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Amazon Prime Delivery Issues (1 Viewer)

Richard Gallagher

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Has anyone else been experiencing problems with two-day delivery since Amazon started using USPS for some shipments? I have now had two packages delayed this week, and both were USPS shipments.

One was supposed to be delivered by Monday, and although it got to my Post Office on Monday it wasn't delivered until yesterday. I made a mild complaint to Amazon and they offered to extend my Prime membership by a month.

The other package was supposed to be delivered today. I received an e-mail from Amazon telling me it has been delayed, but when I checked the USPS tracking I discovered that the expected delivery date is next Monday! That's a total of eight days to receive what is supposed to be a two-day delivery. I shot off another complaint e-mail to Amazon.

My opinion is that Amazon should not be using the Post Office for Prime shipments, at least not during the holiday season. I have found that USPS tracking is fine for telling if a package has been delivered, but it's dicey when it comes to learning where a package is during transit and when it is going to be delivered. I had a delivery last week which I checked in the morning and the USPS tracking said that it was in Massachusetts. An hour later it was delivered with the rest of my mail.
 

Al.Anderson

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Yes, I've had horrible experiences when Amazon uses the USPS; no problems with UPS though. I've had late, lost, and damaged items. I'd say getting a clean package through is about 1 in 5.

I complained to Amazon just once and just got an email saying, "sorry, and we know our choice of carrier reflects on us."
 

Malcolm R

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I haven't tracked it exactly, but I know I've had a few orders that have not arrived in the two-day window. Wasn't sure if that was the carrier or Amazon having fulfillment issues.

I've also received a "your item is delayed" notice on the same day an item was delivered, and have had orders delivered weeks ago that still show a future "should arrive by..." date in the "my orders" area of Amazon. So I'm not really sure even they know what's going on.
 

Josh Steinberg

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In general my Amazon items arrive on time. My UPS and USPS shipments are almost always on time. For me, the stuff that doesn't show up on time is FedEx and Lasership. If they ship it FedEx, it can take a few extra days because the local driver has a reputation for simply marking you weren't home instead of ringing the bell - the driver that covers my area is a nightmare in this regard. I never get FedEx on time but it's entirely the driver's fault.

For Lasership, I simply don't get the packages. Amazon has used that shipper with me about half a dozen times. Five of the six packages never showed up at all, and the sixth showed up days after they claimed it had been delivered.

USPS has two delivery units in my area. My regular mail carrier drops everything off on time and as expected. Then they have a special package delivery service separate from that (though the regular carrier delivers packages too). It's that special delivery service that is sometimes late.

Amazon has missed a couple guaranteed delivery dates for me earlier this year. When I politely complained and mentioned that they missed their guaranteed date, I was offered $10 coupons on future purchases.
 

TravisR

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I ordered a book from Amazon on Black Friday or Saturday and I was supposed to get it on Monday but then on Monday morning, it was suddenly delayed an extra day. Other than that, I always get my stuff when it's supposed to come. *knock on wood*
 

Dave Upton

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I had a lot of issues but lately all my deliveries seem to be from an Amazon truck, so they are back to being timely.
 

Robert Crawford

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Has anyone else been experiencing problems with two-day delivery since Amazon started using USPS for some shipments? I have now had two packages delayed this week, and both were USPS shipments.

One was supposed to be delivered by Monday, and although it got to my Post Office on Monday it wasn't delivered until yesterday. I made a mild complaint to Amazon and they offered to extend my Prime membership by a month.

The other package was supposed to be delivered today. I received an e-mail from Amazon telling me it has been delayed, but when I checked the USPS tracking I discovered that the expected delivery date is next Monday! That's a total of eight days to receive what is supposed to be a two-day delivery. I shot off another complaint e-mail to Amazon.

My opinion is that Amazon should not be using the Post Office for Prime shipments, at least not during the holiday season. I have found that USPS tracking is fine for telling if a package has been delivered, but it's dicey when it comes to learning where a package is during transit and when it is going to be delivered. I had a delivery last week which I checked in the morning and the USPS tracking said that it was in Massachusetts. An hour later it was delivered with the rest of my mail.
I'm having all kinds of trouble with my Amazon deliveries via USPS. Packages being sent to the wrong address and orders being lost in the mail.
 

Richard Gallagher

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When I looked at the tracking on my package more carefully, I saw that it actually arrived at my Post Office this morning, but 75 minutes later it was In Tarrytown! Obviously that was a mistake, but when I got a USPS rep on the phone she wasn't able to reassure me about when it will be delivered. I told her that if they could get it to Tarrytown in 75 minutes they should be able to get it back to Fishkill today, but that isn't happening.

