Buying online

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Pretty sure Prime 2 day shipping here is MOSTLY actually get it delivered in a couple days after purchase - I Think. I've never used it, but my mom does and I think my brother does. I dunno for sure, but I think shipping times depend on how far people are from major distribution centres.. people in cities close to amazon warehouses can get stuff reliably fast, whereas if you're ways away it takes more time.

nick007's scenario makes me wonder if amazon holds items until there's a batch going nearby then releases them. That could be.

And yeah, business noodle.. paid to have it trained when I was a teenager :p can't turn it off. Analyzed many different types of businesses, systems, processes etc over the last 20+ years.

It probably takes more diesel to truck goods to a shop in every suburb then it does keep goods in a giant regional warehouse and send them to consumers on demand.

I've known people with diseal trucks who prefer to leave them idling instead of shutting them off for brief periods because it somhow saves gas. I don't know the science behind that thou.

I’ve read that if you idle for more than 10 seconds you use more fuel than restarting.

Some people idle diesels if they’ve just been driving hard as they let the turbo cool down slowly vs shut the car off and cool it fast. It prolongs the life of the turbo.

Mine has an aftermarket turbo timer that keeps the engine idling for 30 seconds after every time I shut it off. I haven’t experimented with toggling it on/off depending on driving style - if it’s just been a short trip and I haven’t worked the turbo hard, it’s a waste of 30 seconds of fuel.. but if I toggle it off and forget to put it on again, I might cool the turbo too quickly and kill it faster. Hmm

Have you seen some of those cars that automatically shut off the engine when you stop at the lights?

Late to the party - but in the UK the last hop, from distribution warehouse to the/this customer, is by an Amazon-liveried EV.

Another objection I have with buying online is that when I do, I don't get something immediately, as I might if I went in the store. Instead, once I buy something, I have to wait for it to show up. It may take a long time for it to show up. I may like to have something in the moment when I buy it, but if I wait for it, what if my interest wanes in the meantime? And I lose interest by the time it shows up?

And of course, there's the issue of buying something online for Christmas. What if it doesn't show up until after Christmas? Once my mother bought a present long before Christmas, and so she thought it would show in plenty of time. But it didn't even go out until the day after or something. It didn't show up a few days after Christmas.

Whatever happened to "the mail gets through, no matter what kind of weather"? Also, you can order something far out in advance, as I said, and there's still no guarantee.

Shipping lead times are usually posted. People buy online for both convenience of not having to go shopping And usually savings by paying a lower price in a globally competitive marketplace vs. whatever retail price is set at a local shop. If you lose interest in something you bought, that sounds like a you problem. Don't buy things you don't need or don't really want, problem solved.. which is the same problem whether you buy it online or locally, anyways, so isn't really a worthy comparison. UNLESS you were buying some novelty item to use once or twice and then discard or whatever, then maybe stop at a store on your way to a party or whatever - some things people just don't buy online because they need or want them Now. How is any of this difficult to grasp?

Again, MOST things get delivered on time. Sometimes things ship late. Whoopeedoo. I still have a Christmas gift that I had to cross an international border to pick up after it arrived a few days after Christmas. It's still a dope gift and my friend is gonna love it. So what if it didn't arrive on time? I still got it and I'm still going to give it and he's still going to love it. If something is so critical to give in the moment, say, a wedding ring needed for a ceremony.. then don't take chances waiting for arrival. I can't really think of anyone I buy Christmas gifts for that's gonna whine that something I gave them was late due to the mail. Who cares? Not me. But if you're so hung up on it.. don't order online and wait for delivery! No one is forcing you to. It's just that MANY people Choose to for the convenience and savings, and if once in a blue moon there's a delay, whatever, s**t happens and life goes on.

