I ordered a few Audobon Field Guides from Amazon last week, and opted for the free shipping. Don’t do it! I live in Lancaster, CA. It shows my package going from Coffeyville, KS, to Wilmington, OH. Then San Marcos, CA, then, hey, lookit that, it’s in Lancaster! At the DHL facility! Tracking the package some more, it has moved from DHL to USPS and is in FREAKING ONTARIO (California, not Canada). Anyways, I thought it was too lame to pit. The mind, it boggles.
You’re just unlucky.
I’ve used Amazon for years and I get stuff shipped from the US all the time. On time.
(I have no connection with Amazon, apart from being a highly satisfied customer.)
Ditto here. Nothing but easy transactions with Amazon. Packages invariably arrive before the promised dates, and the automatic tracking is great. I’ve never had a delivery that went through multiple carriers like the OP. It’s clearly not cost efficient for Amazon to do that, but it might have something to do with the shipping origin and destination addresses.
This happens to me when I do Free Shipping, too, which is why I talked Mr. Athena into going with Amazon Prime. (“It can be a business expense, honey! Really!”)
I always thought it was because I lived in the middle of nowhere, but if it’s happening to people in California then it must be that they randomly pick people for Free Shipping Torture.
I always order “standard shipping”, and my longest wait for a package from Amazon has been two days. Usually it’s here the next day.
I’ve been wondering if they set up a distribution depot in my garage and I never noticed it.
I used to regularly get stuff in two days even if I used the free shipping. It seems like they’ve squashed that lately, and hold onto packages for a few days so as not to compete with their two-day shipping. So I pay for standard now if I need it soon, and just wait for it if I don’t. Works for me.
Clearly you’ve never been to Lancaster. 
I kid, I kid! My dad lives there!
No problems here with nearly instant free delivery.
As for the books going by DHL, then USPS - I’ve seen this called “aggregation” or “consolidation.” Rather than dispatch 1000 small boxes individually, it’s cost-effective to put them all in one crate or shipping container to go cross-country by one carrier, then split them off to the local delivery service. Also makes it less likely for one little box to wander off into a corner somewhere. I’ve seen various trucking companies (UPS, FedEx, DHL, and even little “Ma and Pa” types pulling 40-foot trailers labeled US MAIL. Makes sense for the Post Office too - the more they aggregate, the fewer long-haul trucks and drivers they need to own and maintain.
All told, how many days did it take for your books to get from Kentucky to you? If it’s less than seven business days since you placed the order, and for free, stop whining. 
Does anyone else remember “please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery” for whatever they’ve ordered and paying ten bucks for shipping and handling? And having absolutely no idea when the widget has been shipped and where it is between them and you?
Amazon has well and truly spoiled us with their free shipping and generally extremely fast and efficient dispatching of orders.
What does Amazon have to do with it anyway? Amazon consigns the package to a shipping company who then moves it to its destination. It’s not like Amazon is calling up the Postmaster and saying, “OK, now route it through Vermont…” Sounds like your beef is with the USPS or DHL.
Eh, I’m not complaining, per se, just sort of boggled by the affair (being more or less totally ignorant of shipping practices). GotPassword’s post helped clear up the why of it though. And actually, my husband bought me a hardbound copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories that wasn’t shipped with free shipping, took ten days to get here, and when it arrived I found it to be poorly packaged. No damage though, so I’m a happy camper.
Where do you lucky people live that it took two days?! Oh, and my Field Guides still aren’t here 
My beef with amazon is with free shipping they sit on the order a few days.
It’s not that they just pick ground shipping as the cheapest slowest option. They honest to god don’t bother to ship the ready to ship items for 3 days because you didn’t pay extra.
The really scary thing is that I don’t live in Lancaster proper. I live in Antelope Acres :eek: So I am used to things taking a bit longer than they would if I lived in town.
My experience with Amazon has been pretty good, but for one time. It took over a month, two weeks past the latest arrival date, for my books to arrive. Their response to the problem just upset me more, so I cancelled the part of the order I could and tried Barnes and Noble. Their free shipping got here as quickly as Amazon’s used to.
Eventually I forgave Amazon and just bounce between the two sites, now a days.
Shipping companies are a different story. The UPS office here is filled with incompetant slacker jackasses, but my delivery guy is the best.
I’m about a four hour drive from Amazon’s goliath distribution center in Nevada, so my stuff normally shows up the day after it was shipped, unless it comes from their center in Kentucky.
I’ve never had more than a couple day delay between ordering and shipping. Just bought a laptop from them two weeks ago, and with the free shipping, they said to expect it to ship in something like five days. Guess what? It shipped that day, and arrived in three from Illinois. And a month ago, I ordered a carpet cleaner and with free shipping got it literally overnight.
I don’t know what you’re complaining about. When I send you something “overnight”, it takes two days. You live on Mars. I, however, only live on the moon.