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Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

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Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#81

Post by wlesieutre »

bpeebles wrote: post #58
wlesieutre wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that when I tip online for pizza it automatically gets bumped to the lowest priority of all of the driver's deliveries. He already has my money, and prioritizing all of the cash-tip orders over mine gives more potential for earning tips. Of course, my sample size is too small to say anything conclusive. After it felt like I was noticing a pattern a couple of times I just switched back to tipping cash.

When I've tipped online for pizza, and tip pretty well, I tend to get my pizza very quickly with a driver wanting to please me (like one time an order was messed up slightly and he immediately drove back and brought a new one without me even asking). My vague guess is that if you leave an above-average tip on an online order, the order gets immediately grabbed my a delivery person since they know they'll get at least…

Ah, I was probably tipping more average amounts. But most of the time I just walk in to town and pick things up myself, so very small sample size.

Next time I order delivery I'll have to try a giant tip and see what happens.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#82

Post by arrrg »

stronglikedan wrote: post #69
Avshalom wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tipping ahead of time ensures that driver gets paid. Which is a bit more important than whether you're first or last during a delivery run.

Prompt service ensures a good tip. The driver will get paid either way, and he'll get tipped either way. However, since the tip reflects the quality of the service, the amount cannot be determined ahead of time. I'd never stiff the driver though, regardless of how bad the service is.

I don’t think your assumption holds for repeat interactions. Drivers want to get consistently tipped, so they do have an incentive for treating people who already tipped them well, namely insuring that those people will remain customers.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#83

Post by philwelch »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #72
philwelch wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nearest Walmarts to Seattle are in Renton and Bellevue. The nearest Walmarts to New York are either in New Jersey or upstate. There are Walmart "Neighborhood Markets" in Chicago, but the big box stores that they famously scale with are in the suburbs. There seems to be a Wal-Mart in LA, but not downtown, rather in the area that seems like a bunch of suburbs concatenated together. There are a few in Houston, mainl…

Hm, it looks like you're right. I should live in those places before talking about them. It just seemed odd to say that Amazon has an advantage where Wal-Mart doesn't. The announcement says Amazon is offering the service in Manhattan, but there's a Wal-Mart supercenter just 30 minutes away: http://i.imgur.com/oHS2h43.png Do you feel Amazon can make good headway in dense city areas? It seems like if Wal-Mart can't fig…

Wal-Mart has B&M locations that you travel to (and if you've seen a sitcom in the last 30 years you know that "just go to New Jersey" isn't a popular solution for New Yorkers). Amazon ships the stuff to you. Now they do it in an hour, if you're in New York. That's as long as it would take to get to Walmart and back, except you can continue living your normal life instead of driving to New Jersey.

(Also, New Yorkers don't drive. So that Wal-Mart in New Jersey is closer to an hour away by transit.)

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#84

Post by ics »

icebraining wrote: post #44
ics wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a draw on cost too, as Prime prices are sometimes inflated beyond other stores or even the regular retail price. As for convenience, those without a doorman always think twice before placing orders online.

As for convenience, those without a doorman always think twice before placing orders online. I think that's one of the major gains of cheap/free fast delivery. It's easier to order if you know you'll get it during the next hour or two when you'll be at home, instead of "tomorrow".

Agreed, which is why I'm interested in this service. In the past I've only used Amazon for large orders when I know I'll be around for 2 days to receive packages during the day.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#85

Post by elsurudo »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #72
philwelch wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nearest Walmarts to Seattle are in Renton and Bellevue. The nearest Walmarts to New York are either in New Jersey or upstate. There are Walmart "Neighborhood Markets" in Chicago, but the big box stores that they famously scale with are in the suburbs. There seems to be a Wal-Mart in LA, but not downtown, rather in the area that seems like a bunch of suburbs concatenated together. There are a few in Houston, mainl…

Hm, it looks like you're right. I should live in those places before talking about them. It just seemed odd to say that Amazon has an advantage where Wal-Mart doesn't. The announcement says Amazon is offering the service in Manhattan, but there's a Wal-Mart supercenter just 30 minutes away: http://i.imgur.com/oHS2h43.png Do you feel Amazon can make good headway in dense city areas? It seems like if Wal-Mart can't fig…

> just 30 minutes away

That's 30 minutes (each way) of my time, though. No such problem with delivery.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#86

Post by guelo »

What I don't understand about the big retailers is why they haven't been doing something similar all along to compete with Amazon.

Amazon has been building warehouses all across the country near cities to reduce shipping times. But the retailers already have what amounts to hundreds of warehouses at every population center, plus the inventory management systems. Why haven't they put their inventories online and offered same day delivery to neutralize Amazon?

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#87

Post by tesseractive »

mrtron wrote: post #75
tesseractive wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's in no way clear that Amazon wins on selection. In 25K SKUs, Amazon will have electronics, but almost certainly hace fewer SKUs than a dedicated electronics store. They will have groceries, but not as many as a grocery store. They will have clothing and housewares, but surely only a small sampling relative to Macy's. I shop at Amazon Fresh in Seattle sometimes, and the selection is significantly trimmed relative…

They are starting with 25k SKUs. They have the potential to have infinite SKUs in this program, while brick and mortar stores are limited to shelf space. That being said, it might make sense to keep the selection artificially small for multiple reasons.

Depending on how much volume you have, inventory turns are an important gate on how many items you can afford to carry. And I would imagine that there are practical limits on how many SKUs you can pull stock from and still deliver in an hour.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#88

Post by walterbell »

slayed0 wrote: post #80
walterbell wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For personal deliveries, tip with cash, set online tip to zero. For corporate deliveries, tip online according to corporate policy, no personal decision needed.

Regarding your first point, changing the tipping medium does not solve the underlying problem. Tipping sucks.

Have you experienced customer service in countries where there is no tipping? It is often entertaining and involves unpredictable "extra work". Perhaps digital reputation systems will provide a stick to replace the carrot of tipping, unless labor laws evolve to impose Fair Reporting on mobile logistics data.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#90

Post by chavesn »

walterbell wrote: post #88
slayed0 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your first point, changing the tipping medium does not solve the underlying problem. Tipping sucks.

Have you experienced customer service in countries where there is no tipping? It is often entertaining and involves unpredictable "extra work". Perhaps digital reputation systems will provide a stick to replace the carrot of tipping, unless labor laws evolve to impose Fair Reporting on mobile logistics data.

Wishing for ultra-fast delivery with no tipping is NOT the same as wishing for tipping to go away altogether.

Tipping is helpful when there is likely to be a high variation in customer service.

In a small-item delivery scenario the customer-vendor interaction is 0-15 seconds. How much tipping variation do you expect there to be?

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