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Why I Canceled Amazon Prime

63 points by tkone 13y ago

threepipeproblm 13y ago
Thank you -- knowing this makes me certain I will not be signing up for Prime at this time. I think the USPS squirelliness is not limited to any particular region... I have had nightmares with various post offices over the past few years.
quesera 13y ago
> However, I would happily pay more than $79/year for a version of prime which guarantees that the USPS will not be involved in shipping ... I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. On the surface, it sounds like it would make sense for Amazon to let you choose your carrier for some additional cost. But that sort of active, involved, optimizing customer is probably where Amazon takes the biggest loss on Prime. Bezos has probably done the math on the value of the goodwill of those customers.
- the_watcher 13y ago
  In a lot of cases, they do let you upgrade for $3.99
terrellm 13y ago
On our ranch, we have an automatic gate opener with keypad. While FedEx and UPS will use a key code if one is printed on the address label, USPS refuses to enter through an open gate. Maybe they were just afraid of the cattle (http://www.LonghornSteers.com http://www.LonghornSteers.com). Fortunately for us, UPS delivers virtually all of our Amazon orders (2-3 a week since it is easier to use Prime than drive into town). The day that Amazon uses USPS for us is the day we cancel Prime, too. The only worse delivery company we have dealt with is DHL, who Microsoft uses. I think it stands for (D)ump the package (H)aul tail away, and (L)ie that no one was home. On numerous occasions, DHL has left thousands of dollars worth in software at our gate which is on a busy country road. A tip that I have found with delivery drivers is to be nice and get to know them. Smile, ask them how they are doing, offer them a bottle of water on a hot day, etc. Many will go out of their way to help a friendly face.
- VLM 13y ago
  "easier to use Prime than drive into town" cheaper not easier. My mom and sister live in a rural county with more dairy cows than humans, and its not just easier, but considerably cheaper. Not sure what its like where you live, but sometimes around here people assume 50 cents/mile total cost aka $1/mile round trip so a trip into town to a big box store isn't twenty miles away, its $20 away, round trip. Suddenly paying less to Amazon than the locals will charge AND getting it "free" in two days is looking like a great deal. When I visit I notice rural retail is rapidly dying other than convenience stores and bulk type stores.
  - redblacktree 13y ago
    > cheaper not easier. Cheaper and easier? Your post came off as immediately combative, but when I read the rest I realized that it wasn't at all. I don't mean to chastise you, only to point out how it was perceived. Have a nice day!
    - VLM 13y ago
      Hmm could be. I didn't think either option would be hard, so it must have been an innocent word selection error, and I have immediate family who go into repetitive detail how its cheaper, apparently along with everyone else, making rural retail go out of business... I've seen combative, and its looks a lot different than suggesting a different word and giving some back story that's shared experience for two people from cow country of course, but the city slickers in the audience would need significant background to understand. Maybe an analogy for urban people, would be imagine if the subway suddenly changed price to $20 per ride. Or adjusted for inflation of incomes and expenses in urban areas, if the subway changed to $200 per ride. Sure, its easy driving, nice scenery, no legendary California traffic jams, but its still very expensive. Have a pleasant day
      - redblacktree 13y ago
        I see what you mean. It just looked like an argument.
swalsh 13y ago
I have more of a problem with lasership, but really my problems are kind of petty. I once ordered a hand plane on Amazon. I was planning on going to home depot (about 20 minutes away) but Amazon had same day delivery for $3 extra (prime). Easy choice, it was 10am, and by the time I get home i'd have the tool to continue work on my project. The website said delivery would be at or before 8pm. It ended up showing up at my door at midnight. On one side, its incredible that at 10am I made an order, and about 14 hours later I had the order... on the other hand I probably would have just picked up a similar item (granted worse quality) at the store had I known it would be late.
- danhood 13y ago
  I used to share you pain - lasership was the worst! Routine non-deliveries that they'd report as delivered, only to have it randomly show up 1-2 days later. Customer service was pretty bad too.
joshdance 13y ago
Definitely a problem, but mostly for those in a large city. I have never had a package come via USPS in Utah.
giardini 13y ago
In these posts read the woes of what happens when a new system is created that does not reveal it's externalities - factors at first not noticed and that are not put into the cost equation but which, over time are revealed. When I was a boy in a small town most goods were available in local stores. Local dealers maintained inventory. I could handle and inspect goods before buying them. Some items were not available locally. I would call long-distance, order a part, give an address and a credit card number (or mail a check) and wait a week - what could be easier? Today we order stuff on the Internet. But is that better for the end-user? Although focused on delivery problems, many of these posts would suggest that it is not. And we haven't yet broached the subjects of expected vs received product, returns, overcharges, identity theft, etc.
jpdus 13y ago
> You see, the problem with Amazon Prime is that you are shipping almost entirely via the USPS. Normally, I bet, in most of the country, this doesn't bode a single issue. Nah, we have exactly the same problem here in Germany. I think that this will be one of the biggest challenges for Amazon in the coming years and can imagine them building their own delivery service for that reason.
petercooper 13y ago
So the real problem is that the US government can't provide a postal service that's fit for purpose despite being obliged to provide a service of uniform quality to all Americans. Switching providers might help but it seems the underlying systemic issue is with the USPS not being what it's meant to be.
- eli 13y ago
  It is? Maybe in this one case. At my last office I would fail to get large/heavy FedEx deliveries. It would say delivery attempted, but nobody came. I'd get the package typically a day or two later. I assume it was just one really lazy driver. I think the real problem is delivering millions of packages to people all across the country is a tough problem and there are bound to be weird little edge cases that only affect a few people.
  - protomyth 13y ago
    Yep, never had a problem with USPS or UPS, but I absolutely hate FedEx Air[1]. They pulled a "we don't deliver in your area from Dec 20 to Jan 2" crap and I had to drive 90 miles to pickup the package myself. I told the vendor if they shipped the next package via FedEx, that would be the last one ordered[2]. I figure your local people are the determining factor since consistency seems not to be a corporate function for any of them. 1) mixing up Air and FedEx Ground will get you yelled at 2) we were getting parts and cables shipped overnight
    - redblacktree 13y ago
      "we don't deliver in your area from Dec 20 to Jan 2" Um, what? That sounds like a WHOLE lot of pissed off holiday shoppers.
      - protomyth 13y ago
        It was 1996, so I think most of the folks were buying stuff on shopping trips and not over the internet.
jweir 13y ago
Yeah, we use Prime in Brooklyn. And the UPSP postal slip is something I never want to see. Our Post Office has gotten a little better in the last year about delivering packages. Although they still sometimes try the wrong buzzer. One thing, with your postal slip you can schedule to have it redelivered through the USPS website. I have had good success with this. https://redelivery.usps.com/redelivery/ https://redelivery.usps.com/redelivery/ Fortunately very few of our Amazon deliveries are USPS, most of them are UPS.
- tkone 13y ago
  Tried that. We just get another slip since they're still not carrying the packages. It really does depend on your post office. Bed-Stuy? No way!
  - jweir 13y ago
    We have the Brevoort USPO on Atlantic.
- warfangle 13y ago
