Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

--
Peter Crosland

Reply address is valid

Peter Crosland wrote:

I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain from delaying despatch.

Maybe they commit to a "job lot rate" with the couriers, so they delay
the free deliveries to smooth out peaks and troughs?

On 12/08/2014 10:05, Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!


Lots of firms differentiate products, with small increments costing a
lot. I found that Amazon were usually quite good about delivering early,
but yes if they want you to pay extra for next day delivery they have to
hold up the cheapo service deliberately.

GB wrote:

I found that Amazon were usually quite good about delivering early,
but yes if they want you to pay extra for next day delivery they have to
hold up the cheapo service deliberately.

Certainly I have had occasions where I've not paid extra for quicker
delivery, yet it has arrived at first class speeds.

On 12/08/2014 10:05, Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

At a guess it has nothing to do with delivery but staff utilisation. The
staff at the Amazon warehouse will pick orders beginning with the ones
that have paid for next day delivery. When they have finished them then
if any more next day orders have come in they will go back and do those
first. Only if there are no more next day delivery orders to pick will
the pick yours.

There is probably also something in the system that prevents your order
sitting waiting for four weeks or more at times of high orders like
Christmas. Say, if your order has still not been picked after five day
then put it in the next day queue.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:49:52 AM UTC+1, Andrew May wrote:
On 12/08/2014 10:05, Peter Crosland wrote:

Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over �10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

At a guess it has nothing to do with delivery but staff utilisation. The
staff at the Amazon warehouse will pick orders beginning with the ones
that have paid for next day delivery. When they have finished them then
if any more next day orders have come in they will go back and do those
first. Only if there are no more next day delivery orders to pick will
the pick yours.
There is probably also something in the system that prevents your order
sitting waiting for four weeks or more at times of high orders like
Christmas. Say, if your order has still not been picked after five day
then put it in the next day queue.

Robots rather than staff though.


NT

wrote:

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:49:52 AM UTC+1, Andrew May wrote:

At a guess it has nothing to do with delivery but staff utilisation. The
staff at the Amazon warehouse will pick orders beginning with the ones
that have paid for next day delivery.

Robots rather than staff though.

no, staff as robots ...

http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...an-robots.html

wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:49:52 AM UTC+1, Andrew May wrote:
On 12/08/2014 10:05, Peter Crosland wrote:

Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over �10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or
is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

At a guess it has nothing to do with delivery but staff utilisation. The
staff at the Amazon warehouse will pick orders beginning with the ones
that have paid for next day delivery. When they have finished them then
if any more next day orders have come in they will go back and do those
first. Only if there are no more next day delivery orders to pick will
the pick yours.
There is probably also something in the system that prevents your order
sitting waiting for four weeks or more at times of high orders like
Christmas. Say, if your order has still not been picked after five day
then put it in the next day queue.

Robots rather than staff though.

Has anyone found any logic in the way china does things post wise ?

They are amazingly cheap, lots of small stuff is available for just $1
total cost including the postage. But with a real downside that it
can often take 3-4 weeks to arrive. What is in it for china post to
have the stuff sitting around for that long in some warehouse ?

Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

I always select free delivery and the time varies greatly - sometimes
it's next day. I think it depends on how busy they are and various
random factors.

What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:27:03 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:

What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.

I wonder why they might possibly want to do that...? scratches head,
genuinely baffled

In message , Adrian
writes
On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:27:03 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:

What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.

I wonder why they might possibly want to do that...? scratches head,
genuinely baffled

Another annoyance... if you have card details stored, there appears to
be no way of paying via a different card.

--
Tim Lamb

On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 11:54:45 +0100, Tim Lamb wrote:

Another annoyance... if you have card details stored, there appears to
be no way of paying via a different card.

Add another card to your account, you then get offered a choice of
which card to use? Mine has my CC and daughters DC for when she wants
to buy music.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 8/12/2014 6:54 AM, Tim Lamb wrote:
writes
On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:27:03 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.
I wonder why they might possibly want to do that...? scratches head,
genuinely baffled

Another annoyance... if you have card details stored, there appears to
be no way of paying via a different card.

Really?
I have a number of cards (business and personal) registered with them,
and three different addresses (in two countries)- I've had no trouble
choosing how to pay and where to ship, when checking out.

In message , S Viemeister
writes
On 8/12/2014 6:54 AM, Tim Lamb wrote:
writes
On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:27:03 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.
I wonder why they might possibly want to do that...? scratches head,
genuinely baffled

Another annoyance... if you have card details stored, there appears to
be no way of paying via a different card.

Really?
I have a number of cards (business and personal) registered with them,
and three different addresses (in two countries)- I've had no trouble
choosing how to pay and where to ship, when checking out.

As Dave says... you have to register the other card before placing the
order. I try to avoid using them because of their tax avoidance ethics.

--
Tim Lamb

On 12/08/14 11:54, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , Adrian
writes
On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:27:03 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:

What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.

I wonder why they might possibly want to do that...? scratches head,
genuinely baffled

Another annoyance... if you have card details stored, there appears to
be no way of paying via a different card.

You add the new card to your customer account


--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll

On 12/08/14 10:27, Mike Barnes wrote:
Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

I always select free delivery and the time varies greatly - sometimes
it's next day. I think it depends on how busy they are and various
random factors.

What I don't like is that Amazon won't allow you to set free delivery as
your default. You have to select it for every purchase.

