Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Well, that shipped quickly

The Bay Area is experiencing its usual winter rainstorms. Two mornings ago I woke up to what seems like an overnight power outage. My white-noise machine (it really helps me sleep) was off, and the clock on the microwave was incorrect. (Internet connected microwave coming up?) So much for buried power lines in this subdivision! Could be worse: at least we didn’t break off into the Pacific Ocean.

The power outage did claim one casualty: the tiny dehumidifier in my bathroom. (I’m on the first level of a house, so it can get mighty humid.) As an avid practitioner of austerity, I initially cursed at this misfortune of having to spend money to replace the device. Then I realized the humidifier was a cheap unit I bought at Costco for like $25, three years ago. I’m surprised it lasted even this long, running all the time, 24/7.

Amazon to the rescue, right? There’s a Target within walking distance to me, but the dehumidifiers there are probably locked behind security glass. That’s what happens when you let thieves get away with crime. Stores’ preventive measures instead inconvenience law-abiding customers. Sorry, I can’t be inconvenienced, especially when Amazon is so convenient.

Because my Amazon-ordered (in the morning) replacement humidifier was delivered three hours later. Free same-day delivery, baby! On the week of Christmas, too. Surely the busiest delivery week of the year. Jeff Bezos and the folks at Amazon deserves all the billions for revolutionizing our shipping expectations. Those who complain of Amazon as this shady and evil corporation: are you willing to give up this convenience?

You get handsomely rewarded for providing a service/product that (a lot) people want. That’s how it should work in a civilized society.

We got the slow shipping

As an avid purveyor of books, I greatly prefer the feel of actual pages than the digital equivalent. Therefore I buy physical copies on Amazon, instead of opting for the Kindle version. The latter is likely kinder to the environment, but the analog texture and smell is worth the sacrifice of a few trees. Besides, I don’t want to give Amazon even more information than I already am: the company is not getting my highlights and reading patterns. It only knows what genre of books I tend to purchase.

In the effort offset some of the environmental impact, I buy used books whenever possible (unless the price difference between new and used is negligible). The downside of this is that shipping takes forever. I am so used to stuff arriving from Amazon in two days (Prime shipping!) that something taking more than two weeks feel downright archaic. Books would show up to my surprise that I had bought it in the first place. Multiple times lately I thought the item for sure got lost in the mail.

It is a busy time for shipping, after all. Everyone is trying to get their holiday shopping in. Amazon managing its own shipping supply chain is a massive advantage over its competition. You’re not handing off a package to Fedex and praying it’s able to keep its delivery timeframe promise. And as a customer, who can you trust but Amazon, when you’ve procrastinated until the last minute to buy presents? It’s far easier to get refunds too should an item arrive late, not that you should abuse this.

What Amazon should offer is the ability to read the Kindle version of a book, until the physical copy I bought actually arrives. That would be so clutch. I’d even buy a Kindle device just for that purpose. Anyone got a line to the current Amazon CEO?

Shipping tip

A quick word of advice: before you head to the local post office/Fedex/UPS location to ship a package, make sure it is prepaid and ready to go. That way, you can skip the long lines and simply drop off the package at the counter. You’ll thank me later for the massive time saved.

Yesterday, I had to ship a package to a friend via USPS, and the service line snaked out of the post office and down the block. Of course, the need for social-distancing probably caused the line to appear longer than it really is, but I would say there’s still significantly more people than a typical year. Due to COVID, the demand for shipping presents this holiday must be tremendous. In lieu of being able to gather, you’ve now got to ship presents out to multiple places. No wonder the wait at the post office is so long.

I had to drop off a package at Fedex as well, encountering a similar situation. Honestly, I did feel a slight smugness, being able to walk pass everyone in line and put the package down at the front desk. Caveat: you’ll have to be okay with not getting a receipt. There isn’t a clerk there to print one out for you. If you insist on a receipt, maybe because it’s a particularly expensive item, then you’ll have to wait in line like the rest of them.

Kudos and shoutout to everyone working in logistics. Surely it’s been tough year, with people buying stuff online more than ever before. The workload right now must be crazy, since everybody is buying presents as well and shipping them out. Despite that, I am still getting my Amazon Prime packages in the promised two days. A great testament to the efficiency and skill of workers and machines.

Healthcare professionals deservedly get most of the publicized glory, but delivery personnel should get a lot of the credit as well for keeping this whole thing together.

