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No mention of Amazon Fresh at the end when talking about groceries creating dedicated fulfillment centers? Amazon already does that and it works very well in my

No mention of Amazon Fresh at the end when talking about groceries creating dedicated fulfillment centers? Amazon already does that and it works very well in my opinion. Out of all the delivery services I’ve used they have the best prices, most consistency (no mistakes or substitutions for me so far), and best delivery. The biggest issue for most people would probably be that the selection isn’t on par with a regular supermarket. It’s still a wide selection, but by the very high American standards of having 600 different kinds of cereal it isn’t up to snuff. Since I mostly buy unprocessed food it’s not an issue for me but it could be for others. Sometimes I go on the Amazon FC subreddit just to get a window into what working in Amazon is really like. A lot of people seem to actually prefer picking for Fresh as long as they don’t have to pick in the freezer. I don’t see a lot of complaints about throughput. It just feels like a much more sensible model than to pay third parties to run through crowded stores picking things - plus as someone who really hates substitutions, knowing they have Amazon’s warehouse software keeping track of their stock is nice.

chapium 5y ago
Amazon Fresh or PrimeNow! or whatever they are calling it might as well be called Amazon Wilted. I trust Walmart to be more fresh than them.
- opportune 5y ago
  I haven’t encountered this yet but it could be a regional/luck thing. I do imagine Amazon has worse (for the customer) incentives to dole out nearly expired or unsightly produce than third party supermarket pickers.
philwelch 5y ago
Part of the problem is that supermarkets are designed to pessimize picking efficiency while fulfillment centers are designed to optimize it. Maybe “pessimize” is too strong a word, but a supermarket wants to route you all the way around the damn store just to buy produce, meat, milk, and bread just so you have to see all their promotional end cap displays and maybe wander down an aisle or two. And since it takes so much time to go grocery shopping, you don’t have time to actually cook that same night so why not pick up a hot chicken dinner while you’re there? On your way out you have to stand in line surrounded by tabloids, women’s magazines, candy bars, gum, maybe some cold drinks. It’s a good hustle and I don’t really begrudge them at all, but it’s diametrically opposed to the goals of efficiently fulfilling e-commerce orders.
- opportune 5y ago
  Yeah this is exactly what I’m thinking - they want to maximize the time a shopper spendsin the store while Amazon wants to minimize it. Also supermarkets have their own stockers who have to spend time turning labels, unwrapping things, organizing them on shelves. And they deliberately understaff cashiers causing people to wait (notice how you’ll always have to wait in line when shopping unless you go very late/early when there’s often only one cashier). It’s just not efficient

chapium 5y ago

Amazon Fresh or PrimeNow! or whatever they are calling it might as well be called Amazon Wilted. I trust Walmart to be more fresh than them.

opportune 5y ago
I haven’t encountered this yet but it could be a regional/luck thing. I do imagine Amazon has worse (for the customer) incentives to dole out nearly expired or unsightly produce than third party supermarket pickers.

philwelch 5y ago

Part of the problem is that supermarkets are designed to pessimize picking efficiency while fulfillment centers are designed to optimize it. Maybe “pessimize” is too strong a word, but a supermarket wants to route you all the way around the damn store just to buy produce, meat, milk, and bread just so you have to see all their promotional end cap displays and maybe wander down an aisle or two. And since it takes so much time to go grocery shopping, you don’t have time to actually cook that same night so why not pick up a hot chicken dinner while you’re there? On your way out you have to stand in line surrounded by tabloids, women’s magazines, candy bars, gum, maybe some cold drinks. It’s a good hustle and I don’t really begrudge them at all, but it’s diametrically opposed to the goals of efficiently fulfilling e-commerce orders.

opportune 5y ago
Yeah this is exactly what I’m thinking - they want to maximize the time a shopper spendsin the store while Amazon wants to minimize it. Also supermarkets have their own stockers who have to spend time turning labels, unwrapping things, organizing them on shelves. And they deliberately understaff cashiers causing people to wait (notice how you’ll always have to wait in line when shopping unless you go very late/early when there’s often only one cashier). It’s just not efficient