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The "efficiency" that amazon has "crushed". Is this serious? They offered at home COVID PCR tests. The normal timeline was you'd take it and drop it off at 5PM

The "efficiency" that amazon has "crushed". Is this serious? They offered at home COVID PCR tests. The normal timeline was you'd take it and drop it off at 5PM at your UPS store. By 10AM-11AM (Pacific) the next day they had results. Along the way you had full tracking. In transit, at lab etc. Registering the thing was a photo of the barcode. We had major medical providers getting paid major money that would take a WEEK (!!) to get results back. I saw on my insurance they were charging something like $289 per test because the person that picked them up was a "medical professional". So despite millions / billions, I was getting better service from my $39 amazon test. This test included 2 day delivery (free) to me, it included priority overnight delivery back to amazon + lab work + web tools etc. They must have (smartly) located the lab near UPS worldship. Same with shipping and logistics. The USPS, with a guaranteed nationwide monopoly on certain services struggles to get me stuff on time. Fedex is even worse for some reason. Amazon is an absolute machine where I am. We have same day, next day and two day delivery that is HIGHLY reliable and efficient. We can drop stuff off back at Kohls etc without even packing it. We can pickup from Amazon lockers, or have them deliver inside our house if we want. When folks talk about how inefficient amazon is I want to know what they are comparing them to. Fedex? Some walmart warehouse?

lupire 4y ago
Until berry recently, USPS/FedEx/UPS was how Amazon delivered.
- JCharante 4y ago
  and then Amazon had to innovate and integrate last-mile in order to save costs and offer better service to their customers.
mijowi 4y ago
I think it’s not efficiency of getting a product to a customer that Amazon has squashed, rather the efficiency of innovation that comes with competition.
- spaced-out 4y ago
  Amazon still has competition, both from brick and mortar stores that will let you actually touch the product and go home with it the same day, and from other online stores that can also ship stuff to you within a few days. What does Amazon sell that you cannot get something similar to from some other store? They just provide a better experience.
  - plankers 4y ago
    they also provide an experience with far larger externalities (e.g. a massive fleet of vans wandering around and polluting all day) that the customer isn't paying for. i wonder why they're so popular
    - criley2 4y ago
      Is the fleet of polluting vans worse than every single delivery target hopping in their polluting cars and driving to the store (the model that amazon displaced?) I don't think so. I think delivery has been demonstrated to be significantly "greener" than everyone individually driving to each store one by one.
      - spaced-out 4y ago
        Exactly this. One of the best things governments could do to help lower greenhouse gasses is incentivize people to get their goods delivered instead of going to the store. So much fuel is wasted moving a ~2 ton vehicle and a >100 lbs person to the store so they can pick up, often, <100 lbs of goods. That's <5% fuel efficiency.
        plankers 4y ago
        you're both acting like people drive less when they get things delivered to their home. this is not true and i'm pretty sure you know it.
        4y ago
bushbaba 4y ago
It’s not just realizability (did the package get form a to b). But the consistency. 2 day shipping seems to always be exactly 2 days. Same goes for their one day shipping.
twoxproblematic 4y ago
lprd 4y ago
> Same with shipping and logistics. The USPS, with a guaranteed nationwide monopoly on certain services struggles to get me stuff on time. Fedex is even worse for some reason. Amazon is an absolute machine where I am. We have same day, next day and two day delivery that is HIGHLY reliable and efficient. We can drop stuff off back at Kohls etc without even packing it. We can pickup from Amazon lockers, or have them deliver inside our house if we want. Why does amazon still use freight companies like USPS and FedEX? At this point, I feel like amazon should open up physical locations where people can pick up/drop off packages (this includes returns). Perhaps even maintain inventory and have a showroom for people who want to walk in and purchase something. The return flow varies. Amazon knows what type of package your item(s) were sent it. If it didn't come in a box, you'll be forced to buy one at USPS. If you are lucky enough to have Kohls as a dropoff option, then this isn't an issue. I'm not sure what determines USPS or Kohls as the return location when you print the waybill.
- infinityio 4y ago
  > Why does amazon still use freight companies like USPS From my understanding - USPS offers fixed rate deliveries to the entire US, so amazon can use them in all cases where it would cost them more than the fixed price to deliver something (incidentally, this probably drives this cost up) > open up physical locations where people can pick up imo, amazon lockers are probably going to start accepting returns at some point, if the logistics for it makes sense
  - massysett 4y ago
    ? Amazon lockers already accept returns where I am in the USA.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- onphonenow 4y ago
  USPS actually works well with Amazon, because amazon sometimes uses them for last mile. Somehow Amazon seems to basically deliver to the local post office, so stuff still shows up quickly but then the postal carrier brings it with other mail. For very small packages in particular this seems somewhat common where I am. Again, this is is efficient. Amazon skips the part where USPS struggles (ie, Amazon can get something moving on their network at 2AM on a Sunday), but on Tuesday the local carrier still puts it in my box.
collaborative 4y ago
Amazon is akin to a planned economy. It works for now. But it will damage us in the long term and by then there won't be a "real" market to fall back on. The infrastructure of ordinary people running small businesses and pouring their sweat simply won't be there. There is no incentive for Amazon to remain efficient. Eventually, people will understand that there is no life outside of Amazon. This can have lasting consequences

