4 ms·

I wonder if they're giving an artificially long date in an attempt to discourage certain orders so as to relieve the current crush.

grumple 7y ago
I can only imagine how such behavior would go at a normal tech company: "Hey boss, we're getting a ton of orders in. Think we should discourage people from ordering junk so we can prioritize the important stuff?" "Hell no, keep the orders coming in as fast as possible." So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their customers and their reputation.
- capableweb 7y ago
  > So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their customers and their reputation Let's not jump into any conclusions here. For all we know, Amazon is doing just what you wrote in quotes above, but the logistics networks are so overwhelmed that they can't fulfill orders fast enough. I'm not saying Amazon is good or bad here, just that we can't decide that unless we _actually_ know their reasoning.
  - pythonaut_16 7y ago
    My guess is that they're giving themselves a ~4 week buffer so they're free to prioritize orders both by necessity and efficiency.
- mPReDiToR 7y ago
  That hellaciously unlawful and immoral company (at least in England) UBER does this with their "surge" pricing. Want more cabs than we have? 2x, 4x, 7x the normal price for the ride is a win-win. Driver gets more money. Company gets more cut. More drivers come out to earn the extortionate fees. Fewer customers take a cab at that time, lowering the demand. It's great until you figure the drivers are gaming the system by not going to work until there is a surge price in effect. People will always take the opportunity to profit at others' expense. A moral company would attempt to curtail this. Are Amazon moral?
  - computerphage 7y ago
    "drivers are gaming the system by not going to work until there is a surge price in effect" So, immediately after you explain the way that surge pricing works in terms of supply and demand, you claim that one of the parties is being immoral by not supplying the product under a certain price? How is that "profiting at other people's expense"? You literally just explained how it's a win-win. Do you feel like the drivers are morally obligated to supply their time at a certain low price?
Corrado 7y ago
That sounds plausible. I worked for a manufacturer and one Christmas season (our biggest time of year) we were behind and the order date was growing. So, management started increasing prices to slow down the rush of incoming orders. I can't remember if it actually worked but I do know that by the end of it we were selling our products for much, much more than seemed reasonable. It was a little embarrassing actually.

grumple 7y ago

I can only imagine how such behavior would go at a normal tech company: "Hey boss, we're getting a ton of orders in. Think we should discourage people from ordering junk so we can prioritize the important stuff?" "Hell no, keep the orders coming in as fast as possible." So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their customers and their reputation.

capableweb 7y ago
> So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their customers and their reputation Let's not jump into any conclusions here. For all we know, Amazon is doing just what you wrote in quotes above, but the logistics networks are so overwhelmed that they can't fulfill orders fast enough. I'm not saying Amazon is good or bad here, just that we can't decide that unless we _actually_ know their reasoning.
- pythonaut_16 7y ago
  My guess is that they're giving themselves a ~4 week buffer so they're free to prioritize orders both by necessity and efficiency.
mPReDiToR 7y ago
That hellaciously unlawful and immoral company (at least in England) UBER does this with their "surge" pricing. Want more cabs than we have? 2x, 4x, 7x the normal price for the ride is a win-win. Driver gets more money. Company gets more cut. More drivers come out to earn the extortionate fees. Fewer customers take a cab at that time, lowering the demand. It's great until you figure the drivers are gaming the system by not going to work until there is a surge price in effect. People will always take the opportunity to profit at others' expense. A moral company would attempt to curtail this. Are Amazon moral?
- computerphage 7y ago
  "drivers are gaming the system by not going to work until there is a surge price in effect" So, immediately after you explain the way that surge pricing works in terms of supply and demand, you claim that one of the parties is being immoral by not supplying the product under a certain price? How is that "profiting at other people's expense"? You literally just explained how it's a win-win. Do you feel like the drivers are morally obligated to supply their time at a certain low price?

Corrado 7y ago

That sounds plausible. I worked for a manufacturer and one Christmas season (our biggest time of year) we were behind and the order date was growing. So, management started increasing prices to slow down the rush of incoming orders. I can't remember if it actually worked but I do know that by the end of it we were selling our products for much, much more than seemed reasonable. It was a little embarrassing actually.