11 ms·

I've gotten all of my prime orders in 3 or 4 days recently instead of 2. They've all been health or personal product related orders. This is perfectly acceptabl

I've gotten all of my prime orders in 3 or 4 days recently instead of 2. They've all been health or personal product related orders. This is perfectly acceptable given the circumstances. In my opinion, Amazon is doing an incredible job of adapting to a radical increase in demand. I don't know what their volume spike is, but it must be huge and the only effect is slow shipping in some non-essential items. They've really built an incredible infrastructure. (I don't work for them, I don't own any of their stock.)

kfrzcode 7y ago
Same here. I've had a few delays longer than that - but those were for some canned goods via Amazon Pantry. Two weeks of delays and estimates. No biggie, I still remember when Amazon was just a bookstore, and everyone got groceries and supplies at their nearest retail outlet(s). I'd be fascinated to be in some of the operations/SRE rooms at AWS. There should be some interesting content from engineering blogs this year.
smolder 7y ago
It's also probably true that this is a top comment due to people who work for them or own stock.
jasonmp85 7y ago
I went to order a booster seat for a new childcare provider tonight and it says April 21 and everything up until now had been 2–3 days so, no, they’re not doing a great job here.
- toasterlovin 7y ago
  FYI, obrajesse has this to say about the April 21st delivery date in response to my comment: > Multiple items I’ve ordered this weekend with April 21 or later delivery dates got their dates moved up by 3+ weeks after order. I can tell you that, as a seller, we’ve been seeing 2-3 additional days for delivery vs. normal. There’s not really a reason I can think of that delivery dates would suddenly get delayed by an additional 3-4 weeks. Delivery times should degrade gradually as demand ramps up. My personal hunch is that Amazon is setting expectations super low (or there’s a big!).
  - christoph 7y ago
    There is definitely some expectation setting going on. I ordered an item Saturday that it said would arrive Thursday. I received notification last night it would arrive today (Monday). I am, however, of the mind that some China reliant items might be sometime (from any supplier, not just Amazon). It now seems impossible to find a bread maker for instance in the UK and there is no company seemingly expecting any stock anytime soon.
    - throwanem 7y ago
      Happily, you don't need a bread maker to make bread! There are lots of recipes online that just require hand kneading, an oven, and a pan. (I know this doesn't address your larger point, but maybe it helps you make bread without a bread maker, so I feel like it's worth mentioning anyway.)
    - codys 7y ago
      Here in the US, bread machines often end up on the shelves on second hand stores like Goodwill and Savers. Certainly, it involves going to a store to purchase one (and relies on said store being open), but it is an option.
- kevstev 7y ago
  My wife ordered a monitor since she is now wfh indefinitely and only has a small macbook- It originally said April 21st but showed up on our door about 2-3 days later like our other shipments do. Its possible that they may have reclassified a monitor to the "essential" category but my feeling was that they are bluffing a bit- or maybe just trying to under promise, but in reality things are arriving in typical timeframes.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
computerex 7y ago
Keep in mind though that this resilience is at the expense of thousands of workers who have to forego their own social distancing and risk their own healths so that we can get our next prime delivery in 3-4 days. Amazon isn't run by robots. There are real humans who are going through hell to support this increase in demand.
- mattacular 7y ago
  It's also worth pointing out under (the old) normal conditions Amazon warehouse workers already had to put their health and wellbeing at risk every shift. I'm not familiar with health benefits for the average Amazon distribution center worker but I hope they get something more than BezosBux to spend at whatever urgent care operator happens to be a sister company. Amazon has always exploited its labor force; that's why they are in the position to dial things up as needed to meet demand surges.
  - krapp 7y ago
    Amazon's health benefits are actually quite good for entry level positions. Those benefits are a big reason Amazon's warehouse workers put up with the low wages and exploitation, at least in the US.
    - dangus 7y ago
      And that’s the disgusting part of our system. We can’t switch jobs or start a business because our health and well being is tied up with an employer. It’s possible that switching jobs means switching doctors or foregoing care. And I’d say that the worst part about employers subsidizing healthcare is that they gladly do it because it’s essentially untaxed salary. If my employer wasn’t allowed to subsidize healthcare, they’d have to pay me more and that extra pay would be subject to payroll tax. So the whole system incentivizes employers to lobby for this terrible system of employer-based private for-profit health insurance. Big companies love it because it’s a way in which they can trap employees and snuff out competition from smaller businesses.
eatmyshorts 7y ago
That changed last night. My wife is such a frequent user of Amazon Prime that I wonder sometimes if I should register as an Amazon Fulfillment Center. But last night, after our hair dryer failed, Amazon Prime would only guarantee delivery by April 21. The good news is Wal-Mart's model relies on their existing stores, not fulfillment centers. Wal-mart's delivery times are still fairly short.
- kiseleon 7y ago
  doesn't Wal Mart still use drop shippers for some of the online inventory?
  - jabroni_salad 7y ago
    3rd party retailers, but same difference I guess. Personally I look for things that offer ship-to-store since this is using Walmart's own logistics network.
  - echelon 7y ago
    Those products are clearly called out on its website. I'm also impressed with how much cheaper Walmart is than Amazon for a large number of the things I just ordered. We need an aggregator that compares prices between Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. for the same or similar SKUs. It'd be even better if you could build your cart with it and then it put together the relevant orders with each service. (This maybe already exists, I just haven't searched for it.)
    - odysseus 7y ago
      You can do this to some extent with UPCItemDB and BrickSeek.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- kjs3 7y ago
  Thank gawd you didn't have to wait for something as absolutely essential as a hair dryer.
lonelappde 7y ago
Are they refunding the price of the degraded service?

