
Amazon Prime delivery delays are now as long as a month - juokaz
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/22/21190372/amazon-prime-delivery-delays-april-21-coronavirus-covid-19
======
skellington
I've gotten all of my prime orders in 3 or 4 days recently instead of 2.
They've all been health or personal product related orders. This is perfectly
acceptable given the circumstances.

In my opinion, Amazon is doing an incredible job of adapting to a radical
increase in demand. I don't know what their volume spike is, but it must be
huge and the only effect is slow shipping in some non-essential items.

They've really built an incredible infrastructure. (I don't work for them, I
don't own any of their stock.)

~~~
computerex
Keep in mind though that this resilience is at the expense of thousands of
workers who have to forego their own social distancing and risk their own
healths so that we can get our next prime delivery in 3-4 days.

Amazon isn't run by robots. There are real humans who are going through hell
to support this increase in demand.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Theoretically a company like Amazon should be able to provide masks, goggles
and health monitoring to its workers to minimize the possibility of a COVID19
outbreak among them. It’s in Amazon’s business interests to do so (or risk
business disruption due to outbreak among their workforce).

It’s also better for society that the congregations of people shift from many
geographically scattered and difficult-to-monitor locations to a few single
operations like Amazon warehouses that can be very closely monitored and
screened for COVID19. Amazon’s warehouses can be more cheaply monitored and
supplied with PPE than all of society can.

This should probably be part of SOP for responding to outbreaks like this.

~~~
capableweb
> Theoretically a company like Amazon should be able to provide masks, goggles
> and health monitoring to its workers

Theoretically yeah, but practically Amazon is driven by people with short-term
profits in mind, so you don't see this happening. In the ideal world,
capitalists realizes that if their customers / workforce goes out of jobs
because of sickness, they won't earn as much. But seems that's too much future
thinking, so business are trying to extract as much value they can before
they'll be forced to shut down.

~~~
Reedx
Amazon is actually defined by long-term thinking, which was heavily criticized
for over a decade while their stock remained flat. It's hard to imagine now,
but people didn't really believe in the company until about 2009.

Jeff Bezos' letter to shareholders, 1997:

 _It 's All About the Long Term

Because of our emphasis on the long term, we may make decisions and weigh
tradeoffs differently than some companies... We will continue to make
investment decisions in light of long-term market leadership considerations
rather than short-term profitability considerations or short-term Wall Street
reactions._

[https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazons-
original-1...](https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazons-
original-1997-letter-to-shareholders)

~~~
capableweb
This seems pretty standard when you ask executives at any company. Of course
no executive is gonna go straight out and say they don't care about the long-
term, only about short-term profitability.

> Hey Joe, does your company emphasis on the long term or short-term
> profitability?

> Joe: What a good question! We at ACME AB of course favor long-term
> sustainability rather than short-term profitability

> How about letting your warehouse workers go to the bathroom whenever they
> want?

> Joe: well, our long-term plan depends on short-term profitability so of
> course people can't go to the bathroom whenever they want, they should have
> a allocated slot for that.

Point being: look at the actions of a company rather than the words of the
owners/workers, and you'll get a much more real picture.

~~~
lonelappde
How about you start by taking a look at Amazon's 25 year history of long term
growth at the expense of negative short term profit?

------
toasterlovin
Amazon Seller of non-essentials here. Fulfillment out of Amazon’s warehouses
has been slow the last week or so (on the order of 2-3 days delayed vs.
normal). Sellers started noticing last night / this morning that Prime items
which are fulfilled by Amazon are showing delivery date of April 21st. We
don’t know if that is a real date yet, or if Amazon is just setting
expectations super low. Based on the fact that a wide variety of items are all
showing that as the Prime delivery date and that shipping has not been _that_
delayed up til now, I think there’s reason to think that things will actually
be delivered faster than that. Plus, I know at least one seller of non-
essential products who is not seeing that delivery date for their products.

So who knows. The April 21st delivery date is crushing our sales, though.