  They don't even give slips to us in my building. We have fancy lockers in our mailroom that the USPS worker dutifully uses. And then puts the key in someone else's mailbox. So you have to wait for someone to check their mail and then hope they're nice enough to notice the package that arrived was not for them. UPS, FedEx, etc, are allowed (if the resident signs a waiver) to leave packages with building management in their package room, after which point the night doorperson will email you when your package is ready to be picked up. I will choose non-USPS every single time I can.
- busterarm 13y ago
  The post offices in Brooklyn and Queens are typically quite terrible and do really shitty things like mentioned in the OP all the time. My brother has terrible problems running his business out of Sunnyside because of problems caused by USPS. There's no accountability in these post offices for how they deal with their customers. I'm glad almost all of my Prime deliveries are via UPS or FedEx. Occasionally they go through USPS or through them via FedEx SmartPost and those are the only ones that ever have problems. My post office in South Carolina is pretty crap too. If the carrier calls out sick, nobody delivers the mail that day. Every once in a while there will be several days of this and then my mailbox is stuffed with all the mail I should have received. Or something arrives 6 months after it was sent.
cfinke 13y ago
You see, the problem with Amazon Prime is that you are shipping almost entirely via the USPS. I've never received a package from Amazon via anyone but UPS.
- drivingmissm 13y ago
  I live in a mountainous area and the Postal Service won't deliver to my house. (FedEx and UPS will). So FedEx Smart Post creates the same problem for me-- I have to go to town during Post Office hours to pick up the package (and usually wait in line). I would also pay for a UPS/FedEx only Prime. I sometimes force the issue for important or large deliveries by ordering it Next Day for $3.99 more, which ensures UPS/FedEx to my home.
  - redblacktree 13y ago
    That's interesting. I thought that the USPS monopoly on usage of your mailbox was premised on the fact that they don't "cherry pick" easily deliverable addresses, being required to deliver everywhere. Can you explain more about why you don't have postal service?
- the_watcher 13y ago
  I thought the same thing. I'd overlook it as it seems like Brooklyn does get USPS, but he seems to assume this is universal. I've gotten Amazon packages in Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Coachella Valley, Seattle, and rural eastern Washington, and almost none have shipped USPS.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  It is a mix for me. It all depends on the item being shipped I think and whatever facility it is leaving from. I've had books delivered via the USPS this week to my mailbox and other times via UPS to my door. The item distribution seems random but I believe they have contracts with all kinds of carriers (even local ones that deliver via van in small areas of town I've had show up before).
- buugs 13y ago
  For me I receive packages by UPS unless that order is arriving on Monday then it is Fed Ex that delivers the package. But It probably is location dependent, I live in more of a rural area.
jcromartie 13y ago
I live in an apartment complex, and I find that the general issue is that carriers just can't/won't bring packages to your door. With the exception of ONE delivery out of at least two dozen, I have never had a package come to my door. I always get notified by the apartment building late in the day when they are either closed or I am out for dinner/errands, so I have to wait until the next day to actually get the package. It's always N+1 day shipping with this setup. As much as it annoys me, I am not sure there's an answer. Can carriers really be expected to actually go to every door in a sprawling apartment building with all of their deliveries for the day?
- gellpak 13y ago
  Why not? I wouldn't pay my telecom for getting my data only as far as the nearest switching station. Why should I accept an almost-all-the-way-there delivery from a shipping company?
xacaxulu 13y ago
Not so much an Amazon problem. As with a lot of services, we see quality private sector services (OnTrac, DHL, FedEx) being consistently better than bloated government services operating at a loss and subsidized by taxpayers. I wonder how much further the USPS would dip if Amazon stopped doing business with them.
- tkone 13y ago
  That might be exactly what needs to happen. The post office needs to fail so it can be rebuild in a better state. Allowing it to continue to exist as it stands is certainly no option.
  - VLM 13y ago
    Why? Sounds like in Brooklyn, per the article, that needs to happen pretty badly. And the accounting is corrupt, well, welcome to America. But aside from unique local issues and stereotypical financial corruption, whats the problem with the USPS? My understanding is its embarrassingly profitable for a .gov organization, until politicans play "hollywood accounting" games to make it look unprofitable for obvious political spin reasons. So that's how it remains in business for decades despite being reported continuously as a disaster. The main problem is some long story about political polarization, which supposedly is always wrong. However, if the USPS workers were "correctly" polarized like the teachers union, they wouldn't be punished with hollywood accounting. It explains a lot about their retirement fund vs the local school districts retirement funding level, or even state gov retirement funding levels. The story is not just accounting corruption for political reasons, but WHY those political reasons exist vs other .gov groups in much worse conditions.
- cfinke 13y ago
  subsidized by taxpayers "The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations." [1] [1] http://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/postal-reform-myths-vs-facts#d53bdca2-972a-4146-bf80-0f639ad7b8f4 http://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/postal-reform-...
jonstjohn 13y ago
I actually have a similar problem with UPS. Last year we had a dyson vacuum delivered to our house that was left on the front porch, about 10 feet from the sidewalk. The box was the manufacturer's box with pictures of the vacuum and the brand written in big letters. We weren't home but when we did get there, there was no package. It was ordered from Costco and their service was fantastic. We had a replacement within a few days. The problem was UPS. After that incident, every single package had to not only be signed for, but actually have a person present to receive the package. I'm not sure if this was retribution on behalf of the delivery person, who probably got into some kind of trouble, but it is what it is. It is very difficult for us to get packages at home now. I love prime, but it would be fantastic if I had the option to choose a shipper, even if I had to pay a couple dollars extra. USPS is actually much better about leaving packages, which are by far usually under $20 and small.
codegeek 13y ago
So this guy had to cancel his prime membership because USPS delivers shit service in his area in Brooklyn ? I sympathize with his issue in general but this has nothing to do with Amazon prime. I think in general, the moment you talk about NYC boroughs, logistics are a totally different ball game compared to say suburban New Jersey but I am not defending USPS with this though. All I am saying is that Amazon Prime already runs with very thin margins and adding the luxury of being able to select multiple mail carriers for a region is probably not viable for amazon. Just my 2 cents.
- tkone 13y ago
  I would so happily pay more to choose my carrier. When I started Amazon Prime several years ago the amount I ordered from Amazon skyrocketed -- 2 day delivery for free? Crap, I don't ever have to go to Target, Toys'r'Us, the pet store, etc ever again.
Splendor 13y ago
It must be a regional thing. I've never had an Amazon Prime delivery made by USPS.
jrkelly 13y ago
UPS/Fedex doesn't really fix this either in cities, since they can't leave the package and they always try to deliver during work hours (in my neighborhood) - so I get slips from them too. Really need after-hours delivery, I'd pay extra for that.
adestefan 13y ago
And since I live where UPS and FedEx don't care about I despise every time I have something delivered via one of those carriers. Even though I live about 3 miles from a UPS distribution center my shipments usually arrive well after 9PM and usually in pieces. I'm excited when I see my Prime shipment is via USPS. I know my mail shows up everyday around 4PM during the week and around 2PM on Saturday. My postal carrier is also nice enough to put the packages under the bench on my porch when I'm not home. Of course, the standard disclaimer of plural of anecdote is not data applies.
