My work is a half block from home and also uses a PO box. It’s a really small town. 
I’ll change my address and see if that helps. Now that I think about it, some of the orders that had to be shipped elsewhere were from third party vendors rather than Amazon proper.
gonzoron, Prime shipping can also be used for third-party vendors. When I shop, I tick “Prime Eligible” and only see items that can be shipped free. This works even for used books if it has the “Fulfillment by Amazon” tag.
(Near) instant gratification on your orders. If that doesn’t appeal to you then there’s no upside for you.
My work also has a PO Box for a mailing address, but I still get all of my stuff shipped UPS/FedEx delivered to their street address. The Post Office is a half block from my office.
People from ‘real’ towns don’t get us no home-delivery folks at all.
And those same 3rd party items are ALSO eligible for free super-saver shipping, as far as I can tell from a quick browse. Can you find me an item that’s eligible for Prime and not for Free super-saver shipping?
I guess that’s what it is then. I can’t remember an amazon order that took more than a week to get to me, and most are more like 3 or 4 days. There’s nothing I need in 2 days that I won’t still need in a week. So yeah, in my opinion, the downside is $79 less in my pocket that I could be spending at amazon or elsewhere.
I thought you were saying that any orders totaling over $25 were eligible for free shipping. I just put three used books in my cart and wasn’t offered the over-$25 option.
Looks like we’re talking about different options. Since I’m confused, I’ll butt out now.
I also did a fake-order for a Prime-eligible item and the shipping showed as 3-5 business days. So I’m still curious about you folks getting an item two days after ordering. Maybe the shipping estimate is tied to the address, and since my address is BFE, I’ll never have an item shipped free and get it in two days.
I love my Prime membership… I do buy a lot from Amazon, and almost always select the free two day shipping. No problem with UPS or FedEx leaving things at the door either, without a signature.
As far as watching on TV, I have a Logitech Revue box hooked up to the TV, and that works fine for watching Prime videos on the big screen.
If you have Prime then $25 has nothing to do with it, IF the item is fulfilled by Amazon then you should get free 2 day shipping even if the item is $1.99. The $25 figure is for people who don’t have Prime, it is how much you have to spend on items stocked by Amazon to get free Super Saver shipping. Super Saver shipping is not 2 day shipping, its just free.
Even if you have Prime you can still accidentally order things with regular ahipping. If you have Prime try turning on 1-click ordering. Then for Prime items you should get a gold 2 day button on the right side. It is 1 click and you are done, but in the next few minutes you can add more items or cancel items by going to your cart screen. Otherwise 1 click and you can walk away, the item will be delivered to you in 2 days.
Yeah, some items from 3rd-party sellers qualify for the free shipping over $25, and it is my belief (though I’m not 100% sure and willing to be disproven) that those are the same 3rd-party items that are eligible for Prime as well. If that’s true, the only thing that Prime would give me is the video access and faster shipping. For me, the shipping is fast enough already, and the video access is nice, but not worth the price.
If someone really wants their shipping fast, or routinely makes orders that are less than $25 (why?!?!?!), or wants the video on demand service, then I guess I can see Prime being for them. But it’s not for me.
I’ll add “or lives in an area where the free shipping takes fooorrreeevvveerrrr..” Depending on where it’s coming from, standard shipping to me can take a week or 10 days.
I also don’t understand your questioning why people would make orders of less than $25. Most books are $10-$15 or less; padding every order I make up to $25 with stuff I don’t really want would cost me way more than the $79/year I pay for Prime.
Video on demand? I don’t think I’ve ever used it, so that doesn’t even come into play for me.
I gotta think that either the PO box is your issue, or you’re doing something wrong. I’m also in BFE, and I always get my Prime items 2 days after I order them. They always ship the day I order. If it ever took more than 2 days I’d be on the phone bitching to high heaven; I paid for 2-day shipping, I better get it.
Call me crazy, but unless I’m getting a gift for someone whose birthday I forgot until the last minute, a week or 10 days is just fine.
If you make that many orders, can’t you just combine them? If you buy a $15 book in July and a $10 book in August, why not just buy both in July and have one sit on the shelf for a month or if money is an issue, buy both in August?
Again, obviously, I’m not the target market, but I have an enormous list of books, CDs, DVDs, games, etc. that I would like to have “eventually.” I’m never padding with stuff I don’t want. When I have to pad, it’s always something I’ve been wanting for a while and haven’t gotten to yet.
