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Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

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191–200 of 253 posts

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#191
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fitting problem in online retail is well known, and some companies have already worked on it: for shoes: http://shoefitr.com/ For clothes : fits.me or "clothes horse" or others. I wonder what prevents amazon from introducing such technologies at scale ?

shoefitr is so close. Now let me scan my foot instead of "I mostly fit into size X", and you've got a great solution.

Scan? A picture of my foot next to a ruler, please. Or some other standard-sized reference object, like an electrical outlet.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of those distribution centers is on the outskirts of Reno/Sparks, yet Reno is not included in this for whatever reason.

Not enough people to make it worth hiring the fleet of delivery people.

Over 225,000 people (which is destined to grow as the job market continues to expand; Tesla's Gigafactory is one of several potential sources of employment within the next half-decade), and they already hire a boatload of Reno residents for the distribution center there; hiring a handful of delivery people and picking up a few more delivery trucks would be a drop in the bucket for them.

Oh well. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before drone deliveries become the norm.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#193

In LA, Amazon same day delivery didn't deliver on the same day in 2 of 3 orders. The order that was delivered same day came at 10pm, much too late. Of course, I only ordered same day delivery because I actually needed the item that day. I was trying to save a car trip (an especially valuable feature in LA), but had to go out and buy the items anyway. The people who deliver same day seem to be freelancers, who don't s…

Same day delivery has always worked for me (4 of 4), but they do come late, always after 9pm, and it's always a private vehicle (white Chevy Astrovan). I live in Woodland Hills, if that makes a difference. The closest warehouse Amazon has is in San Bernardino, but 2 of my packages had tags that said Burbank, so they must have a smaller distribution center there.

I have noticed that if you add an item to your wish list and later buy it, with prime it will arrive the next day, not 2-3 days. I think Amazon ships items in your wish list to a warehouse close to you if they are not there already, but I can't prove my theory.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#194

I've noticed that Amazon has totally changed my shopping habits from 3-5 years ago. Clothes and household expendable items are almost entirely purchased on Amazon (even if I just want to try on a pair of boots). Prime Subscription or Pantry takes care of most of the rest. I don't need to drive to Costco anymore or spend time walking around Wal-Mart. I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered…

Instacart?

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#195
post #86

I've noticed that Amazon has totally changed my shopping habits from 3-5 years ago. Clothes and household expendable items are almost entirely purchased on Amazon (even if I just want to try on a pair of boots). Prime Subscription or Pantry takes care of most of the rest. I don't need to drive to Costco anymore or spend time walking around Wal-Mart. I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered…

In the UK supermarket deliveries are well established. My family gets 2 or 3 Ocado deliveries a week (they have a Prime equivalent where you pay £11 a month to get free deliveries on orders over £40, within a one-hour time slot, usually available at about 24 hours' notice). Add that to Amazon, and I basically now only shop in shops when size/fit or feel are crucial — clothes, shoes, etc. And I really resent this — I'…

I've found a lot of / increasing variation amongst units of the same clothing item, here in the U.S. For jeans and casual slacks, for example, I've become accustomed to taking several units of the same measure to the dressing room and selecting those that fit best. Individual units often vary quite significantly, even when from the same stack in the same store.

I'm not much of a clothes hog nor shopper, but LL Bean has had the most regular cuts that I've found, in my quite limited experience. I used to be able to order an item and, if the same size in that item had previously fit me, count on the new item fitting. Although more recently, while using one of their stores, I found more variation in their jeans. I'm glad I didn't order my last batch by mail and have to return 1 or 2 out of 5.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#196
post #86

I've noticed that Amazon has totally changed my shopping habits from 3-5 years ago. Clothes and household expendable items are almost entirely purchased on Amazon (even if I just want to try on a pair of boots). Prime Subscription or Pantry takes care of most of the rest. I don't need to drive to Costco anymore or spend time walking around Wal-Mart. I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered…

In the UK supermarket deliveries are well established. My family gets 2 or 3 Ocado deliveries a week (they have a Prime equivalent where you pay £11 a month to get free deliveries on orders over £40, within a one-hour time slot, usually available at about 24 hours' notice). Add that to Amazon, and I basically now only shop in shops when size/fit or feel are crucial — clothes, shoes, etc. And I really resent this — I'…

Most brands of jeans do the same cuts every year - just different washes. I personally am a fan of diesel jeans (waykee).

Shoes are more tricky...

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#197
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced the opposite last year. after cancelling Prime my shipments became extremely slow.

Same here. And it's not a matter of the actual shipping taking longer. I noticed that once I stopped subscribing to Prime, my orders would wait a few days to a week before shipping and then get to me the next day. It feels like, since I'm so close to a distribution center they can only make Prime worth my while by sitting on the packages longer unless I pay them. And probably the only time I paid extra to have someth…

That's right. The shipping itself was fast but orders would just sit for days and sometimes weeks before being shipped.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#198
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many places have great return policies, so it doesn't really matter anymore. There are places that specifically encourage you to buy like 2-3 pairs of shoes for example and ship back the ones that don't fit. If you are normally a size 10.5 shoe you can happily order 10/10.5/11 and then send the 2 that don't fit back for free. http://www.zappos.com/ is a good example. free shipping both ways.

Good point, but I find there are 3 obstacles to this. 1) Many shoes (and most jeans too) don't fit me in whatever size — either the fit is more complicated than a simple scalar, and/or sometimes I'd need a size somewhere between two of the sizes offered. 2) Returns on the scale needed are thus generally a bit of a pain. 3) I suspect that the overhead of paying for lots of returns makes these services rather dear, and…

For me your #2 is the deal breaker. If I have to box a bunch of stuff back up and drop it off somewhere it's more hassle than shopping at a brick & mortar shoe store. There would have to be a huge price advantage to make it worthwhile.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you factored in all the free samples and the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo? That might change your calculus. :)

For real, though. I can easily turn the free samples into my lunch whenever I'm there.

Sure, but you have to subtract out the expected value of your cardiac care.

Re: Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

#200
This is why Amazon gave in on state sales taxes. In order to pull this off they needed to expand their distribution network, which meant having a "presence" which would have put them on the hook for taxes anyway.

I'm curious to see if they'll pull it off. There's a lot of wreckage from previous attempts that failed.

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