The Prime shipping option Amazon should offer

[sdifox]

dont remember this.
tom hanks didnt look stressed at the beginning of the movie.

explain?

He shipped a package to Moscow and it arrived later than him.

 

[Muse]

I did go to Lowe's today for some items I would have normally bought at Amazon. Still trying to slowly rely less on Amazon to be more balanced. Got a package from REI today for bike tire patch kits and some backpack straps I also would have normally ordered from Amazon. Once Amazon becomes a habit, it's tough to break, it's just instinct to go there first.

Pandemic isolation had me buying online, done a lot of Amazon, ebay and other online shopping, more than ever. Even let a free Prime sub slide since start of the year. Will see how long that goes. Used to go months between Amazon orders.

Even if my instinct has me to to Amazon first, I usually check out other sources, e.g. Ebay, where I often find better value.

I bought a super speed USB cable (i.e. USB 3.0) 5 days ago off Amazon. I saw the same item by the same seller on ebay but went Amazon because it was $0.30 cheaper at Amazon and figured Amazon support is a bonus. Received it yesterday and the damn seller sent me a USB 2.0 cable. Had to call and get a human to set up refund/replacement, ball's in seller's court now. If I'd gone Ebay I wouldn't have had to make that call, just take a picture and initiate the refund online... so Ebay sometimes actually is better customer service! I tried setting this up at Amazon online last night and it indicated I'd have to send the item back to the seller! Fuck that!

 

[PingSpike]

I just don't like the waste. It takes fuel and materials to send a package. It might make some sense with amazon due to their logistics setup, and sticking stuff in one box could actually be the wasteful option, but I've gotten it from smaller companies also. Order enough to get free shipping, some of the stuff's on backorder, so they send part of it, then get the rest a week later. I'd rather see it in one box, and we could split the money saved between us.

Another option would be getting a mystery item with your delayed order. Get something that someone else returned added to your box. Probably would be junk, but you might get something cool too. Make it fun, and everyone wins.

I kind of doubt the delivery truck fuel usage (which was driving a route anyway) is less than me driving to the store and back. The boxes are probably a waste though, I deal with a lot of those lately. At least they are recyclable I guess.

No thanks to extra junk in the box. I already have to much junk that I actually ordered. Let Amazon pay to haul it to the dump.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What I'd like to see is an end to plastic packaging like bubblewrap (though I would miss popping those lol). Shredded cardboard/newspaper should be an accepted thing even if it may be less "professional". Digikey has an interesting packaging they use, it's like this paper that's been ran through a special machine to punch it in a way that it makes it "thicker" so it acts as padding. Hard to explain but I imagine it's pretty cheap to do and uses basically just thick paper.

 

[PingSpike]

What I'd like to see is an end to plastic packaging like bubblewrap (though I would miss popping those lol). Shredded cardboard/newspaper should be an accepted thing even if it may be less "professional". Digikey has an interesting packaging they use, it's like this paper that's been ran through a special machine to punch it in a way that it makes it "thicker" so it acts as padding. Hard to explain but I imagine it's pretty cheap to do and uses basically just thick paper.

I'd settle for not individually packing every tiny sub item in its own tiny plastic bag. Its nuts.

 

[Muse]

All this plastic upsets me. I have a bunch of it lying around because I don't like throwing it in landfill. Presumably it can be recycled, but I've found it difficult to find places that will take it. I've done it some, but last time I tried it didn't work out so well. Bubble wrap, the small and big kind.

Those bags with triangles on them... what do you do with those? I've been tossing them in my recycling container (that's picked up weekly by big truck, the other side of the container being for paper/cardboard), hoping they know what to do with them but I suspect that they're winding up in landfill regardless.

 

[lxskllr]

I've been tossing them in my recycling container, hoping they know what to do with

Everything You Need to Know About Wishcycling - RecycleNation

Have you ever wondered whether something was recyclable?

recyclenation.com

I use plastic wrap to line grocery store bags(that I recover from other people), and put cat litter in them, which are in smaller no hole bags from other products. Adds insurance against blowout.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Cat litter is something I'd like to eventually find a better way to deal with. I hate all the plastic waste that it generates but I don't really know how else to deal with it. Even the litter itself is not that great for the environment as it's synthetic. You can't really compost it or anything either. Cat pee is also super potent so don't imagine there is much you could do with it even if you could solve the plastic or litter problem.

