Amazon Prime shipping speeds?

[AmandaVT]

Has anyone else noticed Amazon's shipping speeds have slowed down a noticeable amount? First they took away Saturday as a "counting day" toward the 2 day shipping and now they're trying to tell me (I'm doing a live chat with them now) that me placing an order on Monday night will result in a delivery date of Friday. I get that it's after hours on Monday, so I'm considering this a Tuesday order - it should arrive on Thursday no? The Amazon reps always make me feel like I'm the crazy one and they haven't changed their policies, but they have right? It seems like they're obfuscating. 

[Slache]

It was explained to me like this. If it says available for prime it means that product is available for prime. If it says in stock it means that it's in stock, but not necessarily in stock for prime. So, you can buy the product since it's in stock and you can even pay for two day shipping, but if they don't have it in a prime warehouse you will have to wait until it's in stock and then you will get two day shipping. Does that make sense?

[zoobie]

Jonas may have screwed with times this week.

[Gil]

I don't know OP, but someone at work was talking about this being their experience just the other day. They said that Amazon 2-day shipping is more like 4 day shipping these days, so you are probably right.

[AmandaVT]

It was explained to me like this. If it says available for prime it means that product is available for prime. If it says in stock it means that it's in stock, but not necessarily in stock for prime. So, you can buy the product since it's in stock and you can even pay for two day shipping, but if they don't have it in a prime warehouse you will have to wait until it's in stock and then you will get two day shipping. Does that make sense?

 

It was in stock, shipping from Amazon and available for prime. If this were an every once in a while thing, I'd get it. And I know this is a lame thing to complain about, but I just miss the way it used to be. I could order something on a Monday morning and it would be here on Tuesday if I ordered overnight shipping. Most of the time it's not a big deal, I try to order with enough time to spare. But, this order is for printer ink because they sent the wrong ink when I made my first order. So I'm trying to get the original one returned and order the correct one. Now I'm out of ink and can't print the return label for the wrong ink they sent me. It's a small annoyance, but I'm feeling crabby tonight I guess.

[EmseB]

I have had trouble since the new year. I have never had problems before, but I've placed three orders since Christmas and none of them have come on time...it's one or two days late.

[Raifta]

Hmm, we've been getting our Amazon Prime orders just fine and we're in Canada, which is even more shocking!  I'm guessing we've been lucky though?

[Raifta]

Hmm, we've been getting our Amazon Prime orders just fine and we're in Canada, which is even more shocking!  I'm guessing we've been lucky though?

[raptor_dad]

I didn't have any problems over the holidays or now. I ordered some books on Saturday over MLK weekend and got them on the holiday Monday with 2-day shipping. When I order on Thursdays it seems random whether I get stuff on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. I think it depends on whether it is all UPS or if they can hand it off to USPS for weekend delivery.

[Barb_]

Sooo, I'm beginning to think they are ranking their prime members into tiers. I started having shipping problems over the summer when I was in Florida visiting family for a couple of months. I noticed a lot of the same things you were noticing and called customer service to complain. The rep had some weird story about a "mistaken categorization" for my current order. He said he fixed it and even upgraded me to overnight free of charge. After that, I never had any issues.

 

I wondered if maybe the new address triggered a new tier? We are power users. Seriously I would estimate that 75-80% of my shopping dollars go to Amazon. My parents, in laws, and grown kids use my extra members accounts. Together we spend thousands each month and my Amazon account dates from 1996. Maybe that's why it was easier for me to get the shipping problems cleared up? Those of you having issues, are you power users or occasional users?

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I ordered two items this Saturday.  Both were Prime and in stock, yet one is expected on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday.  

[Tap]

I haven't had that issue.  The only shipping delays I have had, involved items that were not ordered with Prime.  

[Sugarfoot]

I had several issues over Christmas and had to call customer service twice this week. All of the problems that I've had involve things being delivered by USPS. I have no problems with FedEx or UPS, but the post office will slow down nearly everything I order. 

I'm seriously getting tired of it. 

 

And we're definitely long-time power users, lol. 