I could maybe understand if the free shipping limit was like $100 or something, but if it’s so hard to find $25 worth of stuff you want from Amazon, how on earth is Prime worthwhile? If you pay more than $79 in shipping in a year because you can’t hit $25 per shipment, that’s a LOT of shipments that could have been bunched up together, no?
I’ve had prime for 3? years now I think - since well before videos had anything to do with it.
With an actual physical address you should get 95%+ of items 2 business days after you order, so if you order during the day on Tuesday, you get the item on Thursday, late at night Tuesday you get it on Friday, etc. Probably 25%-30% of my items come in one day or <2 business days, ie order it tuesday daytime and get it wednesday or order tuesday late night and get it thursday.
No particular shipping company is used though - I’ve had items come via USPS, FedEx, and UPS. UPS is by far the most common though. USPS mostly for smaller items when it was in a closer warehouse. FedEx seemly randomly usually when the item is both small & from a distant warehouse (as seen by checking the return address on the packages).
The big benefit to me is not having to think about it - I order what I want, when I want it, it basically replaces going to the store or writing it on my shopping list.
Edit to add, as far as what comes by prime
Anything sold by Amazon.com that is prime eligible. 99% of items that are labelled “free super saver shipping” are prime eligible, the 1% that aren’t still ship free generally but ship slow - usually because they are heavy and have to go freight, something like that.
Anything sold by a Third party seller that is “fulfilled by Amazon”. That is getting to be more & more of 3rd party merchandise that is not Media Mail eligible ( ie anything but books, cds, dvds, games). That is because with any kind of decent number of items in stock Amazon fulfillment is way cheaper than you can ship it for yourself (something like $1/lb + some fees for storage if it sits for over 30 days). Only media mail is at all competitive.
I don’t get things for “eventually.” I get a book because I want to read it now, not in a month. And I also get a lot of work-related stuff from Amazon. If I need print cartridges or a backup drive or a technical book, it’s often not an option to wait 7-10 days for it to get here.
I’m not saying I never plan ahead, but to me, $79/year is a GREAT deal that allows me to NOT plan ahead.
I might think differently if I lived in a place where buying local was more of an option, but I don’t. I can’t just run to the discount book store to get that book I wanted, or to one of a million megastores to get the computer stuff I need. It’s online or nothing in a lot of cases, and Amazon Prime is a very cheap deal that makes up for limited local selection.
Nor should it. The selection of videos that come free isn’t the greatest, and usually I can get those from Netflix anyway (though some are HD which Netflix doesn’t support).
And you can pay to get videos even if you’re not a Prime member - there’s no discount there for being a prime member.
I just wish they extended the book-borrowing privilege to folks who use it on a non-Kindle device - I could read stuff on my phone or I-touch.
My delivery issue is solved (deleted the PO box*) but Amazon says a book I ordered today (Thursday) will be delivered Tuesday. Monday would be two-day delivery. But since that’s an estimate, maybe it will come sooner.
*It wasn’t easy. I kept getting an “invalid address” message. It only accepted the new address when I scrolled down the screen and found a “residential or commercial” option, and clicked “residential”.
Actually, the fast delivery isn’t an issue with me anyway. I tried Super Saver for awhile but there were times when I either didn’t have $25 to spare or really just wanted one item, and didn’t want to shop around to make up the difference.
Another long-time AP user checking in.
I rarely watch vidz, but the savings on shipping costs more than cover the yearly fee.
For me, there is no downside at all.
Monday is a Federal holiday (Labor Day). 2-day delivery does not deliver on weekends or on holidays.
Yup, true. But I just wanted to chime in and say that even though 2-day delivery officially doesn’t include weekends, I’ve gotten Saturday deliveries more than a few times. I can’t count on it, since it’s not officially supported, but when I order on Thursday or Friday (and pay for overnight) it’s about 50/50 that it comes on Saturday.
I guess I’m just a patient guy. I’ve got a shelf full of backlog books to read, and when I finish one, I pick up another. If I want to read something new, I’m always waiting for paperback anyway (can’t stand hardcovers), so another week won’t kill me (and it’ll probably take me that long to finish whatever I’m already reading anyway.)
See, now, that I get. If it’s for work, and it’s an emergency, and you don’t live near any stores, sure. Makes sense. (though for print cartridges, I would buy several at a time and order when I’m getting low, but again, that’s just me.)
I guess that’s really why it works so great for you. You don’t have an alternative. I’ve got nearby stores for emergencies, and a local library (with a great inter-library loan program) for book “emergencies.”
:smack: Of course.
A side effect of retirement is that you don’t pay much attention to the calendar. I kinda miss looking forward to long weekends.