Amazon Prime Strangeness

[Ben]

Is anyone else with Amazon Prime seeing this?

Suddenly, starting a week ago (23AUG), nothing I look at on Amazon with Prime delivery will arrive before 07SEP. My normal "Amazon day" delivery days are Wed and Fri, so several of the items should have been available before then. I'm not even getting an option for one day delivery.

I'm wondering if they are cutting rural delivery fleets? A few years ago, I would have to wait for several days to a week for a USPS or UPS delivery from Amazon Prime, then they got their own trucks out my way and I was getting one day options. Now this, which is strange, because we have a ginormous Amazon building in the area. I have noticed that my last several deliveries have all been either USPS or UPS.

Edit: I've been trying to gazoogle, but not much out there. I did find this:

https://www.rather-be-shopping.com/blog/amazon-no-longer-offers-2-day-shipping/

Edit#2:

I just did some experimenting, throwing random items into my cart, then going to checkout and changing the delivery address to my sister, who lives in a mid-size city in CA. Everything had a "next day" option.

[Hawkmoon]

Their delivery subcontractor's mule probably died.

[RocketMan]

Amazon seems to have quit using contractors, UPS and FedEx in this area.  Our last five shipments from Amazon were delivered via USPS, and all were late.  Four deliveries were three days late, one delivery was two days late.  Each time USPS used the "attempted delivery" excuse.  Interesting how regular letters made it into our mailbox each time an "attempted delivery" of Amazon products didn't make it.
Late Amazon deliveries were starting to occur more frequently before these five consecutive ones happened.  Not sure where the problem resides, though I am leaning toward it being a USPS problem.  We've seen a lot of turnover among the postal carriers that serve our neighborhood.

[K Frame]

Amazon is no longer servicing deplorables.

[Ben]

Amazon is no longer servicing deplorables.

Probably one of the Amazon drivers reported the Gadsden flag in front of the house.

[Ben]

More interesting experimentation.

I put a popular item that has always been available for the last few years with next day delivery in my cart. The fastest delivery option is one week out. Amazon day delivery is two weeks out. I then changed the delivery address to an Amazon locker 30 minutes away and everything is available tomorrow.

I also put in a random residential address in the town closest to my house, and that was also a week out.

It's looking more and more like they are cutting rural services - at least in my area.

[K Frame]

Good to hear that they're holding up their end of the $139 a year prime 1 day delivery contract...

[AZRedhawk44]

I've gotten the  impression that Amazon has been slowly downgrading the delivery efficiency of Prime services over the last few years.  Part of that might be because of the Coof, and outside of their control, but mostly I think they're just shuffling funds from Prime customers that bought Prime for shipping, towards SJW streaming programming.

I bought some automotive plastic rivet pullers from Amazon earlier this week, the same time that I bought some protective fuel tank and engine sump guards from a vendor in eastern Europe.  The European package is arriving before the Amazon one.

[HeroHog]

Other than carp from <Trump>Chi-na</Trump>, our stuff gets here PDQ. There IS an Amazon Dist Center here though so that helps and we do live in town. We are all thoroughly deplorable in this house though.
 

[MillCreek]

I have noticed some slowing of shipping as well, and I think our local Amazon is having issues with the last mile deliveries.  Over the past few weeks, I have noticed fewer deliveries in the Amazon vans, and more deliveries by people in personal autos.  There is a new 2.5 million sq. ft. Amazon distribution center being built four miles from us, opening in a few months.  I will be interested to see if shipping speed improves with that, as opposed to coming from the Everett distribution center 20 miles away.

[Ben]

Part of my current (going on an hour) chat with Amazon:

Thanks for the details.
Two day shipping does not means that the order will be delivered in two days it rather means that the order will take two days in transit, meaning the order will be delivered with in two days after it ships. This excludes weekends and any holidays.
That is why we call it two day shipping instead of two day delivery. Delivery dates are calculated on the basis of item availability, the quantity ordered, selected delivery speed, packaging time, distance between the fulfillment center where the item is available and the carrier service and then distance between the carrier service to your address.
We always try to deliver the order as early as possible and on maximum occasions we will even deliver your order in two days of placing it however it is not possible in every case basis of the above explanation. I hope you understand.
 
R2:52 PM
Yes but up until last week, any of these items were available as next day.
2:53 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
Have you tried on any other address?
R2:54 PM
Yes, several. When I use an address in the closest town (I am rural) it now shows the same thing, but when I put an address in 10 miles further, or to an Amazon locker, one day shipping shows up again
2:55 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
I understand your concern.
Please allow me a moment to check this for you.

Thank you so much  for waiting.
The items that you are looking for is not available in the nearest fulfillment center.To successfully fulfilling your order we try to ship item from other fulfillment center where the item is readily available and due to which it takes additional time to ship your package.