Amazon shipping

In strange bit of irony, ever since I suspended my Amazon Prime account about a month ago, I’ve been doing more shopping on the website than ever. Honestly, it would have been nice to receive some of my recent purchases more quickly with the free two-day shipping offered by the Prime membership - such as the portable air-conditioning machine, but alas I had to make do with waiting the few additional days. I’d also forgotten that for non Prime customers, each purchase needs to be over $25 dollars in order to get free (slow) shipping, so sometimes I’ve had to think of more essential items to buy just to get me over that hump.

I am of course quite okay with slow shipping speeds; I wouldn’t have cancelled the Prime account if I didn’t. However, I’ve noticed that the only difference between standard and two-day shipping is a built-in delay for the former. Amazon would hold off shipping items until two days before scheduled, then it gets released to the carriers. Effectively, it’s still two-day shipping, but with a waiting period. My guess is it’s most optimal for Amazon to send all items out via two-day speed, no matter if the customer have paid for it or not. For a customer who doesn’t pay for it, the extra wait is artificial and not caused by anything logistical.

I’m old enough to remember when slow shipping on Amazon actually meant a package a physically took the extra few days to reach my home, and not because it is sat in a warehouse waiting for release. Standard shipping was ground shipping, instead of delayed two-day shipping. I reckon it’s a good tactic to get people to sign up for Prime; like blank buttons in the interior of a base-model car reminding customer of options they didn’t buy, Amazon shows non Prime shoppers like me the power and speed of two-day shipping, and it would be so easy to pay the extra money for a Prime membership to get rid of the artificial delay.

Sorry, Amazon: I’m still not going back to Prime.

Amazon makes it so easy

Amazon keeps making it easier to continue to do business with them.

Just last month, my annual Prime membership with Amazon got renewed, and every year like clockwork I would agonize at how much it costs (nearly $130 now with tax), come to a realization that I wouldn’t want to live without “free” two-day shipping (you pansy), and resign to continue the subscription. I don’t even watch Prime videos that much; it’s purely for the shipping convenience, which is difficult luxury to break away from.

Recently I’ve come to recognize the human toll it takes to ship an item to me so quickly from Amazon: from the overworked pickers at the distribution warehouse, to the freelance delivery person driving their own personal car to carry the package on its final miles. Ignorance is indeed bliss because it all works wonderfully from the customer’s perspective, but once you understand how the sausage is made, it’s very hard to turn the other cheek. This is why as much as possible, I choose the slow shipping option.

Though sometimes I really need an item in haste, so retaining the two-day option is nice. Perhaps one day I can forsake the Prime membership entirely, but as it stands, I am re-upped for yet another year.

This past week I had to return something I bought from Amazon, the first time in a long time. I was all ready to pay for return shipping cost when I was pleasantly surprised with a new option that Amazon now offers: one can simply drop off items to be returned at a local Kohl’s, whereby they will package and ship it back to Amazon for absolutely free. I’m sure there’s further labor exploitation going on here as well to facilitate this, but for me as a customer, this method to return merchandise cannot be more convenient. Plus, it’s far more pleasant to visit a Kohl’s store than the local post office.

Surely the next innovation is flying drones to pick up our return packages, right?

Warehouses full of cars are cool. Exhibit A.

People think shipping should be free

Yesterday my boss complained to me about another person complaining to her about the shipping costs on this big purchase the department is making. The person is stunned to find the cost to ship a container's worth of furniture from Wisconsin to San Francisco - including setup - couldn't and shouldn't possibly be $3,000 dollars.

What did she expect? Free?

I remarked to my boss that Amazon Prime and its free shipping (within two days, no less) have completely ruined people's expectations of what delivery should cost. Just because you can get laundry detergent shipped for free doesn't mean goods of a certain size (say, furniture) can costs equally nothing for UPS to get it to your home.

I'm paying 10 grand for the television: can't you throw in delivery for free?

Amazon Prime sets a bad precedent in other marketplaces as well. Anybody that have tried selling items secondhand (or even firsthand) knows that offering free shipping is huge incentive to entice customers to buy.

So they eat the cost.

I'm starting to think one of the reasons wages have been stagnant is because the poor and lower middle class simply refuse to pay for quality work. They want things done as quickly and cheaply as possible. The rich understands the adage 'you get what you pay for', and have the monetary means to do so. Everyone knows 'Made in U.S.A.' denotes supreme quality but that tool set made in China is half the cost so let's go with that one.

I guess I'm one of those people because man do I love Amazon Prime.