I had a gift certificate from Amazon a few weeks ago, and used it to preorder a DVD that came out on Tuesday. (Wonderfalls, if you care.) Being frugal/cheap, I selected the “Free Super Saver Shipping.” This morning, I go on their site and check to see why I haven’t gotten an email saying it’s shipped, and it says that the expected ship date is Feb 8. Further research reveals that the fine print of the Super Saver Shipping says it takes an extra 3-5 days for them to process.
WHY!!! They’ve had the order for 3 weeks, they’ve probably got pallet-loads of the DVD’s sitting there, the only difference between this and regular shipping is that they’re not charging me for it. It doesn’t take a week to not bill me for something, especially since I’ve already paid for it!!!
Well, if the cheap shipping was just as fast as the expedited shipping, why would anybody bother to pay the extra? They’re just trying to make sure you get your lack of money’s worth.
Strangely, I ordered two books for my service puppy in training, and used the free shipping… one got shipped within 12 hours, the other within 48 (different supplier, I guess) - got one 3 days later, and the other should be here tomorrow (5 days later).
Hey, I’m nice - I’d be willing to give them an extra day or 2 for a regular order, and would expect to be knocked behind all the folks who are paying for shipment. But they had my order when the product was received at their warehouse - it would have been easier to have my order in the same queue as all the other preorders and shipped it at the same time. Instead, they’re: (1) Having the cost of the DVD in their inventory for an extra week; (2) Not getting paid, because they don’t bill until they ship; and (3) taking more labor time to pick and ship it than if it had gone out with the folks who paid for shipping. All so that they’ll make a couple extra bucks on the small number of orders who want their orders quickly (3-5 days) but not too quickly (1 or 2 day express shipping).
I ordered several books from Amazon a while back, and chose (IIRC) 2nd day air. They never arrived. After many harsh words between Amazon, UPS, & myself, Amazon finally agreed to resend my order. (They even agreed to ship it overnight for no extra cost :rolleyes: )
Then a few months later I ordered something else from them, and had the same general experience.
Neither company was willing to accept responsibility either time, and actually getting my stuff was a huge pain. I swore off both UPS and Amazon.
They shoud change the Super Saver button to one that says, “Do ya feel lucky, punk? Well? Do ya?”
I’m totally Super Saver’s bitch. When my order takes forever, I say never again, but, then, next order, stingy skinflint that I am, I look at the cost of ordinary shipping, and I come crawling back.
Every once in a while an order comes through screaming fast, like the UPS guy’s knocking on the door before I’ve gotten the order confirmation email. Super Saver says, “See, baby, nobody treats you good like I do!” But then the next time, Super Saver says, “Fuck you, Podkayne, you my bitch and you know it!” and I’m all, “Baby, you so bad to me!” and Super Saver says, “You like it like that, ho!” And I’m bawling, with tears and mascara running down my face, and I’m like, “God, you’re right. I’m cheap! Cheap! Cheap and dirty, and I luvs you Super Saver! I can’t help it, baby, I luvs you!”
I’ve never had any problem with Super Saver Shipping. Maybe I’m on the whitelist. I pre-ordered LOTR:ROTK:EE and it arrived the day after it was released. That was fantabulous. So Amazon and me are on pretty good terms.
I had a similar experience with them recently, and I almost pitted them.
I placed an order. Two DVDs, a wind chime, and a book (had a little extra cash, thought I’d get a few of the things that had been on my wish list forever). I took the Super Saver Shipping and had an estimated delivery date of 01/31/05. When it started getting close to the delivery date, I went to check on the order. Suddenly it was 03/08/05!
I emailed them to ask why and they told me that they couldn’t find my book. With the SSS they ship in as few packages as possible, so everything else was just sitting there waiting for my book.
They caved and sent me the other three things, which is why I didn’t pit them. But I still don’t get it. I used to get stuff with SSS and they’d send me an email saying,k “Guess what? One part of your order isn’t ready yet, so we’re just going to send you everything thing else now!” Why don’t they do that anymore?
I always use free shipping. Almost every order I’ve ever made has been shipped and delivered well before the estimated dates they give. Only one order was ever late, and when I complained they gave me a gift certificate. I’ve never had a bad experience with Amazon. UPS, on the other hand… but that’s a story for another thread.
My experience with SuperSaver Shipping is that it generally ships out much faster than the estimates (as with the other forms of shipping actually) - I do think they actually sit on the orders a day or two, but it’s never ended up being as long a time as they threatened. It might occasionally - I don’t know how their infrastructure works, but I’ve always suspected that the wait is deliberate, and that it’s not a matter of just prioritizing other shipments first.
And it makes perfect sense. It’s called price discrimination. Just like it takes months for a book to come out in paperback - those willing to pay three times as much to read it right away buy the hardcover, those unwilling to pay wait for the paperback. The company gets all the customers, and gets to charge the desperate ones a little more for the product. It’s a perfectly ordinary concept in economics.
I don’t think the shipping is actually any different than their normal UPS ground delivery. Which means that Amazon is taking a smaller profit on items shipped through SuperSaver Shipping. They’re willing to do that if it gets them extra customers, but at the same time they want to make sure that the customers who are willing to pay more do so, so they provide a disincentive for using SuperSaver Shipping.
I don’t understand the fuss, I guess. It makes perfect sense to me.
I ordered two Christmas gifts on November 15 from Amazon – the Andy Griffith first season on DVD for my dad, and a Rick Springfield CD set for my kids to give me.
Used SuperSaver, because hey, I had six weeks, right? Got the Andy Griffith DVDs within two weeks, along with a notice that the Rick Springfield CDs were taking longer. They changed the delivery date to 12/10. No sweat.
Three days later, another e-mail. The new delivery date was 12/17. Still no problem.
Got another e-mail. New delivery date was 12/22. This is getting worrisome, but that’s still enough time.
Another e-mail. New delivery date 12/28. Okay, fine, it won’t be a Christmas present, but that’s okay.
Another e-mail. The new delivery date was 1/15. At that point, I said “No thanks.” Two months after I place the initial order is too long to wait, in my opinion.