PaulHoule 13y ago
Funny, living in a rural area I have the opposite problem. I have a driveway that is an 1/8 of a mile long that is threatened by several beaver colonies trying to flood it out. Delivery drivers are terrified of my driveway because it has a reputation of eating their trucks. One time we replaced the water line that crosses out driveway and that evening a FedEx truck drove across it and, thanks to subsidence, the wheel sunk a foot into the ground. The driver was terrified of calling for help formally (which would have consequences) so we called the highway superintendent and she sent her husband over to our place with a floor jack and we got him out. UPS drivers frequently put packages in plastic bags, then drive to the top of the hill hoping they can make a cell phone call about what they've done. I'd prefer to get small things delivered by USPS because USPS can put them in my mailbox and I can get them without any problem.
- tkone 13y ago
  How do you fit a 45lbs crib in a box that is 4'x4'x5' in your mail box? That's gotta be a huge mailbox sir! OR the post office could end its monopoly of your mailbox...
  - PaulHoule 13y ago
    I get more little things than big things. Certainly if other delivery services could use the box it would help.
- ericcumbee 13y ago
  When I lived at home with my parents we had a similar problem. Our driveway is also 1/8 of a mile or so and half of it lined with bradford pear trees. They form a very pretty but low canopy over the road. If the UPS or Fedex driver were to go through it would scratch the roof of the truck. Which they also get blamed for. So they end up leaving stuff right where the pear trees start. It also causes problems when there is a different driver and they tend to leave the package in other less than predictable places on our property.
ukdm 13y ago
In the UK Amazon has its own parcel delivery service that is used to deliver the majority of the larger parcels in my area. But it's not great. Some of the drivers decide they don't have time, or it's near the end of their shift, and log deliveries as no one home. I've had this confirmed by some of the drivers that do bother delivering. So while I've been home all day, I get an email (usually around 6pm) claiming no one was in when they attempted the delivery. This is frustrating when it happens once, but it has now become a regular occurrence and complaints just end in a free month of Prime being added to my account (had 4 extensions this year so far).
- teh_klev 13y ago
  If you live north of Perth in Scotland and a parcel is sent via one of the big couriers it often gets subcontracted out to a local courier or franchised operator who can add another two to three days to deliver something that should be next day. I used to live in Perth and never had a single Prime delivery arrived next day as promised - in one ridiculous example, they shipped a parcel from their Greenock fulfilment centre to Perth and it took a week to arrive!. I ended up getting half the money back and cancelling Prime. Four years later I found myself eligible for the free trial and have given Prime another shot, so far so good with 3 out of 3 orders arriving next day via Royal Mail. "Some of the drivers decide they don't have time, or it's near the end of their shift, and log deliveries as no one home" - yes that is truly annoying and verging on fraudulent behaviour.
  - redblacktree 13y ago
    I wouldn't say "verging on." It's an outright lie.
colmvp 13y ago
For a second, I read the title as Jeff Bezos: Why I had to Cancel Amazon Prime and I was this close to picking up my pitchfork.
frakkingcylons 13y ago
A heads up to the author -- I've had Amazon Prime for three years, two of those in Phoenix and one in Austin, and UPS were always the carrier delivering the packages, unless I chose one-day or same-day shipping. I also sell products on Amazon using their Fulfillment services, and the majority of shipments go out on UPS as well. I only ever see USPS shipments if the receiver is close to the Illinois warehouse. EDIT: The real takeaway is that the article implies that USPS is Amazon's exclusive shipping carrier for Prime shipments, when in reality it varies based on geograpy, shipping speed and other factors. However, I would say that UPS delivers most shipments.
acallahan 13y ago
I have the opposite problem - USPS packages are put in a special mailbox in my building, but UPS and Fedex won't get delivered at all because I'm not home. Even if Amazon's worried about letting the user choose what shipping option they want, they should show the shipping method at checkout as a read-only field, so that I know whether to ship a particular package to home or work.
tootie 13y ago
You're blaming USPS, but the problem is that you live in an apartment building. Such is life in the city. I live in Brooklyn as well and I solve this problem by having a doorman :)
- tkone 13y ago
  Must be nice to have enough money to pay the astronomical rents that a doorman building costs!
  - tootie 13y ago
    Oh, it is.
- aforty 13y ago
  A doorman can't really help when USPS brings a pick-up slip instead of the actual package. Also not everyone can afford a building with a doorman. But good for you.
shittyanalogy 13y ago
This is a NYC problem not a Amazon Prime or USPS problem. - Have your packages shipped to a friends work place or somewhere with a doorman. I use Amazon Prime in the city and do just that, it's great. - You can rent a PO box that accepts packages at many mail-services type stores. Many of them have notification services too. - Get a business address at a co-working space, a lot of times they will accept your business mail and packages. - If you live over or next to a business, especially a bodega, you can sometimes convince them to let you ship packages to them. Just remember to buy something each time and keep up that rapport. :) Otherwise there's just no good solution for shipping in NYC. :(
- jinushaun 13y ago
  Read the rest of the article. Doesn't address his problem of getting the package back to his apt. He mentions lots of large heavy boxes.
  - redblacktree 13y ago
    I'm sure "over or next to a business" is a lot closer than the post office.
- PagingCraig 13y ago
  I got a UPS box to get all my personal/business mail. Works well. But I also live in an area where everyone has a car and not like how it is in NYC, so there's that...
akassover 13y ago
Here in Amazon.com's home town of Seattle, Prime works flawlessly (no surprise there). Sometimes things arrive by USPS, but most often it's via UPS. Occasionally Amazon will even deliver package themselves. In fact, they once delivered a three item order to my house via all three methods in one day. I'm sure NYC is a big market for Amazon and no matter what the root cause is of the problem you are talking about, I'm sure it's one worth solving for them. Have you emailed Jeff B. about this? From the below Business Week article, it sounds like he pays attention... http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/jeff-bezos-and-the-age-of-amazon-excerpt-from-the-everything-store-by-brad-stone http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/jeff-bezos-a...
- itsboring 13y ago
  Also in Seattle, and prime is great, except for when they use Ontrac. I once had a next-day shipment fail to show up, and on the third day I called Ontrac to find out why. The rep told me, and I'm completely serious, "the driver just decided not to do his job." I actually appreciated the honesty, but I hope they fired the driver.
fotbr 13y ago
For the stuff you don't want the post office to touch / screw up / fail to deliver / whatever -- pay the $4 / item prime rate for one day delivery. No post office involved then. My only complaint with amazon using usps for the last-mile delivery (fedex smart-post, whatever ups's equivalent is) is that being just outside a good-sized city, fedex/ups will get it to their facility in a day or two, and then the post office will take another full week to move the package 5 miles.
- itsboring 13y ago
  I love the $4 overnight. When I'm deciding whether to do 2-day or overnight, I always do a little thought experiment: If I'm sitting around tomorrow and wishing my new thing was here, would I open my wallet and shell out four bucks for it to show up today? You bet your ass I would! I'm an impatient bastard like that.