 

[manly]

All this plastic upsets me. I have a bunch of it lying around because I don't like throwing it in landfill. Presumably it can be recycled, but I've found it difficult to find places that will take it. I've done it some, but last time I tried it didn't work out so well. Bubble wrap, the small and big kind.

Those bags with triangles on them... what do you do with those? I've been tossing them in my recycling container (that's picked up weekly by big truck, the other side of the container being for paper/cardboard), hoping they know what to do with them but I suspect that they're winding up in landfill regardless.

The reality is that once China stopped accepting our rubbish for recycling a few years back, the vast majority of our plastic is going to landfills or incinerators. Even if your trash collector accepts recyclable plastics in the blue bin, it's really not getting recycled. The U.S. has a very small domestic recycling industry and the value of these materials is very low. IIRC Wired had a really good article about this problem.

'Moment of reckoning': US cities burn recyclables after China bans imports

Residents of cities like Chester, outside Philadelphia, fear a rise in pollution from incinerators after China’s recycling ban

www.theguardian.com

The World's Recycling Is in Chaos. Here's What Has to Happen

China’s decision to no longer accept the world’s recycled waste has left countries scrambling to adapt. They have a long way to go.

www.wired.com

 

[lxskllr]

Aside from issues of animals using it as a toilet, cat litter is pretty natural. It's just clay, and some add corn starch-like ingredients for lightweight versions. At least the kind I buy is like that. I don't get scented versions, or anything with "crystals" or other nonsense. They also have compostable versions made from engineered wood, but YMMV if your cat accepts it.

As far as plastic goes, I dunno. The jug mine comes in is recyclable, and for dirty litter, I use plastic that was gonna go in the garbage anyway. The cats don't cause me to use more plastic than I was already going to aside from the litter jug.

 

[nakedfrog]

The overwhelming majority of the time that they give me the option for "No rush shipping, get a $1 digital credit" I take that. Even lately, some of that stuff has still been showing up in a day or two, one of them showed up the next day, which shocked me.

 

[Muse]

The overwhelming majority of the time that they give me the option for "No rush shipping, get a $1 digital credit" I take that. Even lately, some of that stuff has still been showing up in a day or two, one of them showed up the next day, which shocked me.

yeah, I've done that. I should make a point of looking for that because most of the time, I'm in no hurries.

A dollar saved is a hundred pennies earned. - Ben Franklin

“A penny saved is a penny earned” is a famous phrase often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. However, Ben never said these exact words (at least according to the Franklin Institute, and if he did, he would be wrong! A penny saved is much better than a penny earned.Jul 3, 2019

 

[Muse]

They should sort that out. Couldn't take a lot of resources to launch an online system to find Prime Video content that interests you. I'll look into it, I guess... If Amazon hasn't done it I'd think someone else would. There are a number of 3rd party online sites digging into Amazon's territories. I use one or two sites that evaluate Amazon reviews to see what proportion are legit. Honey and Capitalone Shopping can save you money...

This search looks fruitful:

Google Search

 

[nakedfrog]

What I've done is from my desktop, add things to my watch list, and then my watch list is easy to access from a smart TV/device.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

I wish Amazon would use MORE packing material. I opted to have my 32" monitor shipped in an outer box to hide the contents visible on the retail box. But Amazon dropped it into a giant box with a foot of wiggle room (in two dimensions) ... and NO packing material at all. So any time you picked up the huge box, the monitor inside would shift radically, sliding to the other end. Of course any package handler along the way would have to contend with sudden shifts in balance, increasing the likelihood that my monitor would be dropped before it reaches me.

Also they shipped me a 1.5 lb brass hammer in a box with two books. THe hammer was loose, no clamshell plastic or anything, and the rough brass hammer head could scuff the book jackets as it shifted around - though there were some inflated air bladders in there. Stick books in a ziploc or something, please.

 

[MrSquished]

Just ordered a wireless flash and trigger from Amazon, this time the gave me the option to get the order on two days or one. I selected the later date for fewer packages. Let's see if it works. I know I've used my Amazon day option before and everything still came separately.

 

[Muse]

I wish Amazon would use MORE packing material. I opted to have my 32" monitor shipped in an outer box to hide the contents visible on the retail box. But Amazon dropped it into a giant box with a foot of wiggle room (in two dimensions) ... and NO packing material at all. So any time you picked up the huge box, the monitor inside would shift radically, sliding to the other end. Of course any package handler along the way would have to contend with sudden shifts in balance, increasing the likelihood that my monitor would be dropped before it reaches me.