Then she told me that the now Monday delivery date is only an estimate, and it may arrive sooner. I patiently explained to her that estimating the delivery is precisely the problem with USPS. When UPS gives me a delivery date, 99% of the time they meet it. I can understand that some parts of the country aren't well served by UPS, but there is a UPS hub less than ten miles from my house.
 

TJPC

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As a Canadian with a US PO box in Buffalo, I hope that Amazon sticks to using USPS. That is my only method of delivery possible, since the other postal services will not deliver to a postal box at all.
I can't tell you the amount of disappointments my wife and I have had trying to order various things only to find the company would not deliver to a PO box. I would have ordered hundred of discs directly from Warner Archive. Thank goodness their products are now sold by Amazon!
Mailing directly to me in Canada can double or triple the cost.
 

Jeff Cooper

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Has anyone else been experiencing problems with two-day delivery since Amazon started using USPS for some shipments? I have now had two packages delayed this week, and both were USPS shipments.

I'm the exact opposite. When it's a USPS I'm very happy and always get it on time. Within the last six months or so, they've started switching over everything to their own internal Amazon carrier service, and it become a 'filp a coin' to see if it's actually going to get delivered on the day it is supposed to.

I wish they would go back to USPS.
 

Todd Erwin

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Yes, I've had horrible experiences when Amazon uses the USPS; no problems with UPS though. I've had late, lost, and damaged items. I'd say getting a clean package through is about 1 in 5.

I complained to Amazon just once and just got an email saying, "sorry, and we know our choice of carrier reflects on us."

Exact opposite for me, too. Had a package that was shipped UPS Next Day from Amazon's Phoenix warehouse that never made it to UPS. When I complained that it did not arrive on time, I was first told to "call UPS." UPS reiterated what the tracking information on UPS.com indicated, that a tracking number was created, and nothing more. The UPS rep said it was likely lost by Amazon's third party delivery service that drops off packages at UPS. When I called back to Amazon, they then told me that I'd have to wait 72 hours before they can report it "lost." I told the rep that Amazon "guaranteed delivery by Tuesday," and making me wait three additional days for it to be considered lost was not acceptable. After an hour of going back and forth with the rep and then the supervisor, they agreed to extend my Prime membership one month and ship a replacement at no extra charge. Ironically, the replacement shipped from my local Amazon warehouse via USPS and arrived the next day.

The thing to remember, though, is that Prime Shipping no longer means 2-day delivery. All it means is "free shipping," especially if you live in a remote area (which I don't, but know people that do, and they often have to wait 5 days or more for an in-stock item to arrive).
 

Richard Gallagher

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The thing to remember, though, is that Prime Shipping no longer means 2-day delivery. All it means is "free shipping," especially if you live in a remote area (which I don't, but know people that do, and they often have to wait 5 days or more for an in-stock item to arrive).

But when you check out, the shipping option says "free two-day shipping" (two business days, that is). I suppose there is a disclaimer in the small print.

On the plus side, Amazon is giving me a refund for my order (it was less than $15) and I get to keep the item if it ever arrives.
 

dpippel

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I've had quite a few problems as well, but mostly with Amazon's own delivery service. They rolled it out here in Phoenix early this year and it's been pretty bad. In the last 6 months I've had 8 orders significantly delayed well beyond the 2 day window, and one package was lost completely. USPS and UPS have been pretty reliable, but all-in-all it has not been a good year for Amazon on the timely delivery front for this Prime customer. I hope they get their act together soon. If not then I think I can smell the faint whiff of class-action lawsuit in the air... ;)
 

TravisR

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I've seen multiple horror stories about Amazon's delivery service and was worried when some of my stuff started getting shipped that way but I guess I've been lucky because I've had no problems and I get things much earlier in the day than I get my mail or UPS deliveries. *knock wood again*
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I'm not sure my issues have anything to do with who is delivering the package. So far all my deliveries come either from USPS or UPS and both of those entities seem to do an excellent job. My local postal workers and my UPS driver all are good people and I never have issues with them. I have seen the Amazon delivery van (a rented van with a magnetic Amazon logo stuck on the door) around but none of my deliveries have come from them.

