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Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

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Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#141

Post by vijayr »

tristanj wrote: post #2

One look at their finances and it's clear why they're doing this. According to their SEC filings, last year Amazon brought in $6.5 billion in shipping revenue [1], and spent $11.5 billion on shipping costs. Take those numbers together and they lost $5.0 billion subsidizing shipping. They lose more money on shipping every year than most startups make in a decade. It's a huge cost on their budget, not hard to see why m…

The problem isn't they increased the minimum order for free shipping or even that they charge for shipping - it is the deceptive advertising/wording. Among the big companies, Amazon has a reputation for treating their customers well (even if they screw their suppliers, workers etc). That seems to be slipping.

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#142

Post by rahimnathwani »

petecooper wrote: post #121

Prime subscriber here, though it's the UK model (next-day delivery on many things, plus Amazon Video as a perk). My approach on it is somewhat different to many others here. I can order some stuff before 8pm and have it delivered next day. Things ordered earlier in the day (pre-noon) could be any courier, but the post-6pm orders are almost always delivered by DPD to my area (north Cornwall, EX23 postcode). Talking wi…

"though it's the UK model (next-day delivery on many things"

I order a couple of books today, for delivery to London. As Prime customer, I was offered several free options:

- same day delivery (6pm-10pm if I recall correctly) - next day delivery - timed delivery (day after tomorrow, within a 4 hour window)

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#144

Post by koyote »

joefarish wrote: post #137
koyote wrote: post #130

Amazon without prime is just frustrating at this point (and the price for prime is not worth it for the majority of people). In the UK minimum shipping is £20: I recently bought an item for £19.99 and had to buy a random tiny item for £0.10 so that I do not get charged £4 for shipping. Both items arrived separately...

£0.01 sim-card for next time: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vodafone-Pay-You-Sim-Card/dp/B00299J...

Ah, nice one!

Can't believe I paid the extra 9p for a pill box instead :)

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#145

Post by ascagnel_ »

tracker1 wrote: post #96
cookiecaper wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would behoove Amazon to have a network of "customer pickup centers" where you can order something on Amazon, it gets shipped by Amazon itself to a customer pickup center via air, and the customer drives to close off the figurative "last mile". Alternate idea: Amazon builds a central warehouse in each major metro that contains the most-ordered items for that area, has trucks that run out to UPS Stores and d…

I think that Amazon, may in the end be better off starting their own shipping company. It may sound weird, but I'm half surprised they didn't buy Uber or Lyft, not for the ride service, but for the drivers and the logistics in place. Large trucks from warehouses, to meet drivers in individual vehicles at drop spots, for final deliveries.

Amazon has their own shipping company, although I've found it to be subpar compared to passing the shipments off to the USPS or FedEx (largely because their deliveries don't have access to existing maildrops or mailboxes).

The recently rolled-out same-day delivery uses their shipping service without a handoff.

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#146

Post by koyote »

kartickv wrote: post #140
koyote wrote: post #130

Amazon without prime is just frustrating at this point (and the price for prime is not worth it for the majority of people). In the UK minimum shipping is £20: I recently bought an item for £19.99 and had to buy a random tiny item for £0.10 so that I do not get charged £4 for shipping. Both items arrived separately...

In that case, the customer-friendly move would have been to charge you £0.10 for shipping rather than £4. As things stand, you had to waste time buying something you didn't want, increasing Amazon's costs, and others who did not discover the trick would have been unhappy. I wouldn't mind if the minimum shipping limit goes up, since it's a simpler system — I don't have to waste time figuring out these loopholes.

Yeah that is exactly my point.

Additionally Amazon has added more and more hurdles to the buying process such as add-on items and items shipped from a merchant who has his own shipping charges which do not count towards the 'free shipping minimum'. All of these things make the whole buying process for the customer ever more frustrating.