Also they shipped me a 1.5 lb brass hammer in a box with two books. THe hammer was loose, no clamshell plastic or anything, and the rough brass hammer head could scuff the book jackets as it shifted around - though there were some inflated air bladders in there. Stick books in a ziploc or something, please.

I had bad luck ordering monitors online and decided it's a bad idea and not to do it if I can help it. I dealt with Newegg, Walmart, wound up returning all that.

The idea of a delivery service throwing the box around made me nervous. I returned one unopened because the box showed signs of really rough treatment. One just had a major screen defect (Newegg) and I arranged a return.

So, I bought a few monitors at Costco, not to be delivered... I picked them up in my car. They likely were shipped to Costco on a pallet and I could pick out the box I wanted, inspect it for damage before walking out with it. I have three 43" 4K TCL Roku TV/Monitors now and feel set for the time being. Ran me $225ea, if that. One of those I got through Rakuten, the first, actually, shipped, and it's OK.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

I had bad luck ordering monitors online and decided it's a bad idea and not to do it if I can help it. I dealt with Newegg, Walmart, wound up returning all that.

The idea of a delivery service throwing the box around made me nervous. I returned one unopened because the box showed signs of really rough treatment. One just had a major screen defect (Newegg) and I arranged a return.

So, I bought a few monitors at Costco, not to be delivered... I picked them up in my car. They likely were shipped to Costco on a pallet and I could pick out the box I wanted, inspect it for damage before walking out with it. I have three 43" 4K TCL Roku TV/Monitors now and feel set for the time being. Ran me $225ea, if that. One of those I got through Rakuten, the first, actually, shipped, and it's OK.

I've been good historically, sorry about your luck. My solitary instance of real bad luck with monitors ordered online was six months ago.

I ordered a 32" ASUS (from Newegg) ... and from day one it had a weird sparkle issue where certain specific shades of blue or gray displayed random flashing gold pixels. Akin to "snow" on a CRT. Never seen a LCD panel do that! Plus, soon after arriving (forget how long) it had a HDMI socket malfunction that made the monitor flicker like crazy - completely unusable at times due to the mostly black screen with flashes of picture. But I could stabilize it by wiggling the HDMI cable - and even go long periods without flicker. So defective I could well have returned it under warranty within 30 days. But I held out (lazy).... until 2 weeks ago it started flickering so horribly I got fed up and ordered a NEW monitor off Amazon - (the one I was bitching about the packaging).
It's been FINE for 3 days now - I'm using it now.

 

[ponyo]

I want same day shipping and delivery. Faster the better. What would be great is if I ordered something at night and the item already delivered and sitting at my front door in the morning when I wake up. Like how newspaper or milk delivery used to be. That's what I want. That's what Coupang does in South Korea. Coupang is like the Amazon of South Korea. In fact, Amazon is not that successful in South Korea because Coupang kicks their ass with crazy fast delivery. Coupang does the overnight delivery. I want Coupang like speed of delivery. I want to move forward and not move backwards in delivery time.

 

[nakedfrog]

I want same day shipping and delivery. Faster the better. What would be great is if I ordered something at night and the item already delivered and sitting at my front door in the morning when I wake up. Like how newspaper or milk delivery used to be. That's what I want.

I've had that happen to me a couple times with Amazon... after I moved to the Seattle area

 

[MrSquished]

I want same day shipping and delivery. Faster the better. What would be great is if I ordered something at night and the item already delivered and sitting at my front door in the morning when I wake up. Like how newspaper or milk delivery used to be. That's what I want. That's what Coupang does in South Korea. Coupang is like the Amazon of South Korea. In fact, Amazon is not that successful in South Korea because Coupang kicks their ass with crazy fast delivery. Coupang does the overnight delivery. I want Coupang like speed of delivery. I want to move forward and not move backwards in delivery time.

Sure. If they pay the workers well and have reasonable shifts and policies. Have it so I can just think of what I want and it's there in an hour, no need to even use a mouse and keyboard. Although South Korea, not so known for very good work-life balance. Though I did read some articles in the last few years that they are making a serious effort to change that because it got pretty bad.

 

[pmv]

Instead of 1-day or 2-day, how about 4-day?