Remember the vast majority of stuff on amazon is not actually from
amazon: they do the shop site, the payment processing and underwrite the
transaction BUT the stuff is being shipped from 'man in a shed'
operations quite often.


I had to wait 2 weeks for one part. I guess the guy actually made it
specially



--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll

On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 13:26:14 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Remember the vast majority of stuff on amazon is not actually from
amazon: they do the shop site, the payment processing and underwrite the
transaction BUT the stuff is being shipped from 'man in a shed'
operations quite often.

There's three categories of stuff...

Sold by Amazon.
Sold and fulfilled by ManInShed.
Sold by ManInShed, fulfilled by Amazon.

In article ,
Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!


Your parcel gets put in a queue for picking based largely on space on
dispatch vehicles (they ship a known number of lorry loads a day with
various carriers). Free delivery gets fitted into an available slot once
the paid for options have been scheduled. Once it gets to some time after
ordering (IIRC, it's 4 days) if you've still not been scheduled onto a
truck then you get a position in the queue to ensure it's not always stuck
in waiting state.

If they are quiet, or you are ordering something that happens to fit with
a particular courier well (lithium battery containing products often jump
the queue for example) then you'll get it early. If you want a promise of
early dispatch then you pay. If you feel lucky, you wait :-)

What annoys me is that I (with a prime membership) can't select a delivery
day. Orders are automatically delivered next day, but often I want to order
something for delivery "the day after next". Not an option :-(

Darren

On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:31:16 +0000, D.M.Chapman wrote:

What annoys me is that I (with a prime membership) can't select a
delivery day. Orders are automatically delivered next day, but often I
want to order something for delivery "the day after next". Not an option
:-(

Order it the following day?

D.M.Chapman wrote:

What annoys me is that I (with a prime membership) can't select a delivery
day. Orders are automatically delivered next day, but often I want to order
something for delivery "the day after next". Not an option :-(

Order it tomorrow ... simples ;-)

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
D.M.Chapman wrote:

What annoys me is that I (with a prime membership) can't select a delivery
day. Orders are automatically delivered next day, but often I want to order
something for delivery "the day after next". Not an option :-(

Order it tomorrow ... simples ;-)

Hah, but the price has often gone up again then.

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ is interesting to show just how much
amazon move their pricing around...

In article , D.M.Chapman
writes
In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
D.M.Chapman wrote:

What annoys me is that I (with a prime membership) can't select a delivery
day. Orders are automatically delivered next day, but often I want to order
something for delivery "the day after next". Not an option :-(

Order it tomorrow ... simples ;-)

Hah, but the price has often gone up again then.

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ is interesting to show just how much
amazon move their pricing around...

Very interesting site thank you.

Using an outdoor lamp example from a recent thread gives:

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B002MXF98Q

(lowest price £10 below current)

Even more interesting when 3rd party price box is ticked (current 3rd
party price 15quid cheaper, highest price 5quid less than Amazon's
cheapest and lowest price 15quid cheaper than Amazon's lowest).
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

In article , fred wrote:
In article , D.M.Chapman

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ is interesting to show just how much
amazon move their pricing around...

Very interesting site thank you.

Using an outdoor lamp example from a recent thread gives:

http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B002MXF98Q

(lowest price £10 below current)

Indeed. I use it a lot (I use amazon a lot - shoot me).

Set up a twitter account to link to it, then set up twitter to SMS you
messages from camelcamel.

I now flag things I want, set a target price and then get texts when it
hits the target. Use amazon app to then purchase the item from my phone.

Have saved hundreds over the last year or so with this. Dead handy :-)
They get an affiliate payment if you purchase through the links on their
site - more than happy with that.

Darren

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:05:32 AM UTC+1, Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over �10.

Probably worth pointing out that Amazon hiked the price of Prime to £79/year a few months ago, so watch out for it auto-renewing.

Not sure how they justified the previous price given that nothing ever turned up the next day...

On 12/08/14 15:27, mike wrote:
On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:05:32 AM UTC+1, Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over �10.

Probably worth pointing out that Amazon hiked the price of Prime to £79/year a few months ago, so watch out for it auto-renewing.

They also added their streaming film service to the package, whether you
want it or not.

Not sure how they justified the previous price given that nothing ever turned up the next day...

I have Prime, had it since it started, I order from Amazon 2 or 3 times
a week and I can remember maybe twice or three times over the years that
things have taken 2 days. I've even ordered on Saturday for Sunday
delivery a few times recently.

On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:05:32 +0100, Peter Crosland wrote:

Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

I think it's more to do with whether it makes up a full van/lorry.
--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 12/08/14 10:05, Peter Crosland wrote:
Amazon offer free delivery for item costing over £10. I ordered two
widgets that were shown as being in stock. If I had been willing to pay
I could have had them delivered the next day. As it was not urgent I
chose the free option. These in stock items were not despatched until
four days after ordering them. I just wonder what benefit Amazon gain
from delaying despatch. Is it because they hope you will pay extra or is
there some other reason that I have not realised? Just curious!

I have often opted for free delivery and it has arrive earlier than
expected. OTOH last week I paid for next day delivery and it was delayed
(I suspect bad weather had something to do with it.) A lot of the time
orders are split and two parcels arrive on the same day from different
warehouses.
I don't think dispatch is delayed, but if you have not paid for priority
and things are busy you will go to the back of the queue. Or you item
will go on the longer but cheaper route.

--
djc