WTF is up with Amazon Prime lately?

No I’m back in the States for the Holidays.
Amazon does however ship to Nigeria for the low low price of like 80 dollars for a box of goldfish. (At some point I really wanted goldfish and was willing to spend like 30 bucks for some)

Amazon Now - 2 hour free delivery (you can add a tip) - just went live in my area . We tried it out today. They have a pretty good and varied selection of available items with decent prices. I’m not sure I would use it consistently as it is not often I need to have things that quickly, but it was a nice option.

Anyone else using it on an on-going basis?

I keep meaning to try it but having it limited to searching in a tiny mobile app doesn’t make it very easy to find things and I haven’t seen anything I really feel is worth it. Especially since they won’t leave the package if there are certain kinds of perishable goods. If they don’t leave it, I can’t get it. I will be home but there’s no building intercom.

I really can’t figure out why it’s only on a mobile app. It immediately killed my interest in using it during the brief overlap between it launching in NC and me canceling my Prime.

I used the web site: https://primenow.amazon.com/

I can imagine doing it on a mobile app would be difficult, but the web site was very easy to use. I also had the option of flagging it to be left at the door - perhaps I didn’t have certain perishable goods which would have restricted this.

There wasn’t a website when it launched. The app thing was a big roadblock so I wish they would have made more of a fuss launching the web version!

Likely because the apps they’re competing against (Instacart, Postmates, UberEATS, Google Express) are pretty mobile app-driven. I know you can use the web version for those services too, but I still tend to order food/goods/services from my phone.

Orlando doesn’t have it yet. Of course Miami does.

Miami, Miami, Miami!

I went to that website and it advertised Prime Now to me and then told me how to download the mobile app. There was zero ability to actually use Prime Now.

Once you provide your zip code or sign in, you should be able to shop via that website. Or maybe it’s different for folks that live outside of Prime Now cities, I don’t know.

I have Prime Now access in my zip code and am providing it, but it just tells me to download the app. I’m guessing they must only be piloting the web version in specific regions or something, which fucking sucks.

When I go to the web page there is no mention of any app. Didn’t try to order anything, though. Nice to know that any urgent need to buy a Kindle is now taken care of.

It did clarify the reason for the app’s existence for me, though. As a vector for quick-shipped Amazon goods, it’s a pain in the ass and there is no earthly reason I would ever need to use the service away from a computer. But apparently it’s also meant to be a vector for stuff from local stores and restaurants, where I could see perhaps someday wanting to use it from a phone. It’s just that, at least in my region, it doesn’t actually do that. It’s just Amazon stuff.

Here in Cincy we just got the two-hour free prime thing, and one-hour is available for an upcharge. I haven’t tried it yet. In a weird way I’d feel absurdly guilty using it, as there is pretty much nothing I’d order off Amazon that I couldn’t wait 48 hours for.

They also have an “Amazon Store” here now where you can order something off the site and pick it up at the store location in around 2 hours. The store is located in the university village at University of Cincinnati, which makes it pretty centrally located to all three major universities here in town, downtown and some of the other trendy districts. I think it’s a brilliant idea to have such a location, as there are many places these days (dorms, apartments, condos, etc.) where it’s either unsafe to have packages delivered or so many packages are coming in that it’s overwhelming landlords and building management. If I still lived in a place like that I wouldn’t mind the extra step of swinging by the store to grab my stuff as long as lines were short and everything was there waiting. Beats having it stolen from the lobby of your apartment building. Although nowhere is really safe anymore. I live in a fairly nice middle-class subdivision with plenty of residents around all day long keeping an eye on one another’s houses, and yet we recently had a rash of porch pirates come through the neighborhood.

Here in Cincy we just got the two-hour free prime thing, and one-hour is available for an upcharge. I haven’t tried it yet. In a weird way I’d feel absurdly guilty using it, as there is pretty much nothing I’d order off Amazon that I couldn’t wait 48 hours for.

It’s good for last minute party supplies. I could walk down to the supermarket and lug back a crate of beer, or I could just order it online, for free.

We just got Amazon lockers in our little town outside of Seattle, but I can never seem to get them to show up as a delivery option.

So, last Tuesday I ordered a wireless adapter from Amazon, originally scheduled to arrive on Thursday. Then Portland’s Snowpocalypse '17 event happened, so no delivery Thursday. Supposedly out for delivery Friday via UPS (the neighborhood residential streets are still packed snow, mind). Package never shows–get last minute email saying it’s supposedly coming Monday. Same thing happens Monday AND last night. Because apparently UPS is unfamiliar with the concept of tire chains or something. Today, maybe I’ll FINALLY get my effing package because we’re hitting 50 degrees with constant rain.
Who should I be pissed at here, Amazon or UPS?

Mother nature?

UPS, unquestionably. Amazon has no control once it goes into the hands of the United Parcel Nondelivery Service. As I have more than once had cause to regret.

My point is, if they’re not actually going to even bother trying to deliver the package till the snow is melted, why keep showing “out for delivery by 8PM” day after day? They had the weekend to get some damned chains on their trucks ffs.