Bash Amazon all you want, but..........


 
Bruce

Bruce

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
You can bash Amazon all you want, but they do a lot of things better than many other companies. I would like to support smaller companies and ones that are more USA oriented, but sometimes they make it hard.

I needed some special bolts and nuts in stainless. I could have ordered them from Amazon and gotten them two days later but found a place I have used before. Both were nearly the same price. In fact, I think Amazon would have been a little cheaper. But, I went with the other guys, just because. I placed the order on the 25th. I did not get any kind of notification of the order other than on the web page when I placed the order. Two days later, I emailed them with the order number and asked if I would get any tracking information. The next day I got an email response back with tracking information that said it was shipped. Three days later and the tracking with USPS shows: "Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item". So, in reality after 4 days, it has not even shipped.
With Amazon, I would have had it two days ago, yesterday at the latest.

So, yah, that is why Amazon is one of the biggest corporations in the world in such a short time. Selection, low prices and fast delivery. Oh, and their return policy is very good too. That makes it tough to go with some of the other local B&M places and smaller suppliers.
 
I agree I always try to shop local first but sometimes they don't care it or it's hard to find so Amazon it is
 
Yah, makes me wish I had just gone with Amazon now. Not that I even in a big rush to get them, but 4 days to simply package and ship the order? It is just 100 1/4" bold and 100 1/4" nuts. Maybe 2 lbs max. C'mon!!! All they did was print the shipping label so that it looks like it was shipped.....then the blame goes to USPS. And it still hasn't officially shipped.
 
I used to run an eBay/Amazon store for a car dealerships parts department. I stayed late to make sure everything I wasn;t waiting on from the local warehouse went out same day, even if FedEx or USPS had been by, to at least get them a tracking number. I do not understand what people are thinking these days. Patient people lack patience in the new Amazon world.
 
That is right. We are getting used to fast shipping. But really, when you order on the 25th and it still is not actually shipped by COB on the 29th, that is just bad business. Even pre-Amazon, that was bad business.
 
1/4" bolts & nuts in stainless? Pretty sure that I can get those locally, even in 100ct boxes, not plastic bags. What sort of odd ball fasteners are you contemplating?

I've learned that tracking numbers can get issued nearly as soon as an order is placed. I don't believe it until I can see tracking data that it's been handed over.
 
Yeah, but Amazon has screwed me over on more than one order too, especially recently, telling me it would be here, then on the day of the delivery giving me a fake, cheerful, "Oh well, sometimes things are late" routine. That seems to be happening more and more lately. The last order from them was on the day it was supposedly going to be delivered, when it was cancelled by them, in the tracking said "undeliverable", whatever that was supposed to mean. When it's Amazon and being delivered by the post office, that throws another catastrophe in the making, and who knows when I'll get it. Not to mention the amount of counterfeit items that I have received, and most prices on there I can find cheaper. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what I'm paying for Prime for. I believe that it may be the last year for that.
 
C Lewis said:
Yeah, but Amazon has screwed me over on more than one order too, especially recently, telling me it would be here, then on the day of the delivery giving me a fake, cheerful, "Oh well, sometimes things are late" routine. That seems to be happening more and more lately. The last order from them was on the day it was supposedly going to be delivered, when it was cancelled by them, in the tracking said "undeliverable", whatever that was supposed to mean. When it's Amazon and being delivered by the post office, that throws another catastrophe in the making, and who knows when I'll get it. Not to mention the amount of counterfeit items that I have received, and most prices on there I can find cheaper. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what I'm paying for Prime for. I believe that it may be the last year for that.
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Pretty much agree with everything you said. I buy from Amazon like everyone else, but increasingly find myself buying off Ebay instead because of a lower price or even just availability. You do have to be careful of counterfeit items that Amazon should be filtering out, but don't. I usually don't have a problem buying a knockoff as long as it's way cheaper and not presented as legit.
 
I’ve had very few issues with Amazon. Most recently, I ordered a grill from Lowe’s shipped via FedEx. It should have been delivered by two people but it came on the regular FedEx route and the FedEx driver rolled the box, end over end, across my lawn to the front door. Do you think the grill was damaged? It certainly was.

After that one was returned I ordered from Amazon, and the next day two guys carried it into my front door.

Amazon isn’t perfect, but they get a lot of stuff right.
 
