Isn't Amazon Prime the best?

@Freeway, you have really bad luck with things the rest of us have great luck with. Someone above said 124 orders and no delivery problems. I don't know how many orders I place a year but it's a few a month, and I think I had one delivery problem all year. Overall, I am intensely satisfied. I've been using them heavily for years for a huge variety of merchandise.

@Freeway sorry you've had a series of bad experiences ... i'm really surprised, as others have mentioned, most of my packages arrive early, and now with same-day delivery I have grown to rely on the service quite a bit. The same day delivery is done by lazership, a company I have had bad experiences with in the past, but have recently had only good experiences to share. And Saturday and Sunday delivery for free is also pretty amazing... I really think they have mastered their logistics. Perhaps when you tried them, things were not as ironed out yet? worth trying again ... I've been a member since 2008, but only recently have I come to depend on the service much more.

Can't risk not getting my packages on time. Don't have hours a month to spend calling amazon nearly every time I buy something. 

The plus side is that actual physical businesses like Unique Photo, get my money.

All of my packages from Amazon have arrived on time - I ship them to my husband's office since we live on a well-traveled street.   I hate to shop and actually started shopping on the Internet after I broke my ankle and couldn't go in person.   I try to shop local  - toy-type gifts at one of the toy stores in South Orange or Maplewood and if I need a kitchen item for myself or as a gift I go to Kitchen ala Mode, but local is harder and harder for me.  There was a time I did all my Christmas shopping in South Orange or Maplewood, but those days (and those stores) are gone.

I'm struggling to think of the last time I had trouble with an Amazon order. I made some wacky changes to a subscribe and save over the summer and it got wonky. Sent one email, got a same day apology and the following day we got our diapers (wipes? applesauce? not sure - definitely wasn't something for me).

A great story about Amazon's service:  I couldn't find a certain rice mix in any of the grocery stores but it was sold on Amazon by the case.  So I bought a case.  Turns out the contents of the case of rice didn't match the outer box or the page on Amazon.  I called them, they apologized, said to keep the case and they'd send a new one the next day.  Next day (a Sunday) I got another case of rice, again wrong!  They said keep the case.  I said this is like $75 worth of food, why won't you take it back?  They said, just enjoy it.  I didn't want it, so I donated it to my local soup kitchen.

My two cents: Prime is generally fantastic, but anything not actually sold by Amazon is much more likely to be screwed up (like: one action figure instead of four -- I don't trust "fulfilled by all that much), and anything very small or lightweight is more likely to be late because they'll ship it USPS to save money. 

(Lately, at least here in WO, a lot of my Amazon deliveries have been coming during the day in white vans, sometimes with an Enterprise logo on them, sometimes with an Amazon logo slapped on as well/instead, and sometimes with a driver wearing an Amazon hat. Not sure what's up with that, but they're on time and I'm not complaining.) 

I have NEVER run into Amazon Prime shipping via the FedEx/USPS combo (FedEx Smart Post) or the UPS/USPS combo (UPS Mail Innovations, where the "innovation" is that they'll lose your package), but plenty of other places do it all the time for their free shipping, and even when it's not a problem it's a problem because the USPS tracking is so pathetic you have no idea where your package is. (And either does the USPS.) 

All in all, Prime is great, and the post office is awful. Except when they deliver for Prime on Sundays, which is weirdly perfect. 

Yeah, clearly Amazon is seemingly throwing all they can at the delivery issue at times - one of my deliveries was brought to my porch by a guy who got out of a suburu hatchback which was full of brown amazon boxes.  Perhaps Amazon should start their own courier / package deliver service (and maybe corrugate plants too).

kenboy said:

(Lately, at least here in WO, a lot of my Amazon deliveries have been coming during the day in white vans, sometimes with an Enterprise logo on them, sometimes with an Amazon logo slapped on as well/instead, and sometimes with a driver wearing an Amazon hat. Not sure what's up with that, but they're on time and I'm not complaining.) 
. 

lanky said:

Perhaps Amazon should start their own courier / package deliver service...

They have, actually.  The de rigeur white panel led truck with Amazon logo!

peteglider said:

lanky said:

Perhaps Amazon should start their own courier / package deliver service...

They have, actually.  The de rigeur white panel led truck with Amazon logo!

Seconded, I've had several items delivered by Amazon's own shipping service.  IIRC from the tracking they're based out of Elizabeth.

That's kind of the nice thing about using Amazon for everything....even though you might not be patronizing local businesses, you're still employing a lot of local people who might not be able to find work otherwise.  So I'm totally, TOTALLY okay using Amazon.  There are fewer and fewer reliable jobs for people who might not have a hs/college education, or maybe don't have up-to-date computer skills.  I used to work at a community court where we did job training skills for ex-offenders, and delivery type jobs were always a huge win when we could secure them.  More deliveries, I say!  MORE!

Amazon Increases Free Shipping Minimum on Orders

Starting Monday, February 29, 2016, those without Prime will have to pay more to get free shipping.
Amazon has quietly raised the free-shipping requirement, meaning you'll have to add $50 worth of goods to your cart to get free shipping.  Before Monday, you could get free shipping with any purchases totaling at least $35, or any book purchases totaling at least $25.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-increases-free-shipping-minimum-on-orders-2016-2

Oh, that's a big jump. I did finally bite the bullet and get Prime recently when they had some kind of sale. Prior to that I would just wait until I had $35 worth of stuff, no big deal.

How much do you use Pantry? How do you know what will fit into a single box?

