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Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? My Prime membership ended 3 years ago. These days I just put items in the cart, and place order whenever it

by n144q 2y ago

Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? My Prime membership ended 3 years ago. These days I just put items in the cart, and place order whenever it reaches $35. If I need an item in a hurry -- which rarely happens -- I go to a store to buy it. This barely affected me, and I ended up with much fewer impulse purchases. What's funny though is that the "standard" delivery often takes 5 calendar days. But AliExpress shipments can take as few as 8 calendar days. I ended up spending even less -- well, if the items are manufactured in China, why not just order on AliExpress where you get the same/similar items and pay less.

Yeul 2y ago
This is true. DHL asked me to delay my shipping because of Black Friday chaos and it was a bunch of crap that I didn't really need immediately so I delayed it for a week.
MoreMoore 2y ago
Generally when I order something it's because I need it now and I live at the ass end of nowhere, so it's too inconvenient to find a decent store that sells what I need at a decent price (if that exists at all nearby). I think the biggest issue is just the uncertainty. I've been ordering at other places lately and it's just ... frustrating that I have no idea if it'll take them a day or three days to process before shipping.
stronglikedan 2y ago
> Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? Yes. Simple as. But a lot of people don't, so it's nice that there's options.
ghaff 2y ago
What Prime did for me, which didn't start with but was emphasized by COVID, was that if I needed/wanted many items I could just order them from Amazon with fairly prompt delivery rather than putting them on a shopping list. I'd probably get them quicker than I'd have gotten around to going to the store and probably save at least 30+ minutes into the bargain.
nine_k 2y ago
Most of the time, when I order something on Amazon, it's because something broke and I need to fix it, or something is running out, or there's some other time-sensitive need. I rarely buy big-ticket items, and these can definitely wait.
RankingMember 2y ago
> well, if the items are manufactured in China, why not just order on AliExpress where you get the same/similar items and pay less. Yep, I've come to see it as a general rule that, if the item on Amazon is sold under one of those all-caps gibberish brand names, the same exact item is almost always on AliExpress for 30-50% less.
- the_sleaze_ 2y ago
  Fantastic experiences doing this, highly recommend discovering on amazon and shifting to bargain sites to actually purchase
  - RankingMember 2y ago
    Sometimes I'll even browse Amazon for a product I'm about to buy on AliExpress simply because their reviews are much better than Ali's. Someone wanna write a greasemonkey script to replace the AliExpress reviews with Amazon ones when browsing AliExpress? :)
maccard 2y ago
> Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? I care about knowing when it's going to arrive. I don't necessarily need next day delivery, but if something says 2-3 day delivery that doesn't mean it will arrive in 3 days, it means it will arrive 3 days after it's shipped. Which for some major UK retailers can be 3-5 days. All of a sudden your delivery window is 2-8 days. Also, much of the stuff I buy off Amazon is the sort of "crap" you make a single trip to the dollar store for - lightbulbs, wood filler, bin liners. They're the sort of things that I kind of need when I need them, or shortly after. My parents are the sort of people who will spend 20 minutes doing a quick round trip to the nearest dollar store/supermarket to get one thing, twice a week. I order it on amazon, and know it'll be there by the weekend for me to do whatever I need to do with it.
s1artibartfast 2y ago
Why the incredulity? Yes, people often care about delivery time. Most of the time, if I'm buying something, it is because I need it for a project, trip, or event. If I could buy it at a store today I would.
crote 2y ago
I really wish there was a non-rush way to order with a guaranteed delivery moment. Usually I'm not in a huge hurry, and I would happily wait a few days extra if it means workers don't have to pee in a bottle during their night shift. However, a "3-5 days" delivery means there's a pretty decent chance I won't be home and have to go to the other side of town to pick it up - and that's incredibly annoying. So I end up choosing next-day delivery and order it when I know I'll be home the next day. Why can't I just place an order on Monday with a guaranteed delivery on Saturday? Ordering on Friday with a guaranteed delivery on Saturday is already possible, so what's stopping them?
- harvey9 2y ago
  Amazon offered me exactly that during checkout recently: 'no rush delivery', and deducted the price a little as an incentive.

by n144q 2y ago

Yeul 2y ago

This is true. DHL asked me to delay my shipping because of Black Friday chaos and it was a bunch of crap that I didn't really need immediately so I delayed it for a week.

MoreMoore 2y ago

Generally when I order something it's because I need it now and I live at the ass end of nowhere, so it's too inconvenient to find a decent store that sells what I need at a decent price (if that exists at all nearby). I think the biggest issue is just the uncertainty. I've been ordering at other places lately and it's just ... frustrating that I have no idea if it'll take them a day or three days to process before shipping.

stronglikedan 2y ago

> Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? Yes. Simple as. But a lot of people don't, so it's nice that there's options.

ghaff 2y ago

What Prime did for me, which didn't start with but was emphasized by COVID, was that if I needed/wanted many items I could just order them from Amazon with fairly prompt delivery rather than putting them on a shopping list. I'd probably get them quicker than I'd have gotten around to going to the store and probably save at least 30+ minutes into the bargain.

nine_k 2y ago

Most of the time, when I order something on Amazon, it's because something broke and I need to fix it, or something is running out, or there's some other time-sensitive need. I rarely buy big-ticket items, and these can definitely wait.

RankingMember 2y ago

> well, if the items are manufactured in China, why not just order on AliExpress where you get the same/similar items and pay less. Yep, I've come to see it as a general rule that, if the item on Amazon is sold under one of those all-caps gibberish brand names, the same exact item is almost always on AliExpress for 30-50% less.

the_sleaze_ 2y ago
Fantastic experiences doing this, highly recommend discovering on amazon and shifting to bargain sites to actually purchase
- RankingMember 2y ago
  Sometimes I'll even browse Amazon for a product I'm about to buy on AliExpress simply because their reviews are much better than Ali's. Someone wanna write a greasemonkey script to replace the AliExpress reviews with Amazon ones when browsing AliExpress? :)

maccard 2y ago

> Do you actually care that much about fast delivery? I care about knowing when it's going to arrive. I don't necessarily need next day delivery, but if something says 2-3 day delivery that doesn't mean it will arrive in 3 days, it means it will arrive 3 days after it's shipped. Which for some major UK retailers can be 3-5 days. All of a sudden your delivery window is 2-8 days. Also, much of the stuff I buy off Amazon is the sort of "crap" you make a single trip to the dollar store for - lightbulbs, wood filler, bin liners. They're the sort of things that I kind of need when I need them, or shortly after. My parents are the sort of people who will spend 20 minutes doing a quick round trip to the nearest dollar store/supermarket to get one thing, twice a week. I order it on amazon, and know it'll be there by the weekend for me to do whatever I need to do with it.

s1artibartfast 2y ago

Why the incredulity? Yes, people often care about delivery time. Most of the time, if I'm buying something, it is because I need it for a project, trip, or event. If I could buy it at a store today I would.

crote 2y ago

I really wish there was a non-rush way to order with a guaranteed delivery moment. Usually I'm not in a huge hurry, and I would happily wait a few days extra if it means workers don't have to pee in a bottle during their night shift. However, a "3-5 days" delivery means there's a pretty decent chance I won't be home and have to go to the other side of town to pick it up - and that's incredibly annoying. So I end up choosing next-day delivery and order it when I know I'll be home the next day. Why can't I just place an order on Monday with a guaranteed delivery on Saturday? Ordering on Friday with a guaranteed delivery on Saturday is already possible, so what's stopping them?

harvey9 2y ago
Amazon offered me exactly that during checkout recently: 'no rush delivery', and deducted the price a little as an incentive.