davidw 13y ago
> I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. How many people reside in areas where they go around on foot vs by jeep? Also: > doesn't bode a single issue. Should probably be "doesn't pose a single issue". Bode means: indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news"
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  > How many people reside in areas where they go around on foot vs by jeep? Cities have a _lot_ of people, last I checked.
  - davidw 13y ago
    > Cities have a _lot_ of people, last I checked. Sure, we know that, but that wasn't the question I asked, which probably requires some more detailed knowledge of the USPS to answer. I'm sure there are others like him, though, but to really reason about it you'd have to take all the numbers into account.
acheron 13y ago
I've had Prime deliveries by many different carriers. Since I've moved to a real house instead of a condo, the only difference I've seen in carriers is that the drivers will leave packages in different locations -- some drop it off at the front porch, some by the garage, once there was one by a side door... so I just need to take a walk around the yard to see if anyone left any packages anywhere. When I lived in a condo, some carriers would leave packages by the door and some would just leave slips. For a long time UPS would only leave a note, then I'd have to go the next day to pick it up from the distribution center. Eventually I got them to start leaving packages though. Sometimes USPS would leave a note and sometimes they'd just leave the package, depending on the phases of the moon or whatever. But I don't get notes anymore at all at the house.
dkrich 13y ago
However, I would happily pay more than $79/year for a version of prime which guarantees that the USPS will not be involved in shipping: not via FedEx SmartPost, not direct, not ever. I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. Any flavor of the comment "I would happily pay more than <current price> for <what I claim I want>" is always hysterical to me. This kind of statement does two things that are incredibly naive: First it suggests that you as the consumer know at this point what you would or would not pay. You only know what that figure is when it comes time to pay. If Amazon upped the price to $99/year and switched to private carrier and gave you no choice, you might not be so happy. Second, even if you do know 100% that you'd happily pay more, it suggests that you as one data point know more about how to price a service like Prime than the legions of pricing analysts and product managers employed at Amazon who are privy to years of customer behavior data. There's a reason Comcast and Verizon are constantly bitched about by consumers yet continue to lead their industries in customer volume. Individual consumers are fickle but really only care about immediate cost.
- incongruity 13y ago
  >Second, even if you do know 100% that you'd happily pay more, it suggests that you as one data point know more about how to price a service like Prime than the legions of pricing analysts and product managers employed at Amazon who are privy to years of customer behavior data. There's a reason Comcast and Verizon are constantly bitched about by consumers yet continue to lead their industries in customer volume. Individual consumers are fickle but really only care about immediate cost. We understand things through the lenses of the tools we use to measure them. When you measure only "behavior data" (code for limited quantitative snapshots of transactions at specific prices), then you only see what happens through the lens of pricing and you talk about people as sources of demand who are price sensitive or not, etc. etc. -- but you never get to the why and all you might succeed in doing is hill-climbing optimizations, at best. Instead, what if we figured out how to measure experiences (not touch points) and what if we took that ability to actually build demonstrably better experiences? One small example in support -- look at the volume of reviews and the impact of Yelp -- if that's not the antithesis of consumers being price sensitive, I don't know what is. For better or worse (and ignoring astroturfing), Yelp demonstrates the power of consumer experiences (and an attempt at measuring them) Trust me, the incumbent cable and telco providers are successful not because people are price sensitive but because the market is broken -- there's no competition, in large part due to regulated/legalized monopoly (or at best oligarchy) and they fight hard to keep it. If there were competition, there'd be a different picture...
mdip 13y ago
I've been a prime member for years and I just (naively, I guess) assumed they ship everything UPS, because that's the only way I have ever received a package shipped by Amazon. I'm in a suburb and whether it's UPS, FedEx or USPS, my item is always left on my porch unless signature requirements were specified. In the nine years I've lived here, packages have never been stolen. I, however, would prefer if Amazon shipped via USPS. My mail is delivered, very consistently, between noon and 1:00 PM. For UPS, however, I am almost always the last delivery, which is at 7:00 PM and sometimes later. I also found it interesting that this person received so many credits for screwed up shipping. I would expect a company like Amazon would have analytics in place to monitor the frequency of these problems and intelligently pick the best shipper. Reading the comments and the problems that others have had with FedEx and UPS makes me wonder if the issue isn't so much USPS vs. FedEx vs. UPS, but instead the location being shipped to isn't served very well by any of them and USPS was picked because they have more pick-up locations conveniently located. Getting the "slip" in my area from UPS means driving about 20 miles to stand in line versus the USPS, where it's only 2 miles. But that's just a guess.
njharman 13y ago
Totally addressed to wrong person. Should have been sent to Patrick R. Donahoe.
susi22 13y ago
Why not use Amazon Lockers [1]? It's actually sad that it's amazon specific. I'd love to see this rather implemented for the post services like USPS/UPS. In Germany, we have DHL Packstation and you can just have it shipped to those location and pick up your package 24/7. It started getting a bunch of locations in 2004 and nowadays they have them every ~300-500m around big towns (like Munich for instance). [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=locker_hp_fd?docId=1000841451 http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=locker_hp_fd?docId...
- TillE 13y ago
  Yeah, Packstaton is fantastic. It's basically a free PO box. I'm sure it works out well for DHL not only because they spend less time driving around delivering packages, but also because I now try very hard to avoid any online retailer that doesn't ship via DHL.
- danhood 13y ago
  Amazon Locker looks great - though it's not ubiquitous. The closest one is probably a 1 hour drive (with light traffic) and I live in a major metropolitan area in the US.
deleted 13y ago
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PagingCraig 13y ago
This post is just bitching at Amazon for a problem with USPS in his area. Thanks for the misleading title.
Aloha 13y ago
I'm in Seattle, and 80% of my Amazon packages come via OnTrac and UPS. USPS is mostly books - and only from 3rd party sellers.
danhood 13y ago
I used to have similar problem where I lived... The USPS guy would regularly heave a package over a fence onto a stone patio (fragile packages be damned). Or lasership (a last mile carrier) would never actually deliver on time despite marking it in their tracking system as delivered (yet they would magically show up the next day claiming that it must have accidentally been delivered to a neighbor, though none ever claimed they did). I would gladly pay a premium to choose delivery companies.
Zoomla 13y ago
Isn't it cheaper to deliver a given list of packages in a more densely populated area? It looks like some of USPS' customers are getting screwed.
thebiglebrewski 13y ago
Does anyone else think that USPS in New York City is just horrible and shitty in general? I had a similar experience at the branch in Chinatown where I was treated horribly just for asking to speak to a manager (which took over 45 minutes to happen). You just feel so powerless to do anything because even the people "in charge" can't even seem to help you or are mysteriously "off the clock". The package was eventually delivered but only after 2 hours of time were wasted on my end...