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#147

Post by ascagnel_ »

TD-Linux wrote: post #99
frik wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Prime-nag-screen on every checkout is so annoying as well. The "no thanks" cancel link is very small and changed its location the last few months. Increasing the delivery time just to introduce Prime (I lived in an early test region of Prime back then). Loyal customers that buy from the online shop since 1999, don't count anymore. If I as customer decide that I don't want your subscription service, better respect…

Don't worry, as a Prime member they just replace that nag screen with one to watch Prime Video.

Prime Video, and some of the other non-shipping Prime services, are really getting on my nerves. They can't be cheap to operate and generally have a limited-enough selection that I don't bother checking them anymore (for example, the only notable books on their Kindle Lending Library service are Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, while everything else pushes you to the for-pay Kindle Unlimited). Add to that the awful UI work they do (they mix Prime and non-Prime, for-pay video, the completely confusing Amazon Music interface, etc), and it's a boondoggle they need to seriously re-think.

The flip-side of that is they do run some programming that likely wouldn't find a home anywhere else (Transparent is excellent, and I highly recommend watching it if you'd like something to challenge your world-view).

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#148

Post by devicenull »

Klathmon wrote: post #136
freyr wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past year or two, I've noticed a dramatic rise in the number of counterfeit products. If you buy directly from Amazon, it generally seems ok, but all bets are off when you buy from a third party. I've also noticed the increased gaming of the reviews system. If you read reviews of many of the highest rated products, you often find that most are shills who are given products for free in exchange for "fair and un…

For me it's the amount of spam i'm getting asking for reviews. One of the big reasons i shop with amazon is so i know that i don't need to deal with making another account, giving someone else my CC info, getting relentless spam email every week telling me to buy more. But now sellers are using the "contact customer" system to beg for reviews, and it's starting to get annoying enough that i want to avoid amazon. Just…

And Amazon's answer to all this seller spam is "oh, just unsubscribe from it". Completely missing the point that I'd have to do this once per seller.

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#149

Post by hacknat »

chx wrote: post #19
deftnerd wrote: post #9

This is just assuming that they'll even let you order $49 worth of items in one box. I let my Amazon Prime lapse because I was rarely using it. A few weeks ago I decided to do a bulk order. I ordered 18 items with a total of $110. They split my shipment into three packages of approximately $50, $50, and one item by itself in another box for $10. Since one of the boxes didn't have $35, they tried to charge me shipping…

I believe if you buy Amazon items then, even if they split the shipment, they won't charge you. The above sounds like you were buying from different merchants.

I agree. I literally just did this and got free shipping, even though the items were spread out.

Re: Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

#150

Post by mbreese »

cookiecaper wrote: post #77
mdasen wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a certain way, isn't that like saying BestBuy spend $X billion on storefront real-estate and made $0 in people paying in "walk-out-the-storefront-with-your-item" charges? Shipping revenues will never cover shipping costs as long as they provide even one free shipment a year (and don't overcharge people paying for shipping). Shipping is one of those costs that you have to pay like having storefronts. The goods have…

I think it would behoove Amazon to have a network of "customer pickup centers" where you can order something on Amazon, it gets shipped by Amazon itself to a customer pickup center via air, and the customer drives to close off the figurative "last mile". Alternate idea: Amazon builds a central warehouse in each major metro that contains the most-ordered items for that area, has trucks that run out to UPS Stores and d…

> I think it would behoove Amazon to have a network of "customer pickup centers" where you can order something on Amazon, it gets shipped by Amazon itself to a customer pickup center via air, and the customer drives to close off the figurative "last mile".

They have these. Or at least, they are trying them out. In addition to the Lockers (which are scattered around at other stores), at least in Cincinnati, there is an honest to goodness Amazon pickup location. IN addition to normal shipping, you can get same-day pickups from anything that is at their local warehouse (maybe from their Indianapolis warehouse too?). I think this is more like an Amazon branded, dedicated locker site than a store front. But, at this point, that's all they need.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_CIN

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