dvd-4-life

It was Amazon.

They deliver about 90 percent of my orders.

I order sparkling ice and that would be too costly for UPS or USPS to make delivery.

Norm de Plume

I don't know why Amazon allows bootleg products on its website. I guess it has gotten too big to control. Just as an example, anything by Rogue Video. Their crap is like something one might have bought from Video Search of Miami in the 1990s. I could download some rare flick in the worst quality imaginable, burn it to DVD-R, slap a label onto the disc, print out a cover, and sell it on Amazon without disclosing that it's a bootleg and a DVD-R. What's disgraceful is that Amazon's overseers don't act on it when it's brought to their attention.

TheBigDave

Amazon shut down their Pantry grocery service. That's a shame. I used it from time to time.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ery-initiative

BobO'Link

I used to use Pantry when they offered regular coupons/discounts for free delivery. Once they killed that and went to it being an additional monthly fee or a minimum $35 order I pretty much quit using it. I think twice since that change was made. It was too much of a hassle to find things that were in the program and get to that minimum. I just use subscribe-and-save now but it, too, has issues with items dropping out of the program pretty regularly or prices spiking with little notice.

story

Interesting. We've used it a few times lately and were just getting used to it.

fujishig

Did Pantry predate their purchase of Whole Foods? I was always a little confused between that and Fresh.

leacha

Yeah I had a problem getting to the $35 minimum. Items I wanted were not in the program. Some items I could get were cheaper at the brick & morter.

Noonan

Yeah, by a few years. Pantry items come (came) from Amazon fulfillment. Whole Foods orders is basically Instacart for Prime members. Someone in the store local to you does all the shopping and another person makes the delivery.

slop101

This is more of an amazon-UK complaint...

But first, why does shipping from the US to UK cost SO MUCH more than from the UK to US?

I bought a book from amazon-uk (a big, heavy, expensive book), and of course they packaged it like crap, so it was smashed all to hell.

They had me ship it back, and while their shipping charge to me was around 14 GBP ($20, american), shipping it back is costing me $75! And that's the cheapest service I could get! Amazon's gonna refund it, but I have to jump through so many hoops. Such a pain that could've been avoided had they just packaged the book a little better.

And for the replacement book, they assured me they'd pack it better, and I kept harping on better packaging this time, and they said of course, only they didn't! It was packaged exactly the same as the one that got badly damaged, but I just got lucky that it didn't get too damaged. It actually did get roughed up a bit, so it's not exactly "mint", but not so bad to go through the whole exchange process again.

Why So Blu?

This was talked about in the Dawn of the Dead thread. New regulations, etc.

andicus

An irritation with Amazon deliveries...

Usually they take a picture of the package, once it's been dropped off. When you see the picture, you have a chance to comment on it.

If they leave it out in the open, I comment that they should put it out of sight. We have a front porch with a low brick wall, so it's easy enough to place it behind the wall, so that it's out of sight from anyone walking by.

Yesterday they dropped off a package and left it right in the gap where you would step up onto the porch. I.e. really obvious to someone walking by. No knock, or doorbell, of course. I was hoping to comment on the picture, mentioning this, but there is no picture. They noted the delivery as "Package was handed to resident," an outright lie. Of course, there's nowhere on the order/tracking page to indicate this. I don't feel like going through their online chat, as it'll result in absolutely nothing getting done, since I do have the package.

Why are delivery people so lazy and/or stupid, lately?

Noonan

Was it a package delivered by Amazon? That sounds like UPS to me.

Norm de Plume

This is what confounds me. When did postal delivery people lose the ability to knock on doors and ring doorbells? How fucking hard is it to at least let the recipient know you have dropped off something?

fujishig

To give the benefit of the doubt, I'm assuming the volume of packages that have to be handled by these people have gone up a ton in the past decade and even more with the pandemic, so I can understand them not ringing every doorbell, depending on how tight their deadlines are.

andicus

Yes, it was amazon's delivery service. At least that's what the tracking indicated. Definitely not UPS.
It would take, at most, about 4 seconds longer to ring the doorbell. It's about 3 feet from where they dropped the package.

