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Depends how you define "fall apart". Will society collapse? No, most likely not. But that doesn't mean people don't feel significant consequences compared to wh

Depends how you define "fall apart". Will society collapse? No, most likely not. But that doesn't mean people don't feel significant consequences compared to what they were used to. Just as a little example, all my remaining orders on Amazon are delayed by months and it is impossible to get any info except what the original projected delivery date was. One product ordered last October has not arrived yet. As a consequence I basically stopped any online orders except a few via ebay and am now just waiting for the backlog to be processed. The complete lack of communication from Amazon does not help, neither does Amazon's slow transformation into a dropshipping AliExpress reseller, causing delivery times to behave as predictably as quantum states.

umanwizard 6y ago
That’s interesting. My Amazon shipments have been fine for months (though there was some delay and unpredictability at the beginning of the crisis). What sorts of things do you typically order?
Grimm1 6y ago
Are you outside of a major metro area? I say this because I've had 0 issues with Amazon deliveries during all of this and the only thing I can think of is I live in a major population center. That said it really sucks if that's the case because I imagine Amazon etc are lifelines for people outside of larger living areas.
- alpaca128 6y ago
  Yes, I'm not exactly living in Manhattan. That said I've never had such issues before, including during the pandemic - after all I started using Amazon for good reasons, though those advantages have been declining for a while now. Only around Christmas time the delivery times increased sharply and never went back to normal levels as they usually do. For a few parts I just can't get in a shop I tried other platforms and that made a difference. They often have a hard time competing with shipping fees, but that is a tradeoff I'll gladly take.
dahdum 6y ago
> all my remaining orders on Amazon are delayed by months and it is impossible to get any info except what the original projected delivery date was It sounds like you're ordering items with long delivery times that indicate they're shipping direct from China, is that correct? I exclude any non-Prime items and haven't had any shipping issues in the past year aside from a day delay here or there.
- jonpurdy 6y ago
  Some anecdata: located in SF. I rarely order non-Prime items. But I did recently order a desk grommet mounted USB hub (not charger) that was only available from China. Originally predicted to take a month, it took slightly longer at five weeks.

umanwizard 6y ago

That’s interesting. My Amazon shipments have been fine for months (though there was some delay and unpredictability at the beginning of the crisis). What sorts of things do you typically order?

Grimm1 6y ago

Are you outside of a major metro area? I say this because I've had 0 issues with Amazon deliveries during all of this and the only thing I can think of is I live in a major population center. That said it really sucks if that's the case because I imagine Amazon etc are lifelines for people outside of larger living areas.

alpaca128 6y ago
Yes, I'm not exactly living in Manhattan. That said I've never had such issues before, including during the pandemic - after all I started using Amazon for good reasons, though those advantages have been declining for a while now. Only around Christmas time the delivery times increased sharply and never went back to normal levels as they usually do. For a few parts I just can't get in a shop I tried other platforms and that made a difference. They often have a hard time competing with shipping fees, but that is a tradeoff I'll gladly take.

dahdum 6y ago

> all my remaining orders on Amazon are delayed by months and it is impossible to get any info except what the original projected delivery date was It sounds like you're ordering items with long delivery times that indicate they're shipping direct from China, is that correct? I exclude any non-Prime items and haven't had any shipping issues in the past year aside from a day delay here or there.

jonpurdy 6y ago
Some anecdata: located in SF. I rarely order non-Prime items. But I did recently order a desk grommet mounted USB hub (not charger) that was only available from China. Originally predicted to take a month, it took slightly longer at five weeks.