Day Two to One Day • Hacker News Board

Re: Day Two to One Day

#11

Post by bredren » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

coreyrab wrote: post #3

yuy910616 wrote: post #2

As Ben said...revenue has not showed up. I really wonder if going from 2 days to 1 day is as valuable to consumers, and as impactful on revenue, to going from say 1 week to 2 days. We might not see revenue increase for years, and revenue is going to become more expensive. However, if AMZ continue to invest in difficult logistical challenges, the small marginal gains in shipping time might suddenly add up to a leap: i…

Going from 2 days to 1 day has always felt more like a luxury to me – and one I am willing to pay for when needed. For 95% of the purchases I make 2 day shipping is more than quick enough.

Luxuries have a way of becoming the norm. iPhone was a luxury, where Ballmer infamously laughed at its sky high price. [1]

1 day seems unnecessary sometimes, but more often it is fighting back trips to local retail for me. I.e. Terro Ant Bait with the recent change in weather in Portland.

[1] https://youtu.be/eywi0h_Y5_U

Re: Day Two to One Day

#12

Post by throwawaywindev » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

I wonder if the increased “harvesting” has to do with Bezos getting older.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#13

Post by iikoolpp » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

TIL one-day (or, even same-day) amazon shipping isn't a thing outside of the UK?

Re: Day Two to One Day

#14

Post by a_bouncing_bean » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

iikoolpp wrote: post #13

TIL one-day (or, even same-day) amazon shipping isn't a thing outside of the UK?

Only in major city's metro areas in the USA.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#15

Post by emiliobumachar » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

I guess it might be a net good environmentally. Packaging is bad, but driving to the nearest store to get a single item could be worse. Convenient delivery will decrease the latter.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#16

Post by JackFr » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:22 PM UTC

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

If Amazon owns the truck, it's not the Uber of anything. They're truck drivers.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#17

Post by JackFr » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

groby_b wrote: post #7

coreyrab wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going from 2 days to 1 day has always felt more like a luxury to me – and one I am willing to pay for when needed. For 95% of the purchases I make 2 day shipping is more than quick enough.

fwiw: Many of us dinosaurs remember when you ordered things on Amazon, and it took a week and cost shipping. Prime, and 2-day shipping, felt like a luxury you don't need. (And many of us thought long and hard if we should spend, and then it turned out to be really convenient...) And those of us from the Triassic period even remember the days before Amazon, where you went to a bookstore, and you hoped they had a book…

> And those of us from the Triassic period even remember the days before Amazon, where you went to a bookstore, and you hoped they had a book that you needed, and if not, oh well, we can get it in 4-6 weeks.

And that's if you knew it existed. If you were looking for an esoteric subject it was not trivial to discover what books on the topic were in print.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#18

Post by vinay_ys » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:34 PM UTC

justaguyhere wrote: post #10

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus I'd guess it is not that they don't know or they can't fix it, it is that they just don't care. Considering the resources at their disposal, they can fix this problem easily. It is probably not (yet) a problem big enough to hurt them financially, so they don't put any effort into it. Every decision is probably purely driven by financial motive.

As you get bigger, the people organization becomes more complex. Changing the simplest of things become a complex song and dance of internal political posturing and maneuvering. Then changing people's mindsets and attitudes become even more difficult as people above them fear they will kill the golden goose if they try to change the mechanisms of how people work. This is a problem as old as time itself. This is why smaller startups disrupt bigger companies.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#19

Post by truebosko » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

emiliobumachar wrote: post #15

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

I guess it might be a net good environmentally. Packaging is bad, but driving to the nearest store to get a single item could be worse. Convenient delivery will decrease the latter.

Read a piece recently on how Uber is primarily used by people who are a) fairly well off and b) have access to transit or other options to get to work

This argument you make reminds me of that. Most people taking advantage of Amazon One-Day delivery are in urban centres, and most of them are likely doing OK, and most of them can likely walk or take public transit to get what they need

Re: Day Two to One Day

#20

Post by SamBam » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:37 PM UTC

emiliobumachar wrote: post #15

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

I guess it might be a net good environmentally. Packaging is bad, but driving to the nearest store to get a single item could be worse. Convenient delivery will decrease the latter.

Except that's the last mile, and I think a small proportion of the total carbon footprint.

I think the question of whether same-day delivery is good or bad boils down to whether the goods are able to be trucked across the country in an efficient manner. If the company has switched to many more smaller trucks, which may be less than completely full, then it's a negative.