Is this normal?

[Zen]

Hello folks, my problem is real simple. This past August-3-2011 I placed several orders on Amazon.com! These items purchased qualified for their free "super saver shipping". The order was broken up into 3 parts, 2 of the 3 parts are in transit, ones in Oakland CA., ones in Richmond CA. But one of the shipments hasn't even been shipped yet, it hasn't moved, on-line I can't prove that their even working on fulfilling this order. All they are saying is "SHIPPING SOON"!

Take a look....

As you can see, the estimated dates of arrival are August-11-2011 to August-13-2011, I traced the company that would be shipping this, it's based in San Diego California, about 550 miles away, should I be worried about not getting this package on time? Is it normal for a company to wait till the 11th hour and mail a shipment out. I never paid them for overnight shipping, just their regular standard free super saver shipping, which isn't the fastest shipping speed in the world! Since ordering, up until now, no movement, no nothing!

Anyone experience this with ordering through Amazon.com?

Think I'm going to get this package on time?

Any thoughts.....?

 

[mailpup]

I can't speak to the specifics of your case but order status information isn't always kept up to date. For example, occasionally when I try to track a UPS package, it will seem to have stalled somewhere because there is no updated information, yet it gets delivered on time despite the lack of tracking information. I wouldn't panic yet. It's not late yet.

 

[Zen]

Thanks mailpup for the uplifting words, and sharing one of your experiences when dealing with UPS!

Looks like I was kind of worrying over nothing, guess what folks, since posting that image to now........well you can see it for yourself.....

Looks like the delay in shipping bumped the estimated delivery date to August-15-2011, I guess I can live with that, not the original date I was promised, but at least the package got off it's duff and is moving!

550 miles, I could drive that in a day, heck I have, Sacramento to L.A. then to San Diego taking the family to Sea World about 5 years back, about 9.0 to 9.5 hours or close to it, this shouldn't take that long!

I hope!

 

[captaincranky]

Amazon "Super Saver" shipping is more or less designed to make you pay for shipping. In some cases it is given to DHL Freight, who then gives it to the USPS >> NOT UPS. In other cases it may go to a Fedex "sortation center". (You can google that). The tracking info from these sources is not as good as UPS ground. Actually nothing is, but sometimes even they miss posting a scan or two.

Amazon's computer is programmed to deliver "form letter" type responses. So, for all intents and purposes, on occasion, it is bull s****ing you. Computer in stock counts may not equal actual stock counts, and they'll stall until a shipment arrives.

With that said, "free shipping" is best accepted from places like Newegg or Adorama Camera, rather than Amazon. Amazon hasn't screwed me yet, but for me, their free shipping is always a white knuckle ride. Yikes!

Newegg won't accept as order on an OOS item, and will cancel an order outright if they find an inventory discrepancy

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

In my experience, Amazon's free shipping has seriously degraded in the last year or so. As captain said, there is sometimes a third-party courier service involved in the shipping process and that can add many days to the delivery window. Handling times have also increased. Just this week I received two items via Amazon's free shipping that took 15 business days to hit my doorstep.

Again, as captain said, it's not exactly "free" either. In my experience Amazon seems to undercut other merchants by a buck or two after shipping is factored in (say, $23.99 with "free" shipping versus $19.99 plus $4.99 shipping). You're still paying for shipping, just slightly less, and the service is always worse. I imagine Amazon can afford to do that because they're large enough to get subsidized contracts with shipping companies -- though that's purely speculation on my part.

 

[Zen]

Again, as captain said, it's not exactly "free" either. In my experience Amazon seems to undercut other merchants by a buck or two after shipping is factored in (say, $23.99 with "free" shipping versus $19.99 plus $4.99 shipping). You're still paying for shipping.