[theelfqueen]

YES!!! I have definitely been seeing that and I order EVERYTHING from Amazon.

 

[fdrinca]

I placed an order this afternoon (Monday). It was a Prime Shipping item, in stock. When I checked out, it said "Two-day shipping, will arrive Friday". (???)

 

Their math is different from my math. Even if it gets counted as a Tuesday order, that should make it arrive on Thursday.

 

I'm getting annoyed at this.

 

I was told:

Your order is on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday are the two shipping days.

Arrives on Friday.

 

(I didn't buy this. Guess who has another month of Prime thanks to late orders?)

[kitten18]

I have had trouble since the new year. I have never had problems before, but I've placed three orders since Christmas and none of them have come on time...it's one or two days late.

Yes, I've had delayed orders in the last two weeks. I didn't have any problems with the many, many orders I placed in December (thank goodness).

[purplejackmama]

Strange. I haven't had any issues. We average 10-12 orders a week with them and always on time or even early.

 

Sorry for your crummy day and your late stuff!!

[kitten18]

I was told:

Your order is on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday are the two shipping days.

Arrives on Friday.

 

(I didn't buy this. Guess who has another month of Prime thanks to late orders?)

I could almost buy that if it didn't say right on the page "order within ...and get it by:" and then after the order is placed, the arrival date is suddenly two days later.

[Amy in NH]

I placed an order Sunday - in stock and available for Prime - with a delivery date of Thursday.  That is definitely four days, not two.

[MistyMountain]

My orders have been taking longer. I never have gotten 2 day shipping with prime because of my location but they take so long to even get it shipped out which has nothing to do with location. I had to call them because something I ordered with plenty of time to get here by Christmas was not even shipping. I called them and the rep was useless telling me they took so long to box it up because it was in WI. I then emailed and they apologized and took care of the problem and got it shipped out just in time.

[fraidycat]

Has anyone else noticed Amazon's shipping speeds have slowed down a noticeable amount? First they took away Saturday as a "counting day" toward the 2 day shipping and now they're trying to tell me (I'm doing a live chat with them now) that me placing an order on Monday night will result in a delivery date of Friday. I get that it's after hours on Monday, so I'm considering this a Tuesday order - it should arrive on Thursday no? The Amazon reps always make me feel like I'm the crazy one and they haven't changed their policies, but they have right? It seems like they're obfuscating.

You're not crazy. I actually cancelled Prime in 2014 for this reason. It's false advertising, IMO. I currently have Prime again - only because my DH got a free subscription for some reason. When it expires, I'll cancel again.

 

Two day shipping used to be two day, no matter what. Now it's "meh, within a week is good, but we'll call it two-day". Not cool.

[Pawz4me]

We haven't had any problem, but we don't order all that much.  The only reason we have Prime at the moment is because DS signed up for the free six month Prime student, and he's associated with my account so I get it, too.  I wish there were more items where you could opt out of the two day shipping and get a $1 credit for a book purchase.

[Tenaj]

We've been having no troubles at all with Prime and in fact, often when I order I receive it the next day.  This past week, I ordered on Friday afternoon and received the books on Sunday but I guess that the Sunday delivery is being tested in our area and isn't available everywhere.  I think it really must depend on location.  Over the holidays we had a few delays but since the rush has been over, no problems at all.

 

Last week I ordered something to be delivered to my son's house and chose the slow shipping option and it still arrived within three days. 

 

We must live in just the right area.  

Edited January 26, 2016 by JanOH

[wendyroo]

I could almost buy that if it didn't say right on the page "order within ...and get it by:" and then after the order is placed, the arrival date is suddenly two days later.

 

Even my "order within...and get it by" has been saying longer than two days.  I ordered last Friday around 9am and the page said the item was in stock, prime eligible, but "order within 26 hours and get by Wednesday".  Wednesday?  If I order Friday morning than shouldn't two day shipping mean arrival, at the latest, this afternoon (Tuesday)?  Evidently not, because I didn't even get my shipping confirmations until this morning.

 

It is like they have started counting Friday as a weekend day.  If you order late Thursday or Friday they just start the clock on Monday.