63 points by tkone 13y ago

Thank you -- knowing this makes me certain I will not be signing up for Prime at this time. I think the USPS squirelliness is not limited to any particular region... I have had nightmares with various post offices over the past few years.

quesera 13y ago

> However, I would happily pay more than $79/year for a version of prime which guarantees that the USPS will not be involved in shipping ... I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. On the surface, it sounds like it would make sense for Amazon to let you choose your carrier for some additional cost. But that sort of active, involved, optimizing customer is probably where Amazon takes the biggest loss on Prime. Bezos has probably done the math on the value of the goodwill of those customers.

the_watcher 13y ago
In a lot of cases, they do let you upgrade for $3.99

terrellm 13y ago

On our ranch, we have an automatic gate opener with keypad. While FedEx and UPS will use a key code if one is printed on the address label, USPS refuses to enter through an open gate. Maybe they were just afraid of the cattle (http://www.LonghornSteers.com http://www.LonghornSteers.com). Fortunately for us, UPS delivers virtually all of our Amazon orders (2-3 a week since it is easier to use Prime than drive into town). The day that Amazon uses USPS for us is the day we cancel Prime, too. The only worse delivery company we have dealt with is DHL, who Microsoft uses. I think it stands for (D)ump the package (H)aul tail away, and (L)ie that no one was home. On numerous occasions, DHL has left thousands of dollars worth in software at our gate which is on a busy country road. A tip that I have found with delivery drivers is to be nice and get to know them. Smile, ask them how they are doing, offer them a bottle of water on a hot day, etc. Many will go out of their way to help a friendly face.

VLM 13y ago
"easier to use Prime than drive into town" cheaper not easier. My mom and sister live in a rural county with more dairy cows than humans, and its not just easier, but considerably cheaper. Not sure what its like where you live, but sometimes around here people assume 50 cents/mile total cost aka $1/mile round trip so a trip into town to a big box store isn't twenty miles away, its $20 away, round trip. Suddenly paying less to Amazon than the locals will charge AND getting it "free" in two days is looking like a great deal. When I visit I notice rural retail is rapidly dying other than convenience stores and bulk type stores.
- redblacktree 13y ago
  > cheaper not easier. Cheaper and easier? Your post came off as immediately combative, but when I read the rest I realized that it wasn't at all. I don't mean to chastise you, only to point out how it was perceived. Have a nice day!
  - VLM 13y ago
    Hmm could be. I didn't think either option would be hard, so it must have been an innocent word selection error, and I have immediate family who go into repetitive detail how its cheaper, apparently along with everyone else, making rural retail go out of business... I've seen combative, and its looks a lot different than suggesting a different word and giving some back story that's shared experience for two people from cow country of course, but the city slickers in the audience would need significant background to understand. Maybe an analogy for urban people, would be imagine if the subway suddenly changed price to $20 per ride. Or adjusted for inflation of incomes and expenses in urban areas, if the subway changed to $200 per ride. Sure, its easy driving, nice scenery, no legendary California traffic jams, but its still very expensive. Have a pleasant day
    - redblacktree 13y ago
      I see what you mean. It just looked like an argument.

swalsh 13y ago

I have more of a problem with lasership, but really my problems are kind of petty. I once ordered a hand plane on Amazon. I was planning on going to home depot (about 20 minutes away) but Amazon had same day delivery for $3 extra (prime). Easy choice, it was 10am, and by the time I get home i'd have the tool to continue work on my project. The website said delivery would be at or before 8pm. It ended up showing up at my door at midnight. On one side, its incredible that at 10am I made an order, and about 14 hours later I had the order... on the other hand I probably would have just picked up a similar item (granted worse quality) at the store had I known it would be late.

danhood 13y ago
I used to share you pain - lasership was the worst! Routine non-deliveries that they'd report as delivered, only to have it randomly show up 1-2 days later. Customer service was pretty bad too.

joshdance 13y ago

Definitely a problem, but mostly for those in a large city. I have never had a package come via USPS in Utah.

giardini 13y ago

In these posts read the woes of what happens when a new system is created that does not reveal it's externalities - factors at first not noticed and that are not put into the cost equation but which, over time are revealed. When I was a boy in a small town most goods were available in local stores. Local dealers maintained inventory. I could handle and inspect goods before buying them. Some items were not available locally. I would call long-distance, order a part, give an address and a credit card number (or mail a check) and wait a week - what could be easier? Today we order stuff on the Internet. But is that better for the end-user? Although focused on delivery problems, many of these posts would suggest that it is not. And we haven't yet broached the subjects of expected vs received product, returns, overcharges, identity theft, etc.

jpdus 13y ago

> You see, the problem with Amazon Prime is that you are shipping almost entirely via the USPS. Normally, I bet, in most of the country, this doesn't bode a single issue. Nah, we have exactly the same problem here in Germany. I think that this will be one of the biggest challenges for Amazon in the coming years and can imagine them building their own delivery service for that reason.

petercooper 13y ago

So the real problem is that the US government can't provide a postal service that's fit for purpose despite being obliged to provide a service of uniform quality to all Americans. Switching providers might help but it seems the underlying systemic issue is with the USPS not being what it's meant to be.

eli 13y ago
It is? Maybe in this one case. At my last office I would fail to get large/heavy FedEx deliveries. It would say delivery attempted, but nobody came. I'd get the package typically a day or two later. I assume it was just one really lazy driver. I think the real problem is delivering millions of packages to people all across the country is a tough problem and there are bound to be weird little edge cases that only affect a few people.
- protomyth 13y ago
  Yep, never had a problem with USPS or UPS, but I absolutely hate FedEx Air[1]. They pulled a "we don't deliver in your area from Dec 20 to Jan 2" crap and I had to drive 90 miles to pickup the package myself. I told the vendor if they shipped the next package via FedEx, that would be the last one ordered[2]. I figure your local people are the determining factor since consistency seems not to be a corporate function for any of them. 1) mixing up Air and FedEx Ground will get you yelled at 2) we were getting parts and cables shipped overnight
  - redblacktree 13y ago
    "we don't deliver in your area from Dec 20 to Jan 2" Um, what? That sounds like a WHOLE lot of pissed off holiday shoppers.
    - protomyth 13y ago
      It was 1996, so I think most of the folks were buying stuff on shopping trips and not over the internet.

jweir 13y ago

Yeah, we use Prime in Brooklyn. And the UPSP postal slip is something I never want to see. Our Post Office has gotten a little better in the last year about delivering packages. Although they still sometimes try the wrong buzzer. One thing, with your postal slip you can schedule to have it redelivered through the USPS website. I have had good success with this. https://redelivery.usps.com/redelivery/ https://redelivery.usps.com/redelivery/ Fortunately very few of our Amazon deliveries are USPS, most of them are UPS.

