For me, Amazon is slipping.

[njhorror]

Thanks D. We're good for now. I'm just a man of advanced years.

[dannyboy121070]

Sorry to hear of these headaches, NJ...Not something that you need in your life right now.

[Zaharoff]

I ordered Vastarien 2 when it was announced.
When was that, njhorror, the weekend? (I imagine you ordered this as well)
It still has not shipped. And yes, I am not Prime, though I added items to quality for FREE shipping.
I'll get it when I get it.
Not like I ordered dialysis equipment.
Ooh, Amazon sells that too!

[njhorror]

Amazon arrived today. Went from not even being shipped last night, to it being on my desk.

Vendor "ready to be picked up for shipping" ????

I have no idea what's going on anymore. I need a vacation.

[RonClinton]

I've been an Amazon customer for years, and often sang their praises. Not anymore. I want to qualify my rant with "I am not a Prime customer"
In the past I would need to purchase $25, then $35 worth of goods that qualify for free shipping to receive it.
And here's my grievance . . .

The order was placed, and within a day or two the order was shipped, and arrived within a week. No more. I've noticed that my last batch of orders have taken over a week to ship, and these are items that are in stock! This goes for a number of their outside vendors, as well. Stuff ordered from one state away take ten days or more to arrive. I can go elsewhere, get free shipping, and it takes the same amount of time, or less, and I'm not paying a minimum!

I am soft boycotting Amazon. I was tempted to become a Prime member, but no more. Prime membership looks like an endless sales pitch to separate me from my hard earned cash, buying more and more useless things. Jeff Bezos may be on track to be the richest man in the world, but he can go screw himself.

My experience over the last couple of years mirrors yours...things take up to a week to ship (usually closer to 4 or 5 days), so some patience is required as compared to Yesteryear when things shipped within a day or two. I just enjoy the savings and free shipping and exercise patience...I'm too cheap and too ocassional an Amazon customer to go for Prime membership for quicker shipping (or to pay for it on the individual orders). One thing I will give them is that their expected delivery dates (provided, unfortunately, *after* the order is placed) is usually right on the mark when I receive them (extended longer than I'd like, as mentioned, but still on the mark).

[Martin]

The first one is Amazon and the second one is a vendor.

What makes this odd is that the vendors usually ship faster than Amazon, in my case.

Everything "in stock" and blah, blah, blah.

I'm getting too old for this shit.

Sorry your are having problems with Amazon. I rarely have Amazon sourced items take more than a day to ship. It is very rare for the item to not arrive in a day or two.

[Dan Hocker]

The first one is Amazon and the second one is a vendor.

What makes this odd is that the vendors usually ship faster than Amazon, in my case.

Everything "in stock" and blah, blah, blah.

I'm getting too old for this shit.

Interesting. That's the complete opposite from my experience.

[njhorror]

The first one is Amazon and the second one is a vendor.

What makes this odd is that the vendors usually ship faster than Amazon, in my case.

Everything "in stock" and blah, blah, blah.

I'm getting too old for this shit.

[Dan Hocker]

Ordered on July 25th - still not shipped. No excuse.

Ordered on July 25th, Amazon page says it was shipped on the 27th, tracking number from the seller says it has not yet been shipped. No excuse.

Something tells me that this bald ass billionaire is playing people for suckers.

Out of curiosity are these from Vendors or Amazon directly? I've had stuff from vendors take some time to actually ship before, but very rarely Amazon directly. Not really any excuse, but the vendor system on Amazon isn't really all that reliable.

[njhorror]

Ordered on July 25th - still not shipped. No excuse.

Ordered on July 25th, Amazon page says it was shipped on the 27th, tracking number from the seller says it has not yet been shipped. No excuse.

Something tells me that this bald ass billionaire is playing people for suckers.

[Dan Hocker]

I never really liked B&N as a store. I liked Borders a lot though. Borders failure has more to do with them than it did with Amazon though. B&N on the other hand I'm not really sure what their problem is other than for a book store it seems like they carry less and less books every time I'm in one.

[Brian861]

I can't work up any sympathy for B&N or Borders. They crushed the independents here in Richmond when they moved in. Amazon is convenient and pretty easy to use.

Agree. All my book purchases come from independents or small presses.

[mhatchett]

I can't work up any sympathy for B&N or Borders. They crushed the independents here in Richmond when they moved in. Amazon is convenient and pretty easy to use.

[Dan Hocker]

NJ, my man!!!! You said that you can get faster free shipping elsewhere? Good. Patronize those places! We need to keep the competition in business. I try to, because when/if Amazon becomes the only game in town...? We are fizzucked! I like Amazon...I'm a Prime member. BUT....I've seen what happens when Amazon corners the market on a product. They used to have dirt cheap prices on books and comics, but once they put Borders and other booksellers out of business, the Amazon prices on books are not as good. So I try to get books from B&N as much as possible. If Amazon drives Best Buy, Sears, etc., out of business, prices on electronics and appliances will rise. WalMart is another evil empire, but I try to spread my dollars there, as well. Our shopping choices are dwindling, and I don't really want to see Amazon be the only game in town.

I don't think Amazon will ever be the only game in town. It may be that it'll be the only place where you can order everything from, but specialized stores will always exist. There's no "physical item" on Amazon you can't buy somewhere else, but there aren't many places you can buy everything from like Amazon. Amazon's explosion in popularity is two fold, fee / cheap shipping, and the convience of being able to buy everything you could want / need from one store front.

That said on the book front, I do see a day where the larger book retailers go away. It started with Borders, B&N is probably next if they layoff they've experienced over the past year or two are any sign.

[Brian861]

It's not the tech side of Amazon that's bad to work for. It's the warehousing and order fulfillment side. That's why there where all those protests / strikes in Germany on Prime Day. Also I've heard stories from Amazon UK of workers having to pee in bottles and what not. US Amazon isn't as bad, but the employees are underpaid and generally treated as "disposable". The "couriers" for Amazon have it pretty bad too (the people that handle the same day delivery stuff) it's estimated that till you factor in wear on their cars they are actually make next to nothing.

Pretty poor conditions to say the least.