kfrzcode 7y ago

Same here. I've had a few delays longer than that - but those were for some canned goods via Amazon Pantry. Two weeks of delays and estimates. No biggie, I still remember when Amazon was just a bookstore, and everyone got groceries and supplies at their nearest retail outlet(s). I'd be fascinated to be in some of the operations/SRE rooms at AWS. There should be some interesting content from engineering blogs this year.

smolder 7y ago

It's also probably true that this is a top comment due to people who work for them or own stock.

jasonmp85 7y ago

I went to order a booster seat for a new childcare provider tonight and it says April 21 and everything up until now had been 2–3 days so, no, they’re not doing a great job here.

toasterlovin 7y ago
FYI, obrajesse has this to say about the April 21st delivery date in response to my comment: > Multiple items I’ve ordered this weekend with April 21 or later delivery dates got their dates moved up by 3+ weeks after order. I can tell you that, as a seller, we’ve been seeing 2-3 additional days for delivery vs. normal. There’s not really a reason I can think of that delivery dates would suddenly get delayed by an additional 3-4 weeks. Delivery times should degrade gradually as demand ramps up. My personal hunch is that Amazon is setting expectations super low (or there’s a big!).
- christoph 7y ago
  There is definitely some expectation setting going on. I ordered an item Saturday that it said would arrive Thursday. I received notification last night it would arrive today (Monday). I am, however, of the mind that some China reliant items might be sometime (from any supplier, not just Amazon). It now seems impossible to find a bread maker for instance in the UK and there is no company seemingly expecting any stock anytime soon.
  - throwanem 7y ago
    Happily, you don't need a bread maker to make bread! There are lots of recipes online that just require hand kneading, an oven, and a pan. (I know this doesn't address your larger point, but maybe it helps you make bread without a bread maker, so I feel like it's worth mentioning anyway.)
  - codys 7y ago
    Here in the US, bread machines often end up on the shelves on second hand stores like Goodwill and Savers. Certainly, it involves going to a store to purchase one (and relies on said store being open), but it is an option.
kevstev 7y ago
My wife ordered a monitor since she is now wfh indefinitely and only has a small macbook- It originally said April 21st but showed up on our door about 2-3 days later like our other shipments do. Its possible that they may have reclassified a monitor to the "essential" category but my feeling was that they are bluffing a bit- or maybe just trying to under promise, but in reality things are arriving in typical timeframes.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

computerex 7y ago

Keep in mind though that this resilience is at the expense of thousands of workers who have to forego their own social distancing and risk their own healths so that we can get our next prime delivery in 3-4 days. Amazon isn't run by robots. There are real humans who are going through hell to support this increase in demand.

mattacular 7y ago
It's also worth pointing out under (the old) normal conditions Amazon warehouse workers already had to put their health and wellbeing at risk every shift. I'm not familiar with health benefits for the average Amazon distribution center worker but I hope they get something more than BezosBux to spend at whatever urgent care operator happens to be a sister company. Amazon has always exploited its labor force; that's why they are in the position to dial things up as needed to meet demand surges.
- krapp 7y ago
  Amazon's health benefits are actually quite good for entry level positions. Those benefits are a big reason Amazon's warehouse workers put up with the low wages and exploitation, at least in the US.
  - dangus 7y ago
    And that’s the disgusting part of our system. We can’t switch jobs or start a business because our health and well being is tied up with an employer. It’s possible that switching jobs means switching doctors or foregoing care. And I’d say that the worst part about employers subsidizing healthcare is that they gladly do it because it’s essentially untaxed salary. If my employer wasn’t allowed to subsidize healthcare, they’d have to pay me more and that extra pay would be subject to payroll tax. So the whole system incentivizes employers to lobby for this terrible system of employer-based private for-profit health insurance. Big companies love it because it’s a way in which they can trap employees and snuff out competition from smaller businesses.

eatmyshorts 7y ago

That changed last night. My wife is such a frequent user of Amazon Prime that I wonder sometimes if I should register as an Amazon Fulfillment Center. But last night, after our hair dryer failed, Amazon Prime would only guarantee delivery by April 21. The good news is Wal-Mart's model relies on their existing stores, not fulfillment centers. Wal-mart's delivery times are still fairly short.

kiseleon 7y ago
doesn't Wal Mart still use drop shippers for some of the online inventory?
- jabroni_salad 7y ago
  3rd party retailers, but same difference I guess. Personally I look for things that offer ship-to-store since this is using Walmart's own logistics network.
- echelon 7y ago
  Those products are clearly called out on its website. I'm also impressed with how much cheaper Walmart is than Amazon for a large number of the things I just ordered. We need an aggregator that compares prices between Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. for the same or similar SKUs. It'd be even better if you could build your cart with it and then it put together the relevant orders with each service. (This maybe already exists, I just haven't searched for it.)
  - odysseus 7y ago
    You can do this to some extent with UPCItemDB and BrickSeek.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
kjs3 7y ago
Thank gawd you didn't have to wait for something as absolutely essential as a hair dryer.

lonelappde 7y ago

Are they refunding the price of the degraded service?