lupire 4y ago

Until berry recently, USPS/FedEx/UPS was how Amazon delivered.

JCharante 4y ago
and then Amazon had to innovate and integrate last-mile in order to save costs and offer better service to their customers.

mijowi 4y ago

I think it’s not efficiency of getting a product to a customer that Amazon has squashed, rather the efficiency of innovation that comes with competition.

spaced-out 4y ago
Amazon still has competition, both from brick and mortar stores that will let you actually touch the product and go home with it the same day, and from other online stores that can also ship stuff to you within a few days. What does Amazon sell that you cannot get something similar to from some other store? They just provide a better experience.
- plankers 4y ago
  they also provide an experience with far larger externalities (e.g. a massive fleet of vans wandering around and polluting all day) that the customer isn't paying for. i wonder why they're so popular
  - criley2 4y ago
    Is the fleet of polluting vans worse than every single delivery target hopping in their polluting cars and driving to the store (the model that amazon displaced?) I don't think so. I think delivery has been demonstrated to be significantly "greener" than everyone individually driving to each store one by one.
    - spaced-out 4y ago
      Exactly this. One of the best things governments could do to help lower greenhouse gasses is incentivize people to get their goods delivered instead of going to the store. So much fuel is wasted moving a ~2 ton vehicle and a >100 lbs person to the store so they can pick up, often, <100 lbs of goods. That's <5% fuel efficiency.
      - plankers 4y ago
        you're both acting like people drive less when they get things delivered to their home. this is not true and i'm pretty sure you know it.
        4y ago

bushbaba 4y ago

It’s not just realizability (did the package get form a to b). But the consistency. 2 day shipping seems to always be exactly 2 days. Same goes for their one day shipping.

twoxproblematic 4y ago

lprd 4y ago

> Same with shipping and logistics. The USPS, with a guaranteed nationwide monopoly on certain services struggles to get me stuff on time. Fedex is even worse for some reason. Amazon is an absolute machine where I am. We have same day, next day and two day delivery that is HIGHLY reliable and efficient. We can drop stuff off back at Kohls etc without even packing it. We can pickup from Amazon lockers, or have them deliver inside our house if we want. Why does amazon still use freight companies like USPS and FedEX? At this point, I feel like amazon should open up physical locations where people can pick up/drop off packages (this includes returns). Perhaps even maintain inventory and have a showroom for people who want to walk in and purchase something. The return flow varies. Amazon knows what type of package your item(s) were sent it. If it didn't come in a box, you'll be forced to buy one at USPS. If you are lucky enough to have Kohls as a dropoff option, then this isn't an issue. I'm not sure what determines USPS or Kohls as the return location when you print the waybill.

infinityio 4y ago
> Why does amazon still use freight companies like USPS From my understanding - USPS offers fixed rate deliveries to the entire US, so amazon can use them in all cases where it would cost them more than the fixed price to deliver something (incidentally, this probably drives this cost up) > open up physical locations where people can pick up imo, amazon lockers are probably going to start accepting returns at some point, if the logistics for it makes sense
- massysett 4y ago
  ? Amazon lockers already accept returns where I am in the USA.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
onphonenow 4y ago
USPS actually works well with Amazon, because amazon sometimes uses them for last mile. Somehow Amazon seems to basically deliver to the local post office, so stuff still shows up quickly but then the postal carrier brings it with other mail. For very small packages in particular this seems somewhat common where I am. Again, this is is efficient. Amazon skips the part where USPS struggles (ie, Amazon can get something moving on their network at 2AM on a Sunday), but on Tuesday the local carrier still puts it in my box.

collaborative 4y ago

Amazon is akin to a planned economy. It works for now. But it will damage us in the long term and by then there won't be a "real" market to fall back on. The infrastructure of ordinary people running small businesses and pouring their sweat simply won't be there. There is no incentive for Amazon to remain efficient. Eventually, people will understand that there is no life outside of Amazon. This can have lasting consequences