So what is this game Amazon is playing? So an item as you said costs $23.99 and qualifies for their "free super saver shipping"! But if I get you right, and the good Captain, the item for Amazon in reality is $19.99 and by saying it costs $23.99 and qualifies for "free shipping" is a fricking farce. The shipping isn't free, if I take this right, I'm still paying for the bloody shipping, all the while Amazon makes a couple bucks off me and lies about the "free shipping"! :evil:

I'll remember this next time I shop Amazon, might reverse their little trick, buy something that doesn't qualify for the "free super saver shipping", buy the item and pay for overnight delivery, let's see what those "third party couriers" do with that! :evil:

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Hello child, did you know that on sale items are quite often not actually on sale, but simply market up and put on discount?
Did you know that buisiness has a lot of "lies" in it, and a "farce" should probably be expected?
Did you know that nothing is free on the market? (Someone is paying for it somewhere)
Did you know that you're not actually paying for only the product, but storage, inventory, labor, shipping, tariffs, markups, and who knows what else?

But you don't have to think about all that. Really, if you get it for cheaper than you'd find anywhere else, stop complaining. It hardly matters what portions you're paying for shipping and what you're paying for the product, just look at the final price. If it's lower than other places, order from them and try to be satisfied.

IMO, Amazon is not a bad dealer. They get the products to you usually within a week, they're prices are usually competative (if they're not, look somewhere else.), they have super saver shipping, and they're not too difficult to work with. Certainly better than many.

Not at all worth any sort of uproar IMO.

 

[red1776]

Hk,HK,HK...why so hostile?:wave:

 

[Arris]

I often spent a good 10 minutes looking at the check out screens for the same item from several sites. And often I find the cheaper site will be sticking on a £6.99 delivery charge, while the more expensive site will either have free or much cheaper delivery making it the better option in the end. Got to check out all the costs before hitting the order button nowadays. List price "cheaper" isn't always cheaper.

 

[captaincranky]

So what is this game Amazon is playing? So an item as you said costs $23.99 and qualifies for their "free super saver shipping"! But if I get you right, and the good Captain, the item for Amazon in reality is $19.99 and by saying it costs $23.99 and qualifies for "free shipping" is a fricking farce. The shipping isn't free, if I take this right, I'm still paying for the bloody shipping, all the while Amazon makes a couple bucks off me and lies about the "free shipping"! :evil:

I'll remember this next time I shop Amazon, might reverse their little trick, buy something that doesn't qualify for the "free super saver shipping", buy the item and pay for overnight delivery, let's see what those "third party couriers" do with that! :evil:

You're really over thinking this.

First, all "next day delivery" options are extravagantly priced, and certainly aren't bounced around between multiple carriers.

BTW, all carriers are "third party couriers". Have you ever seen an "Amazon Shipping Corporation" truck on the street?

The first step up from "super saver shipping" is UPS ground. I bought a $400.00 monitor from Amazon, and gladly paid the 23 bucks for that service! For a 20 buck Lava light and a CD, super saver is good enough.

Amazon's price is Amazon's price. You're going off about a business model that's been around for decades, if not centuries.

When Newegg places an item on sale, the shipping method is the same as if it wasn't on sale. So, if a DVD drive is on sale for 20 bucks, and they offer "free shipping", then the shipping is by UPS ground. Had they not offered "free shipping, it would have been at least 5 dollars. Now, that's a bargain. You just can't get it everyday, and you certainly can't depend on being able to get it exactly when you want or need it!

So, quit carping about Amazon's shipping / pricing model, is what it is. Buy the majority of your s*** someplace else if you're not happy with it.

I don't buy much of anything other than camera, musical instruments, electronics, and music or DVDs on the web, (that's the, "all my toys" category), and 95% of that, comes from other places than Amazon.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Hk,HK,HK...why so hostile?:wave:

Reality can be harsh sometimes .

You're really over thinking this.

I would agree...there isn't a point in delving too much into this, as I said.

 

[Zen]

Well sorry that I even had a "feeling" or "thought" here! I guess I was just wasting people's time here by my possible venting or by asking a question!

Next time I guess I won't "over think" this whole buying and shipping process!

 

[captaincranky]

Well sorry that I even had a "feeling" or "thought" here! I guess I was just wasting people's time here by my possible venting or by asking a question!

Next time I guess I won't "over think" this whole buying and shipping process!

Well, I think you have some other issues at bay which you're allowing to influence the content, direction, and gravity of this issue. Take a deep breath, and relax. Either that or 5 migs of Xanax. Always a pleasurable little, "time out" IMO.