Amazon Finally Pissed Me Off! (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

I see sky high shipping prices on many "pantry" type items from MP sellers on Amazon all the time. There've been several instances in the past year I've found a niche product from a MP vendor only for them to be charging more than the item price to ship it. Sometimes double the item price (a small package of chocolate covered marzipan being sold at $8 and charging $18 shipping!).

When I see this I ask “who the hell is buying this?”

 

[Johnny Angell]

Is Amazon carrying fewer blu rays and depending more on 3rd party sellers? I just looked at Ghostbusters 4K, Fifth Element 4K, Groundhog Day 4K, and Tomb Raider 4K (the last one) are all 3rd party and no Prime shipping.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Is Amazon carrying fewer blu rays and depending more on 3rd party sellers? I just looked at Ghostbusters 4K, Fifth Element 4K, Groundhog Day 4K, and Tomb Raider 4K (the last one) are all 3rd party and no Prime shipping.

Johnny,


Amazon did put out a notice that they would be handling more "essentials" and putting other items on the backburner.

So, if you are seeing more BD titles being sold from 3rd party vendors, that is probably the reason.

I was shocked that Amazon had Warner Archive titles in stock. That's a new thing for me, so I kind of became blind to whatever else was gong on when it comes to other studios. I buy more digital than Blu-ray titles these days, anyway.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Are they essential? Physical media is going to take a big hit with COVID-19. Shipping into the US is limited (discs are mostly manufactured in Mexico), retailers (both brick & mortar and e-commerce) are focusing more on essential items, and authoring facilities for new releases are pretty much shut down for the time being. Amazon is getting a ton of business right now, so you may want to help out those retailers that specialize more in physical media sales, like Best Buy, Deep Discount, Barnes & Noble, etc.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Are they essential? Physical media is going to take a big hit with COVID-19. Shipping into the US is limited (discs are mostly manufactured in Mexico), retailers (both brick & mortar and e-commerce) are focusing more on essential items, and authoring facilities for new releases are pretty much shut down for the time being. Amazon is getting a ton of business right now, so you may want to help out those retailers that specialize more in physical media sales, like Best Buy, Deep Discount, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Are they essential? That depends on how you look at it.

Compared to medical and sanitary supplies in this time of crisis, no.

However...

Entertainment has been given almost second priority to virus-fighting essentials.

Streaming networks are offering free content. Phone companies are giving extra data for free to their users. A premium series like PICARD is being offered for streaming to non-subscribers for FREE.

So, it doesn't surprise me that Amazon isn't holding up the shipment of Blu-rays. Most anything you order on Amazon doesn't ship until April 21st. However, discs are being shipped out immediately. I placed an order for MUNSTER GO HOME as I forgot to preorder it. It will ship to arrive on release day.

Remember, there are people trapped in their homes. Entertainment has become an essential part of that existence.

Sooner or later, I think the replication facilities will close (if they aren't already) and we will be seeing less titles released on disc.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Sooner or later, I think the replication facilities will close (if they aren't already) and we will be seeing less titles released on disc.

As a reviewer here on HTF, I am already receiving notices from studios and their PR firms that previously announced physical media releases may be delayed without notice.

 

[TJPC]

Johnny,


Amazon did put out a notice that they would be handling more "essentials" and putting other items on the backburner.

So, if you are seeing more BD titles being sold from 3rd party vendors, that is probably the reason.

I was shocked that Amazon had Warner Archive titles in stock. That's a new thing for me, so I kind of became blind to whatever else was gong on when it comes to other studios. I buy more digital than Blu-ray titles these days, anyway.

This has been the case for a number of years. It is how Canadians get access to Warner Archive titles at all, since WA do not mail to Canada.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

As a reviewer here on HTF, I am already receiving notices from studios and their PR firms that previously announced physical media releases may be delayed without notice.

Thanks for that.

So, since titles get replicated several weeks/months ahead of the release schedule, we are just about entering the time frame when those titles make it out and moving forward, we aren't going to be seeing much of anything.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This has been the case for a number of years. It is how Canadians get access to Warner Archive titles at all, since WA do not mail to Canada.

However, from what I have seen, you couldn't get Archive titles on Amazon for a good year or more.

At least, you couldn't get them on release date and they were always delayed for several months.

I'm just happy that the situation seems to be resolved.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Thanks for that.

