was willing to pay again. That's nice of them, but I think I've lost more than $100 worth of my time trying to chase various packages over the years so I'm still at a loss as far as I'm concerned. This wasn't the first time I had issues with Prime's delivery. When I lived in the DC metro area shortly after Prime started, Prime would us a local carrier called "LaserShip" that was so bad that I decided to cancel Prime so I could get a normal carrier instead. Prime was a downgrade as far as I'm concerned. Everything I've read about LaserShip online matches my experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserShip#Package_tossing_and_property_damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserShip#Package_tossing_and_...

jschwartzi 7y ago

I have everything delivered to a locker that's 5 minutes away from me, and I work from home. Prime has been a big factor in me not driving 30 miles every time I need to buy a one-off part for some project I'm doing for work. Since I started using Amazon it's gotten really hard for me to justify driving to a place like Fry's because they almost never have exactly what I need, and usually what they do have is hot garbage. The resellers on Amazon frequently stock exactly what I need at pretty good prices and I can usually get it same day or next day. And if I need a technical book or something I usually buy it off Amazon too because other than maybe the university library(10 miles away) there's nobody who stocks the kind of books I need to do my job. Most of the stuff I get from Amazon I can probably get from Digikey or Mouser as well. I usually only order from Digikey when I need a very specific part. Amazon is where I order things like bulk LEDs, resistors, solderable breadboards, wire, and other consumables. And usually they have a great selection of tools as well.

JoshTriplett 7y ago

> I cancelled Prime because I found Prime's shipping to be unreliable at best. (Late deliveries, mostly.) I'm curious, are you located near one of Amazon's primary areas (namely, those areas where they offer Prime Now 2-hour delivery)? I get the distinct impression that the service quality is very different depending on if you're in such an area or not.

btrettel 7y ago
I live in Austin, which as far as I'm aware has Prime Now. I've mainly had issues with getting deliveries to the apartments I've lived in. I'm not certain that the problem was Amazon. It could have been that the carriers thought they could get away with claiming I wasn't home when I was, etc. I recall once that UPS or FedEx told me that they didn't want to deliver to my address and I'd have to go to a location in north Austin to pick up my package. I eventually convinced them to do their job and deliver the package. Another time I got a note from USPS telling me to pick it up from a specific post office, which I tried to do, but it wasn't there and was actually out for delivery again then as far as I recall. I decided that I'm not going to play these games. When I started getting delivery to my work address (which always has a person there to accept packages during business hours), the situation improved, but was not solved. Work doesn't like personal deliveries and this limits the size of items I can get. I made it clear to Amazon that they need to improve the reliability of their carriers if they want me as a customer. Amazon's statistics suggest my experience is quite rare, though, assuming those numbers are true. Once, I tried an Amazon locker, but the locker wouldn't open for me and I had to get a human to fetch the package. I would start to think that I'm on some internal Amazon shit list, but I later ordered a $100 electronic item from Amazon with Prime and it didn't come in on time (delivery to my work) so they refunded me fully. I think the problem for that package again wasn't Amazon's fault. I assumed the package was lost and wouldn't be coming in, but after about a week the package appeared. Amazon said keep it for free even though I was willing to pay again. That's nice of them, but I think I've lost more than $100 worth of my time trying to chase various packages over the years so I'm still at a loss as far as I'm concerned. This wasn't the first time I had issues with Prime's delivery. When I lived in the DC metro area shortly after Prime started, Prime would us a local carrier called "LaserShip" that was so bad that I decided to cancel Prime so I could get a normal carrier instead. Prime was a downgrade as far as I'm concerned. Everything I've read about LaserShip online matches my experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserShip#Package_tossing_and_property_damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserShip#Package_tossing_and_...