tkone 13y ago
Tried that. We just get another slip since they're still not carrying the packages. It really does depend on your post office. Bed-Stuy? No way!
- jweir 13y ago
  We have the Brevoort USPO on Atlantic.
warfangle 13y ago
They don't even give slips to us in my building. We have fancy lockers in our mailroom that the USPS worker dutifully uses. And then puts the key in someone else's mailbox. So you have to wait for someone to check their mail and then hope they're nice enough to notice the package that arrived was not for them. UPS, FedEx, etc, are allowed (if the resident signs a waiver) to leave packages with building management in their package room, after which point the night doorperson will email you when your package is ready to be picked up. I will choose non-USPS every single time I can.
busterarm 13y ago
The post offices in Brooklyn and Queens are typically quite terrible and do really shitty things like mentioned in the OP all the time. My brother has terrible problems running his business out of Sunnyside because of problems caused by USPS. There's no accountability in these post offices for how they deal with their customers. I'm glad almost all of my Prime deliveries are via UPS or FedEx. Occasionally they go through USPS or through them via FedEx SmartPost and those are the only ones that ever have problems. My post office in South Carolina is pretty crap too. If the carrier calls out sick, nobody delivers the mail that day. Every once in a while there will be several days of this and then my mailbox is stuffed with all the mail I should have received. Or something arrives 6 months after it was sent.

cfinke 13y ago

You see, the problem with Amazon Prime is that you are shipping almost entirely via the USPS. I've never received a package from Amazon via anyone but UPS.

drivingmissm 13y ago
I live in a mountainous area and the Postal Service won't deliver to my house. (FedEx and UPS will). So FedEx Smart Post creates the same problem for me-- I have to go to town during Post Office hours to pick up the package (and usually wait in line). I would also pay for a UPS/FedEx only Prime. I sometimes force the issue for important or large deliveries by ordering it Next Day for $3.99 more, which ensures UPS/FedEx to my home.
- redblacktree 13y ago
  That's interesting. I thought that the USPS monopoly on usage of your mailbox was premised on the fact that they don't "cherry pick" easily deliverable addresses, being required to deliver everywhere. Can you explain more about why you don't have postal service?
the_watcher 13y ago
I thought the same thing. I'd overlook it as it seems like Brooklyn does get USPS, but he seems to assume this is universal. I've gotten Amazon packages in Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Coachella Valley, Seattle, and rural eastern Washington, and almost none have shipped USPS.
res0nat0r 13y ago
It is a mix for me. It all depends on the item being shipped I think and whatever facility it is leaving from. I've had books delivered via the USPS this week to my mailbox and other times via UPS to my door. The item distribution seems random but I believe they have contracts with all kinds of carriers (even local ones that deliver via van in small areas of town I've had show up before).
buugs 13y ago
For me I receive packages by UPS unless that order is arriving on Monday then it is Fed Ex that delivers the package. But It probably is location dependent, I live in more of a rural area.

jcromartie 13y ago

I live in an apartment complex, and I find that the general issue is that carriers just can't/won't bring packages to your door. With the exception of ONE delivery out of at least two dozen, I have never had a package come to my door. I always get notified by the apartment building late in the day when they are either closed or I am out for dinner/errands, so I have to wait until the next day to actually get the package. It's always N+1 day shipping with this setup. As much as it annoys me, I am not sure there's an answer. Can carriers really be expected to actually go to every door in a sprawling apartment building with all of their deliveries for the day?

gellpak 13y ago
Why not? I wouldn't pay my telecom for getting my data only as far as the nearest switching station. Why should I accept an almost-all-the-way-there delivery from a shipping company?

xacaxulu 13y ago

Not so much an Amazon problem. As with a lot of services, we see quality private sector services (OnTrac, DHL, FedEx) being consistently better than bloated government services operating at a loss and subsidized by taxpayers. I wonder how much further the USPS would dip if Amazon stopped doing business with them.

tkone 13y ago
That might be exactly what needs to happen. The post office needs to fail so it can be rebuild in a better state. Allowing it to continue to exist as it stands is certainly no option.
- VLM 13y ago
  Why? Sounds like in Brooklyn, per the article, that needs to happen pretty badly. And the accounting is corrupt, well, welcome to America. But aside from unique local issues and stereotypical financial corruption, whats the problem with the USPS? My understanding is its embarrassingly profitable for a .gov organization, until politicans play "hollywood accounting" games to make it look unprofitable for obvious political spin reasons. So that's how it remains in business for decades despite being reported continuously as a disaster. The main problem is some long story about political polarization, which supposedly is always wrong. However, if the USPS workers were "correctly" polarized like the teachers union, they wouldn't be punished with hollywood accounting. It explains a lot about their retirement fund vs the local school districts retirement funding level, or even state gov retirement funding levels. The story is not just accounting corruption for political reasons, but WHY those political reasons exist vs other .gov groups in much worse conditions.
cfinke 13y ago
subsidized by taxpayers "The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations." [1] [1] http://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/postal-reform-myths-vs-facts#d53bdca2-972a-4146-bf80-0f639ad7b8f4 http://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/postal-reform-...

jonstjohn 13y ago

I actually have a similar problem with UPS. Last year we had a dyson vacuum delivered to our house that was left on the front porch, about 10 feet from the sidewalk. The box was the manufacturer's box with pictures of the vacuum and the brand written in big letters. We weren't home but when we did get there, there was no package. It was ordered from Costco and their service was fantastic. We had a replacement within a few days. The problem was UPS. After that incident, every single package had to not only be signed for, but actually have a person present to receive the package. I'm not sure if this was retribution on behalf of the delivery person, who probably got into some kind of trouble, but it is what it is. It is very difficult for us to get packages at home now. I love prime, but it would be fantastic if I had the option to choose a shipper, even if I had to pay a couple dollars extra. USPS is actually much better about leaving packages, which are by far usually under $20 and small.

codegeek 13y ago

So this guy had to cancel his prime membership because USPS delivers shit service in his area in Brooklyn ? I sympathize with his issue in general but this has nothing to do with Amazon prime. I think in general, the moment you talk about NYC boroughs, logistics are a totally different ball game compared to say suburban New Jersey but I am not defending USPS with this though. All I am saying is that Amazon Prime already runs with very thin margins and adding the luxury of being able to select multiple mail carriers for a region is probably not viable for amazon. Just my 2 cents.

tkone 13y ago
I would so happily pay more to choose my carrier. When I started Amazon Prime several years ago the amount I ordered from Amazon skyrocketed -- 2 day delivery for free? Crap, I don't ever have to go to Target, Toys'r'Us, the pet store, etc ever again.

Splendor 13y ago

It must be a regional thing. I've never had an Amazon Prime delivery made by USPS.

jrkelly 13y ago

UPS/Fedex doesn't really fix this either in cities, since they can't leave the package and they always try to deliver during work hours (in my neighborhood) - so I get slips from them too. Really need after-hours delivery, I'd pay extra for that.

adestefan 13y ago

And since I live where UPS and FedEx don't care about I despise every time I have something delivered via one of those carriers. Even though I live about 3 miles from a UPS distribution center my shipments usually arrive well after 9PM and usually in pieces. I'm excited when I see my Prime shipment is via USPS. I know my mail shows up everyday around 4PM during the week and around 2PM on Saturday. My postal carrier is also nice enough to put the packages under the bench on my porch when I'm not home. Of course, the standard disclaimer of plural of anecdote is not data applies.