My problems with Amazon all seem to be with them. First, new catalog blu-ray releases from Amazon seem to be a major issue. I have no idea why this is because Bullmoose, a small local chain, seems to always have these in stock the day of release with a few minor exceptions...those being some Warner Archive releases which for some reason appear to have been issues for everybody. This kind of thing really does not aggravate me because Bullmoose is now my go-to place for blu-ray. Between their generally lower day of release prices and the FREE membership benefits it is by far better to shop there than at Amazon.

However, I now find that most times ordering an item that is listed as "IN STOCK" and available for "Prime" shipping options now is not going to make that 2 day shipping window. In fact that shipping window is now more likely to be 3 to 10 days or more. Which is a major negative when one of the main benefits of Amazon membership is free 2 day shipping...which now basically rarely happens. This has not been the fault of USPS nor UPS as most times my orders are stuck in "Preparing for shipment" or "Not yet shipped" mode until they finally ship at which point they do actually arrive rapidly.
 

David Norman

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As a Canadian with a US PO box in Buffalo, I hope that Amazon sticks to using USPS. That is my only method of delivery possible, since the other postal services will not deliver to a postal box at all.
I can't tell you the amount of disappointments my wife and I have had trying to order various things only to find the company would not deliver to a PO box. I would have ordered hundred of discs directly from Warner Archive. Thank goodness their products are now sold by Amazon!
Mailing directly to me in Canada can double or triple the cost.

Ask your PO if they provide a service called street addressing. Not all PO allow this, but essentially they use the street address of the PO and then add a second line (Unit XXXX). I've never had a problem with UPS or Fedex delivering to my PO and then the PO puts it in the normal box even when they've had packages addressed to just the PO Box as long as the Zip Code it OK. Retailers OTOH haven't seemed catch up to this and still are more worried about fraud/stolen CC is Billing/SHipping addresses aren't the same.

All these hybrid delivery services where various companies hand it to USPS for delivery seemed to changed the Inter-Company battles

I'm the exact opposite. When it's a USPS I'm very happy and always get it on time. Within the last six months or so, they've started switching over everything to their own internal Amazon carrier service, and it become a 'filp a coin' to see if it's actually going to get delivered on the day it is supposed to.

I wish they would go back to USPS.

Not much of a problem locally and I generally prefer USPS exp since many of the alternates don't delivery weekends most of the year.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Knock on wood, but I have yet to experience any issues with deliveries from Amazon, regardless of whether the items are shipped via USPS or UPS. I do not always get the item within two days, but so far the shipments have been arriving on the date that is indicated in the shipping emails.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Well, one of my latest orders of an "IN STOCK" item arrived...took 4 days rather than the "TWO DAY" that Prime membership is supposed provide. Another item, again supposedly IN STOCK, is still pending. I have no idea how they work this stuff or if the "TWO DAY FREE SHIPPING" is supposed to be taken as just an estimate and there is some sort of "fine print" somewhere that says they don't guarantee that time frame. I mean I don't have an issue waiting 4 days to receive an order but why promise FREE TWO DAY SHIPPING with a membership if that's not what is actually going to happen? I do not reside in the middle of nowhere, I am minutes from a major city so no clue what the issue is.

And I can say the TWO DAY SHIPPING did actually happen for the first year or two of membership but over the last year it seems pretty much not likely to happen. Since the average shipping time now seems more likely to be in the 3 to 5 day range maybe they should just call it FREE 3 TO 5 DAY SHIPPING...but that likely does not tempt people to purchase a membership.
 

Josh Steinberg

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For my Amazon orders, most items they sell directly are available for two day shipping. I usually have the following options in my shopping cart:

-Overnight delivery (extra per item fee)
-Two-day delivery (free)
-Standard delivery 3-5 days (free)
-No-rush shipping 5+ days (free and they also give you a credit for using it)

When I check out, all of the above options are usually available to me. Sometimes the overnight delivery option isn't available. I also notice that for two-day delivery, that's usually restricted to business hours - so if I'm looking to purchase something and its 11pm on a Tuesday night, it will be sent via two-day shipping but they consider it a Wednesday order because it was placed after close of business on Tuesday. On very rare occasions, a title will only be available for "standard shipping" or has a ship date that's more than a day in the future, but it's extremely rare, and I don't think has ever happened to me on a movie.

But for the vast majority of titles that Amazon sells directly, I can get them in two days.

When they have a guaranteed delivery window and they miss it, I write an email and politely note that when I ordered, delivery was guaranteed, and they missed their guaranteed date. When that has happened, they have offered me $10 coupons for future purchases.
 

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