~~~
obrajesse
Multiple items I’ve ordered this weekend with April 21 or later delivery dates
got their dates moved up by 3+ weeks after order.

~~~
GarrisonPrime
I wonder if they're giving an artificially long date in an attempt to
discourage certain orders so as to relieve the current crush.

~~~
grumple
I can only imagine how such behavior would go at a normal tech company:

"Hey boss, we're getting a ton of orders in. Think we should discourage people
from ordering junk so we can prioritize the important stuff?"

"Hell no, keep the orders coming in as fast as possible."

So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their customers
and their reputation.

~~~
capableweb
> So props to Amazon for doing something in the best interest of their
> customers and their reputation

Let's not jump into any conclusions here. For all we know, Amazon is doing
just what you wrote in quotes above, but the logistics networks are so
overwhelmed that they can't fulfill orders fast enough.

I'm not saying Amazon is good or bad here, just that we can't decide that
unless we _actually_ know their reasoning.

~~~
pythonaut_16
My guess is that they're giving themselves a ~4 week buffer so they're free to
prioritize orders both by necessity and efficiency.

------
CaliforniaKarl
If you are looking for a 'non-essential', and the item is being sold by
"Amazon.com" (as opposed to an Amazon seller like u/toasterlovin), may I
suggest ordering from another store? Companies like Guitar Center; Bed, Bath,
and Beyond; and the like are still fulfilling online orders, even if the
stores themselves are closed. Also, individuals are still selling wares
through platforms like eBay and Etsy.

Please consider purchasing things from other stores, where available. Even if
you have to pay for the shipping cost.

~~~
ipsum2
> Please consider purchasing things from other stores, where available. Even
> if you have to pay for the shipping cost.

You haven't given a reason for doing so.

~~~
PopeDotNinja
I think he's saying he doesn't want it to become the only store. Lots of other
stores are hurting.

~~~
Kaiyou
That's because they ain't competitive. I'm only using other stores for stuff I
can't find on amazon, because I'm trusting amazon to have my back if something
goes wrong.

~~~
dangus
And another big online store like Target just won’t help in the case of an
issue? I don’t believe that at all.

My credit card is enough assurance that a seller won’t defraud me.

I actually have found a number of products where Amazon is not price
competitive with some other US stores like Target, especially considering
everyone’s blind assumption that it makes sense to pay $12.99 a month to be in
the Amazon club without even doing the math on how much that increases the
price of each item you buy.

I always have people ask me “don’t you have Prime?” as if it’s assumed that
the deal is a no-brainer. It’s totally not. You don’t need Prime to buy stuff
on Amazon and people are just conditioned.

~~~
Kaiyou
I don't have Prime, what I meant was that things with amazon are frictionless
if stuff goes wrong. Also, I'm from Europe.

------
jonathanoliver
A few years back Amazon.com got hit with a pretty massive DDoS attack. Because
of their reliance upon AWS and the massive resources available through their
cloud, they simply out-scaled the attack.

Now Amazon is getting he with a new kind of DDoS that requires them to scale--
this time from legit customers wanting their orders delivered in a reasonable
amount of time. Pretty crazy to watch all the supply chain disruption
happening at the moment.

~~~
onion2k
A month _is_ a reasonable amount of time for non-essentials during a global
crisis.

~~~
_ph_
That very much depends on what one can consider an essential item. Here in
Germany, grocery and drug stores as well as pharmacies are still open. So I
can go shopping for the immediate essential items. But all other stores are
closed, so online shopping is the only way to these products. That starts with
shoes and any kind of clothing. Which is pretty essential in my eyes too.

Also, there are a lot of things which might not be considered "essential" but
quite important. Working in home office, I might need cables, a headset, a
power supply. Also, if you consider that people are restricted to their homes
for weeks to come, even entertainment/toys can quickly be considered
essential.

So Amazon probably does its best to use its available resources in storage and
delivery, the categorization of items as essential might not be as clear-cut
as it might sound.

And of course, toilet paper is out of stock on Amazon as at the local stores
:p

~~~
onion2k
_Also, if you consider that people are restricted to their homes for weeks to
come, even entertainment /toys can quickly be considered essential._