BrickPig said:

We have never received an incorrect item in an Amazon order, Prime or otherwise.

We've had exactly two packages that arrived late. One package last year arrived one day late. There was a snowstorm on the specified date, the package arrived the following day, and we received an apology email even though we did not complain. The same thing happened again just this week; package was scheduled to arrive Monday night, actually arrived Tuesday morning. Again, we received an apology even though we did not complain.

Given that both incidents happened during or in the immediate aftermath of a snowstorm, I think it's pretty understandable. I would also point out that it's not at all unusual for us to receive Amazon Prime packages earlier than specified.

I'd consider it a fairly good deal if Prime shipping were the only benefit. Prime Pantry makes it a great deal. Factor in the video streaming, music service, & photo backup and I call it a bargain.

Pantry calculates how full your box is as you shop.

debby said:

How much do you use Pantry? How do you know what will fit into a single box?

BrickPig said:

We have never received an incorrect item in an Amazon order, Prime or otherwise.

We've had exactly two packages that arrived late. One package last year arrived one day late. There was a snowstorm on the specified date, the package arrived the following day, and we received an apology email even though we did not complain. The same thing happened again just this week; package was scheduled to arrive Monday night, actually arrived Tuesday morning. Again, we received an apology even though we did not complain.

Given that both incidents happened during or in the immediate aftermath of a snowstorm, I think it's pretty understandable. I would also point out that it's not at all unusual for us to receive Amazon Prime packages earlier than specified.

I'd consider it a fairly good deal if Prime shipping were the only benefit. Prime Pantry makes it a great deal. Factor in the video streaming, music service, & photo backup and I call it a bargain.

AS j_r said, there's a little calculator that shows you how much space is left as you fill your Pantry box. To answer your other question, we use it (Pantry) quite a lot. The convenience is incredible. We order often enough that we could very easily cancel our Costco membership* if not for the fact that we go there to buy hamburger in bulk for our dog's raw diet. 

*In the interest of full disclosure, I should say I have not done any kind of cost comparison between Pantry and Costco. Also, Pantry doesn't offer bulk sizes like Costco does. Still, it's click, click, click, fill the box. A few days later, bring the box in off the front porch. Hard to beat that.

I guess I need to check out pantry.  In most cases, I prefer to buy regular rather than bulk sizes anyway.

Don't you still have to pay for the Movies? We signed up for prime because they had a movie and thought this could be worth the annual fee if we got enough free movies (like how Netflix works), but it still would have cost us to watch the movie wanted. Canceled Prime the same day when we realized that. But, this was about a year ago. Are movies/shows generally free now?

project37 said:

I love Amazon Prime because I get:

- Music, movies and tv shows (including HBO) that I can download to my phone to enjoy my commute (don't have to kill my data plan with streaming)


- Unlimited cloud photo storage

- And the shipping

 New releases are not free. Generally, older movies and less popular movies are the free ones.

Yeah there's a range, same with TV shows. They have a lot available for free but not everything.

I'm sure all the small retailers (especially booksellers) that Amazon has driven out of business are thrilled at all the new job opportunities in delivery.

From a study titled "Amazon and Empty Storefronts":

In 2014, Amazon sold $44.1 billion worth of retail goods nationwide, all while avoiding $625 million in state and local sales taxes.

That is the equivalent of 30,000 retail storefronts, 107 million square feet of commercial space, which might have paid $420 million in property taxes.

A total of more than billion in revenue lost to state and local governments, $8.48 for every household in America.

Amazon also operated 65 million square feet of distribution space, employing roughly 30,000 full-time workers and 104,000 part-time and seasonal workers.

Even counting all the jobs in Amazon distribution centers, Amazon sales produced a net loss of 135,973 retail jobs.

Take a look at the data particularly for NJ, and consider the true cost of Amazon Prime.

jimmurphy said:

 New releases are not free. Generally, older movies and less popular movies are the free ones.

It's kind of similar to Netflix but with the option to pay for something you really want to watch that isn't available for free. We don't use it much because the search doesn't seem to filter for free shows.

RobB said:

jimmurphy said:

 New releases are not free. Generally, older movies and less popular movies are the free ones.

It's kind of similar to Netflix but with the option to pay for something you really want to watch that isn't available for free. We don't use it much because the search doesn't seem to filter for free shows.

They seem to have updated that ... and the Xbox app works better than my 'SmartTV' version in that it let's you filter for Prime movie or Prime TV only and they don't show non-Prime stuff in your Watch list on the Xbox app that I can tell.

That was what really annoyed me I would spend like an hour or so one random day and fill up the watchlist and it could take months to go through and usually when I saw something on the watchlist and was like YES I want to watch that it had already cycled off of Prime and was back to pay only. Didn't give me the warm fuzzies.

Now if I don't see what I can't watch for free then it's all good.

I've clicked through the screens so often now that I no longer really pay attention to exactly what they say, but using Prime through my TiVo there's an icon that says something like "Prime Streaming" or "Prime Videos" that only shows the free stuff.

I order my books from the Maplewood Library. I order online and they tell me when ready for pickup, sooner if in stock and later if need interlibrary. It is very well priced.

I also use Amazon for other stuff.  I have never had a delivery problem either from USPS UPS or FEDEX with Amazon or EBay or anyone either receiving or sending  

I dislike spending time looking for what to watch on Amazon itself (or Netflix or FIOS, for that matter) because the search function is clunky. Instead I Google around for good curated lists, and check at metacritic.com:

http://www.metacritic.com/feature/now-streaming-on-amazon-instant-video