Josh-da-man

Seeker has joined a very exclusive club.

pilot

they'll probably cancel it in six months and screw every(one?=seeker?) who signed up..

Dabaomb

if they cancel it, they'll probably grandfather you....if not, then demand a refund

ctyankee

I signed up for it but with the books I order it will pay for itself.

For those primarily buying DVDs ... this is a bad deal. I mean, let's face it participate in DDD twice a year 20 percent off sale (with free shipping) is working well for a lot of us.

But I did notice that many posters haven't fully caught on to what Amazon HAS already done with their "Free Super Saver" shipping.

It used to be that "super saver shipping" went out the door pretty much as fast as any order.

It then became that "super saver shipping" shipped out slower but still arrived decently.

It now is their formal policy. Super Saver orders will not ship out until 3 - 5 business days after receipt of order or release date. Add on the actual transportation and this means orders are considerably delayed.

Even that 3- 5 business days works out to 5 business days on pre-orders.

I ordered Criterion's L'Eclisse DVD which has a release date of 3/14 and they set up my order to be shipped on 3/22. I ordered Jules and Jim DVD and it is scheduled to be released 3/29 and it was set up to be packed and shipped on 4/5.

When I changed the orders from "super saver shipping" two day shipping (using Amazon Prime) lo and behold the orders are set to ship 3/14 and 3/29 respectively i.e the DVD release date. How transparent is this?

I've been a supporter of Amazon from the get-go but this is extremely
disappointing. It was one nail in the DVD coffin when they cancelled the Share-the-Love program. It is quite another thing when "free shipping" take
is given second class citizen regarding pick, pack and ship. Very poor. It would be one thing if Amazon's terms and conditions said it will take up to five business days to process the order so that we can schedule it more cost effectively for their packing and shipping departments ... it is quite another thing to say it will take a minimum of 3 to five business days to pack and ship. That shows that internal labor is not the issue here but a blatant delay of 'free' shipping so that it becomes less attractive to the consumer. My pre-orders have been all been set up in advance to ship a *full* week (five business days plus the weekends) so that it will ship the following Tuesday. As Tuesday is a DVD merchants busiest day it is clear that effective load
balancing is not the issue here.

Now they come out with Amazon Prime with free shipping for a set yearly fee.
Free shipping for $25 and up orders use to ship promptly. At some point they changed it to the new 'arrangement.' Now Amazon Prime. How transparent and disappointing Amazon has become.

medavidson

I'm in. I order a lot more than just DVD's. I'm thinking that come xmas time, I should be well ahead of the game. I guestimate I've gotten back around $30 of my investment so far -- and it's only been 3 weeks. Last Friday, they had this big ass Calphelon pan on their Friday sale and it was an enormo box. So I got the pan at a killer deal and free shipping.

Digweedrocks

Well if they were a non=profit it would be one thing but the Free Shipping was an extended sale, not an ongoing entitlement program. I signed up for Prime and it has been pretty nice so far, I expect in a few monthes when they see how successful it is the price will probably go up. If you are doing requesitions for a production or small business and can get what you need from Amazon, it is a very good deal.

Free Super Saver shipping was bound to end one day and we are watching it wind down.

Ahab

I also get a lot of other things than just dvd's at amazon so it was also a no-brainer for me. I subscribed to it.
You can always find a better deal someplace else, but I've had great service from amazon: very reliable to deal with and quick getting out their shipments.

ctyankee

My guess is that Amazon Prime is as much about competing internally with their own Amazon Marketplace as anything else.

The beauty of Amazon Marketplace (from Amazon's standpoint) is they make a profit on other people's sales (much like E-Bay). However, I suspect that they never thought that so many new items would be sold on Marketplace thus cannibalizing their own sales.

Now when a Amazon Prime shopper is comparing Amazon to a third-party sale (such as a DVD) Amazon will look much better in a heartbeat due to free shipping.

Digweedrocks

Probably bump it up in a couple of steps to $39 minimum order for super-saver

kevin75

just as a response to ctyankee's post above, i placed an order yesterday for a couple of books and chose super saver shipping and i got a shipping notice in less than 24 hours.

MJG87

Placed an order on sunday, 8 cds, super saver. Half of it shipped out monday, still waiting on the 2nd half to go into the preparing for shipping stage, its like they're purposely holding off.

Digweedrocks

I think the language in the super-saving shipping terms is to protect Amazon for worst case scenarios like holidays. It means they can have less people in the warehouse on any given day as some orders do not have to go out pronto. On slower days, things may ship out quicker, and slow days vary from warehouse to warehouse, as AMAZON provides fulfillment service for other companies on some products, the way Ingram Micro does for many online computer stores.

So...take Super Saving Shipping for what it is, which is ships on warehouse worker availability, whcih is what many of the bottom cost DVD sellers already do anyways, whether they be Columbia House or DVDSoon.

Digweedrocks

What, dissappointed that AMAZON is headed toward longterm profitability and stability through a membership model?

Less People in warehouse=Lower Overhead=Continued Good prices

If you are already a Prime member there is absolutely nothing to complain about and you can even give it to three other family members if it makes them unhappy.

