Amazon.com. Inc. is struggling to handle some of its own two-day deliveries and has turned over about 1 million parcels a day to UPS Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service to meet its delivery commitments, according to a leading consultant.
Satish Jindel, founder and president of ShipMatrix, said Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has shifted more middle-mile shipments to UPS’ two-day delivery service and more last-mile shipments to the Postal Service’s final-mile service, Parcel Select. UPS (NYSE: UPS) and the Postal Service are Amazon delivery partners. Those parcels were originally to move on Amazon’s network.
Much of the problem is occurring “upstream” where Amazon’s longer-haul middle-mile network resides, Jindel said. The lengths of haul of the shipments now being handled by UPS vary, he said.
The issues have nothing to do with the performance of Amazon’s last-mile drivers or the contractors, known as Delivery Service Providers, that employ them, he said.
Jindel, who went public with the comments after what he said were conversations with multiple Amazon stakeholders, estimated that the number of parcels affected is in the single-digit percentage range. Amazon handles about 16 million parcels per day, according to ShipMatrix estimates.
Amazon offers a broad range of delivery options, notably one-day shipping and its traditional mainstay of two-day shipping. It also makes different delivery commitments to members of its Amazon Prime ordering and delivery service, which includes unlimited two-day deliveries, and non-Prime users. The different offerings spawn variability and complexity, which adversely impacts Amazon’s delivery reliability, Jindel said. The problems are amplified by Amazon’s massive and burgeoning delivery volumes, he said.
In a statement, Amazon said that “delivery promises fluctuate based on a variety of factors including time of day, transportation capacity, regional demand, and customer location. No customers have lost 2-Day Shipping benefits.”
Amazon’s problems began around the middle of November and were unrelated to the company’s two-day fall Prime Day event in mid-October.
Richard
The simple solution is to change from Amazon to another provider. If you’re waiting 6-10 days for prime shipping, you can often go to places like walmart.com and get the same item, same price, same wait and it will usually have free shipping. The difference is that Walmart doesn’t charge you a monthly fee for a broken promise.
Close that Amazon account and Take your business elsewhere; I did.
Candy
Amazon should refund or credit all of the Prime members for their 2 day shipping lie. Now they say it’s (2 days) ONCE it’s packaged up and mailed. I call BS on that since a normal person knows 2 day shipping means just that. It doesn’t mean once Amazon people get it in a box and ready for shipment, which is about 5-7 days now, then it’s 2 day shipping. I’ve talked to Amazon customer service several times and still get no reason other than “fulfillment” center lingo and that 2 day shipping means ONCE they get it together 👎
Wendy
My prime packages are taking 5-8 days AFTER they are shipped. What am I paying for?
Erica
I’m trying to get an understanding of why when I order an item on prime that’s supposed to take 2 days is now taking 5 or more days? What is the purpose of being a prime member if I have to wait longer. I’m feeling lied to about my delivery date that changes once I’ve paid for the product. I’m a faithful shopper with Amazon due to getting my items so quickly but I might have to go back to dealing with the other stores and letting prime go because I’m not seeing the point of it anymore.
Denise
I looked for news about Prime delivery because I waited until after the holidays to order my usual Prime items, Amazon now offers 4-week delivery on items that used to take 2-days, items ordered on January 6, 2023 will be delivered estimated Feb 7 or later. From 2-days to 4-weeks is a huge change in Prime delivery and there was no explanation or announcement about this.
Karrie
Ok, i am about to unload here! As a paying prime member who has exclusively shopped on Amazon for Christmas the last 4 years as well as buy all other household needs on Amazon, I’m super frustrated that as a customer, I make sure prime shipping if offered AND shipping times state they will be delivered by a certain day and then it changes AFTER purchase and many times after it has shipped and been charged. It feels like I’m being lied to about delivery times to get me to buy something and then they update it after you purchase. This has been very inconvenient and stressful as we are moving from our residence and shipping times and promises make a huge difference because we will no longer be at the same house. I’ve had at least 7 packages change shipping after purchase over the holidays. One item that was offered as prime and promised delivery before Christmas was ordered on 12/16, supposed to be delivered by 12/23, which is still way over the 2 day shipping. It was a prime order with prime listed and guranteed to arrive before Christmas. We didn’t get it until 1/5. Thats 20 days!!!!!!! Why are you listing items as prime if they are not. 20 days? And most other prime orders are a minimum of 8-10 days including weekends. So 6-8 business days. I have an order now that was supposed to be delivered on 1/4 and was just updated to 1/10. I ordered it on 12/24 as a prime offered order. So it was already going to be 12 days from order date on 1/4 and now it was moved to 1/10. Thats a total of 20 days for delivery. That is not prime, not what I’m paying for. Most of these things I can buy in a store but I bought with Amazon because of the 2 day shipping and was willing to pay for prime. At this point, there is 0 advantage and reason to pay for prime. I don’t watch Amazon prime, so I only pay for it for the shipping benefits.
Lisa
not some.. all! I live near Amazon and even had the 1 day option. since November, I get out, if I’m lucky in 5 days. considering the upped the price of membership yet now have less before because they can’t deliver on the 2 day promise.
AP Vigil
Amazon needs to halt any increase in prime until this issue is resolved. Its not fair to increase membership and not get the benefits