 

Wendy

[Zuzu822]

I haven't had any issues until yesterday. I ordered around 9 AM, and my "two-day" guarantee is Thursday. 😒 (ETA: hoping it's just the storm delay that's causing it.)

 

Last week, I had an item guaranteed for Saturday actually arrive Friday since UPS delivered it instead of transferring to the PO. I was frequently getting Sunday deliveries at our old (suburban) house, but I'm guessing that won't happen in our new rural location.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Zuzu822

[SparklyUnicorn]

No issues here.  In fact I ordered something on Sunday at 5:30 pm and got it the next afternoon! 

 

 

[elegantlion]

I've actually had no issues As long as I place my order in time I get it two days. I even get post office packages on Saturday and have actually got some things early lately. The order I placed on Friday is being delivered today when the scheduled day was Wednesday (didn't ship until yesterday - which is standard for weekend orders for me). 

 

 

[AmandaVT]

I placed an order this afternoon (Monday). It was a Prime Shipping item, in stock. When I checked out, it said "Two-day shipping, will arrive Friday". (???)

 

Their math is different from my math. Even if it gets counted as a Tuesday order, that should make it arrive on Thursday.

 

I'm getting annoyed at this.

 

 

Yes!! Exactly! And if you order something past Wednesday morning, there's no way it's coming until the following week. A lot of the convenience is no longer there. 

 

I wouldn't be crabby about it if there hadn't been a noticeable change. For years, I could order on a Thursday and the order would arrive on Saturday, or order Friday and it would arrive on Monday. Now if I order on a Friday or Saturday, Amazon considers it a Monday order and it arrives on Thursday, which can't be much quicker than standard shipping. I want them to acknowledge the change, but they won't. The rep was pleasant last night and offered to extend my prime membership a month, which is nice, but I just wanted my darn printer ink quicker.

[AmandaVT]

Sooo, I'm beginning to think they are ranking their prime members into tiers. I started having shipping problems over the summer when I was in Florida visiting family for a couple of months. I noticed a lot of the same things you were noticing and called customer service to complain. The rep had some weird story about a "mistaken categorization" for my current order. He said he fixed it and even upgraded me to overnight free of charge. After that, I never had any issues.

 

I wondered if maybe the new address triggered a new tier? We are power users. Seriously I would estimate that 75-80% of my shopping dollars go to Amazon. My parents, in laws, and grown kids use my extra members accounts. Together we spend thousands each month and my Amazon account dates from 1996. Maybe that's why it was easier for me to get the shipping problems cleared up? Those of you having issues, are you power users or occasional users?

 

I order a lot from Amazon and have been a prime member for years- I think 2005 or 2006. We order quite frequently, prime pantry, subscribe and save, etc. I also buy more kindle books than I'd like to admit. :-) DH and my mom use my extra family member accounts and they order regularly as well. 

 

They will either switch me to overnight shipping for free or give me an extra month of prime when I grump about it, but I'm more generally annoyed with their policy change.

[Tammyla]

We have Prime and our shipping times have me wondering how they get things here so quickly, sometimes the next day.

[RootAnn]

I think it depends on where you are vs. their shipping location + the shipping lanes to your place.

I also think it has changed somewhat because of amazon's new contract with the USPS. The USPS is thrilled to have the contract and I think their delivery has somewhat slowed down ship times. 

However, I still get quite a bit of my stuff FedEx & UPS (but some start out that way & then end up USPS - which adds time) and some of those 3-4 day deliveries have been via UPS. FedEx stuff always gets to me in two days. Plus, FedEx usually gets here by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. UPS doesn't get to my house until it is dark (5-7 p.m.) because we are at the end of a route.

[Ellyndria]

I have been noticing this exact problem since early December, and I've even commented about it before.  I could put some things in my cart on a Monday, that all say Prime (and with none having those messages that say they might take an extra day or two for processing,) and then when I hit checkout, some might say delivery on Wednesday, others Thursday, and some Friday.  To me, that is not the Prime 2-day shipping that always arrived like clockwork before. (It was always 2 days when it was UPS for me.)

