Amazon Can Already Ship To 72 Percent of US Population Within a Day, Map Shows (cnbc.com) 86
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Amazon is already capable of offering same-day and next-day delivery to 72% of the total U.S. population, including almost all of the households (95% or more) in 16 of the wealthiest and most populated states and Washington, D.C., according to a report published in March by RBC Capital Markets. The vast delivery network is the result of significant investments over the past four years, a period during which Amazon built out fulfillment centers across the country, nearly tripling its U.S. logistics infrastructure, RBC said. Amazon has added roughly double the amount of distribution space Home Depot currently owns.
That means the company has a huge head start in fulfilling its plan laid out in its latest earnings report to shorten the current two-day free shipping plan by one day for Prime members, who pay $119 a year for fast delivery as well as services like unlimited music, access to the video catalog and exclusive deals. The map below from RBC shows the four-year change in Amazon's distribution footprint. It already covers most of the coastal cities, as well as Texas and major metropolitan areas in the Midwest.
That means the company has a huge head start in fulfilling its plan laid out in its latest earnings report to shorten the current two-day free shipping plan by one day for Prime members, who pay $119 a year for fast delivery as well as services like unlimited music, access to the video catalog and exclusive deals. The map below from RBC shows the four-year change in Amazon's distribution footprint. It already covers most of the coastal cities, as well as Texas and major metropolitan areas in the Midwest.
Amazon's service is fine, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Think carefully before you continue to buy from Amazon. If you want a future for online internet purchasing that has competition, and isn't dominated by a single large entity (not counting Alibaba here: they're much bigger in Asia than the US), then it might just be time to start supporting Amazon's competitors, even if that is a little less convenient, has a little less selection, or a little worse pricing.
Once you hand a de-facto monopoly to a company, it WILL be used against you. You can have a tiny bit of pain now and support healthy competition, or a whole lot more pain later on after you make yourself subservient to a single entity.
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I will start supporting Amazon's competitors once they show they're better than Amazon. Otherwise, why would I fund inferior services? Competition is only good if it brings value to the customer. Competition for competition sake is lame.
Re: Amazon's service is fine, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why the fuck would I "think carefully" before buying anything from Amazon. They always have what I want. It's always a better price than the competition, and the reps are friendly, intelligent, polite, and helpful. Some of these other company reps are frankly downright abusive as well as stupid.
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Because monopolies are worse for you in the long run.
We are already seeing Amazon starting to abuse its market position. That is only going to become worse as they gain total control over online markets.
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ATT pre-breakup wasn't greedy???? What universe did you live in. $25-35 per month just for local service then per minute fees of 25-50 cents for long distance calls. Today you pay $40 per month (inflated dollars at that) for a cell phone that works damn near anywhere and that includes unlimited local and long distance plus some amount of internet bandwidth. We used to wait until after 9:00 PM to call long distance just to get 10 cents per minute for long distance calls.
ATT was rolling in the cash
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And how much did you pay to that monopolist?
I can't talk about your country. But let's talk about mine, where there was a monopoly for much of the latter half of the former century. A local call costed about 10 cents a minute, long distance (read: more than 5 Kilometers) costed like a buck and if you wanted to call someone abroad (for you US people: Outside the state) you had to go through an operator that made you feel like you're asking her to put down the cable herself and had you pay about 10 bucks for
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Amazon is usually more expensive, especially if you have Prime. The "free" shipping is actually just rolled into the price of the item. But even for non-prime stuff, the Amazon tax is very real.
Amazon prices are reasonable to good (usually) (Score:2)
Amazon is usually more expensive, especially if you have Prime.
If you want to spend a lot of time hunting for a better deal you can often find a modestly better price elsewhere. However the prices on Amazon are usually very reasonable and the delivery is reliable, fast, and the customer service is excellent. Amazon typically provides good value for money with minimal hassle. Other online retailers? Not so much. For example my company has bought office products from Staples and from Amazon. I can spend a lot of time coupon cutting and price matching with Staples t
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Why the fuck would I "think carefully" before buying anything from Amazon. They always have what I want. It's always a better price than the competition, and the reps are friendly, intelligent, polite, and helpful.
Because the point of walled garden is ultimately to charge you more. What is to prevent Amazon from determining how much you are willing to pay and then charging you the maximum? They can charge each customer a specific price unique to them for each item, thus fulfilling the goal of every monopol
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Generally, I find that niche players are competitive. For instance, if you want most things electronics or camera related B&H Photo Video has pretty much the exact same prices. I suspect it'll stay similar where there'll always be competition from different sellers and they'll do fine/provide adequate competition. Amazon will sell everything that is a commodity and generally unprofitable to sell anyway and everybody else will focus on something industry specific.
I've ended up buying quite a few things r
Specialty vendors need to provide something extra (Score:2)
Generally, I find that niche players are competitive. For instance, if you want most things electronics or camera related B&H Photo Video has pretty much the exact same prices.