Fortunately, even though I've heard about a lot of package thefts, recently, they haven't been in my neighbourhood. As well, since I work from home, I'm generally here when something is delivered. Regardless, I feel I have to constantly monitor the delivery status, for peace of mind.

Norm de Plume

Yeah, a door knock or ring should not be too much to expect. I'm not asking them to stand there to make sure I have picked up the parcel, unless it's one that needs to be signed for. I have also been fortunate to have never had a package stolen by a porch pirate, even though packages have sat on the porch for hours many-a-time.
Just a few years ago - fewer than ten years, certainly - Canada Post drivers would bring larger parcels back to the depot if the recipient didn't answer the door. Now they don't even do the very basics. We have a large mail slot. Most books or DVDs/Blu-rays I order can fit through it easily, but most of the time they don't bother. "Throw and go" seems to be the motto.

TomOpus

It would be hilarious but they should take a picture of the resident holding the package.

andicus

Exactly! Ring the bell and walk away. That's all I ask.

Yes, I remember the days, of the pickup notices, all too well. As time went by, they more often meant you had customs charges to pay. They often wouldn't even have the package with them, only the notice.

Regarding the throw and go, we have a motion sensing camera in our front window. It caught a Canada Post guy delivering a package, last Sunday (yeah, Sunday?). He certainly did throw it onto the porch, and you can hear it crash. Fortunately it was a mattress cover, so couldn't be damaged from the obvious carelessness. He also parked right in the street, on the wrong side of the road, while he made the delivery.

As they obviously didn't, that's one of my main concerns... What if it 'had' been stolen? Would Amazon try to absolve themselves, claiming they did hand it to me?

slop101

Thinking of cancelling Prime, as 2-day shipping has increasingly turned into 5+ day shipping. And just opting for the free shipping without Prime gets stuff to me in roughly the same time now.

andicus

I won't cancel mine, as I enjoy Prime Video, but yeah, 2-day shipping is often nonsense, now.

So many items are 'Prime Delivery' but not in two days. It's very frustrating when you see that it's not the shipping that takes the time... It's them actually sending the item, that takes all the time.

I.e. I could order today, and the item won't actually ship until Wednesday, then it'll get here in a day or two. I would guess that they prioritize paid shipping, over Prime.

TomOpus

I don't need a game like this in my condition.

zyzzle

I'm very glad you were diligent enough to get the package and all was well. Please take the time to call out Amazon on their abysmal and illegal practice. It might have been a "mistake" but it probably wasn't.

These types of bald-faced lies are why I went through the hoops to make sure to check the option to NOT take a picture of any packages left in my doorstep. 99% of people probably didn't bother to take the time to figure out how to check that option deep inside the "My account" settings at Amazon. And Amazon knows -- and exploits that fact to their distinct advantage.

So, you take power out of Amazon's hands -- lying and complicitness -- and put it back into your OWN hands where it belongs. And you've thereby eliminated a needless worry and invasion of your privacy.

I've never had any package stolen by a porch pirate that I know of, but I'm not going to tempt fate any more than I have to.

rduncan

I have to admit the last couple of Amazon orders, although delayed a day or so in actually getting packed, have arrived timely via USPS. Most of the stuff I order seems to originate in Phoenix, AZ and the latest seems to have originated in Tucson to Phoenix. I wonder what will happen when the Amazon warehouse being built here in Albuquerque will do to deliveries. In other words are specific warehouses designed for types of products or most of everything in every warehouse? Heck, I might even experience "same day" delivery or some drone drop off!

reverie

I used the free trial of Prime, and it took more than two days each time to get the few things I ordered. Then I placed an order last Saturday (after my trial had ended and I didn't renew) and got it Monday.

stvn1974

Ordered seven CDs yesterday which all showed next day delivery. Amazon broke the seven CD order into five different shipments and I only received one.