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Amazon vs. eBay

Chuck(G)

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Joined
Jan 11, 2007
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Location
Pacific Northwest, USA
I was surprised to encounter a USPS truck this Sunday morning pulling into my driveway. On Friday, I'd ordered from Amazon, a USB wall charger. (I won't have one that doesn't bear a UL approval in my house--I've seen the innards of some of the Chinese trash; cheap and dangerous as heck). It was only about $8 with free shipping.

I asked the driver "Sunday delivery?" and she responded "The Post Office has a special deal with Amazon".

Blew me away completely. I know Jeff Bezos is out to conquer the world, but this really surprised me.
 
I was surprised to encounter a USPS truck this Sunday morning pulling into my driveway. On Friday, I'd ordered from Amazon, a USB wall charger. (I won't have one that doesn't bear a UL approval in my house--I've seen the innards of some of the Chinese trash; cheap and dangerous as heck). It was only about $8 with free shipping.

I asked the driver "Sunday delivery?" and she responded "The Post Office has a special deal with Amazon".

Blew me away completely. I know Jeff Bezos is out to conquer the world, but this really surprised me.

If he could buy USPS, he would
 
I was surprised to encounter a USPS truck this Sunday morning pulling into my driveway. On Friday, I'd ordered from Amazon, a USB wall charger.

I asked the driver "Sunday delivery?" and she responded "The Post Office has a special deal with Amazon".

Blew me away completely. I know Jeff Bezos is out to conquer the world, but this really surprised me.
It has nothing to do with Amazon -- she was just yankin' your chain.

USPS has been delivering parcels here on Sunday for quite some time.
 
Sunday deliveries by USPS for amazon have been going on here in SoCal for many months, we get to dodge mail trucks on Sundays. Since I use Prime with great regularity, I even go check my mailbox on Sundays.
 
If he could buy USPS, he would

And this reminds me of a recent experience that tells me big box places (esp Walmart)
are so hopelessly clueless on web order processing that Amazon will eat their lunch.
Walmart's local store pickup assumes that someone at the store is going to do something.
Nothing happened for five days after I placed an order, I went there and spent an hour
trying to find the person handling the order. I never did, went home, tried to cancel the
order and couldn't because their transaction processing system was wedged, ordered the
exact same thing from a location 2 miles away, and picked it up an hour later. I did finally
get the cancel transaction to go through later that day, the other store couldn't cancel it
because they can only cancel transactions for their store!

sheesh..
 
In 2013, Amazon signed a 5 year contract with USPS for Sunday deliveries. Given the increase in shipments, USPS will have to either continue offering Sunday deliveries or buy larger trucks.
 
I was surprised to encounter a USPS truck this Sunday morning pulling into my driveway. On Friday, I'd ordered from Amazon, a USB wall charger. (I won't have one that doesn't bear a UL approval in my house--I've seen the innards of some of the Chinese trash; cheap and dangerous as heck). It was only about $8 with free shipping.

I asked the driver "Sunday delivery?" and she responded "The Post Office has a special deal with Amazon".

Blew me away completely. I know Jeff Bezos is out to conquer the world, but this really surprised me.

If you are an Amazon Prime member, for items that Amazon is in complete control of packing and delivery, their 2-day shipping means 2-day shipping. If the second day falls on a Sunday, you get it on Sunday. Very nice feature. However, even as a Prime member, if you order something kind of late on a Friday, and the vendor (not Amazon) is in charge of shipping, and for whatever reason the vendor normally does not receive orders on Saturday or Sunday, then they get the order on Monday and the two day clock starts on Monday, and you get it on Wednesday. Even worse if Monday is a holiday! It doesn't happen often, but it does happen - it has happened to me. Just a circumstance to be aware of.

And, yes, we see the USPS trucks shuttling around our neighborhood on Sundays, too. Started to notice this last Christmas time. Thought that might be a special activity for Christmas, but they have continued to be around on Sundays now.

smp
 
And this reminds me of a recent experience that tells me big box places (esp Walmart)
are so hopelessly clueless on web order processing that Amazon will eat their lunch.
Walmart's local store pickup assumes that someone at the store is going to do something.
Nothing happened for five days after I placed an order, I went there and spent an hour
trying to find the person handling the order. I never did, went home, tried to cancel the
order and couldn't because their transaction processing system was wedged, ordered the
exact same thing from a location 2 miles away, and picked it up an hour later. I did finally
get the cancel transaction to go through later that day, the other store couldn't cancel it
because they can only cancel transactions for their store!

sheesh..

I've shopped online at Walmart for a few things, but dread doing it. Their web site is so overloaded with scripts and whatnot, things are very slow going.

I had an interesting email from TechForLess the other day--I was looking at monitors and bothered to check detailed specs on a few. Two days later I received an email saying that if I didn't like the price on a particular monitor, to make an offer.

Mind you, all I did was browse.
 
Just never order anything that gets delivered by FedEx SmartPost. FedEx handles the first part via their standard ground processing, then it get handed off to USPS at the destination for final delivery. Adds 1 or 2 days to already slow shipping plus extra handling and more opportunities for shipping damage along the way.
 
But here's the real kicker on this deal. I bought the thing on eBay. It came with an Amazon receipt and shipping:

tdYe3B1.png
 
Just never order anything that gets delivered by FedEx SmartPost. FedEx handles the first part via their standard ground processing, then it get handed off to USPS at the destination for final delivery. Adds 1 or 2 days to already slow shipping plus extra handling and more opportunities for shipping damage along the way.

I hear you on that. USPS handles their responsibility to deliver the FedEx item, but it does not appear that they give any priority to the FedEx items so they fall to the back of the line.

smp
 
Well, in this neck of the woods, a couple of years ago, USPS was talking about shutting down their local distribution center. Sunday shipping is new to us here--I don't doubt that it's been a fact of life in major urban areas for some time.
 
But here's the real kicker on this deal. I bought the thing on eBay.

I was going to say that the next thing is Amazon taking over distribution and warehousing for all but the biggest guys.
I didn't remember but I thought I might have gotten similar things from a couple of eBayers recently through Amazon.
 
I order a lot of stuff on Amazon and I always hate when they use USPS for delivery, because the drivers here are lazy SOBs. I much prefer UPS or FedEx chucking it on the front porch.

With USPS, half the time delivery is at least a day late, for no real reason. (Tracking shows some BS like "driveway blocked" or "weather delays"...on a clear summer day.)
If it requires a signature, they never attempt delivery the first time, claiming you weren't home. Leaving a card for you to sign or reschedule, which adds another day.
If they can, they will stuff it in the mailbox, even if it means folding it or leaving the door hanging open.
Otherwise it might go on the driveway in front of the garage. Even if it's raining.
If they are feeling especially ambitious the package makes it all the way to the porch. With the rest of the mail just laying on top of it, flapping in the breeze...
 
Quite a few FedEx packages from Ebay make the trip to the house on USPS trucks. I think USPS just has the larger distribution centers since they have to deliver mail to everyone unlike UPS and FedEx who just have to make profitable deliveries.
 
We've found that treating the USPS carrier as part of the family helps a lot.

Same with Fedex drivers.

Well I work during the day so I never see them...on the rare occasion I am home, they never ring the bell. I don't think it's too much to ask someone to do their job correctly.
 
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