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[sevenlayermuddle]

Another exciting day here.   I’d ordered myself some electronics bits yesterday, paying £5 for next day delivery, so I can play with them today.    During morning coffee I checked the tracking... four stops away, about 3 miles on the map.   

By time coffee was consumed, one stop away, just across in the village.   I looked out back the window to catch a glimpse of a red van entering our road.  This had to be it!   

Threw on some shoes and raced out and down the drive to meet red van just as he arrived at the gate.  Driver seemed suspicious at my enthusiasm, but handed over two parcels.   Headed back inside clutching my pressies. 

Other half reminded me I really ought to be more mature than that.

[flilot]

what always amazes me is that i live in the same town as one of the major amazon warehouses.

i can order something, watch it leave the warehouse, go all the way to edinburgh (which is the other side of the country) and then make it's way back to the local "delivery" agent for delivery.

surely they could have come up with a process that pinpoints "local" deliveries and puts them straight to delivery agent rather than having to travel by truck all the way from here to then come all the way back again.

Same here in Coventry, they built a huge new warehouse about a 10 minute drive from me.  Great I thought, even faster deliveries! However all Amazon fulfilled orders I make go to Northampton first before being delivered to me.

Not all warehouses are equal in Amazon Land, some don't store stock at all (as with the new one in Coventry), they are simply go betweens; they receive lorry loads of parcels from all over the country, in the loading bay, through the sorting machinery, out the other end onto another van or lorry to the fulfilment warehouse(s) from whence they are delivered to customers.

If anyone is interested in that sort of thing, there is a local news article on it here:
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-news-amazon-coventry-warehouse-15580127

[chenks]

differnece is, i could see that my items left my local warehouse, then travelled about 60 miles, then travelled 60 miles back to where they just came from.
they need better routing software.

[sevenlayermuddle]

differnece is, i could see that my items left my local warehouse, then travelled about 60 miles, then travelled 60 miles back to where they just came from.
they need better routing software.

I wonder if it’s that simple.   Is it possible that the warehouse itself is optimised for dispatch onto a large lorry, too big for residential roads, and requiring a qualified HGV driver who’s time is expensive?   And then, at the regional delivery station, decanted into a swarm of smaller vans with lower paid drivers, better suited for trudging around making customer deliveries?

That’s pure speculation on my part, but it seems one possible scenario.

[chenks]

it most likely is that.
however the savings on fuel and transportation cost for something that is being delivered in the same post code as the warehouse would surely be beneficial.

i can see the amazon trucks leave the town as i get home from work, often wondering how many items will be heading back in a few hours.

put the items for local delivery is a seperate section in the warehouse, and get the local delivery agents that are already in the town/area to collect them and deliver.

having worked for DHL and Yodel in the past, i have seen how good delivery strategies work and how bad strategies work.

[kitz]

That puts me off prime.   I’d not be happy to think I was paying (by my Prime subscription) for a better service than I require.

My own ideal is simply to have the choice.   If I unexpectedly need some item urgently, happy to pay an extra fiver to expedite it.  Most things that I order are not urgent and I’d choose to pay less, or nothing, and wait a few days.

iirc the original aim of Prime (way before all the other add ins you also get these days) was to give you next day or elected day delivery.

If you are a prime member and aren't bothered about something arriving next day, you can elect to choose the bog standard free delivery that non-members get by default.  If you select this option you get some sort of freebie given to you.   
I can't recall now what they give you but something like some free music or voucher off your next purchase.   I'll have to look more closely next time I order to see what they offer.   It's not immediately obvious because by default it selects next day, but if you look further down the options list "standard delivery" is listed as an option and then you have to look at the small print to see what you will get.

[sevenlayermuddle]

If you select this option you get some sort of freebie given to you.   

Ah, that makes sense.

Repeat again I’ve nothing against Prime, I suspect it would actually save me money, esp with adjustments like that.

My only gripe is the shady tactics to trick my into joining.  If it weren’t for the resentment they’ve caused by doing so, twice in five years, I’d probably have signed up by now.  Cutting off my nose  to spite my face?  Maybe so! 

[Alex Atkin UK]

iirc the original aim of Prime (way before all the other add ins you also get these days) was to give you next day or elected day delivery.

If you are a prime member and aren't bothered about something arriving next day, you can elect to choose the bog standard free delivery that non-members get by default.  If you select this option you get some sort of freebie given to you.   
I can't recall now what they give you but something like some free music or voucher off your next purchase.   I'll have to look more closely next time I order to see what they offer.   It's not immediately obvious because by default it selects next day, but if you look further down the options list "standard delivery" is listed as an option and then you have to look at the small print to see what you will get.

