

Amazon.com Introduces Same-Day Delivery - pospischil
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/amazoncom-introduces-same-day-delivery/

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listic
I wonder if they'll ever expand their international shipping options.

Currently, their shipping to Russia costs $35.98 minimum (International
Priority Courier only) and they only ship new books (no used books, CD, DVD,
etc.) That has been the fact for a long time, and provides means for existing
for various middlemen (who also work with eBay and others). Seems like all the
progress in quality of service of US companies is US-focused?

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dantheman
Used books are sold by independent vendors, so they're not really shipped by
amazon but by a 3rd party... I don't know about CD's & DVDs

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zandorg
Those too. Basically, if you price the book at 1p, Amazon doesn't get their
15% (?) cut, which is why so many sellers charge 1p (or 1 cent). But if the
postage is more than £2.75 (in the UK at least), they have to charge more, and
then Amazon get their cut.

Basically, it's hard to make a decent profit by selling used books on Amazon,
however, you can just put up the price. I've seen most used prices shoot up in
the last few months.

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jbyers
Much of the stuff we order on Amazon Prime comes within 24 hours regardless of
the shipping option. It's pretty impressive to order something two-day at 3 PM
and have it arrive the next morning. Amazon's operational prowess and
relationships with their shippers continue to amaze.

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mdemare
I'm still waiting for same month delivery. Standard shipping takes 18-32
business days. How hard is it to ship all packages to the bigger European
countries, and then use the national one-day postal service? Not enough
volume?

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eru
> and then use the national one-day postal service?

I just sent a letter from Britain to Germany, and it was there the next day.
So you might not even need to ship to all countries.

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ig1
Um. Amazon already do same-day deliveries in London and Birmingham in the UK.
Have done for some time now.

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zzzmarcus
Pretty pricey. I'm not sure how B&N compares, but for one book the minimum
shipping cost on Amazon would be $18.48.

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200105970)

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pospischil
Well -- its only $6 if your a prime member. And $18.48 is pretty darn
reasonable compared to UPS same-day shipping prices (admittedly designed for a
very different purpose).

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RevRal
Prime is REALLY worth it when it comes around to the holidays, and this just
makes it better.

Less hastle. Better gifts. Easier to hide the gifts. And Prime's perks
continue throughout the year.

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kevinpet
I can't help but think that providing and advertising a specific service
targeting only a handful of cities is going to give a good handle to all those
state revenue boards trying to say they have a nexus within their jurisdiction
for purposes of tax collection.

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pospischil
Ever since Barnes and Noble introduced this (in Manhattan) a few years back, I
wondered when Amazon would follow suit. It's an awesome idea, and not a bad
price for Prime members, but I wonder what percentage of available items are
in each warehouse.

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khafra
I'll bet Amazon already has a pretty good idea of which items are currently
most frequently ordered with overnight delivery.

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lamby
Didn't Webvan do this? :)

