Dr. Phibes

I just signed up for Prime last week. My first order was for 2 cds that come out tomorrow, and it's about 6PM now and one hasn't even shipped yet (other one did though). Kinda sucks, I signed up for Prime because I was sick of preordering stuff and not getting it until the Friday or Monday after release date and when I'd had a couple of Prime trials before, stuff I preordered got here on the date they came out. If I am going to have to wait until the end of the week to get stuff anyway, I don't see a point of paying $80 for Prime service. Sure you get the Instant Video for the year also, but really everything I want to watch there I already own, or it's on Netflix with more episodes (Mythbusters for example).

This is just one order, so I might be overreacting. I actually did a chat with Amazon and the guy said it's still scheduled to arrive on time, but unless they overnight it that's not seeming very likely.

ProfessorEcho

I checked out the "Free" Prime videos while on my Amazon Mom trial period and was surprised how bad the selection was. Like you I either own it already or can get it streaming elsewhere. Not an incentive at all for me to pay the Prime fee and now with Amazon charging tax, I have zero interest in giving them anymore money than I deem necessary.

PhantomStranger

Prime really was an amazing service when it first started, but Amazon has squeezed every single ounce of utility out of it at this point, if you only care about shipping speed.

Trevor

Really? I've been pretty impressed with the selections. Not as large as Netflix', but they do have a bunch of exclusives if I hear correctly.

And why would the tax thing be that big of an issue? It's not like we aren't legally obligated to pay anyway. It's a heck of a lot easier when Amazon takes it out automatically.

I figure that even if I only watch two films a month on Prime streaming, and get two items shipped free; it's well worth the cost.
What have they squeezed out of it besides this possible delay in shipping?

Personally, if I get a title on Monday or on Thursday, it's no big deal. I pay for Prime for the free shipping, not any speed.

Am I missing anything else they've changed?

Timber

When the selling point was free 2 day shipping its not surprising that if people aren't getting things in 2 days that that would be a problem for most. For me personally when they are shipping items via USPS that's not getting the service that I paid for.

Josh-da-man

I suspect that Amazon Prime is, in the near future, going to be less and less about shipping physical products than access to premium digital content on Amazon's site.

I wonder how long it's going to be before Amazon stops selling physical products. It's going to be nothing but e-books, mp3s, and streaming video at some point.

Trevor

I know that the shipping speed appears to be random lately; but fwiw I ordered a BD last night at after 7pm and it was here by noon.

ProfessorEcho

Well, Trevor, as a film historian, writer and teacher, my tastes run more toward 1900's-1970's, so I am not as interested in current films which is what I seemed to notice more on the free Prime streaming. Netflix has access to some titles that have never been released on DVD and probably never will be. And, of course, like all of us, I only have so many hours in the day to watch stuff, which makes paying for one more outlet less desirable.

The tax problem rankles me mostly because Amazon was opposed to it for a long time here in California, authoring a proposition for this year's election to ban the tax, only to then cut themselves in on some of the tax money. They subsequently withdrew all support for their own proposition. The advantage of them having distribution centers in the state don't matter to me at all because I am rarely, if ever, in a hurry to get anything I've ordered. I have enough stuff on the shelf to watch and read.

As such, the only benefit to me of Prime is to not have to meet the minimum for free shipping and that's just not worth $80 to me. Since the tax imposition I have been ordering mostly from the Marketplace and other venues, diminishing though the latter may be.

PhantomStranger

I didn't come out and say it, but their pricing across the board has been raised to the point where the Prime service is not as valuable. Amazon is repeatedly being undercut by their own distributors on Amazon marketplace, for a wide variety of media products.

Timber

Yeah the randomness is a problem for me. There are certainly times that things like you described occur, I'll get something in a day or I'll get something on a Sunday. Used to happen a lot more. My problem is not so much the randomness of the shipping times but the couriers used. USPS is a crap shot on when they'll get it there and whether my courier will leave the package.

Nebiroth

A lot of people don't realise is that paying for your shipping has more effect on how your order is handled within Amazon than it does on how your order is treated once it leaves Amazon.

Esentially, there is a hierarchy of prioritisation - and there are two sorts. One deals with how your order gets prioritised in Amazon's fulfillment centres, the other deals with the shipping method.