There are more packages than ever delivered to peoples' doors. It's not like the old days where a mailman has one bag of letters to deliver. With MILLIONS (tens of? hundrends of?) of parcels delivered daily, sometimes not every damned last package can possibly get delivered that day. Companies run out of room on trucks and planes ffs. I worked at UPS for a Spring-Summer and they have a policy that everyone stays until everything is moved, sometimes 13h shifts. But if trucks/trailers etc are all full, planes are full, or a plane is literally taking off so a truck has to pull out to transfer packages to it, and there's a never ending onslaught of seasonal packages wtf do you expect people to do besides do the work as soon as humanly possible? Get real. You're talking about humans being paid low wages to work their asses off to move parcels through the mail system and courier companies. People need sleep, food, water etc and can't just work like machines because you expect whatever it is you ordered online to show up when you snap your fingers. Order it earlier next time if you're that concerned. Do your online Christmas shopping in September/October instead of late November/December. Your lack of planning isn't everyone else' problem to solve.

If you hate the idea of ordering stuff online, saving money, and waiting for delivery.. don't buy stuff online. Jeez. Go pay more and have it right now and stop complaining about it for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

This all is an autism thing...

It's not that it's difficult to grasp, I'm just speaking from experience.



When I order something, I just don't want people to be upset when it doesn't arrive in a timely fashion. That happened to me a few times, actually.



It's just something that's been bothering me for a while. It may not bother you, but it does bother me. I just haven't really found a good place to vent my spleen about it. It's never a good idea to just bottle up your feelings. And besides, so many things are only available online and not in the stores. I've tried to find those things, but to no avail. More recently, as a compromise, I've even tried looking them up on, say, the Walmart site to see if they're in stock before I go over there, but so many items appear to be online only, without even bothering to say they're not in stock, but sold by a third party that appears to be using Walmart to sell. The least that Walmart could do is say that, unfortunately, their item is not available in the stores instead of keeping one guessing.

Recently, I've bought something from Amazon about a week ago. They said it would arrive by Jan. 23, but I haven't heard any new updates since Wednesday.

Also, I placed an order on eBay for a replacement Fitbit case band to wrap over my Fitbit device, whose clicker band has broken off so I can't keep on my wrist anymore. The order was placed on Jan. 9, with an estimated delivery between Jan. 14 and Jan. 20, but I was really hoping against hope that it would be the earlier end of the spectrum, but obviously, Jan. 14 has passed. It didn't ship until Jan. 11, so that should have been a red flag for me. And as I wait, I will not be able to use my Fitbit, which is how I determine how many steps I've taken and thus how many miles I've walked and how many calories I've burned. Without that, I will never be able to know for sure. I actually bought another pedometer, but it keeps resetting itself.

..if you don't want to wait, by it local now. If it's only available online and you want that selection, wait for it - without complaining about it, ideally.

Many online marketplaces have 3rd party sellers and online only items. They're transparent about this.

Why would you expect any updates until it's shipped or delivered? *yawn* Who cares? Click, order, appreciate the convenience.. then boom, several days later things show up at your door while you've been able to spend your time and energy on entirely different things besides shopping for those items.

Sounds like those items have shipped on time and you'll get them as agreed - even though shipping times are estimates as unforeseen things can happen to cause delays. Again, if you're so wound up about having something NOW, don't order it online and wait for it. Suuuuuper simple stuff here.. you seem to be making mountains out of molehills and finding fault in every tiny aspect of the logistics of online shopping. If you hate it that much, don't partake in it. It'll save you the stress of all of these thoughts.

Because unless there are updates, how would I know where they are before they do get delivered?



Considering the myriad of storms we've been having lately, I'm concerned there will be delays, even though the phrase was "The mail gets through, no matter what kind of weather". Does that phrase not apply anymore?

Why would you need, or expect, to know exactly where a package is while it's in transit? Who cares. It's in shipping and will come to your address when it gets there. What are you expecting a live GPS tracking device with real time updates?? Even courier companies that attempt to scan packages at every change of site can't possibly scan them all - sometimes the scanners don't work, sometimes the ink used for the barcode isn't scan-able etc, but still almost everything gets delivered as promised. It's just nuts to expect some kind of live play by play.. it's parcel delivery, not some hand-to-hand courier transporting your parcel on their lap on a plane.

Umm, yeah - storms cause delays. What is your expectation? That some guy getting paid $18/hr is going to risk his life to transport a stupid parcel through a deadly Winter storm because you have some fantasy that no matter what your trinket is to be delivered on a certain date?? Get real.. as in your expectations are completely unrealistic. Extreme weather causes delays in shipping, it's that simple. Wtf?

