Amazon shipping

[Dave Lehnert]

Don’t get me wrong, I love ordering from Amazon. But I have a beef with shipping. Yes! I’m cheap so I use the free shipping. But what gets me is the delay is not in the shipping but how long it takes for them to fill your order. I live close to one of Amazon warehouse. Once the item ships I have it in a day or two with the free shipping. It’s just like they say “look at this cheap woodworker, wont pay for shipping” so they just let my order sit on the dock for a few days to get me to pay for 2nd day or something. I’ll pay for faster shipping but not to get the warehouse worker to walk back sooner to get my item.

Is it only me????

[Mike Heidrick]

It may be your local warehouse maybe? I have had super fast response even from the free shipping. I now have the Prime membership but even before that it was super fast.

Do you pay tax on amazon orders since the warehouse is close?

[Corey Hallagan]

My personal experience is it hasn't seemed to make much difference if I paid or got free shipping, if it is in stock I get it usually in usually within a week. Often, they will send an email saying the item is backordered, and then it shows up 2 days later, the day the item is received... I get an email saying that the item has shipped. I don't have any beefs with Amazon at this point myself.

Corey

[Mike Henderson]

I almost never pay for shipping with Amazon so I don't have a good frame of reference for how quickly they ship paid (shipping) orders. But it does seem to me that they take a long time to ship the item.

I figure they have to do something to encourage people to pay for shipping so I accept the delay. If I really need something fast, I'll pay for two day shipping.

Mike

[Dave Lehnert]

It may be your local warehouse maybe? I have had super fast response even from the free shipping. I now have the Prime membership but even before that it was super fast.

Do you pay tax on amazon orders since the warehouse is close?

No on sales tax. I am across the river in Ohio. They are in KY.

I once ordered an Incra miter gauge late in the afternoon. The item was on back order and said it will ship in 3 weeks or something like that. Somehow it showed up FedEx by 10am the next day. (Free shipping) wonder how fast if I would have paid for faster service LOL!!!!

[Craig D Peltier]

I have read somewhere that you can pay a membership type fee for like $80 for 2 day shipping free for a whole year.Something im going to look into.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have read somewhere that you can pay a membership type fee for like $80 for 2 day shipping free for a whole year.Something im going to look into.

Anyone know if it’s two day shipping from the time I place an order or two days from the time they get around to picking my order???? To me Shipping is transporting the product. Handling is picking and packing my order. They say nothing about handling.

[Steven Triggs]

But what gets me is the delay is not in the shipping but how long it takes for them to fill your order.


Anyone know if it’s two day shipping from the time I place an order or two days from the time they get around to picking my order?

When I have used the free shipping, sometimes my orders have shipped right away, and sometimes they have waited several days. Obivously I don't actually know what Amazon's approach is, but I would guess that in order to make certain the paid shipping orders go out on time, the free shipping orders are given very low priority. As a result, sometimes they go out quickly, and sometimes they get delayed.

The membership service is called "Amazon Prime." It applies to items that are sold by amazon, not third parties (the same items that would qualify for the free shipping). In my experience with it, they ship the items VERY quickly. If you'll notice, some items say in green "order by X:XX p.m. and receive your order tomorrow." With Amazon Prime, these items ship the day you order them and arrive two days later. In other words, an item ordered on Monday morning would ship Monday evening and arrive on Wednesday. I have never paid for the Amazon prime membership, but a few times they have offered a one month trial and I've used it. Also, if you are in a big hurry, as an Amazon Prime member you can pay $3.99 per item to upgrade to 1 day shipping, to have the item the day after you order it.

Hope this helps...

[Denny Rice]

I went to purchase a benchtop mortiser about 6 months ago (made my mind up I wanted the Delta) and Amazon had the best price and free shipping to boot. The screen on my computer said they were "in stock". The next couple of days went by and I never received a shipping statement from Amazon, so I called. When I did I was told the order had not been processed yet due to being "out of stock" it would be another 2 weeks before they would ship. Cancelled order while on phone--went to www.woodworker.com placed order for Steel City benchtop mortiser and have never been happier, and oh yea got it w/free shipping too.

[Tim Morton]

Go for the "prime"....its a one time hit and for a year you get free 2 day shipping and things ship out generally the same day you order them. I use it all the time.

[Don Bullock]

When I have used the free shipping, sometimes my orders have shipped right away, and sometimes they have waited several days. Obivously I don't actually know what Amazon's approach is, but I would guess that in order to make certain the paid shipping orders go out on time, the free shipping orders are given very low priority. As a result, sometimes they go out quickly, and sometimes they get delayed....

I agree with Steven. Since I don't buy enough items to think that "Prime" is a good idea, I always use "free shipping." It seems to be "hit and miss" as to how fast things ship. I thing that the free shipping items get shoved to an area of the shipping department where they sit and wait for "time" to get them out. Everything else is shipped "same day." Most items arrive long before they would have if I had bought them at another vendor and paid for shipping. That's one of the reasons I use Amazon.

[Dave Avery]

You get what you pay for.......... as Tim said, Prime for $80 per year means that you get EVERYTHING 2-3 days after placing the order.

[Matt Meiser]

They must use voodoo or something to figure out when to ship. Most of my stuff also ships from Lexington, KY. I don't buy from Amazon that much, but when I do I usually do free shipping unless work is paying the bill and it always seems to ship quick. I'm only 1-2 UPS days from Lexington. I tried a free trial of Amazon Prime and it was nice, but I only used it once and couldn't justify the cost. If you buy a lot from them I can definitely see it being a good deal.

A related question--when did they drop the free shipping on large tools? I probably would have bought a Delta drill press from them if they still had it. However with their ridiculous (compared to Grizzly) shipping it was the same price to buy local. And then if I was going to spend that much I figured I should just spend a little more and get an even better one

[Wes Bischel]

I read somewhere that one logistics method used by large online retailers is to have a number of trailers at the docks designated for specific shipping areas (based on regional distribution centers of the shipping agent) - when the trailer is full, then it gets picked up and taken directly to that distribution center closest to the final address. Just one more way they can cut costs by shipping in "bulk" and avoiding multiple DC's.
So if your order is the first one on the trailer, it sits for a few days. If it is the last one on, it leaves quickly.
How accurate this is, I cannot say, but it makes some sense.
FWIW,
Wes

[Nancy Laird]

Cancelled order while on phone--went to www.woodworker.com placed order for Steel City benchtop mortiser and have never been happier, and oh yea got it w/free shipping too.

Good for you, Denny! You got a better mortiser than the Delta!!!

Nancy (134 days)