I don't think you understand what "essential" means. Things to avoid being
dead _are_ essential. You can get those things quickly. Things to avoid being
bored are _not_ essential. Just be bored until the _global pandemic_ is over.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Shoes and clothes are essential if you happen to need new ones during a
prolonged pandemic (eg you find that your toddler has outgrown his existing
shoes). When you turn off the shopping spigot long enough, things just crop up
that you have never thought to be essential before.

~~~
onion2k
Having to wait 4 weeks for Amazon to send you a pair of shoes would be
tremendously inconvenient, but all it requires is some forward thinking. Buy
them before the child needs them so they arrive in time. If you can do that
it's obvious they're not really an essential that Amazon need to be pausing
shipments of bandages and disinfectant for.

Obviously this raises questions about paying for shoes, but that's a social
welfare and government support for poor people issue, and discussions of that
nature usually don't fair well on HN.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
It is really hard to think ahead with a toddler, when are their feet going to
grow, when do their shoes become too small. Are we going up one or two sizes?

Anyways, Target and Walmart still being open is a life saver for everything
that isn’t food.

~~~
paraselene_
Is your toddler going to be seriously sick or hurt for not having shoes? If
not then it'd say not as essential as other things.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
I don’t think you have a toddler, right? They don’t know it’s the apocalypse.

------
lultimouomo
Amazon has also stopped shipping non-essential items in Italy and France.

Their criteria for choosing essential items are kind of hard to grasp for me,
and in classic Amazon style they don't tell you that there is something that
is not available / you cannot buy, stuff has just disappeared from the shop.
This makes it unnecessarily annoying to find out if you can buy something from
them or not.

Most of what you can get is still delivered quickly though - they have added
one or two days to the expected delivery times in the last weeks, but from
then they usually deliver one day sooner than forecasted.

------
esaym
Yep noticed this today. Too depressed to work on my personal programming
projects. Taking up a cheap musical instrument (yamaha recorder anyone? lol)
sounded like a good way to pass time. Amazon says my prime order will be ready
on April 21st :/

~~~
swiley
Recorders are underrated (although, the ukulele is IMO the most underrated
instrument, probably because they’re easy.)

I have a slightly more expensive Yamaha soprano recorder that I absolutely
love. My living room is all hardwood and I keep most furniture and anything
soft out of it just so I can enjoy the sound.

~~~
isoskeles
Ukuleles have a bad reputation because many of them are collecting dust in
someone's studio apartment. It's the quintessential "I want to learn an
instrument but not really" purchase.

------
natch
Since it hasn't been mentioned let's just put it on the table here that Amazon
Prime, a service with a fairly steep annual fee, supposedly came with a
promise of two-day shipping, in exchange for that fee.

Now if there was some fine print I didn't read, shame on me, but has Amazon
explicitly addressed this?

I do understand that the physical items themselves are in short supply and
cannot be instantly produced by any kind of magic. (Although as an aside, and
it's really not my main point, but I do think Amazon has the buying power to
incentivize many suppliers to move mountains).

Just like the physical items, the money to pay the fee for Prime memberships
can also correspondingly go into short supply as well, and individual members
may have good reasons to stop paying if they aren't getting what they paid
for.

Certainly facts on the ground have changed the deal. Maybe we Prime members
will just be in the front of the line for frequently hoarded items... sigh.
Will be interesting to see how Prime fares through this.

~~~
fiblye
I think any given service on this earth is expected to have some degree of
delay during a once a century global pandemic. People out there can't even buy
basic life necessities in stores. It may be a little unfair, but it's not
really the time to think a $120/year membership means someone should be put at
the front of the line to order whatever they want and constantly push others
trying to get their necessities to the back of the line. It's better to hope
everybody is getting their hand sanitizer and toilet paper at an equally
expedient time, instead of hoping Prime members and Prime members alone can
order a new package daily and have it arrive in a timely fashion.

Yellowstone could potentially blow during our lifetime as well. I doubt most
companies have that factored into their contracts, and I wouldn't hold it
against them if they didn't.