The postal service here in the US has been having lots of problems the last few years. Around Christmas & New Years this year, they only delivered mail one day a week for two weeks. Some packages & mail were out for delivery for 5 or 6 days before the carrier got around to delivering them. My parents are having similar issues.

Me & my girlfriend don't drive so we usually rely on buses for bigger shopping trips. Bus rides take a lot longer than riding in cars do & can be a pain, especially for my gf cuz of her various issues. There is a Walgreens & a small local grocery close by that I walk to a lot but selections are very limited & things are usually more expensive. It's usually easier & cheaper(or a least no more expensive) to buy certain things online & have em delivered.

We've had problems at our old place with packages getting stolen before cuz the mail carrier was not using the parcel lockers & instead just leaving the packages in the "mail room" which was just a small structure next to the sidewalk that anybody walking by could just look in & walk in, grab the stuff & keep on walking. It took a bit of complaining & us getting our mail held at the post office before they decided to start using the parcel lockers again but they would sometimes leave delivery slips instead. The door to our apartment was rite next to the sidewalk & UPS & FedEx would sometimes leave packages there where anybody walking by could just grab & keep on going. I started trying to be home & waiting downstairs whenever UPS or FedEx was supposed to deliver a package. Thankfully we were able to get replacements or refunds for our jacked orders. Our current place is a lot better with that. We have parcel lockers that get used by the mail carriers. UPS & FedEx leave packages in the entryway for our building which is a ways from the road & sidewalk. Me & a couple others usually try to bring all packages inside our building which requires a key to get in if we're able to without too much trouble.

A lot of new cars have "stop start," technology in them now. Easily replicated in old cars by just turning the engine off at stoplights and restarting when the light turns green. Extra wear on the ignition and starter motor, though.. but that may be cheaper than burning expensive fuel getting 0mpg while stopped.

I'll sometimes turn my engine off at a really long light or will when a train is crossing. With the turbo timer on the van taking 30 seconds to shut off I just idle at lights.

You just said, though, that you were having issues with the postal service.

I mean I can't speak for him, obviously, but for me the ease and benefits of ordering things online and getting them delivered far outweighs any issues that come from delays from the USPS, FedEx, or UPS (and I hate UPS - sorry for going on a bit of a tangent here but I ordered like an absolutely massive action figure [literally 21 inches tall] as an early birthday present for myself because it was on sale for a crazy good price direct from the store ran by the company and anyways I had to go through a whole rigamarole with UPS customer support multiple times to get them to deliver it because, on the original day [10 June] it was meant to be delivered, it was out for delivery all day and then never arrived because 'the address is missing the apartment number'. I live in a house, in a completely residential neighborhood and anyways it took them like at least three calls for them to definitively have it in their system I live in a house and I got the figure on the 15th of June [which I know isn't that long but it's still 5 days after I was supposed to get it originally!)

But yeah anyways, I literally have no driver's license so while I can manage to get my groceries just fine (I can walk to my local Publix and Winn-Dixie super easy and I have my own cart I use in those stores), if I want anything else? Well, I basically have to order things online if I can't get to another store (and even then if I can go to other stores, usually through my grandpa driving me - I know I'm 26 years old and my grandpa in his 90s drives me places, it's not like I'm going around angrily demanding him to take me to the store. 95% it's him having to go to Walmart to pick up his medicine and I ask if I can go with him so I can buy some toys buy some food (and some toys, if they have something good in stock).

Anyways I'm getting way off track here I think, the point I'm making is is that even with the problems that come with online ordering and delivery, the fact that it allows me to get stuff I either couldn't get entirely because I can't drive, don't want to bother my grandpa to take me to the comic book store or whatever, don't feel like taking public transport (although I do wanna take the train down to one of their new stations that's right by the largest mall in the state - they even do free shuttle service to and from the mall and they're planning on building a walkway so you can literally just walk right from the station to the mall) makes me not care about those problems.

Hell, I haven't even mentioned being able to get things online that I just can't find in-stores at all. Had to get some special noodles I love delivered online somewhat recently because they don't sell them at any stores down here.