R3:10 PM
So my closest fulfillment center is empty of goods? I have tried literally dozens of things that have all come to me in one or two days prior to last week, and nothing is now showing available before sep 8. I guess my point is that if Amazon is curtailing rural prime deliveries so that they take a week, I could just cancel my prime membership and use regular shipping. Also, any of these items are available in one day just 20 miles from my house.
Also the order showed that if I use the Amazon locker 30min from my house, this order would be available for pickup tomorrow.
3:14 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
Have you tried amazon locker?
R3:15 PM
That is what I just typed. A locker 30 min away shows the items available for pickup tomorrow, so they can't be unavailable at my fulfillment center. Amazon just seems to not be delivering them to my house.
3:16 PM

[K Frame]

And the entire time I was reading that I was thinking of Apu from the Simpsons...

[Ben]

And the entire time I was reading that I was thinking of Apu from the Simpsons...

Yeah, me too. To finish:

RUPENDRA | Customer Service
I am sorry for the delay.
Currently we do not have any carrier to assign for your orders.
I kindly request you to place the order in your amazon locker.
I will help you with 50% discount.
Would that be fine?
R3:28 PM
Yes, that's fine. Thanks
3:29 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
Thanks for your understanding.
R3:29 PM
Okay, thanks for your help
3:30 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
You are most welcome.
Thank you for being a Prime member.
You can contact us back once you receive your order we will help you with discount.
R3:31 PM
okay
3:31 PM
RUPENDRA | Customer Service
Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Which, the above was a little frustrating, because to "help him track", I placed an order for a $10 item. If I knew they were gonna offer a 50% discount, I would have bought a $100 item.   

They also gave me a $20 promo, which I wasn't able to post here, because interestingly, once you are done chatting with them, they wipe the whole conversation from their end. If I hadn't been copying the text to notepad for my own reference, I would have no evidence of the conversation.

Also, it took an hour of circular conversation to get to what I suspected in the first place: They don't have enough Amazon van drivers, so us yokels are getting our deliveries reduced. Now I'm stuck driving to an Amazon locker if I need something faster than a week out, at least until or of they get drivers back to work.

I also wonder if they might be trying to steer hicks like me to Amazon lockers anyway so that they don't have to cover all the redneck routes with 1/4 mile between addresses.

[K Frame]

Dear Sahib Ben,

Thank you for being an Amazon Prime member of great importance! Your loyalty and rupees have helped fund our founder's flying space penis and for that we are very thankful!

To show how thankful we are that our founder has a flying space penis, we would like to off you 50% off an item of your choice ($1 or less in value).

We understand that our not having enough drivers to service you, the way the flying space penis services our founder, is frustrating, but we hope you'll take comfort in knowing that the money we save by not paying delivery drivers will go towards sending our founder up in his flying space penis.

Sincerely,

Apu
Amazon Flying Space Penis customer service department

[WLJ]

Dear Sahib Ben,

Thank you for being an Amazon Prime member of great importance! You have helped fund our founder's flying space penis and for that we are very thankful!

To show how thankful we are that our founder has a flying space penis, we would like to off you 50% off an item of your choice ($1 or less in value).

We understand that our not having enough drivers to service you, the way the flying space penis services our founder, is frustrating, but we hope you'll take comfort in knowing that the money we save by not paying delivery drivers will go towards sending our founder up in his flying space penis.

Sincerely,

Apu
Amazon Flying Space Penis customer service department

You forgot about the $1 off rides on the Flying Space Penis coupons

[RocketMan]

Had a nice chat with our mail carrier today, asking her why Amazon packages are not being delivered in a timely fashion when marked "Out for Delivery" by the USPS.  She was another new face, by the way, at least the fifth I've seen in the last couple of months.  Today was her 30th day on the job.  The poor lady has a 90 minute one-way commute from Charlotte to get to her job up here in Hickory, and she routinely works 14 hour days, six days a week.  The cost of gas for her commute is eating much of her income.
She told me Amazon is absolutely swamping the USPS.  Amazon does not appear to be using FedEx or UPS all that much in this area any more.  Couple that with Hickory USPS being seriously short staffed, Amazon deliveries are backing up, being miss-sorted at the USPS facility, and many are just being delivered late.
Another Amazon package marked "out for delivery" was not delivered today, and that's what prompted me to have the conversation with the carrier.  She was very nice about everything, and I could tell she genuinely wanted to provide good service.  She hoped that my package would be delivered by another carrier later tonight, but I expect it will be marked "delivery attempted" or "delivery failed" here shortly.
I really felt sorry for her as the job has to be pretty thankless.  I suspect she is frustrated with the job and likely won't stick with it much longer unless she can be transferred to a route in Charlotte.

Update:  My package did arrive at about 6:30 PM.  Quite surprised by this development as all five previous packages arrived days late.
It was just an envelope of eight dipped tantalum capacitors for a power supply project I'm working on for my amateur radio gear.