PaulHoule 13y ago

Funny, living in a rural area I have the opposite problem. I have a driveway that is an 1/8 of a mile long that is threatened by several beaver colonies trying to flood it out. Delivery drivers are terrified of my driveway because it has a reputation of eating their trucks. One time we replaced the water line that crosses out driveway and that evening a FedEx truck drove across it and, thanks to subsidence, the wheel sunk a foot into the ground. The driver was terrified of calling for help formally (which would have consequences) so we called the highway superintendent and she sent her husband over to our place with a floor jack and we got him out. UPS drivers frequently put packages in plastic bags, then drive to the top of the hill hoping they can make a cell phone call about what they've done. I'd prefer to get small things delivered by USPS because USPS can put them in my mailbox and I can get them without any problem.

tkone 13y ago
How do you fit a 45lbs crib in a box that is 4'x4'x5' in your mail box? That's gotta be a huge mailbox sir! OR the post office could end its monopoly of your mailbox...
- PaulHoule 13y ago
  I get more little things than big things. Certainly if other delivery services could use the box it would help.
ericcumbee 13y ago
When I lived at home with my parents we had a similar problem. Our driveway is also 1/8 of a mile or so and half of it lined with bradford pear trees. They form a very pretty but low canopy over the road. If the UPS or Fedex driver were to go through it would scratch the roof of the truck. Which they also get blamed for. So they end up leaving stuff right where the pear trees start. It also causes problems when there is a different driver and they tend to leave the package in other less than predictable places on our property.

ukdm 13y ago

In the UK Amazon has its own parcel delivery service that is used to deliver the majority of the larger parcels in my area. But it's not great. Some of the drivers decide they don't have time, or it's near the end of their shift, and log deliveries as no one home. I've had this confirmed by some of the drivers that do bother delivering. So while I've been home all day, I get an email (usually around 6pm) claiming no one was in when they attempted the delivery. This is frustrating when it happens once, but it has now become a regular occurrence and complaints just end in a free month of Prime being added to my account (had 4 extensions this year so far).

teh_klev 13y ago
If you live north of Perth in Scotland and a parcel is sent via one of the big couriers it often gets subcontracted out to a local courier or franchised operator who can add another two to three days to deliver something that should be next day. I used to live in Perth and never had a single Prime delivery arrived next day as promised - in one ridiculous example, they shipped a parcel from their Greenock fulfilment centre to Perth and it took a week to arrive!. I ended up getting half the money back and cancelling Prime. Four years later I found myself eligible for the free trial and have given Prime another shot, so far so good with 3 out of 3 orders arriving next day via Royal Mail. "Some of the drivers decide they don't have time, or it's near the end of their shift, and log deliveries as no one home" - yes that is truly annoying and verging on fraudulent behaviour.
- redblacktree 13y ago
  I wouldn't say "verging on." It's an outright lie.

colmvp 13y ago

For a second, I read the title as Jeff Bezos: Why I had to Cancel Amazon Prime and I was this close to picking up my pitchfork.

frakkingcylons 13y ago

A heads up to the author -- I've had Amazon Prime for three years, two of those in Phoenix and one in Austin, and UPS were always the carrier delivering the packages, unless I chose one-day or same-day shipping. I also sell products on Amazon using their Fulfillment services, and the majority of shipments go out on UPS as well. I only ever see USPS shipments if the receiver is close to the Illinois warehouse. EDIT: The real takeaway is that the article implies that USPS is Amazon's exclusive shipping carrier for Prime shipments, when in reality it varies based on geograpy, shipping speed and other factors. However, I would say that UPS delivers most shipments.

acallahan 13y ago

I have the opposite problem - USPS packages are put in a special mailbox in my building, but UPS and Fedex won't get delivered at all because I'm not home. Even if Amazon's worried about letting the user choose what shipping option they want, they should show the shipping method at checkout as a read-only field, so that I know whether to ship a particular package to home or work.

tootie 13y ago

You're blaming USPS, but the problem is that you live in an apartment building. Such is life in the city. I live in Brooklyn as well and I solve this problem by having a doorman :)

tkone 13y ago
Must be nice to have enough money to pay the astronomical rents that a doorman building costs!
- tootie 13y ago
  Oh, it is.
aforty 13y ago
A doorman can't really help when USPS brings a pick-up slip instead of the actual package. Also not everyone can afford a building with a doorman. But good for you.

shittyanalogy 13y ago

This is a NYC problem not a Amazon Prime or USPS problem. - Have your packages shipped to a friends work place or somewhere with a doorman. I use Amazon Prime in the city and do just that, it's great. - You can rent a PO box that accepts packages at many mail-services type stores. Many of them have notification services too. - Get a business address at a co-working space, a lot of times they will accept your business mail and packages. - If you live over or next to a business, especially a bodega, you can sometimes convince them to let you ship packages to them. Just remember to buy something each time and keep up that rapport. :) Otherwise there's just no good solution for shipping in NYC. :(

jinushaun 13y ago
Read the rest of the article. Doesn't address his problem of getting the package back to his apt. He mentions lots of large heavy boxes.
- redblacktree 13y ago
  I'm sure "over or next to a business" is a lot closer than the post office.
PagingCraig 13y ago
I got a UPS box to get all my personal/business mail. Works well. But I also live in an area where everyone has a car and not like how it is in NYC, so there's that...

akassover 13y ago

Here in Amazon.com's home town of Seattle, Prime works flawlessly (no surprise there). Sometimes things arrive by USPS, but most often it's via UPS. Occasionally Amazon will even deliver package themselves. In fact, they once delivered a three item order to my house via all three methods in one day. I'm sure NYC is a big market for Amazon and no matter what the root cause is of the problem you are talking about, I'm sure it's one worth solving for them. Have you emailed Jeff B. about this? From the below Business Week article, it sounds like he pays attention... http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/jeff-bezos-and-the-age-of-amazon-excerpt-from-the-everything-store-by-brad-stone http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/jeff-bezos-a...

itsboring 13y ago
Also in Seattle, and prime is great, except for when they use Ontrac. I once had a next-day shipment fail to show up, and on the third day I called Ontrac to find out why. The rep told me, and I'm completely serious, "the driver just decided not to do his job." I actually appreciated the honesty, but I hope they fired the driver.

fotbr 13y ago

For the stuff you don't want the post office to touch / screw up / fail to deliver / whatever -- pay the $4 / item prime rate for one day delivery. No post office involved then. My only complaint with amazon using usps for the last-mile delivery (fedex smart-post, whatever ups's equivalent is) is that being just outside a good-sized city, fedex/ups will get it to their facility in a day or two, and then the post office will take another full week to move the package 5 miles.