~~~
smolder
Business don't need to survive Black swan events. If they fail that's fine. If
they can't fail without irreparable harm, there's a bigger problem. We don't
have anything resembling a free market when there are irreplaceable
businesses.

------
nytesky
Honestly, I think they should quarantine packages after every handling 24
hours. When picked up it stays in pickup truck 1 day to let virus inactivate.
Then one guy does the initial sorting and no one handles it for 24 hours. It
would make deliveries much much slower, but put the delivery personnel at much
less risk.

~~~
ruffrey
An interesting idea, though doubtful it would get implemented due to the huge
backlog of personal items already late. Not a bad idea as a consumer - if you
can swing it, just let the packages sit a day before opening them.

Hopefully folks doing deliveries are smart about not touching their face, and
are able to wipe down their cars afterward...steering wheel, radio knobs,
touchscreens, phone, door handles...

------
darkerside
So as a Prime subscriber, I'm curious if they will be offering prorated
refunds for this time when most things are not under 2 day shipping policies.
Spoiler alert, they won't.

~~~
froindt
I've read of people routinely asking Amazon for compensation when their
packages arrive in over 2 days. Some ordered regularly enough the $5 credit
they hand out like candy more than paid for the entire membership.

~~~
Lammy
They used to give out a month of Prime to extend your subscription, but two-
ish years ago they switched to offering $5 Amazon purchase credit (after a
short few weeks of trying to offer nothing).

~~~
Dylan16807
Half a month is still a good thing to get, and purchase credit is easier to
spend than having infinite months of Prime.

~~~
ngold
1918 flu pandemic the best we had was a sears catalouge.

------
hashkb
There are plenty of other online retailers. The guitar cable example triggered
me, because even in the best of times you can get better gear from a smaller
business with the same two day shipping. I'm sure there are tons of other
examples.

~~~
_ph_
Yes, if anything, this might benefit small online retailers. It is also worth
noting, that many local stores which have to close during the crisis have
turned into online retailers of some sort. You can call them and they will
deliver to your house to keep their business afloat. So even if they don't
even have a proper web site, it might be worth while to pick up your phone and
give them an old-fashioned call.

------
codazoda
I ordered a DC power cord for an Asthma nebulizer and the expected arrival
date is 30-days away.

Seeing that, I rummaged through my garage and found a 12v inverter and tested
that with the nebulizer on its AC plug. It worked. I've got a solution but
only because I have the inverter.

In Utah we had an earthquake on top of the Pandemic. That threatened power and
water for a time.

There's a chance they will not prioritize many items correctly.

------
chrisBob
I am most surprised by _how_ they are scaling shipments in my area. I have
only seen Amazon branded vans in my area over the last few months, but my last
two orders were delivered by:

1) A plain white van with Laser Ship magnetic signs visible on the inside.

2) A sedan driven by a lady with her kid in the passenger seat.

~~~
techslave
it’s always been that way. just not visible due to high level of background
noise.

------
blisterpeanuts
I ordered a nonessential item (a set of heat shields for a gas grill) from
Amazon Prime today and they offered a $3 digital coupon for the slower
delivery option. Normally it's $1. I guess they're trying to encourage slower
delivery; makes sense.

------
breput
And exactly which essentials are being delivered instead?

They are prioritizing the hand sanitizer that is always out of stock? How
about Clorox wipes? Fine, how about making your own...oh...isopropyl is sold
out too.

What exactly is being shipping now?

~~~
predictmktegirl
I ordered a replacement toothbrush and a dutch oven to bake my own bread. Not
really essentials but I feel like they are serving the purpose of health and
isolation.

~~~
WalterBright
I still have a breadmachine left over from when they were a fad. I need to
find the manual for it :-)

~~~
pkroll
Yeast, which you won't have if you haven't been making bread, doesn't even
show up on Amazon at the moment (and normally it's Just There. Even got one
via Amazon Fresh before the apocalypse started scaling). Also, bread flour is
best but not absolutely needed. Lastly, if the bread the machine makes just
doesn't tickle your fancy, they still are a great way to make pizza dough.

------
mytailorisrich
This is the real boom in online shopping in all sectors.