[MillCreek]

^^^The local FB pages up here are full of stories about delayed USPS letter and package deliveries.  In some cases, people are encountering an empty mailbox for a week, and then one day it is stuffed full of letters and packages that have been in some sort of holding pattern.  The local USPS stations are begging for people to hire and deliver the mail.  Add to it that thieves have stolen/copies the mailbox master key for the zipcode, which means that they can open the mailbox stands for the entire zipcode just like the letter carrier does instead of prying or drilling out the individual locks. 

[Ben]

Add to it that thieves have stolen/copies the mailbox master key for the zipcode, which means that they can open the mailbox stands for the entire zipcode just like the letter carrier does instead of prying or drilling out the individual locks.

When I was in CA last year for my dad's funeral, I couldn't get his mail because a couple days prior, thieves had power sawed through (or something) the subdivision mailbox stand and pulled the whole thing out of the ground and took off with it. Apparently none of the neighbors didn't see nuthin'. 

[Hawkmoon]

Amazon seems to have quit using contractors, UPS and FedEx in this area.

Well, here too ... sort of, but not really. They have drastically cut back on UPS and FedEx, but ...

There are now several Amazon distribution centers around here, and fleets of "Amazon" branded delivery vans running hither and thither. However, those vans aren't operated by Amazon -- they are operated by captive subcontractors, generally who have been set up in business by Amazon. If you do some Internet surfing, you'll probably find that more of them fail than succeed, because (just like in their warehouses) Amazon imposes unrealistic performance metrics that have to be met if they want to keep the contract.

[Devonai]

I happen to live in Windsor, CT, the site of two huge Amazon facilities with a third on the way.  I always get my crap quickly, from all carriers, sometimes on the same day.

Have y'all considered moving to Windsor, CT?  The downside is that, uh... well, everything else about CT.

[Ben]

Well, here too ... sort of, but not really. They have drastically cut back on UPS and FedEx, but ...

There are now several Amazon distribution centers around here, and fleets of "Amazon" branded delivery vans running hither and thither. However, those vans aren't operated by Amazon -- they are operated by captive subcontractors, generally who have been set up in business by Amazon. If you do some Internet surfing, you'll probably find that more of them fail than succeed, because (just like in their warehouses) Amazon imposes unrealistic performance metrics that have to be met if they want to keep the contract.

Yeah, I think I alluded above that when I first moved here, stuff was taking several days to arrive via UPS or USPS, then Amazon finished up a ginormous fulfillment center maybe an hour from my house, and suddenly Amazon vans were everywhere and I was getting next day options. It all went swimmingly until now. Though I noticed that in the last couple of months I was getting more UPS and USPS deliveries again, but the Amazon vans were still showing up too.

The funny thing is that I was actually using "Amazon Day" most of the time, which averaged 4-5 days delivery for me letting an order build up, and I was fine with it, figuring I didn't want them having to waste time and resources coming out here every day to deliver something like a wrench one day and some soap the next. Having two Amazon delivery days was fine with me.

Now that I'm getting this week wait (and Amazon Day is showing up as two weeks), I'm not collecting orders anymore. I'm just clicking whatever gets it here the fastest, even for just one item at a time. A two week wait for an order is practically going back to the days of catalog orders, where you mailed them the order form and a check.

[K Frame]

"Add to it that thieves have stolen/copies the mailbox master key for the zipcode, which means that they can open the mailbox stands for the entire zipcode just like the letter carrier does instead of prying or drilling out the individual locks. "

Take a good look at the lock on your stand mailbox sometime... specifically the interior of the box and how the lock is held into your mail door.

The vast majority of them are held in with a spring clip.

We watched this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sJozwsJyM

It was easier than that.

Those boxes are incredibly insecure.

[WLJ]

"Add to it that thieves have stolen/copies the mailbox master key for the zipcode, which means that they can open the mailbox stands for the entire zipcode just like the letter carrier does instead of prying or drilling out the individual locks. "

Take a good look at the lock on your stand mailbox sometime... specifically the interior of the box and how the lock is held into your mail door.

The vast majority of them are held in with a spring clip.

We watched this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sJozwsJyM

It was easier than that.

Those boxes are incredibly insecure.

Been noticing a lot of reports of mail carriers being held up and their keys taken lately

[Bogie]

And... The fee for my post office box is now over $110 every six months.
 
I need to do some sort of mailbox, but I really don't want folks seeing mail sitting.

[K Frame]

I get very little of any importance in my mail these days.

Occasionally I get a replacement credit card, I get checks for some dividend payments, and a few other things, but all of my bills are electronic these days so I don't have to worry about stuff like that being swiped.

We've never had a problem with mail theft in my community, though, so fingers crossed.