C Lewis said:
Yeah, but Amazon has screwed me over on more than one order too, especially recently, telling me it would be here, then on the day of the delivery giving me a fake, cheerful, "Oh well, sometimes things are late" routine. That seems to be happening more and more lately. The last order from them was on the day it was supposedly going to be delivered, when it was cancelled by them, in the tracking said "undeliverable", whatever that was supposed to mean. When it's Amazon and being delivered by the post office, that throws another catastrophe in the making, and who knows when I'll get it. Not to mention the amount of counterfeit items that I have received, and most prices on there I can find cheaper. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what I'm paying for Prime for. I believe that it may be the last year for that.
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C Lewis: That is a USPS issue. The usual cause for "Undeliverable" is that the mail delivery person didn't have time to deliver it within their allotted time shift or they didn't have room for it on their vehicle or whatever. I have a rural carrier and it happens occassionally. I asked her about it and that is what she told me. Some times they just run out of time to do all the deliveries.
 
JSaus said:
I bought my last grill from my local Lowe's. They put it together and delivered it (2 men) for free. Hard to beat that for local service.
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I wish IKEA would offer that service. Everything my daughters get from there weighs a million pounds and takes two hours to put together! A grill on the other hand, I would insist on putting together myself. I would accept free delivery of an unopened and undamaged box of course.
 
Bruce said:
C Lewis: That is a USPS issue. The usual cause for "Undeliverable" is that the mail delivery person didn't have time to deliver it within their allotted time shift or they didn't have room for it on their vehicle or whatever. I have a rural carrier and it happens occassionally. I asked her about it and that is what she told me. Some times they just run out of time to do all the deliveries.
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No, as much as that would fit our USPS around here, that order was actually coming from Amazon itself, per it's tracking. Never got an explanation, they didn't even send a replacement out, just cancelled the order. Not really sure what happened. I'm assuming that it got damaged or lost somewhere along the line.
 
I've never had issues with Amazon. What they've done is incredible. But I still try to spread my purchases around. Once I find a price and delivery time from Amazon, I then search for another source that's comparable. I don't think its a good thing for one company to dominate the market.

And its in the best interest of we consumers, to be aware of that. Once a company establishes that kind of dominance, its really hard for competitors to enter the market. I see Amazon trucks in my neighborhood several times per day and then realize this happening in neighborhoods all over the country , and that's a lot of retail power in a few hands. For me, its mind boggling.

Obviously, Amazon has some very bright people managing the company and I don't believe in punishing innovation and success. But I don't quite understand why competitors don't hire them away . That's what usually happens and what keeps things competitive. How Amazon continues to beat competitors in price, delivery time, and service is amazing. Its got to have something to do with economy of scale and retaining key people.

Then there's another aspect of Amazon. Its my understanding they don't really try to make a profit from sales of merchandise. Their Amazon Web Services division that collects and sells data, is where their profits come from. The tech arm of the company is making the money.
 
The worst part of shopping, for me at least, is taking the time to go to a brick and mortar store only to not have a knowledgeable person to try to help me make an informed decision. Most of these people can’t do anything but read the box to you. Good grief, I CAN READ! Half the time the poor schmuck can’t! Lowe‘s is terrible about that! Parrot what I’ve just read, that’s a help, thanks buddy, go back and hide somewhere while you’re getting paid, putz!
Now, get off my lawn so the postman can knock on my door and the Amazon guy can drop stuff on the porch.
 
We've used Amazon prime for years and have had almost no problems. One issue was I got an email saying the USPS delivered an Item I bought on Amazon. It said it was left in my mailbox, well it wasn't and it's a locked mailbox. I notified Amazon and they shipped another one for free which I did receive. Also a couple of days ago I received an email again saying that my item was in the mailbox on the day they said it was due to arrive.
Well again not there, I decided to wait a day and it did show up the following day. Not Amazons fault but the slug of a mail lady we have who didn't deliver it on time but said she did.
 
I wonder if people were sitting around griping about how Sears changed the world of shopping 70 some years ago? Hell you could order an entire HOUSE from Sears back then! Sears COULD have been Amazon if they hadn't been run so poorly. So would people be griping if the name Amazon was replaced with Sears? I doubt it. I am in the camp that LOVES Amazon and Amazon Prime. I love the convenience of not having to go slugging around a brick and mortar only to be told "we have to order that" and have to wait weeks for it when I can simply sit home, click an icon and it shows up sometimes the same day!
 
So sick of that crap too. Don't get me started. At least when I go to my chiropractor no need for one :D
 
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