So, since titles get replicated several weeks/months ahead of the release schedule, we are just about entering the time frame when those titles make it out and moving forward, we aren't going to be seeing much of anything.

Also, the studios and their warehouses are likely ghost towns, so there is probably no one around to ship discs to retailers. So once inventory is depleted at a retailer, even of older releases like Johnny mentioned, we likely won't see them restocked until weeks or months after this is over.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Also, the studios and their warehouses are likely ghost towns, so there is probably no one around to ship discs to retailers.

Yeah, very true.

I am surprised at some of these studio press releases coming out with dates attached to the product (though there are a lot less of them).

I don't see any discs getting replicated moving forward.

 

[BobO'Link]

Are they essential? That depends on how you look at it.

Compared to medical and sanitary supplies in this time of crisis, no.

However...

Entertainment has been given almost second priority to virus-fighting essentials.

Streaming networks are offering free content. Phone companies are giving extra data for free to their users. A premium series like PICARD is being offered for streaming to non-subscribers for FREE.

So, it doesn't surprise me that Amazon isn't holding up the shipment of Blu-rays. Most anything you order on Amazon doesn't ship until April 21st. However, discs are being shipped out immediately. I placed an order for MUNSTER GO HOME as I forgot to preorder it. It will ship to arrive on release day.

Remember, there are people trapped in their homes. Entertainment has become an essential part of that existence.

Sooner or later, I think the replication facilities will close (if they aren't already) and we will be seeing less titles released on disc.

*Some* discs are getting "immediate" shipment while others have that April 21st date. A few I ordered got an April 21st date while others shipped within a week One I ordered a couple of days ago has shipped. Another got April 21st so I did a 2nd order to see if the date would change. It did, moving up to April 19th. There seems to be no rhyme or reason.

 

[Malcolm R]

I saw an article somewhere that said Walmart reported sales of DVD's had increased, as people stuck at home look for ways to pass the time. Also, families may be looking for ways to entertain kids offline while parents are trying to work from home and can't have the kids using all the bandwidth, all day.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Fauci is saying there will be 100K to 200K deaths in the US. Oh boy are blu rays small stuff. Very small stuff now.

 

[Chip_HT]

Is Amazon carrying fewer blu rays and depending more on 3rd party sellers? I just looked at Ghostbusters 4K, Fifth Element 4K, Groundhog Day 4K, and Tomb Raider 4K (the last one) are all 3rd party and no Prime shipping.

No, they still carry them, but sometimes the third party sells it cheaper and that is what is shown as the main item. If you go look at "other sellers", you'll see Amazon listed a little further down (sometimes on the second page).

 

[John*Wells]

I find Amazon current policy somewhat Hypocritical. They’re not shipping non medical or so called non essential items. They claim they want to reduce risk to the public and staff. But by shipping medical and so called essential items, there’s still a risk if you believe the media.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I find Amazon current policy somewhat Hypocritical. They’re not shipping non medical or so called non essential items. They claim they want to reduce risk to the public and staff. But by shipping medical and so called essential items, there’s still a risk if you believe the media.

Another way to look at this...

Consolidating dates also keeps their drivers off the road less often during this crisis.

At least that's how I see it.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Yeah, I think I’m going to cut a lot of slack to the people and companies that are keeping us supplied with stuff without setting foot outside the house.

 

[jcroy]

I saw an article somewhere that said Walmart reported sales of DVD's had increased, as people stuck at home look for ways to pass the time. Also, families may be looking for ways to entertain kids offline while parents are trying to work from home and can't have the kids using all the bandwidth, all day.

Besides a one sentence quote asserting this from yahoo finance, are there any other primary sources about this increase in dvd sales?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amid...-sales-of-tops-but-not-bottoms-202959379.html

 

[Todd Erwin]

My problem is that you can still order non-essential items and have them arrive sooner than essential ones. Our TP supply is dwindling, even though we have been rationing by using my late mother in law's stockpile of butt wipes. I've tried placing orders for TP on Amazon, but it is sold out before I can click "Add to Cart." The local Safeway hasn't received a shipment of paper products for weeks, and both Walmart and Target are no longer shipping TP (they are all marked "In Store Purchase Only"), and Costco will only deliver with their trucks (no UPS, FedEx, or USPS shipments of that product). Closest Walmart is 75 miles, closest Target and Costco is 120 miles.