Amazon.com shipping question

Ultimanecat

If anyone does any business over in G&T, then you may recall that I had a thread about buying some stuff on Amazon.com.

Well, I did purchase some items Thursday last week, and now I'm wondering if anybody knows their shipping procedure. Normally I wouldn't really care, but their local warehouse is probably about an hour away from my house, and I haven't received my stuff. I opted for Super Saver shipping (it's free), and while they say they shipped it almost immediately after I placed my order, I know of no postage rate that would take a week to mail this stuff such a short distance. Furthermore, checking the tracking number on the USPS website shows that according to the postal service, they haven't even picked it up yet.

My question is this: does Amazon purposely hold on to your package for a few days if you pick their free shipping option? Obviously paying for two-day mail or their Prime service isn't too enticing if normal mail can deliver it in two or three days anyway. Which website should I trust more about the current status of my package - Amazon or USPS?

FunkyWaltDogg

In my experience Super Saver shipped packages go out "whenever they get around to it". If you just made the purchase this past Thursday you shouldn't be worried yet.

EDIT: To explicitly answer the question, most likely what's happened is that Amazon has contacted USPS and told them to expect the package but it hasn't actually been shipped yet. You should believe the USPS website (although keep in mind they only update once a day).

RUNN1NGMAN

I've had Super Saver packages arrive in two days, and I've had them arrive in 10 days. I believe they are just given low priority in the warehouse, so basically everything else gets processed before the S.S. packages. Overall, though, it works out well for me.

Forar

I've bought a LOT of stuff off Amazon in the past year or two (dozens of trade paperbacks, mostly) and while the shipping rarely takes less than a week or two, I've found them to be fast, reliable, and costing nothing for shipping (on top of the ~30% discount they have on a lot of trades) makes it a very sweet deal indeed.

It hasn't even been a week yet, so I'd give 'em a little longer before you got too excited, even if you live next door to the warehouse.

Gdiguy

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I've had Super Saver packages arrive in two days, and I've had them arrive in 10 days. I believe they are just given low priority in the warehouse, so basically everything else gets processed before the S.S. packages. Overall, though, it works out well for me.

Yeah, living like 30 miles from the warehouse around here, I've found that they use the shipping priority randomness as a way to keep everyone from using the free shipping to get stuff in like two days... I've gotten something next day from them with free shipping, and something else in like one or two days below the maximum estimated date

I'd wait until either the estimated date is passed, or the tracking information shows up - they're not infallible, and it's possible they sent it across the country to some unsuspecting person's house, but I wouldn't go crazy worrying yet

DeathPrawn

It's also worth noting that your stuff won't necessarily come from your nearby warehouse. I ordered three books last week, and they came in two packages: one from a warehouse a few hours from here, and one from halfway across the country.

ulanshad

In my experience, Super Saver means they pack your stuff up and put it into something like those conveyor pizza ovens, except instead of making a pizza, it means your package doesn't get on the truck for about 5-7 days. Great deal, just never use it on anything you need soon, or even remotely soon.

To wit, I needed 3 books for class, but not for a couple of weeks. So I figure, I can easily deal with the 5-7 shipping delay. Amazon must of known this, because they decided to take the full 10 days this time so that they would come in just after I was forced to go to the book store for them. To their credit, returns are quite painless.

mcdermott

Yeah, I remember back in the day when the free Super Saver shipping only added like a day...it was basically the cheapest ground method they could come up with, but that was about it. You still got your shit in 5-7 days.

Nowadays it's like they intentionally try to punish you for taking advantage of SS shipping. As others have said, it's not uncommon for an item to take 10+ days just to go out the door. I think the last two items I ordered both took over five days to ship.

Basically, like somebody else said, wait until the last day of the normal shipping period (17 days now? 14?) and then drop them a line asking where your shit is.

Fallingman

Your stuff might also not be coming from that particular warehouse.

Forar

Oh, while I'm sure this doesn't apply to you, be aware that they'll give you an estimated date for it to ship, and then an estimated date for it to arrive.

Until it actually ships, this second number is based purely on guesstimates, educated or not. Once it is shipped, they'll give you a tracking number, and you can tell exactly where it is.

I've had things take longer than expected, and I've had a package (the last one, actually) that was supposed to get to me in October (due to one book being unavailable at the time of ordering) that actually got to me nearly a month early.

But until you have that shipping number, it's not in the fed ex system, which means all bets are off and you just have to wait for them to box it, have it picked up, and get it on its way.