You do know they do send a portion of their profits(and they finally HAVE profits after all these years) to pay for conservation of the rainforest in the Amazon basin.

I think there is little to be disappointed about once you stop looking towards the lowest possible price and start looking at what your money is supporting.

Buford T Pusser

I'm not a member of the new program.

I ordered two cds and one DVD with free shipping at 1 am this morning. At 10 am I received an email saying they'd been shipped.

Josh H

Their profitability is not my concern. I only care about getting the best prices and reasonable shipping times when I order something.

This is hard to find so I rarely ever order anything online anymore unless it's a great deal and something I dont' care about getting right away.

Living in a metropolitan area it's not like I have to drive more than 5 miles to find anything I want.

Easy

I agree with your assessment. Over the weekend I ordered an item from Amazon and an item from Newegg. Different items, but both offered free shipping and both were in stock.
The Newegg item arrived today. Amazon hasn't even thought about packing the order. Frankly, if it were not for the "reward certificates" earned from my credit card I wouldn't even consider Amazon. Time to see about changing that reward program.

Digweedrocks

Then why be mad about the slow death of AMAZON supersaver? Columbiahouse and deepdiscount have better prices and DVDSOON, if you don't mind paying way in advance/dealing with Canadians and so/so business policies towards Americans. Most of these places ship pretty slow, media mail for the US shops.

If you want it fast, go to a local store. Just don't expect to find more obscure titles without going to a Tower Records, Virgin or some other similiar, close to MSRP retailer.

[sarcasm]I'd like an hot-fudge split sundae for 99cents but with the gasp 3-5 day holding period at AMAZON, I'll be lucky to get some moldy slime with a few peanuts if I order from themAnd you know why the heck should Express mail be $13.65 when First class is 33 cents. Please tell me somewhere on the net where you can get something for nothing and then we can both send thousands of dollars to the next Cyberrebates.com because only stupid people would not shop at such a wonderful place, right?[/sarcasm]

Let me guess, you like AMAZON for all the reviews and then you shop elsewhere. Even more of a reason for AMAZON to fasttrack their transition to a members site

Digweedrocks

This whole new fangled internet thing has really gotten people's expectations up. To imagine in Ye Olde days you had to look through a catalog, fill out an order form, mail it, WAIT, and then get whatever you ordered weeks later.

Telecom advances have been extraordinary, but you know what, they still need about the same amount of people to pull stuff from the wherehouse, package and ship it.

It is like trying to rent in somewhere like New York City. you have to make a value judgement between location, size, and price. For internet sales the trinity is speed, price, selection/reliability. Of course if you are still getting good returns from the Tooth Fairy or are a wonderfully attentive CEO like Bernie Ebbers I can see why you think this three part equation does not apply to you.

Buford T Pusser

Just an update. My free shipping items arrived three days after the order.

Digweedrocks

I think don't think Amazon is holding any packages longer than they need to given the new policy. Just if you order when a warehouse is jammed, it goes to the back of the line. Newegg for teh most part drop ships from distributors so it is not the best example to compare with AMAZON, which carries alot of its merchandise in it own warehouse.

Josh H

95% of the time I do go to a local store as I have mainstream tastes so I can find everything I want.

The reason I shop at Amazon occasionally is mainly that they often have the best price on books and some other random gadgets. I rarely buy a cd and DVD there.

And secondly I get Gift Certificates there pretty often through Vividence web site evaluations and the reward program on the Amazon Visa (use it for everything pay the balance in full each month).

Without free shipping it becomes almost not worth the hassle. I don't mind them taking a while to ship (as long as it's reasonable like 3 days or so after order for free shipping), as I said I usually order books and don't need them right way.

Free shipping goes away and I'll probably look for another credit card reward program.

Digweedrocks

Well the free shipping was a big attraction for me as well, before I joined Prime so I doubt they would get rid of it completely. They will probably manage it the same way ebay does with their listing sales, making it more attractive when sales are slow.

cmleidi

I have no use for Amazon Prime. My to read and to watch piles are so enormous that I can wait 7 to 10 days to receive something. I suppose if you're impatient, the program might be beneficial, but I would rather spend the $80. on actual merchandise rather than shipping. I've found Barnes and Noble's free shipping to be first rate, and with my member discount, I can usually find a better deal there especially on books. IF I'm after discs, I switch between Digital Eyes and Barnes and Noble.

The free shipping at Amazon (coupled with STL) prompted me to purchase more merchandise that I would have otherwise. Since the removal of STL, I haven't purchased anything from them in three months. At this point last year, I had made 18 purchases. I've only made three this year, and the two of them were paid with certificates. The only time I will use Amazon now is when I have certificates from Vividence or Lightspeed.

victor_vc

What's vividence or lightspeed?

Josh H

Vividence is a company that does evaluations of websites. I get an e-mail invite from them every month or two, take a screening survey, if I meet the requirements for that evaluation I do an evaluation of a website (last one was Bank of America) and get a $10 GC for about 30 mins of work.

I think they just changed their name, but I can't recall what it is now. I've been doing it for years, so I don't know if they're taking new people or not.