 

Although to be fair, at the same time, a few times I ordered late on a Friday, it shipped out on Saturday, and it was at my house by Sunday morning at 11am.  I like that, but it doesn't really make up for the times when Prime shipping is obviously taking 4 days or more.  (I had one that said Prime and it took over a week!)

Edited January 26, 2016 by Ellyndria

[Serenade]

 First they took away Saturday as a "counting day" toward the 2 day shipping 

 

 

I didn't know this officially but I noticed it in my orders.  Did Amazon make an announcement about this, or did it just happen?

 

I never had issues until very recently -- it's been a very gradual change but I'm noticing the slowdown more and more.  I think Amazon has grown too big and can't handle the customer base.  It's time for a competitor with an equal selection of items.

[Ellyndria]

posted by mistake 

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Ellyndria

[kitten18]

I think it depends on where you are vs. their shipping location + the shipping lanes to your place.

I also think it has changed somewhat because of amazon's new contract with the USPS. The USPS is thrilled to have the contract and I think their delivery has somewhat slowed down ship times.

However, I still get quite a bit of my stuff FedEx & UPS (but some start out that way & then end up USPS - which adds time) and some of those 3-4 day deliveries have been via UPS. FedEx stuff always gets to me in two days. Plus, FedEx usually gets here by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. UPS doesn't get to my house until it is dark (5-7 p.m.) because we are at the end of a route.

And that changes with each order/item. I live about 75 miles from a warehouse and I would say that about 1/10 of my orders come the next day.

It's the unknown that's frustrating me at the moment. I can place an order on Monday morning and not know if it will arrive Tuesday (happy surprise) or Friday.

[happypamama]

Depends on the day.  If I order something on Monday or Tuesday, it's here within 48 hours most of the time, sometimes under 30.  (One item got damaged by the PO and had to be re-shipped.  They gave me an extra month of Prime for that trouble.)  Wednesday orders are generally here Friday, unless I place the order very late.  It also depends on whether they send it via UPS or if they send it to my local PO.  Local PO will sometimes add a third day (because our carrier leaves the PO at like 8 am), but usually not.  Prime is usually very fast for me, but tbh, I also don't generally care because I usually only head somewhere like WalMart once a week, and if I don't have to take all five kids into WM or somewhere else to pick up one thing, I'll happily pay for Prime, and even three or four days is still faster than I'd get it if I drove to WM.

 

ETA: Also, I think I live near a couple of Prime warehouses, which probably helps.  If I order two or three Prime items at once, they often come from different locations close by.  

Edited January 26, 2016 by happypamama

[wapiti]

Now I need to order earlier in the morning to get real two-day shipping.  And it's always better to order on a Monday or a Tuesday.

 

I recently noticed that the arrival times might differ between different seller options - often there is more than one Prime choice.  I used to simply click buy, which would have it come from the default seller, but now I check the other sellers.

[Peach]

I've not had any issues either, and I am in Montana (i,.e. off the beaten path :) )). Everything still comes UPS though. We haven't had any Prime items come through the PO.

[Sun]

I think it depends on where you are vs. their shipping location + the shipping lanes to your place.

I also think it has changed somewhat because of amazon's new contract with the USPS. The USPS is thrilled to have the contract and I think their delivery has somewhat slowed down ship times. 

However, I still get quite a bit of my stuff FedEx & UPS (but some start out that way & then end up USPS - which adds time) and some of those 3-4 day deliveries have been via UPS. FedEx stuff always gets to me in two days. Plus, FedEx usually gets here by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. UPS doesn't get to my house until it is dark (5-7 p.m.) because we are at the end of a route.

 

This, exactly. I still get stuff in one or two days if it's being delivered by any carrier other than the USPS. The USPS times seem a little squishier, and I absolutely can't count on those items arriving on the date Amazon scheduled. About 90% of the time USPS items are on time, but 10% is a pretty significant rate of not-on-time packages, in my opinion.

 

I'm really hoping that the Amazon contract will cause USPS to up their game and reliability.

