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Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

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Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#51

Post by briandon »

llaappqq wrote: post #37
briandon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taobao is ecommerce with Chinese characteristics (i.e. clown-world style) and I say this as someone who has been using Taobao multiple times a week for years. There's having to get on AliWangWang and chat up sellers to make sure they actually have stock of the items they're listing for sale. If you optimistically order without spending ten minutes going back and forth with them beforehand, your purchases may not ship…

Just as a few others have mentioned, I too never have such problems using Taobao. The way I use it is with the app, click to sort by number of sales, and usually buy from one of the top sellers. I don't usually talk to the sellers unless I have questions about the stuff I'm about to buy, and I turn off the notification for the app so 80% of the time I just never reply the seller. They might still send the message ask…

I believe you and I'm glad that you have such a smooth experience on Taobao. I wish that it were as hassle-free for me, my wife, her coworkers, and pretty much anyone I've met who has used Taobao.

Here are two recent examples of my having to interact w/sellers on WangWang. Top half of screencap: have to confirm address or they won't ship. Bottom half of screencap: other seller waits two days to tell me that the stuff I bought was out of stock and I should apply for a refund (the items are still for sale on that shop btw).

https://twitter.com/briandonovan/status/1125353433110700032

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#52

Post by briandon »

atr_gz wrote: post #36
briandon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not complaining about delivery times (i.e. the time from logistics service pickup to delivery). I know that China is a developing country and logistics operations in China have a ways to go. Once an order gets moving, it will arrive in a few days. What's aggravating are the delays in shipping (the time that passes after you pay and before the seller hands off the order to a logistics service provider) and the ex…

Yeah, weird that you have so many problems. I've never experienced any of that. Those delivery times I gave above are from the time I ordered the product. I've never spoken with any seller.

Frankly, I envy you.

Here are two recent examples of my having to interact w/sellers on WangWang. Top half of screencap: have to confirm address or they won't ship. Bottom half of screencap: other seller waits two days to tell me that the stuff I bought was out of stock and I should apply for a refund (the items are still for sale on that shop btw).

https://twitter.com/briandonovan/status/1125353433110700032

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#53

Post by briandon »

thetechlead wrote: post #23
briandon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taobao is ecommerce with Chinese characteristics (i.e. clown-world style) and I say this as someone who has been using Taobao multiple times a week for years. There's having to get on AliWangWang and chat up sellers to make sure they actually have stock of the items they're listing for sale. If you optimistically order without spending ten minutes going back and forth with them beforehand, your purchases may not ship…

Don't lie about your experience living in China. There is already too much China-related misinformation on HN. For 99% of the time, you go straight to click-n-buy which should get your order delivered on time, and for the 1% you prefer to talk to the seller the option is a blessing, not a curse. I used to work for Alibaba.

Here are two recent examples of my having to interact w/sellers on WangWang. Top half of screencap: have to confirm address or they won't ship. Bottom half of screencap: other seller waits two days to tell me that the stuff I bought was out of stock and I should apply for a refund (the items are still for sale on that shop btw).

https://twitter.com/briandonovan/status/1125353433110700032

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#54

Post by detaro »

cameronbrown wrote: post #47
wtmt wrote: post #42

While this discussion is about Amazon's shipping coverage, surely I cannot be the only one concerned that Amazon is going to destroy (more than it has already done) many other competitors and that consumers would be left with one large store that can exploit them any way it wishes to! This is increasingly scary to me, since Amazon is now the largest online retailer (in my knowledge) in India too. Walmart's purchase o…

There's plenty of room for competitors to breathe on the niche end of e-commerce. Etsy, for example is doing great, and I don't see how Amazon could take their market at all. Also, physical stores clearly have some value for Amazon themselves to be opening them, and at that point they're going to have a much tougher time competing - cool tech notwithstanding.

Amazon has actually tried getting in there ("Amazon Handmade"), but not with much success as far as I can tell.

But Etsy also has some of the problems that Amazon has: They've not done a great job at enforcing their "handmade" standard, and you'll find resellers of off-the-shelf mass.produced stuff there too.

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#55

Post by Shivetya »

tracer4201 wrote: post #8

I own a decent number of Amazon shares. I’m sure they can ship most places, but to any Amazon management folks reading this - is the longer term plan to kill Amazon.com the store? The experience has gotten somewhat akin to EBay. It seems like it’s intentional, but I can’t tell. There are any number of shady sellers selling the item I want to buy. I have to manually click often times to ensure I’m buying from Amazon.…

Okay, as a shopper of both sites I have to say one thing. I have never had an issue with a dispute on Ebay and they act on the dispute faster. They put forward the rules and follow it.

With regards to the article.

First I am amazed it was cost effective to buy such a huge fleet of vehicles and train the delivery people than use existing providers. Just on observation with my nearly thirty mile commute I can see quite a few of their trucks running about. Oddly I still can get items from Amazon delivered by both them and UPS even on the same day though that frequency has dropped. Wal Mart was not much better, having a shipment split and both arrive separately on the same day, one Fed Ex Home and the other regular Fed Ex.

Second, one day delivery only works if the product isn't excluded some how. There have been more that a few items marked "Prime" that have disclaimers on ship time.

Two day is more than fine for me. Plus knowing that everything arrives on two days lets me be prepared. If something randomly arrives one day and the rest on the second it is a bother. Another site I use (nuts.com) can get me any order in two days from New Jersey to Atlanta so I don't see Amazon as all that special. Just have an efficient warehouse with good arrangements with your shipper.

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#56

Post by benbristow »

tyopiuy wrote: post #21

Haha, except their last mile delivery which is really flaky because they use their own logistics and drivers

Amazon's 'last mile' has definitely gotten better recently. Started showing you a live map when the driver is getting nearby.

What they need to fix is the crazy estimates and deliveries that may turn up from anytime from early morning to "up to 9PM".

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#57

Post by tyopiuy »

whoisjuan wrote: post #24
tyopiuy wrote: post #21

Haha, except their last mile delivery which is really flaky because they use their own logistics and drivers

Last mile, in general, is shit. Not only Amazon's. That's where most innovation is needed.

Ups, fedex, dhl for last mile in the USA is still 100x better than Amazon’s last mile (yes, that’s two orders of magnitude !!)

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#58

Post by [deleted] »

benbristow wrote: post #56
tyopiuy wrote: post #21

Haha, except their last mile delivery which is really flaky because they use their own logistics and drivers

Amazon's 'last mile' has definitely gotten better recently. Started showing you a live map when the driver is getting nearby. What they need to fix is the crazy estimates and deliveries that may turn up from anytime from early morning to "up to 9PM".

[deleted]

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#59

Post by criddell »

tracer4201 wrote: post #8

I own a decent number of Amazon shares. I’m sure they can ship most places, but to any Amazon management folks reading this - is the longer term plan to kill Amazon.com the store? The experience has gotten somewhat akin to EBay. It seems like it’s intentional, but I can’t tell. There are any number of shady sellers selling the item I want to buy. I have to manually click often times to ensure I’m buying from Amazon.…

Years ago I submitted feedback on their website asking for a switch to limit search results to stuff sold by Amazon itself.

Anytime I find something I want to buy but it is sold by a third-party, I have to go through the list of other sellers and look for Amazon. A switch would save me time.

Re: Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population in a day, map shows

#60

Post by EADGBE »

leeoniya wrote: post #12
ENOTTY wrote: post #10

Honestly I think this map shows just how empty the rest of the country is.

https://xkcd.com/1138/

If it were true for this example, St. Louis metro and Kansas City metro would be swapped.

EDIT: Looks like the population ranking has swapped! My apologies!

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