itsboring 13y ago
I love the $4 overnight. When I'm deciding whether to do 2-day or overnight, I always do a little thought experiment: If I'm sitting around tomorrow and wishing my new thing was here, would I open my wallet and shell out four bucks for it to show up today? You bet your ass I would! I'm an impatient bastard like that.

davidw 13y ago

> I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. How many people reside in areas where they go around on foot vs by jeep? Also: > doesn't bode a single issue. Should probably be "doesn't pose a single issue". Bode means: indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news"

steveklabnik 13y ago
> How many people reside in areas where they go around on foot vs by jeep? Cities have a _lot_ of people, last I checked.
- davidw 13y ago
  > Cities have a _lot_ of people, last I checked. Sure, we know that, but that wasn't the question I asked, which probably requires some more detailed knowledge of the USPS to answer. I'm sure there are others like him, though, but to really reason about it you'd have to take all the numbers into account.

acheron 13y ago

I've had Prime deliveries by many different carriers. Since I've moved to a real house instead of a condo, the only difference I've seen in carriers is that the drivers will leave packages in different locations -- some drop it off at the front porch, some by the garage, once there was one by a side door... so I just need to take a walk around the yard to see if anyone left any packages anywhere. When I lived in a condo, some carriers would leave packages by the door and some would just leave slips. For a long time UPS would only leave a note, then I'd have to go the next day to pick it up from the distribution center. Eventually I got them to start leaving packages though. Sometimes USPS would leave a note and sometimes they'd just leave the package, depending on the phases of the moon or whatever. But I don't get notes anymore at all at the house.

dkrich 13y ago

However, I would happily pay more than $79/year for a version of prime which guarantees that the USPS will not be involved in shipping: not via FedEx SmartPost, not direct, not ever. I would venture to say there are a lot more people like me out there. Any flavor of the comment "I would happily pay more than <current price> for <what I claim I want>" is always hysterical to me. This kind of statement does two things that are incredibly naive: First it suggests that you as the consumer know at this point what you would or would not pay. You only know what that figure is when it comes time to pay. If Amazon upped the price to $99/year and switched to private carrier and gave you no choice, you might not be so happy. Second, even if you do know 100% that you'd happily pay more, it suggests that you as one data point know more about how to price a service like Prime than the legions of pricing analysts and product managers employed at Amazon who are privy to years of customer behavior data. There's a reason Comcast and Verizon are constantly bitched about by consumers yet continue to lead their industries in customer volume. Individual consumers are fickle but really only care about immediate cost.

incongruity 13y ago
>Second, even if you do know 100% that you'd happily pay more, it suggests that you as one data point know more about how to price a service like Prime than the legions of pricing analysts and product managers employed at Amazon who are privy to years of customer behavior data. There's a reason Comcast and Verizon are constantly bitched about by consumers yet continue to lead their industries in customer volume. Individual consumers are fickle but really only care about immediate cost. We understand things through the lenses of the tools we use to measure them. When you measure only "behavior data" (code for limited quantitative snapshots of transactions at specific prices), then you only see what happens through the lens of pricing and you talk about people as sources of demand who are price sensitive or not, etc. etc. -- but you never get to the why and all you might succeed in doing is hill-climbing optimizations, at best. Instead, what if we figured out how to measure experiences (not touch points) and what if we took that ability to actually build demonstrably better experiences? One small example in support -- look at the volume of reviews and the impact of Yelp -- if that's not the antithesis of consumers being price sensitive, I don't know what is. For better or worse (and ignoring astroturfing), Yelp demonstrates the power of consumer experiences (and an attempt at measuring them) Trust me, the incumbent cable and telco providers are successful not because people are price sensitive but because the market is broken -- there's no competition, in large part due to regulated/legalized monopoly (or at best oligarchy) and they fight hard to keep it. If there were competition, there'd be a different picture...

mdip 13y ago

I've been a prime member for years and I just (naively, I guess) assumed they ship everything UPS, because that's the only way I have ever received a package shipped by Amazon. I'm in a suburb and whether it's UPS, FedEx or USPS, my item is always left on my porch unless signature requirements were specified. In the nine years I've lived here, packages have never been stolen. I, however, would prefer if Amazon shipped via USPS. My mail is delivered, very consistently, between noon and 1:00 PM. For UPS, however, I am almost always the last delivery, which is at 7:00 PM and sometimes later. I also found it interesting that this person received so many credits for screwed up shipping. I would expect a company like Amazon would have analytics in place to monitor the frequency of these problems and intelligently pick the best shipper. Reading the comments and the problems that others have had with FedEx and UPS makes me wonder if the issue isn't so much USPS vs. FedEx vs. UPS, but instead the location being shipped to isn't served very well by any of them and USPS was picked because they have more pick-up locations conveniently located. Getting the "slip" in my area from UPS means driving about 20 miles to stand in line versus the USPS, where it's only 2 miles. But that's just a guess.

njharman 13y ago

Totally addressed to wrong person. Should have been sent to Patrick R. Donahoe.

susi22 13y ago

Why not use Amazon Lockers [1]? It's actually sad that it's amazon specific. I'd love to see this rather implemented for the post services like USPS/UPS. In Germany, we have DHL Packstation and you can just have it shipped to those location and pick up your package 24/7. It started getting a bunch of locations in 2004 and nowadays they have them every ~300-500m around big towns (like Munich for instance). [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=locker_hp_fd?docId=1000841451 http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=locker_hp_fd?docId...

TillE 13y ago
Yeah, Packstaton is fantastic. It's basically a free PO box. I'm sure it works out well for DHL not only because they spend less time driving around delivering packages, but also because I now try very hard to avoid any online retailer that doesn't ship via DHL.
danhood 13y ago
Amazon Locker looks great - though it's not ubiquitous. The closest one is probably a 1 hour drive (with light traffic) and I live in a major metropolitan area in the US.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

PagingCraig 13y ago

This post is just bitching at Amazon for a problem with USPS in his area. Thanks for the misleading title.

Aloha 13y ago

I'm in Seattle, and 80% of my Amazon packages come via OnTrac and UPS. USPS is mostly books - and only from 3rd party sellers.

danhood 13y ago

I used to have similar problem where I lived... The USPS guy would regularly heave a package over a fence onto a stone patio (fragile packages be damned). Or lasership (a last mile carrier) would never actually deliver on time despite marking it in their tracking system as delivered (yet they would magically show up the next day claiming that it must have accidentally been delivered to a neighbor, though none ever claimed they did). I would gladly pay a premium to choose delivery companies.

Zoomla 13y ago

Isn't it cheaper to deliver a given list of packages in a more densely populated area? It looks like some of USPS' customers are getting screwed.

thebiglebrewski 13y ago

Does anyone else think that USPS in New York City is just horrible and shitty in general? I had a similar experience at the branch in Chinatown where I was treated horribly just for asking to speak to a manager (which took over 45 minutes to happen). You just feel so powerless to do anything because even the people "in charge" can't even seem to help you or are mysteriously "off the clock". The package was eventually delivered but only after 2 hours of time were wasted on my end...