b2net

Until there is scamming by the delivery person taking photos and then stealing the product themselves.

PerryD

This has happened a couple times before, but I got a notification of a package out for delivery on Saturday. I click the notification and see that it's 8 stops away. An hour goes by and I look up the status and there is no map anymore, but it's still out for delivery. Now, the status changed to "On the way, but it's running late" with an estimated delivery date of Thursday.

stvn1974

I am one of the few people who still buys CDs and amazon has nothing in stock. If they do it is an import so there is no telling what you will end up with.

Rob V

I love Amazon and have had little to bitch about... however, today I noticed that my Echo Show has the flickering screen of death... this will be my 3rd replacement already. Ridiculous.

zyzzle

There is an opt-out option for the delivery photos. It's buried as deep as possible, but it's there, or was a year or more ago when I placed my last Amazon order and discovered this "feature" by sheerest accident. I then made absolutely sure to disable photos, for the highly probable future reason you state above. Amazon's just grooming people for more police-state tactics in the future, by taking photos. No, damn it, I DO NOT give permission, and I'm entitled to say so because it's my own private property.

Noonan

Could it be maybe that they are doing it to keep track of their delivery people and not customers? Seeing that their delivery network is basically Uber for Amazon packages at this point.

stvn1974

I rejoined Prime recently because I was going to place an order over $300 and I needed all of it within two days because I ran out of cat food and had birthday for someone that I had forgot. The order page shows that they are splitting up the order into five different shipments and I just received an email that each one is delayed and they will now be here in three days instead of two. I guess my cats will have to miss few meals.

stvn1974

I just received two CDs that were put in an 24 X 18 inch box from amazon. No padding inside, just the two CDs. Luckily they are both digipacks because I can only imagine what jewel cases would look like after banging around inside that box for three days.

Sonic

Many of my past orders that involved heavy items were delivered by FedEx so I guess UPS now will take most of that weight along with USPS.

Shannon Nutt

I'm glad they're ditching FedEx - who is pretty awful in my area, leaving packages out in the middle of the driveway, tossing them in the yard, etc.

Sonic

Amazon needs to ditch LaserShip next.

kefrank

The delivery photo was useful for me recently. I got notification that my package was delivered, but it wasn't on my porch. I looked at the photo and determined they had incorrectly delivered it a few doors down, so I just walked down the street and picked up my package.

Sonic

I pre-ordered American Gangster 4K blu-ray. The price has dropped to $23.99. My pre-order price is still at $25.45 and has not gone down.

Edit: I had to cancel and re-preorder. How strange. Got Scarface 4K on pre-order as well and no issues with that one seeing the lowest price reflect. Must be a glitchy system thing.

Shannon Nutt

Does Amazon even USE boxes anymore for smaller stuff? I had a couple items shipped this week, both of which were fragile/oversized enough to warrant a box and both came STUFFED into one of their large manila envelopes. Both had some damage, but not to the point where I needed to send the item back - however, had this been something like a collector's set or limited item, I would have been ticked. It makes me concerned about some pre-books I have for later in the year. I'd honestly rather have slower (I'm a PRIME member) shipping if they can guarantee a box over an envelope.

Josh-da-man

^
If you order a pack or AAA batteries as an add-on item with a book they'll ship the batteries in a box and the book in a shitty envelope.

A few years ago, I read complaints from people about them doing just that. An order would be split and something cheap like a magic marker or batteries would arrive well-packaged in a box, while something large and fragile, like a hard drive or camera, would arrive poorly packaged and damaged.

stvn1974

And after something like this happens you get to read 25 pages of "well nothing like this has ever happened to me so you must be lying" posts. Then they follow it with how you should feel honored to pay amazon for Prime.

I recently ordered 6 CDs and some watch batteries. Each CD was sent out in their own mailer envelope complete with broken cases and the hubs that hold the CD in place. The batteries came in a 14 inch by 18 inch box by themselves without even any padding. They just bounced around in there. The pack of batteries was probably 3 inches by 4 inches and about an ounce in weight.

Noonan

Pretty sure there's a regulation that batteries have to be shipped in something that has prevention from being crushed (a box) which would keep them (or anyone) from shipping them in a bubble mailer.

rjh_54

I can confirm that they do, in fact, still use boxes. I ordered a few things a couple of weeks ago, one of which was a CD and Amazon sent it to me in a big box with just one of those air-filled pieces of plastic Luckily it wasn't damaged, and I don't even want to try to understand the reasoning behind their packaging methods.

stvn1974

But does the box need to be the size of a school bus?
​​

Noonan

Nah but they probably have some AI that determines what's cheaper for them; using a box that's closer to the pick location in the warehouse or moving the item to another location in the warehouse where there are smaller boxes available. If it's cheaper for them to use a big box, that's what they're going to use.

My comment was more to explain why they arrived separately from the CDs in padded envelopes.

Most everything I buy from Amazon comes in either one of those plastic bubble mailers (white with the Amazon logo) or the box that's probably the same size as the one you described. I've only gotten those paper mailers with styrofoam nonsense inbetween the layers a couple times.

rduncan

I just received replacement "cheek Pads" for a motorcycle helmet that would have been fine in a bag and they were shipped in a box. Of course a Map was sent in a plastic bubble type envelope but arrived fine. They were sent via different carriers.. Box via UPS and envelope via USPS.

Troy Stiffler

Troy Stiffler

Shannon Nutt

I'd love to know what the "standard" is for shipping...I mean, are they just letting the employees decide at random? Sure seems like it these days.

Josh-da-man

I think the system automatically tells them what kind of box or envelope to use. I doubt they would leave to the discretion of their warehouse slaves. There are size and weight considerations for shipping, so they probably see that you bought DVD boxed set "X" so that ships out in a #7 box. Drop it in the box, label it, put a little tape on it (not too much, your tape usage is being monitored), and throw it on the conveyor belt. And do it in four seconds or we'll fire you.