Amazon.com Deliveries are Waaaaaay Behind Schedule This Year

I wonder what's different this year than in past years. I've had great luck with them in the past over the holidays. Also, they're part of a "free shipping" promo this month, where dozens of stores are offering free shipping on Dec 18th with promises of delivery by Christmas. Whoops.

They're probably just covering their asses, not a insane plot to undermine the world and take advantage of you.

If you do feel the need to do sensationalist 'a la local evening news" piece again, you might want to do your research. Amazon heavily relies on UPS, which is also severely cutting employee hours this month, while a few of their delivery service contractor have been shrinking in size. That resulting in the reduced ability to hire seasonal increases in volume MAY have something more to do with it.

Maybe. Unless you really think they've had Amazon Prime for all these years and their masterplan always had xmas 2008 as "the time our plan goes into effect."

The delivery completely depends on the item you choose. If the availability is more than 3 or 5 days then it takes more time to get delivered. They normally provide free shipping for all the orders above $25.00. I think you have selected a item which is not immediately available. Ands regarding Free Prime I think we can cancel before one month is completed. This season I have placed orders earlier and got all the items before promised estimated delivery dates.

Has anyone contacted Amazon for confirmation that they're running behind and for an explanation?

BTW, I'm buying several items from them right now and am getting a very normal three day shipping quote with standard shipping--no evidence of any delay at all.

@Elise - Are you sure that all the items you were purchasing where listed as "in stock"? Even one item which isn't can hold up an entire order for weeks.

Elise - I think you've made some kind of mistake here. I just checked, and as the others have said, everything seems 100% normal to me. You might consider checking this out a bit further and updating the article.

I've been an Amazon customer for over 10 years, and I often use Amazon to buy gifts for friends and family for holidays.

Quite frankly, there is a lot of inaccurate and/or vague information in this article. It simply has no basis whatsoever, it looks like it was written purely to get attention or by someone who isn't fluent in online shopping. In fact, I find it almost impossible to get the same scenarios that are described. Someone ought to post some specific examples.

First, the article doesn’t indicate whether the writer was looking at items sold by Amazon or items sold by third party sellers. Amazon has a lot of items sold by third party sellers, ranging from big companies like Target, down to small mom & pop outfits. These sellers may not necessarily have all of the same shipping options as Amazon, and it may take them a lot longer to process orders.

Secondly, when ordering from Amazon, there isn’t really a difference in shipping speed for Prime vs. non-Prime customers, when looking at the same item. Prime is simply a membership to get unlimited free two-day shipping, and one-day shipping at $3.99. But EVERYONE, even non-Prime customers, can use two-day and one-day shipping if it is available. They just have to pay more for it, but the speed is the same.

Most “in-stock” Amazon sold items ship in two days or less. Many items have guarantees for the fast shipping methods (“order in XX hours and get by XX day). But just because something is “in-stock”, doesn’t always mean it ships this fast. Some items have a bit longer processing time (“takes an additional 3 to 4 days to process”). When looking at items, it’s important to pay attention to the lead time as well as who the item is sold and shipped by. Amazon is almost always the fastest way to get an item, compared to the other sellers on Amazon.

With regards to large orders, the size doesn't matter. What matters again is what is in the order. Does it include items from slower third party seller? Do some of the items (like a TV) require slower ship options or special handling? Do any of the items require extra processing time? Whenever I order more than one item sold by Amazon, I'm able to keep them in one big group to save money on shipping, or have them shipped seperately. If you ship them seperately, then the faster items will arrive more quickly and the slowest items may arrive after Christmas. Since I'm a Prime customer, I don't worry about splitting up the order into small shipments, as it's all free for two-day anyway. Order size in itself does not affect speed.

If anyone has noticed recently, Amazon has a specific message for all of its items indicating whether or not the thing will arrive by Christmas. As a last minute shopper, I find this to be a really helpful and cool feature! I can’t count all of the times over the years that I’ve been clicking away a few days before Christmas, ordering gifts that arrived in time. Now, it's like it reads my mind.

Honestly, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Amazon, like most retailers, makes its money during the holidays. Why would Amazon ship items to non-Prime customers more slowly? They might as well put a gun to their head and pull the trigger.

Prime is a cool benefit if you shop online a lot. $79 a year for free two-day shipping, that adds up after just a few orders. But, like anything, if it isn’t worth it to you, don’t buy it. Amazon still offers everyone else free shipping on orders over $25 as well as the faster options at a price.

And as far as buying stuff on Amazon, I still have yet to find ANY site that has the precision and accuracy to tell me when my order will arrive, update me while it’s enroute and time and time again deliver on that promise.