Amazon Prime

[N R A]

I am a Amazon Prime member. I order on average 150 items a year. I prefer that over local big box stores. Free 2 day shipping and no sales tax.

The service went up from 79 a year to 99 a year my last go round, no big deal. But lately, Amazon has started a short cut i do not like:

"Amazon.com: Your package with Kershaw 1670RDBLKST Red Blur... has been handed over to your local Postal Service by the carrier for delivery."

Now rather than use a package delivery service to bring my items, they hand it off to the US Mail service and they complete the delivery. UPS is dependable. On time. FedEx is dependable. On time. USPS is a major screw up. Never on time and i have to go looking for my package. Is it in my lock box at the curb? Did the driver leave it at a neighbor business? Did he not try to deliver it at all and i need to go to the post office and look for it? If it is in his truck but he decides it is too large it goes back to the post office and gets sorted again. That means i do do not get it that day, but the next day, unless it gets on his truck again, and he again does not deliver it.

The post office is a cluster F of lazy entitlement minded slobs that do not care one bit if i ever get a package or not.

I am not happy with Amazon for this latest wrinkle in their Prime service.

 

[XD40scinNC]

Likewise I have been a Amazon Prime user for years, also sharing the 2 day shipping with family, plus I also use it to stream a good many movies for free. (Shipping costs savings alone easily pay for it).

I have not had any issues with the hand-off to the postal carrier, and everything has been delivered in the 2-day period. Typically they are small packages that fit in a mailbox, but not always. I guess a lot of it depends on the carrier on your route, but the same holds true for UPS and FedEx drivers.

The dogs don't like it because the UPS man often has milk-bones, the mailman just pats them on the head.

 

[UrsusMedius]

Part of the problem is that when you select shipping via FedEx, it's not obvious which of FedEx's services you're actually going to get. FedEx has a low-price option where they do the cross-country transport, then hand it off to the local PO for the "last mile" leg of the trip. This is the service you usually get when you get the choice for low cost shipping via Fedex.

I've gotten delayed packages a couple of times when I thought I was going to get to-my-door service. Now I just pick the free shipping option and the package usually gets to me within 2 or 3 days even though it says 5-7.

 

[N R A]

Today, after this post, I get a text message my UPS package of two pocket knives, was handed over to the mail man, look in my mail box. Locked mail box. Nothing. Zip, nada, nothing, empty. I checked with neighbors, nothing. Looked for a big box key. Nothing.
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I get pissed knowing I am paying one way or the other for two day shipping, and I have no idea where my package is.
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One time, my package, was two blocks away, at a homeless shelter. 4 pairs of pants, at a homeless shelter. Had I ordered whiskey through the mail, they could have used that. After two days, they gave the pants back.
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You guys check your mail boxes for my pocket knives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No notice in my box, no nothing. They will show up in a few days, with the box beat to hell.

 

[kelcarry]

To the repliers: Not sure what the tax rules are in your state but in many states, including my state of SC, you are required to state on your state income tax (not sure what they can do without you declaring on a state tax form) the amount of state sales tax that you should have paid; Amazon even sends out a "reminder" letting you know how much that tax should be. Just saying but when you argue about law and about responsibility and about what is right, vis a vis firearms, on a forum don't be so proud on a public forum about your Amazon purchases.

 

[Arc Angel]

The United States Postal Service recently lost a very nice custom knife I ordered and had waited over two months to receive. Now, I find myself wondering who has my beautiful knife; and I'm still waiting to see if I'm going to get my money back? As for Amazon? I really like Amazon; and I have never had a serious problem with them that didn't get settled to my complete satisfaction. (Knock on wood!)

Amazon, also, sells a lot of firearm-related items too.

 

[N R A]

Knives were at a neighboring business. Found wet dry dog food, the FexEx guy left out in my truck bed in the rain. Lol. Hard to get good help these days.

 

[pete lynch]

I too have Prime and don't have any issues to report so far. I do get most of my packages "handed off" to the local PO, and have for a few years.
What I do when I order something and I don't want it left on my doorstep( walk-in apartment dweller)is, I have it shipped to the office of where I work. Everything, including everyday mail, is hand delivered right to our office manager. I know where my stuff is and that it's safe.

 

[ArmyCW4]

Free 2 day shipping and no sales tax.

Taxes are states dependant, I pay taxes in every Amazon purchase to NC.

 

[XD40scinNC]

Taxes are states dependant, I pay taxes in every Amazon purchase to NC.

Basically correct, but not on 'every' purchase. If it is an Amazon reseller, ordered through amazon, but sold by and shipped from a different company, you may or may not be charged sales tax. Wrapping some stuff I ordered for the grandsons tonight, and noticed there was no tax on the enclosed shipping receipt, on some items.

