4 ms·

I ordered a TV from Amazon last week that never showed up. I don't know if UPS messed up or if it was stolen off my front step. Either way, I appreciated Amaz

I ordered a TV from Amazon last week that never showed up. I don't know if UPS messed up or if it was stolen off my front step. Either way, I appreciated Amazon trusting me and dropping another one in the mail without making a big deal out of it. While it seems like Amazon have ignored this issue to date for all the right reasons, they may need to start addressing it since it obviously affects their real customers with worrying emails & the chance of being viewed with suspicion later on.

StavrosK 14y ago
How can they afford to just give away TVs?
- mhaymo 14y ago
  One tv isn't all that much to pay for a customer's loyalty on a site where he might potentially do all his shopping for the next 50 years.
  - mseebach 14y ago
    Also, either they or UPS probably have a pretty good insurance policy.
    - gmac 14y ago
      Surely not. A company the size of Amazon/UPS doesn't need to pay someone else to shoulder the risk of them losing $500 now and again. But it must be factored into their margins.
      - mseebach 14y ago
        Well, yes and no :) Even when you're self-insured (which is what you are when you've got risk factored into your margins), you're still insured.
        nwienert 14y ago
        That's a ridiculous twist of words. That's not self-insured, it's just planning for loss, which is exactly what it's called (Unplanned expenditures).
        mseebach 14y ago
        No it's not. If you book it under "Unplanned expenditures" then you're not insured. If you try to determine your risk in such a way that you can budget a fixed sum for coverage and reasonably expect not to exceed it (ie. not an unplanned expenditure) in the same way an insurance company would do it, they you're insured.
        nwienert 14y ago
        It's literally a line item in the budget for unplanned expenditures. Sounds ridiculous, but you are planning for the unplanned. I'm just saying calling that "insurance" dilutes the meaning of what insurance actually is, which requires a transaction between two separate companies.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  Speculation: They probably force the supplier or courier to foot the bill. Maybe sack the delivery driver with a carefully vague intimation that they've been stealing?
  - tomkarlo 14y ago
    Well, that's super-paranoid. Amazon uses major name suppliers like UPS. So it's not their employee to sack. And I doubt UPS would allow Amazon to go around randomly accusing their employees of theft.
- line 14y ago
  They are not. Amazon can file a lost package claim with UPS and get reimbursed.

StavrosK 14y ago

How can they afford to just give away TVs?

mhaymo 14y ago
One tv isn't all that much to pay for a customer's loyalty on a site where he might potentially do all his shopping for the next 50 years.
- mseebach 14y ago
  Also, either they or UPS probably have a pretty good insurance policy.
  - gmac 14y ago
    Surely not. A company the size of Amazon/UPS doesn't need to pay someone else to shoulder the risk of them losing $500 now and again. But it must be factored into their margins.
    - mseebach 14y ago
      Well, yes and no :) Even when you're self-insured (which is what you are when you've got risk factored into your margins), you're still insured.
      - nwienert 14y ago
        That's a ridiculous twist of words. That's not self-insured, it's just planning for loss, which is exactly what it's called (Unplanned expenditures).
        mseebach 14y ago
        No it's not. If you book it under "Unplanned expenditures" then you're not insured. If you try to determine your risk in such a way that you can budget a fixed sum for coverage and reasonably expect not to exceed it (ie. not an unplanned expenditure) in the same way an insurance company would do it, they you're insured.
        nwienert 14y ago
        It's literally a line item in the budget for unplanned expenditures. Sounds ridiculous, but you are planning for the unplanned. I'm just saying calling that "insurance" dilutes the meaning of what insurance actually is, which requires a transaction between two separate companies.
pbhjpbhj 14y ago
Speculation: They probably force the supplier or courier to foot the bill. Maybe sack the delivery driver with a carefully vague intimation that they've been stealing?
- tomkarlo 14y ago
  Well, that's super-paranoid. Amazon uses major name suppliers like UPS. So it's not their employee to sack. And I doubt UPS would allow Amazon to go around randomly accusing their employees of theft.
line 14y ago
They are not. Amazon can file a lost package claim with UPS and get reimbursed.