I was speaking to friend of a buddy of mine, who works on Wall Street now but was a mid-level manager in operations at a large Amazon warehouse in the NYC metro area not that many years back. He said it's rough in those warehouses, especially for the base employees, but the pressure is immense on all levels. He said it's true about the bathroom breaks. You get one 15 min break in the morning, 30 min for lunch, 15 min in the afternoon. If you go to the bathroom outside of those time slots, you will have a supervisor marking down your productivity levels and it will affect your record, just like that.

So how about everytime you select 4-day delivery, Amazon workers get an extra break. I'd select that option.

Lately I've been getting shit from other places like REI or JensonUSA (for bike stuff) that I would normally have gotten at Amazon. Although who knows how they treat their warehouse employees, though REI seems like a good company.

Give us a 4-day shipping option Amazon! And charge me a little bit more for that product. Give your employees an extra break and a little raise!

Not a very realistic idea. In any case, it doesn't seem any different from relying on charity - might as well put a box to make a donation to 'Amazon employees benevolent fund'. I can't really accept that the solution to the shortage of decent-paying jobs is to hope people voluntarily donate to the low-paid in a kind of spirit of charity.

Having said that, i don't really get the appeal of Prime's 1 or 2 day delivery. I pretty much am never in that much of a hurry for anything I order from them. And, yeah, the uneasy-feeling I get about how stressed and low-paid the person who has to rush to deliver it to me unnecessarily rapidly is likely to be is a big part of the reason why I don't bother with Prime (apart from that free trial solely for the purposes of catching up on TWD, becuase, you know, the actual real-world wasn't quite depressing and life-force-sapping enough for me, apparently).

I do think there's an issue with the fact because roads are not charged for at the point-of-use, and the polluting and other bad externalities of road use are not accounted for at all, that delivery services get a hidden subsidy, compared to bricks-and-mortar stores.

 

[pmv]

I kind of doubt the delivery truck fuel usage (which was driving a route anyway) is less than me driving to the store and back. The boxes are probably a waste though, I deal with a lot of those lately. At least they are recyclable I guess.

No thanks to extra junk in the box. I already have to much junk that I actually ordered. Let Amazon pay to haul it to the dump.

(a) I never 'drive to the store', as I don't drive
(b) the store probably gets its stock deliveries in bulk on large trucks, not via a vast number of individual van trips for every single small item. The latter is going to use more fuel, create more pollution, and use more road-space, and probably lead to more RTAs.

As far as I can see, the economics of something like Amazon delivery are distorted because the full costs of all those delivery vehicle trips on our roads are not paid for by either Amazon or the purchaser.

 

[ponyo]

Sure. If they pay the workers well and have reasonable shifts and policies. Have it so I can just think of what I want and it's there in an hour, no need to even use a mouse and keyboard. Although South Korea, not so known for very good work-life balance. Though I did read some articles in the last few years that they are making a serious effort to change that because it got pretty bad.

Coupang? They have faster delivery than Amazon and they pretty much promise 6 am delivery if you order before midnight. Do you think the workers are treated well when under that kind of pressure? It's dog eat dog world. Coupang basically beat Amazon back and kicked their butt because they offer faster and better service than Amazon. It's business and war, not let's all sit down and take a nap, drink tea, and sing kumbaya. If not Coupang, there would be some other company eager to take its place. I shop at Amazon because they have quick delivery and cheap prices. If they didn't, I wouldn't shop there.

 

[MrSquished]

Coupang? They have faster delivery than Amazon and they pretty much promise 6 am delivery if you order before midnight. Do you think the workers are treated well when under that kind of pressure? It's dog eat dog world. Coupang basically beat Amazon back and kicked their butt because they offer faster and better service than Amazon. It's business and war, not let's all sit down and take a nap, drink tea, and sing kumbaya. If not Coupang, there would be some other company eager to take its place. I shop at Amazon because they have quick delivery and cheap prices. If they didn't, I wouldn't shop there.

Yeah see, that's where there is a disconnect. Just because a company might be willing to do something, doesn't make it ok. It's been a long time in the making so that companies can't just do what they want, whether abuse humans or abuse the environment. If people want to turn back the clock all in the name of convenience for a few, we are just de-evolving, not evolving anymore. I admit i was all about super fast delivery, but I think I've evolved to see that there are other priorities in the world until we can find a better balance to get both things done right.