I had Amazon for a while and really got used to their 2-day shipping. So much so that when they missed 4 deliveries on time in 6 months, I canceled. The last was when I paid extra for guaranteed 1-day shipping. I mean, the website said, "Order in the next 3 hours and your product is guaranteed to be at your door tomorrow by 8pm". It was not, so I canceled Amazon, returned the product and got my $$$ back.

Anyway - not to complain. But now, when I order off eBay and the seller says to allow 4 days of handling time BEFORE shipping, and the product takes 5-7 days to arrive - I go nuts. I ordered a coolant expansion tank off EBAY Friday, just got an email today (Tuesday) that UPS has received the info, but it's not yet in transit. (Turns out the company, I did not know, was one of our beloved parts sellers of drive shafts and suspensions...LOL)

My parents were small business owners. I know how things work. I just wanted to ask, has Amazon's super fast shipping got you expecting that from all business now that the bar has been raised so high? For me, any product I order, I expect to be out the door and in the mail the next day - tops. How about you?

 

I'm surprised that with your parents being small business owners, you don't just simply shop at small businesses(like the business you hinted to in your 2nd paragraph), who would happily ship the part out that day. If I don't care when I'm going to receive something, I use eBay.

 

My wife sells parts on eBay and does approx 100 transactions a month.

She is so hung up on shipping the same day that it pains me. We literally have to leave where we are and run home to pack an item so she can make it by the 5:00 pm drop off deadline.

On the other hand, all her feedback says super fast shipping.

 

When I was looking for something like a coolant reservoir tank, I usually Google the part and see what sites return matches and I scan for companies I know. Usually they are AB, or Miami or one of the Rovers, followed by Amazon or eBay.

If it is a specialty item like a 2" lift kit, front prop-shaft, timing cover, etc - I start thinking of the guys who run the independent shops like we talk about.

I've only recently been learning who sells what for our Discos - so I am not yet to the point where when I need _______ I know to call ______ over at such and such shop.

It just so happened that the part I ordered on eBay was from one of our independent guys who owns a Rover parts business.

Again, not complaining at all. Just saying that Amazon has got me in the habit of ordering, getting an email the next day the product has shipped and getting the product 2-3 days after the order date.

eBay is a whole other philosophy for me. I'm old school when eBay was for you and I wanting to sell something we had. Someone put in an order, we had the item packed and ready to ship, just had to slap a label on it and mail it. I am not a fan of "power sellers" who move so much product that they aren't personally handling each item or transaction. But that's a different rant altogether. :-)

 

I'm rambling - so here's the skinny that I was thinking about. Amazon is preparing to launch it's own global shipping company. They won't need the post office or UPS or FedEx any more. In fact, companies may be paying Amazon to ship their products. That said, if the Amazon of tomorrow is getting 90% of its product to door in 2 days and anyone who is not Amazon will still take 5-7 days, I think a lot of businesses will suffer and go out of business if they can't keep pace with this new shipping monster Amazon. That's my opinion only, of course.

 

I use Prime a lot. I'm not particularly attached to doing commerce this way, but I live in a semi-rural area that doesn't support diversity in brick and mortar retail stores. It's not cost effective to maintain a lot of things in inventory for a small population, so we order. For me, the speed of the order fulfillment and delivery isn't as important as the ease and free returns (for defective items or ones shipped under a free return policy). I ship a lot of returns at Amazon's expense. If you consider the business model for free returns that companies like Zappos (bought by Amazon) pioneered, it makes sense. Instead of paying a costly lease on retail space to store inventory and hiring low-wage workers to oversee stores all over the place, they consolidate it to a warehouse and order fulfillment center, and use a little of the massive savings to cover return shipping.

It works for me, and I drive far less to shop. It's far more cost effective to pay for a little space on the UPS truck than it would be to haul myself around (in a Land Rover no less) to stores which the product has to be shipped to none the less.

I appreciate small businesses, but I don't think order fulfillment is a good small business. If I were running a small business, I would look for a way to outsource the order fulfillment. Amazon offers their FBA program to do just that. If your small business is just based on shifting boxes, why would you want to do that?

 

 

Amazon rarely does the free 1 day shipping for me. It sometimes takes actually longer than the 2 day shipping even if I pay extra. Go figure.

 

As far as eBay is concerned, look for the "Top Rated Seller" tag on the auction. That means anything you buy MUST be shipped out within 24 hours of receipt of payment. Look to see if the seller uses "expedited shipping" which means USPS Priority Shipping and I think you'll find you get your orders just about as quickly as you would get them fulfilled through Amazon.

Now, keep in mind, USPS Priority isn't as reliably two day delivery as it was a year or two ago. May of the shipping labels I generate these days are for Priority Mail and it says three day delivery. I have the sneaking suspicion that the slower service is a result of the USPS (as well as UPS) being overwhelmed by the sheer volume Amazon does with these carriers.

I've heard it said that at any given time, on any given UPS truck, at least 25% of their packages are Amazon packages! I also know that the agreed upon rate the USPS charges Amazon, regardless of size or weight, I might add, is a fraction of what I pay for the identical service. So, it shouldn't be surprising that Amazon has a decided edge.

And, yes, it appears that Amazon has been using the former DHL facility in either IN or OH for testing its own delivery service. It also appears as though Amazon has been eating Walmart's lunch these days. Ironic, the Bentonville monster that devoured so many small, local businesses, is, itself, slowly being eaten alive by Amazon. We'll be left with no alternative but Amazon for the vast majority of our needs. I'm an Amazon user since the late 1990's but that's a scary thought.

 

As long we're venting, my beef with amazon is their inventory numbering on their website. When you're looking at an item and it says 10 left in stock, order soon, don't believe it. It means place your order now and we'll ship when the new stock arrives. Several time recently I've ordered an item that was claimed to be in stock and should have shipped immediately and it will ship 5, 6, or 7 days later. I've emailed them and asked if the stock inventory numbers are real and they reply and say they've upgraded my shipping. I write back and say that's not what I asked. They write back and say you'll have overnight shipping when they order is shipped. If you ever check your order status on line and it says preparing for shipment, I'm pretty sure that means waiting for your stuff to come in before shipping. After all that complaining, there are a lot of things available at amazon that you just can't find easily other places.