The first (and probably last) time I tried to buy a lens from B&H online they literally would not take my order because it was some sort of Jewish holiday. Blew my mind that they wouldn't even take the order. Not making that up. (I don't care what religion they follow but don't make me follow it too) So I went to Amazon instead. They lost a sale to Amazon because they made me wait needlessly for reasons that have nothing to do with me. It was friction that Amazon doesn't make me suffer through and
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Don't you have local stores that are closed on weekdays (say Tuesdays cause they need a fuking day off?) Are you pissed at them for not being open at your convenience? Would you never shop there again because they were closed when you wanted to go there?
Oh, and what about those evil restaurants that are closed at 1AM when you want a bite to eat after being
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I recently moved from the UK, a country where Amazon does next day delivery, to New Zealand, a country where Amazon doesn't exist. So I'm forced to "use the competitors".
And let me tell you, the competitors *suck* in comparison.
Prices are worse and not just a little worse, delivery times are high, often multiple weeks to get something delivered, refund policies are pathetic, product range is very poor and not just a little less.
Roll on Amazon coming here and bringing decent competition. I have no problem
Only competition will affect Amazon (Score:2)
If you want a future for online internet purchasing that has competition, and isn't dominated by a single large entity (not counting Alibaba here: they're much bigger in Asia than the US), then it might just be time to start supporting Amazon's competitors, even if that is a little less convenient, has a little less selection, or a little worse pricing.
My individual decision of where to purchase is going to have effectively zero impact on Amazon's dominance or lack thereof. Same with Walmart or any other large retail company. People buy from Amazon or any other retailer because of the value for money they get. Any other considerations are typically unimportant. The only thing that is going to meaningfully affect Amazon's market share is whether or not their competition gets off their asses and starts to compete seriously. If they want to survive then
Amazon's dominance (Score:2)
Is Amazon really that dominant where you are?
In online sales in the US? Heck yes. Nobody else is even close. But bear in mind that they still are only a single digit percent of retail even in the US. Walmart has 2-3X the revenue that Amazon has despite having only a fraction of Amazon's online sales.
Most of Amazon's retail competition in the US was caught sleeping on e-commerce. They were kind of fat dumb and happy competing offline in the manner they were accustomed and realized WAY too late (if at all) that they needed to be investing heavily i
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Walmart.com can sometimes be surprisingly good for deals. I go to kettlebell group workouts now and then in my area. They are free.... you just have provide your own bell (unless someone has an extra they let you borrow). I've bought 2 kettlebells from Walmart. Every now and then they have an amazing sale where the bells are ~65-70 cents a pound. I had Walmart deliver a 45lb kettlebell to my door for around $30 total. Later on I got a 60lb kettlebell (though I had to pick it up in store) and paid aro
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Not to mention, even though you already pay about $120 a year for Prime, they still jack up prices on items to help offset that next day or 2nd day "free" shipping. Just compare the same items on Amazon's website that are Prime eligible from those from 3rd parties on the Amazon website that aren't Prime eligible, the prices are always a good percentage higher on the Prime stuff.
Still, I use it anyway because the convenience, and lately, I've been getting packages the very next day, or even on Sundays. I j
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Under this same thought I have tried walmart.com and was wholly underwhelmed. First I just tried to order a car battery for instore pickup for my father. All I wanted them to do was go to the battery section, bring the specified model battery to the pick up desk and give it to my father when he arrived...I paid for it...It would take 5 minutes of some "associate's" time....
Fail on their part. Immediately after order submission I get an email that says "We're sorry your order is delayed"... WTF? I wait a
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The fear you have of them suddenly changing their price and selection is exactly what you're suggesting I do now. I have no obligation to your fears as a consumer, only the price. If a competitor offers a better price, I will shop from them.
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Half true, he uses one on his workers.
Then why don't I get my packages? (Score:1, Interesting)
If it can ship to 95% of households in a day, why does it take a week to get my Amazon Prime item?
Prime shipping is pretty pointless nowadays.
CAP: domestic
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Because you are not in a target area. They are incrementally optimizing certain customer bases. This does not necessarily mean there will be trickle down to other areas.
Lying about delivery times (Score:2)
If it can ship to 95% of households in a day, why does it take a week to get my Amazon Prime item?
It doesn't. Or you are in some extremely remote location. Yes if you live in remote Alaska it might take longer. I order around 150 times per year from Amazon for both work and home and it's extremely rare that it takes more than 2 days for a Prime order to arrive.
Basically I have a LOT of data points saying you are lying. Given that you posted anonymously I'm thinking you are a troll.
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Maybe you live in the area that falls outside this claim?
I've never had an issue, apart from one incident of courier malfeasance that was resolved very nicely in my favor.
To those saying "shop elsewhere, accept some inconvenience"
Who the fuck else am I going to do business with, Walmart? Fuck the Walton family and fuck their entire organization. Even if they m magically corrected the massive mistake that is their online order system overnight, they'll never see a dime from me.
