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A free shipping mystery

romain.goyet.com

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Re: A free shipping mystery

#11

Post by the-dude »

Animats wrote: post #10

It's a combination of subsidies in China [2] and really low Universal Postal Union rates for terminal delivery from China to the US.[1] Terminal delivery in the US is about $1/Kg. Market rate from Shentzen to Long Beach to ship a container is about $1200 right now. [1] http://fortune.com/2015/03/11/united-nations-subsidy-chinese... [2] http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp396.pdf

In the Netherlands our postal service has already stopped delivering packages from China to your door ( very recently ). They just slip in a statement 'pick up here & here'.

I guess they thought it was too much work too.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#12

Post by atirip »

They most likely buy shipments in bulk. Volume is predictable, so they ask postal office(s): approx y packages, approx x size, how about z dollars in total for a year?

Re: A free shipping mystery

#13

Post by tyingq »

Animats wrote: post #10

It's a combination of subsidies in China [2] and really low Universal Postal Union rates for terminal delivery from China to the US.[1] Terminal delivery in the US is about $1/Kg. Market rate from Shentzen to Long Beach to ship a container is about $1200 right now. [1] http://fortune.com/2015/03/11/united-nations-subsidy-chinese... [2] http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp396.pdf

>>Market rate from Shenzhen to Long Beach to ship a >>container is about $1200 right now

Just so there's context, the actual cost is much, much higher than $1200. That's just the payment for the ocean journey. The other costs are factory to port (varies), insurance+docs (few hundred), destination port charges ($1k or so), customs bond, and then the actual duty for the imported items. Lastly, of course, getting the container from the dock to where you are to unload it.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#16

Post by vdnkh »

As an aside, I've been screwed several times by Prime's "guaranteed two-day" shipping. I had package which was very late December last year. When I went to the USPS tracking page to check the location, it turns out Amazon had requested the 8 day shipping option. After several angry calls I finally had the item cancelled and a new one on the way with Saturday shipping (the lower-tier rep said that it wasn't possible, so I elevated to the manager). Lo and behold, about a month later my original item showed up and I had to return it immediately. This was my worst experience, but not my first with late shipping. I've never had so much as a prime extension offered for my trouble.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#17

Post by Someone1234 »

I agree with the article, the term "free" is widely misused. Which is strange given the available options in the English language: bundled, included, prepaid, incorporated, et al.

If something costs $99 it isn't free. Free is no cost. $99 is not no cost, therefore $99 is not free. Just as text messaging isn't a "free" part of your $30/month cellphone plan, it is an included part however.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#18

Post by dsmithn »

vdnkh wrote: post #16

As an aside, I've been screwed several times by Prime's "guaranteed two-day" shipping. I had package which was very late December last year. When I went to the USPS tracking page to check the location, it turns out Amazon had requested the 8 day shipping option. After several angry calls I finally had the item cancelled and a new one on the way with Saturday shipping (the lower-tier rep said that it wasn't possible,…

You have to ask for the prime extension. I've ordered probably 100 items and the few times an item was late I just chatted with an amazon rep and a month of prime was added.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#19

Post by joesmo »

vdnkh wrote: post #16

As an aside, I've been screwed several times by Prime's "guaranteed two-day" shipping. I had package which was very late December last year. When I went to the USPS tracking page to check the location, it turns out Amazon had requested the 8 day shipping option. After several angry calls I finally had the item cancelled and a new one on the way with Saturday shipping (the lower-tier rep said that it wasn't possible,…

I paid for Prime and had my account cancelled for "too many returns," something that doesn't exist in any of their terms of service. Late and lost packages all the time, that goes without saying. Fuck Amazon.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#20

Post by CPLX »

vdnkh wrote: post #16

As an aside, I've been screwed several times by Prime's "guaranteed two-day" shipping. I had package which was very late December last year. When I went to the USPS tracking page to check the location, it turns out Amazon had requested the 8 day shipping option. After several angry calls I finally had the item cancelled and a new one on the way with Saturday shipping (the lower-tier rep said that it wasn't possible,…

The problem might be Amazon here in this specific case, but I'd hazard a guess that this is just a subset of the massive drop-off in service that Amazon is experiencing due to a major transition to using USPS instead of UPS.

Here in NYC Amazon delivery has gone from being amazing and magical to nearly worthless seemingly overnight with this change. UPS (and Fedex) didn't seem to have any trouble delivering even to challenging buildings without doormen, giving accurate tracking etc. Now every time I see USPS as the option I cringe knowing the package won't be delivered, there won't be a door tag left, and at some random arbitrary time the status will change to "attempted delivery" even if someone was sitting on the front porch waiting for it the entire time.

It's getting really bad, we'll see how long it takes Amazon to figure it out.

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