This is YMMV! While surfing around on Amazon I noticed a new promotion on some product pages. Amazon offers you a discount on products IF you select “No Rush Shipping” instead of a faster shipping option. I tested this with a Prime account, a non-Prime account, and without being logged in, and all three show the same promotion. However, Amazon runs all kinds of experiments on offers, so I have no way of knowing how well spread out these are.
Here is an example. You get offered a $10 off discount on the current price of the 2TB Western Digital External Hard Drive. What’s interesting the discount varies. For example, the 4TB is $7 off instead of $10 off.
Here’s a screenshot to make sure I’m not making it up 🙂
With Black Friday 2017 just three weeks away, perhaps these promotions are designed to help optimize their shipping and delivery?
There’s no doubt in my mind Amazon is aware of actual and potential choke points in its routing and shipping. With more and more people shopping online and the holiday shopping season coming up at a time of year when the weather can play hell with scheduling and shipping, and mindful of how Prime customers (like me) expect two-day shipping to mean just that, the company is looking to relieve some of the pressure. There’s probably also the matter of Amazon, UPS and others adding additional workers, rookies mostly, who’ll be tested under fire when the big crush gets under way.
The crush hasn’t started yet, and I’ve run into hitches that shouldn’t have happened. First, a camera order from a major camera dealer got waylaid because Paypal apparently hiccoughed and refused the charge. At least, that’s the dealer’s story. That happened post-midnight Friday morning. The order was placed in time for the item to start its very long cross-country trip Friday afternoon. I received no notice from the dealer or Paypal of any refusal to pay. Apparently, Friday morning someone noticed the stuck order and resubmitted the charge. (Can the dealer even do that?) There was no overrun on my credit card, so the charge was accepted. In the interim, having received an e-mail confirming and thanking me for the order but no shipping notice, I contacted the dealer and was told of the payment refusal, but that it had been resubmitted and things were back on track. I had paid extra for three-day shipping; the item arrived a day later than it could and should have. No great harm done, just kind of disappointing.
Then, I ordered three items from Amazon. I got e-mail confirmation. A day went by before the shipping notice, which said the items would arrive Sunday, via USPS, yet. Well, OK. So, getting off to what I would call a late start, checking the shipment’s progress out of curiosity, I see they’re hustling it from the Midwest along a new-to-me routing. Lo and behold, Saturday morning I get two updates. One says the item is on time and should arrive Sunday by 8 p.m.. The second, sent about an hour after the first says a problem could delay arrival but they’re working to get my order back on track. Looking at Amazon’s tracking report and USPS’ Sunday morning, I see the package arrived at my city’s airport was taken to Amazon’s sorting facility and . . . sent by mistake to the wrong carrier’s sorting facility in the city (UPS, I expect). But, I get another e-mail assuring me Amazon is working to get the item back on track. Well, the work needed was for someone at Amazon’s sorting facility to hustle to the wrong carrier’s facility, retrieve and deliver the package, or at least get it to USPS’ sorting facility. That didn’t happen. Instead, I got the package a day late. Again, no great harm done. I’m warning others, though, to place orders early, cross their fingers and hope for the best. Early indications are that it’s likely to be a tough two or three months for receiving online orders on time, especially those shipped over longer distances.
So, if items aren’t needed in a big hurry, taking advantage of the slower-shipping bonus might save on disappointment as well as money.
That’s quite an odyssey for the poor package. If only they could tell their stories!
Yes, this is the season of shipping mishaps, overworked and undertrained workers, and so forth.
Indeed, with Black Friday happening earlier this year, there might be a bit of a squeeze. On the other hand, it will give the post-Cyber-Monday shoppers more time until the Christmas deadline.