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Maybe you live in the area that falls outside this claim?
I was living in a big city at the time, so I'd hope not. She lived in an area outside of it, so maybe? Then again these failures were rare, it was mostly an eyeroll at them talking about how they can definitely always make the 2 day delivery.
A lot of the time (I'm not Prime) I get the 5-8 day stuff super fast. I didn't see the reason to get Prime when there were NUMEROUS occasions that I got 2-3 shipping time when I chose free 5-8. There was a brief period where it seemed like Amazon realized this and
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I dunno, Amazon delivery is already overextended (Score:2, Troll)
Over the past one or two years my "guaranteed two-day deliveries" have ended up taking three or sometimes even four days, more often than not. It used to be I could count on two days - and sometimes even one day.
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I know what you mean. Sometimes it looks like they're intentionally slowing it down. I have an order coming in tomorrow that very well could have been delivered today. Now, it only has to go from Atlanta to Birmingham, not exactly a long journey. It's normally about a two hour drive. It could have reached Birmingham by 7AM Central
Did you look at that map of delivery times
Fast delivery stops at the Alabama State Line
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I've had some Prime orders ship really fast and get to me in 1 or 2 days, and some that take 4 or 5 days AFTER they ship.
The crazy thing about the ones that are late is that they usually make it to my city in time- they even get listed as "out for delivery" on the day that they promise... but then for some reason they don't get delivered that day... or the next... They are literally out for delivery in my city for several days in a row but don't make it to my house on that day.
In the meantime, I order something else from Amazon Prime after the original package is already late- and that new item gets to me before the original
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Over the past one or two years my "guaranteed two-day deliveries" have ended up taking three or sometimes even four days, more often than not. It used to be I could count on two days - and sometimes even one day.
Yeah, I laugh at the two day guaranteed delivery at times and wonder how long it will really take. To be fair to Amazon, most do get to me within two days- but one in four doesn't... I don't really care, because if I really needed something immediately I'd buy in a store... but guaranteed two day delivery frequently takes a week. (which is still a good bargain for Prime tbh).
I think them planning to go to one day delivery is a bit of a joke. If they can't manage 2 day, no chance they will manage 1 day.
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Same here.
Lately "Guaranteed Next Day delivery" takes 2 days and "2 day prime shipping" takes 3.
And i have 3 Amazon fulfillment center within 25miles of my home.
They used to arrive on time, every time.
Armageddon Postponed AGAIN? (Score:2)
C'mon, you were all saying ten years ago that any day now Amazon is going to raise prices. Remember? When they put all the local booksellers out of business they are going to gouge us all on books.
RIGHT?
So, that was "any day now" a decade-plus ago and we're still waiting.
PERHAPS your economic theory is wrong?
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Clearly you haven't seen the prices of ebooks.
All Your Base Are Belong to Amazon (Score:1)
You have no chance to upgrade to Prime, make your time.
Amazon can't even reliably do two day shipping! (Score:2)
I'd say 25% of my Amazon 2 day shipping with prime arrive late already- how the heck are they going to manage 1 day shipping if they screw up with so much regularity on 2 day shipping.
I call bullcrap on 1 day shipping... or it's just going to be even more unreliable than their 2 day shipping.
Never had a problem with Amazon but... (Score:2)
The asshats at USPS that Amazon uses to deliver some items is a whole different story! In a call queue for over an hour to speak to a human being just says "I don't give a crap about you!!!"
Prepare for increased product prices (Score:3)
Nothing is free. The sellers already have the fee for Amazon fulfillment built into the product price. When prices to the seller go up for 1-Day, the sellers will raise the product prices.
This isn't the worst thing, but if you never needed the item that soon, you are parting with more money whether you needed it or not. Prices will perpetually be higher. And, since Amazon takes on average 15% of the proceeds, the seller must increase their product prices by ( X / 1 - 0.15) to ensure they actually get the correct amount back.
Keep that in mind. The prices are posted online and public. If Amazon is going to charge a seller $5.00 per item for 2-Day Shipping, the seller needs to include at least $5.88 in the product price to breakeven. Sure, most things under a pound cost less than that, but they would be even less if 2-Day shipping wasn't required. What will that change to with 1-Day?
But yeah, the yearly fee that customers pay for Prime is just a donation to Amazon. They money being used for paying the carriers is paid for by artificially more expensive products with "free" shipping.
tl;dr
The Prime membership fee is misleading you into thinking your financial burden for 2-Day shipping is capped at $119/yr. It isn't.
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-1, conflates costs and prices
Which still doesn't answer the question (Score:3)
Where the hell is my order???
Okay, calm down. It's only been an hour.
So what, I can wash my car (Score:2)
Just 'cause you can do something doesn't say anything about your willingness to do anything, ya know.
Yes they can deliver to you in a day. But why should they if they can make you pay extra for the privilege of them doing so? Instead, they just bill your credit card and wait a week 'til they ship it to you.