I can't wait until drones and other autonomous deliveries are available because maybe people will start getting their packages when they are supposed to.
For example I ordered a small package from Amazon last week. I don't order a lot from Amazon but when I do, there seems to always be delays and problems.
They guaranteed it by yesterday but it's still not here and isn't scheduled to be delivered for another 2 days putting it 4 days past the "guaranteed" delivery time.
This was standard shipping which is treated in the same way as free shipping in terms of delivery times.
Reason? Who knows, all I know is it was very likely a human error out of my control.
- Amazon's dashboard tells me I requested an address change even though I didn't.
- Amazon's phone rep tells me the USPS screwed up by delivering it to the wrong zone's post office.
- USPS tells me Amazon tends to ship things in pallets of 100 parcels and the pallet for my zone was filled so they put it into a different pallet (clearly knowing it would delay the package).
- USPS won't compensate me (I was put into a 30min 3 way conversation with Amazon, USPS and myself).
- Amazon updates me today saying the item has been dropped from tracking and is tagged as "lost in transit".
- USPS tells me the package is on the other side of the state I'm in (NY).
- Amazon said they will ship a new item out with 2 day delivery which doesn't help me get the item when it was supposed to arrive.
I understand that every single US govt ran service tends to be horrendous in terms of efficiency and quality but Amazon is supposed to be one of the most efficient platforms in the world.
I'm guessing this entire issue was due to some over worked warehouse employee just saying "fuck it" and threw my box into the wrong pallet but a robot would haven't made this mistake and a drone would have likely gotten to my residence a few hours after ordering instead of closer to 11-12 days.
I suspect Amazon may be overloading their capacity to actually fulfill their promised delivery timeframe (the hotel industry does this a lot with overselling rooms) for the simple reason that most people won't complain or can be placated easily. In the past year or so I've noticed a big change with Amazon Prime in particular to that end. I still get the items ordered after 1-2 days in shipping, but it's increasingly common to not ship for a day or two after the order is placed.
Without prime it typically takes 4-5 days for the order to go into "preparing for shipment", then 1-2 days for it to be shipped, followed by 2-3 days to get here.
It's kind of sad really. It's like your item is being held hostage because you haven't bought into using Prime.
For the reasons you just mentioned (it takes a day or 2 for it to ship) is the reason I'll never buy Prime. I don't like the idea of paying for a service that says 2-3 day free shipping but rarely comes in time.
Back in the good old days of mid-2000 you could order stuff from NewEgg and you'd get your package in 3-4 days all the time for the same shipping price that takes Amazon 6-10 days.
When an order is stuck in 'preparing for dispatch' it is easier just to cancel the order and try again. The same item magically gets dispatched as normal.
For example I ordered a small package from Amazon last week. I don't order a lot from Amazon but when I do, there seems to always be delays and problems.
They guaranteed it by yesterday but it's still not here and isn't scheduled to be delivered for another 2 days putting it 4 days past the "guaranteed" delivery time.
This was standard shipping which is treated in the same way as free shipping in terms of delivery times.
Reason? Who knows, all I know is it was very likely a human error out of my control.
- Amazon's dashboard tells me I requested an address change even though I didn't.
- Amazon's phone rep tells me the USPS screwed up by delivering it to the wrong zone's post office.
- USPS tells me Amazon tends to ship things in pallets of 100 parcels and the pallet for my zone was filled so they put it into a different pallet (clearly knowing it would delay the package).
- USPS won't compensate me (I was put into a 30min 3 way conversation with Amazon, USPS and myself).
- Amazon updates me today saying the item has been dropped from tracking and is tagged as "lost in transit".
- USPS tells me the package is on the other side of the state I'm in (NY).
- Amazon said they will ship a new item out with 2 day delivery which doesn't help me get the item when it was supposed to arrive.
I understand that every single US govt ran service tends to be horrendous in terms of efficiency and quality but Amazon is supposed to be one of the most efficient platforms in the world.
I'm guessing this entire issue was due to some over worked warehouse employee just saying "fuck it" and threw my box into the wrong pallet but a robot would haven't made this mistake and a drone would have likely gotten to my residence a few hours after ordering instead of closer to 11-12 days.