I believe it operates as follows, in order of priority:

Local Express - highest priority and courier to meet guaranteed delivery
One Day Shipping
Two Day Shipping
Standard Shipping
SuperSaver - lowest priority in fulfillment centre and most variable carrier method

Prime entitles you to Two Day handling and shipping for "free" and reduced rates on the higher priority

The more you pay the faster it gets handled in a fulfillment centre - and you may even queue-jump over customers who bought the same item but paid less. And SuperSaver customers are always at the end of the queue (so if you're buying a misprice bargain, or a limited edition, it pays to, err, pay)

But often once the stuff leaves Amazon, SuperSaver orders stand a good chance of the same shipping method as the paid ones - even by courier, sometimes.

The rates are a bit different here in the UK - for example, the same day guarantee can be extended to the whole country due to our smaller size; there are a couple of other tiers that are slower than same day but faster than Next Business Day. Also, there is no minimum order spend to obtain SuperSaver - it is available on all orders (mainly because free postage is common to many UK competitors, also, there is no chance that a SuperSaver will have to travel the huge potential distances they might in the USA)

I'm not in Prime, so I always use SuperSaver and orders have been shipped by everything from small independents that take a week, to Royal Mail both First and Second Class, I;ve even had some by special Next Day couriers!

But SuperSavers have always taken about the same time to get processed within Amazon between order and despatch. And it has always been slower than people who ordered at the same time but paid for shipping, or who were in Prime.

If I ever spotted a misprice or a limited edition, I;d pay - because it prioritises my order within the warehouse, more than anything else.

EdTheRipper

Agreed.
I pay for Prime each year because of the guarantee that my packages will arrive when I expect them to. When I see that a package has been shipped vis USPS, I get extremely frustrated because I know that my package might not arrive on-time. I expressed my frustration to Amazon regarding this and things improved. Lately, it's reverted back to total randomness. Two orders ship UPS and then one by USPS. It also pisses me off that the USPS tracking numbers can't even be checked on their site. I actually have to go to Amazon to track my stuff.

Ranger

Was the one-day shipping always $3.99? I thought it used to be $1.00.

Deftones

I've always paid for $3.99 for local delivery or 1 day shipping. I've been prime for at least 3 years and don't remember any other price than that.

Superdaddy

I don't recall any price for the one-day shipping other than $3.99.

I've been a Prime member for six years and haven't noticed any slowdown in the processing or shipping of my orders...yet. A variety of carriers are used, which is fine with me as long as I have the order by the projected date. If a slowdown occurs and Prime isn't worth it anymore, then I'll save my $80.

arbogast777

Amazon definitely plays fast and loose with what they advertise as "free 2 day shipping." As I sit here on a Sunday morning, I put a Blu-ray in my cart and selected "free 2 day shipping" - it tells me I wil get it Wednesday... 3 days from now. If I order on a Thursday I can get it 2 days later on Saturday... if I pay $8.99 extra. If you order on a Saturday will "free 2 day shipping" get it to you on Monday? Nope, Tuesday. "Free 2 day shipping" actually only works on anything you order Monday-Wednesday, after that not so much. And that's if you don't order something that has an "add-on" designation...

Pointyskull

Haven't noticed any degradation in the timeliness of my Prime shipments

Deftones

fast and loose? you realize that Sundays are not a delivery day for any service, right? sure, they can process the order and if an order is on the road it will continue on to it's destination, but that is not a day that counts toward 2 day, 3 day, overnight, etc. this has always been that way and it has not changed recently.

arbogast777

^

True, so I'll give you the "order on a Sunday get it Wednesday" one

But order on Thursday pay $8.99 to get it Saturday!?

Order Saturday and get it Tuesday? You said yourself that if it's already in the mail it should still be moving towards its destination on a Sunday.

I didn't mean to suggest that Amazon is exempt from postal rules but the fact remains that for $79/yr you only get "free 2 day shipping" on orders placed Mon-Wed, and that's not counting any of the new "add-on" items further degregate the value of the service.

Trevor

I bet over 90% of Prime users don't care about the "2 day" but only really worry about the "free".

Pizza

Speak for yourself. I sure as hell don't agree with you. First, it isn't free. I paid for prime. Second, I want my stuff in 2 days. Other wise, there's no point to prime, including the crappy selection of movies. They could drop the streaming and I wouldn't cry.

Trevor

So you pay $80 a year because you want a few packages one or two days earlier?

Timber

If 90% didn't care about 2 day and only cared about "free" then why wouldn't Super Saver be enough for that 90%?

Trevor

Super Saver only applies if you order $25 or more.

And obviously that 90% was a guess. I've just never personally met anyone who cares about receiving DVDs or books a day or so early. Some of you all do probably.

arbogast777

I'm willing to bet 90% of Amazon customers don't care about getting their goods in 2 days, but 100% of Prime customers do, or they wouldn't have forked over $79 for it. And we would like to get the service we paid for.