I wonder if things will ever go back to the "old way" after this crisis, not
least because brick and mortar stores are being destroyed on an unprecedented
scale.

------
sytelus
Just 72 hours ago Prime deliveries were still on March 23. About 48 hours that
changed to Match 26. Now it's April 21. Could this because of staffing issues
in warehouses? I also wonder how AMZN ticker will do tomorrow based this news
given many people were betting on it for strong performance.

~~~
judge2020
Dow futures are already down, no doubt AMZN tanks.

~~~
0x8BADF00D
Imagine what it will be when this starts hitting the food supply.

------
dnautics
I don't understand. Shouldn't these items then no longer be branded "Amazon
prime"?

------
tracker1
I had been using a 42" 4K screen for a while on my desktop, as I haven't used
it that much... using it for a week, was kind of neck strain for me... I
realized I avoided windows on the edges, so I figured a 32" 1440p would
probably be functionally the same...

On Amazon, they were all close to a month or more out for delivery... went out
to Best Buy, man, options limited there too. But did get a 32" 1440p display,
just not high refresh, ips, freesync like I had wanted.

In the end, not too surprised... will probably be a year or more for
everything to really normalize. I do think panic buying is causing most of the
issues, and that's the biggest issue effecting everything.

------
lsllc
This is really going to hurt businesses -- I just went to order a replacement
serial programming cable I need for a project and it's saying April 21 (and it
shows as in-stock too!).

I can probably hack the cable to get by ... but as soon as I need something I
can't hack/fix/cannibalize or get elsewhere, then I'm screwed.

Sadly, any local competition has either gone out of business (Radio Shack,
maybe Fry's) or is closed due to the lockdown.

Hopefully, Digikey/Mouser will keep going ...

------
helij
I had PrimeNow (UK) slot to be delivered between 6-8pm but nothing came. It
says package is still being prepared. It's getting worrying now as the whole
UK is closing down and there is an even bigger rush on online shops. We need
to isolate for 14 days at least due to suspected Corona virus infection (looks
to be mild). We have enough to power through but it's getting serious. Slots
are now available online in April and May.

------
dageshi
Still delivering next day in the UK, received some coffee beans this morning.
Probably helps that the roads are a lot quieter than usual right now.

~~~
45ure
It would depend on where you are from in the UK, and how close you are to a
distribution point. In London, it is generally between next day and a week at
worst, for some items. I expect this situation to change over the coming
weeks. However, grouping things into a single delivery and only ordering
essentials is of supreme importance right now, in order to give everyone a
chance.

------
double0jimb0
To understand how a monopoly is currently being built, please read:

Amazon caused this problem themselves because of hidden pricing
policy/behavior that causes artificially low price-fixing. They’ll never admit
this is what caused the problem.

Amazon punishes 3rd party FBA/prime sellers for raising prices by removing
their listings from the “buy box” or removing their prime badge. Amazon brags
to customers that they “found a new seller to sell you this item at a lower
price” but in reality Amazon forces sellers to stick to their low prices
because if they are ever raised to meet demand, Amazon removes prime status,
effectively killing sales. (A class action lawsuit was filed last Thursday for
exactly this, Amazon got sued a couple years ago for same thing, I’ll find
link and repost)

So you had an entire swath of consumer goods (“essential” and “non-essential”)
unable to increase prices in response to demand.

Amazon fulfillment centers are basically the equivalent of toilet paper right
now.

I can’t imagine how Amazon continues to get away with such blatant price-
fixing. They will drive every major online retailer out of business.

Edit: for all the downvoters, if Amazon allowed sellers to raise prices in
response to demand on non-essential items, it would have slowed sales volume
and not overwhelmed FCs, and my wife and I would not have a 3 week lead time
on children’s Motrin.

~~~
alexpetralia
Isn't this simply how the buy box works?

