Our generator is 17 years old. I used it when I lived in the woods during the 2000 Arkansas ice storm to run the well pump, gas furnace, satellite receiver and TV.
But I digress.
It is going to be damn cold this and next week, with the possibility of snow and ice this weekend. I priced generators, and bought one from Amazon yesterday.
It arrived this afternoon with free shipping.
How did Amazon do that? Do they have a deal with Home Depot around the corner? It was the same price at HD and Amazon, and Amazon had free delivery.
Will a helpful Moderator change the title to " Next day free delivery of generator from Amazon?
Thanks!
Did it ship from Amazon or the manufacturer? Several years ago, I ordered an oximeter for my wife. As usual, I checked off free shipping. It arrived in the next day’s mail.
Turns out it shipped from the manufacturer who is about 30 miles away.
If the description for the item says it was “Sold by Amazon” rather than some third-party marketplace seller, it came from an Amazon distribution center. The address on the shipping label is the address of your nearest return processing center, not necessarily the distribution center it was sent from.
Amazon has a fleet of 32 Boeing 767 freight airliners, 20 leased from Air Transport International and 12 leased from Atlas Air, all painted in Amazon livery. The number is expected to grow to 40 in 2018. Amazon also has a fleet of 11,000 trucks. Plus it also has transportation contracts with UPS and USPS and other shippers.
If you want to know where your generator came from, click on “my orders” and then click the yellow “track package” button to the right of the order.
I live in Arkansas too, very rural southern most area, Amazon has never been able to overnight anything to me. It will get to a local post office, and I get a note in my mailbox that it is at the P.O. the day of supposed delivery. UPS won’t come down my unimproved gravel road. I usually get a call from them as to how I can pick up a package from them. PITA, basically. Because the p.o. and ups are 37 miles from me.
Partly, you were lucky that a nearby fulfillment center had one in stock. Or you selected one that is in stock nearby, by choosing a listing that offered free 1-day shipping.
And I’m sure you realize that “free shipping” just means “price includes shipping cost.”
Put up a mailbox at that gravel road turnoff. The Post Office will be glad to deliver your mail there. If you add a weatherproof box, large enough to hold any packages you order, they will also leave them inside.
Of course, you will then have to go there every day to get your mail.
I’ve had meter readers refuse to read the electric meter because they considered 100 feet of muddy road impassable. I called a supervisor, and we agreed that if I could daily negotiate it in a Pontiac, the Entergy truck could manage it.
Yep. Amazon has a distribution center in NH, and a few Christmases ago I ordered something at 8pm that arrived at 8am the next day because the item was in that particular distribution center at the right time.
I can’t say. We’ve lived in their service area since '04 and it was like that back then. They did recently replace the meter, but other than that they apparently don’t need to visit.
The fulfillment center I work at sends truckloads out to the carriers (UPS, fedex, ontrac, etc.) every 2-3 hours day and night. As soon as you place click ‘submit order’ Amazon starts the fulfillment process. If it’s a high-selling item, we’ll have some in our robotic storage area and it can be picked, packed and on a trailer in less than an hour.
This is for medium-sized items (14-48" in longest dimension), but heavier stuff shouldn’t be more than twice as long to handle (smaller stuff is faster, obviously).