[kitten18]

I actually get stuff faster through USPS. Almost all my orders from my local warehouses come USPS and are here in 1-2 days and I get deliveries on Saturdays and Sundays. So, that's good.

[Cindy in FL.]

I've had problems with Amazon a number of times over the past year or so. Definitely since they started using the USPS more often. What I really love is when they give you a guaranteed delivery date and the order doesn't arrive. They think they are being helpful by saying they'll cancel the order. No, helpful would be getting it here when you guarantee it will be here. If this was a one time deal I wouldn't be an issue, but it has happened at least four times.

 

Guaranteed. I don't think the word means what they think it means.

[Matryoshka]

I don't know OP, but someone at work was talking about this being their experience just the other day. They said that Amazon 2-day shipping is more like 4 day shipping these days, so you are probably right.

This is one reason I don't bother with Prime. Most regular Amazon orders only take about 4 days to get to me. Don't see a big reason to pay more, especially if it's not even going to make things faster. ..

[pehp]

I noticed this around Christmastime.  Around November I actually contacted them with a huge gripe b/c something I needed was a day late, and they gave me a credit.  I'm going to pay attention this year and if it continues I will gripe again.  Ordering Monday and getting an order on Friday is in NO WAY "two day shipping."

 

On the other hand, a gift I ordered on a Tues afternoon before Christmas was delivered to my MIL the NEXT MORNING! So, who knows. 

[FaithManor]

We have had good speeds, definitely always two days, until our very last order placed on this previous Friday. Everything was prime eligible BUT the package isn't getting here until tomorrow which is three business days and five days after ordering which makes me unhappy. Especially so since I really needed the kitchenaid hand mixer for a dish I was going to make tonight. My hand mixer died after 27 years - can't complain about that - and kitchenaid and mixers are not available locally, just Sunbeam. I could have driven into the city but not only would I have had to take the time, but also the gas in order to pay $10.00 more than amazon. Seemed like ordering was a no brainer.

 

Sigh...

 

Going to whisk those eggs until my arm falls off tonight! LOL

[Amy in NH]

This is one reason I don't bother with Prime. Most regular Amazon orders only take about 4 days to get to me. Don't see a big reason to pay more, especially if it's not even going to make things faster. ..

 

There's also the bit about not having a minimum order of $35 to get the "free" shipping.

 

 

I actually get stuff faster through USPS. Almost all my orders from my local warehouses come USPS and are here in 1-2 days and I get deliveries on Saturdays and Sundays. So, that's good.

 

 

USPS delivers to you on Sundays?  :huh:

[Alessandra]

I order a lot and get prime items in two days or less. I think location may make a difference. Last year, I had planned on getting dd a book sent to her summer camp. Camp in a rural area -- five days; my house in a busy suburb near lots of major roads -- two days. One day shipping was not available for tha camp address.

 

Agreeing with Wendy about Friday's. If I order during the day, I may get a Sunday delivery. If I order late Friday night, the clock typically starts on Monday for Wednesday delivery.

[Alessandra]

There's also the bit about not having a minimum order of $35 to get the "free" shipping.

 

 

 

 

USPS delivers to you on Sundays? :huh:

USPS delivers Amazon packages on Sunday's here, but not regular mail. I should check tracking, not sure if they come from a central location, rather than local PO.

[Matryoshka]

There's also the bit about not having a minimum order of $35 to get the "free" shipping.

 

Oh yeah, there is that. I did like it better when the minimum was only $25. I just maintain a wish list. And often stuff I need fast like textbooks I buy used and I'm going to pay $3.99 in shipping no matter what. ..

[kitten18]

There's also the bit about not having a minimum order of $35 to get the "free" shipping.

 

 

 

 

USPS delivers to you on Sundays? :huh:

They deliver Amazon packages on Sunday. :)

[kitten18]

USPS delivers Amazon packages on Sunday's here, but not regular mail. I should check tracking, not sure if they come from a central location, rather than local PO.

I just looked at a package I got on Sunday.

It looks like it went straight from the warehouse to my local PO and then out for delivery.