 

[pete lynch]

I contacted Amazon via email with this question:

:I want to know how to tell Amazon to have my packages held for me to pick up at my local post office instead of leaving them on my doorstep.
Is there an option I have not seen where this can be done during the ordering process?

Here is their reply:

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to set delivery preferences during ordering process. However, once your order gets shipped you can contact the carrier or you can let us know to ask the carrier to hold the package for a pick up.

Some carriers, such as UPS, allow customers to set their delivery preferences on their website.

 

[N R A]

Handing it off to USPS is not something i can direct, it is a reduced rate fee contracted by Amazon to save money on shipping.

 

[ArmyCW4]

Basically correct, but not on 'every' purchase. If it is an Amazon reseller, ordered through amazon, but sold by and shipped from a different company, you may or may not be charged sales tax. Wrapping some stuff I ordered for the grandsons tonight, and noticed there was no tax on the enclosed shipping receipt, on some items.

Umm, well, usually all my purchases are fulfilled by Amazon through the Prime Membership. Thanks for bringing that up, was not aware of it!

 

[pete lynch]

Handing it off to USPS is not something i can direct, it is a reduced rate fee contracted by Amazon to save money on shipping.

I realize that. I thought it worth asking them if they could notify whoever the shipper is they decide to use to hold the package for pick up. In this case, the post office.
But like they said, you can tell the shipper to hold the package when you are notified your package has shipped.

 

[N R A]

New wrinkle. I often times look for a deal. Same item, marked as opened or used. These items may be a return or a defective box. I have purchased hundreds of items this way, i cannot tell them from new. The wrinkle is, now these items are marked prime with 3 to 5 days shipping. So if you find a deal, they now ship it low priority and save the shipping money.

So the prime membership went up, but the service has gone down.

I noticed an item i ordered a week ago took much longer than two days to get here. At that time, their web site did not say additional time for reduced priced items, but it does now.

I may not renew my prime membership again and look for other Internet bargains.

 

[ArmyCW4]

Shop Runner is yet another option to Prime.

 

[bowserb]

For you old guys, Amazon is the Sears Roebuck of the 21st century. A hundred years ago the Sears mail order catalog was on every coffee table in America...right on top of the Montgomery Ward catalog (Sears had his catalog designed shorter and narrower than Ward's, so that it would always be placed on top of Wards. Clever.)
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I've used Amazon Prime for several years. I've seen these changes:
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Free streaming videos added to the service. Very nice, although many titles go in and out of Prime (free) streaming without notice. Example. The Bishop's Wife, a holiday favorite, was Prime (free) streaming until just before the holiday season, when it went back to $3 rental (I wonder why.) Still the streaming service is good and usually better quality with less reloading than Netflix.
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Texas sales tax lawsuit was lost, and now they charge sales tax in Texas, except for Amazon Marketplace sellers who do not have nexus in Texas. That reduced the value of Amazon over local, but still the gas savings from chasing all over a big city is worth something.
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Handover to USPS. Only problem I've had is that by default, that includes Sunday delivery in many markets. I normally have shipments go to my wife's office since I'm usually not at home, but Sunday delivery put some things there when the office was closed, and the package was left outside the door, in a mostly empty warehouse/office park, where it was visible from the street. However, you can opt out of weekend delivery for any shipping address. So if there is even a chance it will come on the weekend, I've reverted to home delivery. USPS delivers here on time, but they don't ring the doorbell. Amazingly, I find out there is a package at the door when I get a text that it has been delivered!
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Prime 2-day shipping is a really good deal. I had a 55lb granite composite sink ordered. Two day free shipping. A 70lb cat tower, same thing. 55" Vizio 3D TV. Same plus a call to schedule the delivery. Prime makes things practical that would not be otherwise. I do feel for the loss of sales by local businesses, and I still buy a lot locally where there is value added for it being a local business. In many cases, though, the problem is one of variety and selection. You just can't get locally what you can online. Some things--high dollar, low and unpredictable volume--are too costly for a business to keep in stock locally. A friend of mine who is a photo enthusiast told me he bought a $5,000 lens from a well known (to him, at least) New York online dealer because the local camera store did not have it. They could order it, but it would be two weeks, and he had to prepay before they would order it. Price was the same, but...the New York dealer did not collect Texas sales tax and shipped free. So he saved over $400 and got it faster than the local dealer would. Too bad it's not that easy with firearms.
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The other value Amazon provides, even without Prime 2-day shipping, is that Amazon has become an alternative to Consumer Reports magazine in many cases. Before I buy anything significant, even if I'm buying locally, I'll look it up on Amazon to check out the reviews. If there are enough to be statistically valid, I may make or change a purchase decision. I've aborted quite a few purchases based on bad Amazon reviews that made sense to me.

 

[N R A]

I agree very much so, the helpfulness of Amazon reviews. You can also ask questions of past owners of a product. That is useful as well.