Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#251

Post by BoiledCabbage » Wed, May 15, 2019, 9:47 AM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #250

alasdair_ wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may make sense if the inverse of percentage of people that actually go to the trouble of returning a bulky item multiplied by the margin is higher than the shipping cost of a new item.

It's pretty easy. I've done this with hard drives that I had already installed. Just printed the return label for the higher priced item, and slapped it on the box and gave it right back to the carrier when he delivered the same, lower priced item.

Yes, but it doesn't matter if you do it, it matters if most people do it. His argument (which I believe) is that notably fewer people will do it if they have to return the item and get a new one.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#252

Post by astura » Wed, May 15, 2019, 11:37 AM UTC

djakjxnanjak wrote: post #248

treis wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's one of a few things that perplex me about Amazon Their price match policy is pretty silly too. I bought a robo vacuum that got a $150 off promotion a week later. They were unwilling to refund me the difference but are willing to let me return the old one for a full refund while buying a new one at the discounted price.

There is a startup called Paribus that was doing automated claims for Amazon price drops. Amazon locked down the policy after a while.

There's actually several companies offering this service, Earny is another one.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#253

Post by fqw3b58w4n6 » Wed, May 15, 2019, 1:32 PM UTC

steveeq1 wrote: post #225

igetspam wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends who you think is in the right. In return for money, a merchant guaranteed a specific delivery date. I paid my money, they failed to to deliver. I contacted them and told them they needed to pick a new shipper. I ordered again. Again I paid money and they guaranteed a delivery date. Again they failed to deliver. Again I contacted them saying they needed to pick a new shipper. Each time they fail to live u…

Amazon, since you used the words "gamed the system".

Lol

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#254

Post by octocode » Wed, May 15, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #80

sp332 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has been getting people to sign up to have their homes, cars, garages etc. open to delivery people for stuff that they've ordered. I figure it's only a matter of time before they start warehousing stuff you haven't ordered there. Maybe you can just wander out to your car and browse, scan whatever looks good with your phone and take it. (Hopefully kidding but I guess you never know what people will trade for "c…

John Deere already does that for common parts. They put a shelf in the farmer's shed with oil, filters, belts... and the farmer takes out what is needed. Once a week the dealer comes by and refills whatever is missing, and once a month sends a bill. No need for any of the scanning as you take it out: you are the only one with access to the cabinet so if it is missing you bought it.

TIL, thats pretty cool and makes a lot of sense. I used to work at a mine and we'd break expensive parts all the time, the supplier would have to ship them in from halfway across the world. They should really do something like that.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#255

Post by mcphage » Wed, May 15, 2019, 7:02 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #147

mcphage wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've assumed that's been coming for a while—Amazon ships you something they think you'll want, and you ship it back if you don't. There are probably legal hurdles, but.

Starting with the fact that, in the U. S. at least, if you didn't order it, you get to keep it. IANAL, but that could probably be signed away in the agreement or something.

I think there are ways around it. I get a book every year from Cooks Illustrated, and I don't ask for it, but about a month before they send it, they send me a letter telling me "we're going to send you this book unless you respond back to this letter". Which is really scummy, but I do want the book, so I let them.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#256

Post by wpietri » Wed, May 15, 2019, 11:48 PM UTC

duckfruit wrote: post #197

wpietri wrote: post #33

What I wonder: why did it take them this long? Walmart has warehouse-sized stores that are close to almost everybody. And most of America's houses are already visited 6 days a week by a delivery person. Walmart could and should have made a deal with the USPS a decade ago. It would have been great for all concerned. Instead, they let Amazon practically own the concept, eating away at their huge distribution advantage.

I can attempt to answer this. (Disclosure: Used to work at Walmart, though as an engineer not an ops person). Most of the stores are optimized for in store shopping. What this means in practice is that the actual back rooms where the products are stored are relatively tiny (on the order of less than 10-15% the floor space of a typical Supercenter). The whole operation is designed so that the trucks can be unloaded as…

Thanks! This is very interesting.

I agree that to do it efficiently at scale, you need to change a lot. But they could easily have started with an Instacart-like approach, where every night when the stores are empty they have people pull and pack from the regular stock. That gets them into the game, and as buying habits change, they can start optimizing for the patterns that emerge. There are a lot of levers they can pull to keep that from disrupting store operation, including geographic rollout, limiting product selection, and marketing spend.

That's not optimal, of course. But neither is waiting until Amazon has a huge lead. So I still feel like they weren't thinking far enough ahead at a business level. Which as Clayton Christensen has shown, is pretty common for successful businesses.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#257

Post by mikestew » Thu, May 16, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

mcphage wrote: post #255

mikestew wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starting with the fact that, in the U. S. at least, if you didn't order it, you get to keep it. IANAL, but that could probably be signed away in the agreement or something.

I think there are ways around it. I get a book every year from Cooks Illustrated, and I don't ask for it, but about a month before they send it, they send me a letter telling me "we're going to send you this book unless you respond back to this letter". Which is really scummy, but I do want the book, so I let them.

I hope you didn't pay them for it. Telling me up front you're going to send something, while expecting payment, unless action is taken on my part does not absolve them of letting you keep the item free of charge.

Put another way, shit shows up in my mailbox for which I took zero action? Mine now.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#258

Post by freehunter » Fri, May 17, 2019, 6:50 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #236

freehunter wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart's bad practices by far predate the founding of Amazon and have been well-documented. Walmart moves into towns and undercuts prices on locally-owned stores, putting them out of business and destroying Main Street America. They demand products sold on their shelves reduce the quality enough to make the items disposable, which forces the manufacturing offshore to China or Mexico, further destroying American town…

Good riddance to those "main street" stores and their overpriced business model.

Yup. Good riddance to downtowns, to store owners who put their customer and employee needs before pure profit. Good riddance to community, to knowing your neighbor, to walking. Good riddance to sustainable pricing and sustainable wages.

Much better that we drive out of town to Walmart, pick up dinner at the drive-through, drive home, and never have to talk to anyone or walk on a sidewalk. Much better that the profits leave the town, the county, the state, and move to a corporate headquarters. Much better than the main economic center for a town is outside city limits so the city gets no tax revenue to maintain roads, schools, and water/sewer service. Much better that the taxpayers subsidize those rollback prices that force their employees onto food stamps and welfare checks. Much better that you can buy something so cheaply that when it breaks you just throw it in the ocean and buy another one.

Good riddance to America. The United States of Amazon is just so much more convenient.