If you are not the lowest price (with some consideration given to other
factors, like reviews and delivery times), then you will not be in the buy
box.

~~~
double0jimb0
No, but that’s what Amazon wants everyone to think.

Even if still the lowest price, Prime badge/buy box will be removed if price
increases higher than some hidden algorithm allows.

------
jhowell
Anecdotal account from an alleged Amazon delivery driver, (from Wall Street
Bets)
[https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fn3irh/im_a...](https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fn3irh/im_an_amazon_delivery_driver_definitely_no/)

------
agseward
I was wondering why I was getting quoted deliveries of May 1 - May 22 on an
entire category of items marked as Prime over the weekend. They offered to
speed up delivery of my $10 item to April 17 for the low price of $30. I
thought some enterprising company had cornered the market and was raking in
some sweet delivery fees.

------
cft
Just like commercial flying has never been the same since 9/11, Amazon
delivery won't be the same after this pandemic. They will have seen that
significantly slowing the delivery doesn't crater the demand, and the fact
that the local retail will be further destroyed will help them to maintain
this slowed regime

~~~
paulgb
I would be surprised if that happens; free two day shipping for members is
Amazon's competitive moat against other online retailers.

------
L_226
Here in Berlin/DE I have noticed prime delivery has been increasingly limited
or removed from certain categories of items e.g. personal hygiene, cleaning.
To be expected I guess but would prefer to have prime benefits (free shipping)
and a longer delivery period than no benefits at all and the same extended
period.

~~~
rv-de
the system is collapsing and you demand your "prime benefits" ... do you see
the irony here?

------
thomasedwards
I’ve never had a cancelled delivery in all the years of using Prime and Prime
Now, but this week had a Prime Now delivery cancelled. It was clear from the
map that the driver was closer to the depot than our house, so decided that
they ‘weren’t able to deliver’ without trying so they could get back sooner.

------
juskrey
Who said that, say, laptop or phone replacement is not an essential item?

------
teddyuk
My nespresso coffee capsules went from £22 to £30 so it isn't so much the
delivery delays but the increase in price which is annoying.

~~~
rv-de
maybe they have been too cheap anyway ... I mean, it's a pretty pathetic and
environment-unfriendly way to make a cup of coffee.

~~~
teddyuk
yeah i prefer civet coffee myself

------
op00to
Amazon isn’t doing a great job with essentials either. I’ve had 3 amazon Fresh
orders cancelled in the last week.

------
WhyNotHugo
I really don't understand why Amazon is getting a spike of demand.

What are people ordering now that they didn't usually order? I don't think
stuff like facemasks and gloves can justify the huge difference in volumes,
and amazon isn't providing the supplies for emergency rooms and hospitals (is
it?).

~~~
BurningFrog
People order everything from Amazon because they don't want to get the virus
at the store.

~~~
Mediterraneo10
Many people are ordering online not because they desperately want to avoid the
virus, but simply because shops in their area are closed. Many younger and
healty people, looking at coronavirus mortality rates, would have no qualms
about shopping in a physical location right now if the only risk would be
coming down with relatively mild cold symptoms, but the authorities are
shutting those physical locations so that the virus can't spread and affect
those demographics that would be concerned.

------
Techasura
Probably the only company to thrive during the outbreak, unfortunately
fortunate.

~~~
_asummers
3M would like a word.

~~~
72deluxe
Who would need floppy disks and glue in this crisis???

------
Havoc
Stopped ordering for a while. Nothing is that urgent my side so I’ll wait a
bit

------
submeta
Not in Berlin/Germany. Takes 2 days

~~~
lm28469
I just checked, non essential items are all planned for april 21st, I'm in
berlin.

------
zabana
I wonder if this situation will push them even further in the direction of
drone delivery.

------
new_realist
Will Amazon be refunding Prime fees?

------
justlexi93
I guess all e-commerce are affected by it and I understand it due to the
pandemic.

------
ecommerceguy
We're primarily MF and can easily absorb some of the heat AMZ FBA is going
through right now. With AMZ recently passing through their negotiated UPS
rates, we should be able to ship within 2-5 days on 99% of our listings with
reasonable prices. If you're shopping, look deeper into listings for faster MF
Shipping!

~~~
Stratoscope
MF? I wonder if you could explain what that means?

~~~
ecommerceguy
Merchant Fulfilled - We handle shipping ourselves.