That did used to be the case, but I've not seen that option either in about a year.  I think it varies depending on what you are ordering.

[renluop]

I've never needed to use other than standard free delivery, never anxious enough to get anything that way (and pay for it ). Over the years all has arrived within time stated.
If the order is under the free delivery price, I add in a little extra that I will need or can pass on.

OTOH I have ordered instrumental presents for daughter and grandkids from specialist stores. The experience has been shaky with failures to inform that the supply chain has broken and so on.

[tiffy]

@slm

My only gripe is the shady tactics to trick my into joining.  If it weren’t for the resentment they’ve caused by doing so, twice in five years, I’d probably have signed up by now.  Cutting off my nose  to spite my face?  Maybe so! 

Totally agree, I managed to sign myself up to a "free" months subscription over the xmas holiday period, absolutely no idea how this happened while placing an order, I'am always sooo careful with avoiding the prime options which certainly appear to be very much designed to defaulting to "sign up", can be difficult to actually get to the pay stage without choosing prime service along the way.

I cancelled prime service right away although the free month still applies.
To really "cut off my nose to spite my face", I did not choose prime delivery on the order I was placing which took over a week to arrive, that will teach them !!

Yes, silly I know but just my own little futile protest against Amazon's sales tactics.

Edit: Typo correction 

[vic0239]

I used to be of the same mind and once fell into the free trial trap although it is easy enough to cancel. However, when Amazon started streaming the WTA matches I took up a discounted offer for Prime with the intention to cancel and not pay the full amount, but with last year's US Open coming up, I decided to continue my subscription.

I am quite impatient and do like to get things quickly, so I think I am getting value for money in that respect having placed around 40 Amazon orders in the last six months most of which will be next day delivery. Living in east central Scotland delivery is usually by lunch time when the goods originate from Amazon's Dunfermline warehouse and are speedily despatched to me from Edinburgh. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Totally agree, I managed to sign myself up to a "free" months subscription over the xmas holiday period, absolutely no idea how this happened while placing an order, I'am always sooo careful with avoiding the prime options which certainly appear to be very much designed to defaulting to "sign up", can be difficult to actually get to the pay stage without choosing prime service along the way.

I’m ashamed to admit it but first time it happened to me I didn’t even twig, it was only after a few months I noticed the monthly debits.  On asking around, most (yes most)  of my friends and neighbours, many of whom are very non techie, have also been duped into accidentally subscribing to Prime trials and many, like me, actually lost money when the free period ended.

I note also that a call-centre scam has surfaced, specifically preying on people who’ve been duped into Prime.   Scammers call people at random, claiming to be Amazon, and offering to cancel their prime payments.  Actually of course, they are just phishing for account details.   I guess there must be a good chance that any random person will have been burned by accidental Prime at some time, so might fall for the scam.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Really confused today.   I placed under £3 of bits in my amazon shopping basket, trader sourced but fulfilled by amazon with free delivery if over £20 - which mine obviously wasn't.

At checkout, I was offered just one option - £0.99 for 'One day Delivery: get it by Saturday'. In my book that's five days not one, but who cares, £0.99 is reasonable and it's not urgent.   Elsewhere on the checkout page I was encouraged to sign up for a one week trial of prime to get free delivery, for exactly the same sum of £0.99. I was extremely careful to not tick that link.

Anyways, I placed the order which was accepted with £0.99 for one day delivery, arriving in five days, and no Prime signup. 

As an experiment and to confirm I'd not joined Prime I tried to check out the same basket of goods again, 5 mins later.  Again I was offered one day delivery for £0.99, but this time they are predicting I'll get it by Monday, seven days. 

[chenks]

I was extremely careful to not tick that link.

why? what's the risk?
you sign up for the 7 day free trial, use it for 7 days and cancel.
you can cancel it immediately after accepting it and you still get the 7 days trial.

where's the risk?

[sevenlayermuddle]

why? what's the risk?

What risk are you referring to?

The point of my post was to describe a surprisingly low (non Prime) One-Day delivery charge, and to point out the inconsistencies in the number of elapsed calendar days in one Amazon delivery day. 

It really had nothing to do with Prime except the fact that the surprisingly low charge exactly coincided with the Prime trial offer.  This raised the question... was I actually signing up for a Prime trial, rather than paying the same sum for a one-off delivery?   In order to discount that explanation, I was extremely careful not to hit the ‘join prime’ link.