Prime has me hooked (Score: 2, Interesting) by chk6@pipedot.org on 2016-02-29 14:03 (#15GJX) When gas prices soared to the point when I factored in travel to the store to buy stuff. Do I spend $10 in gas for a $8 part? I found Amazon Prime to be a big cost savings on items that I could wait for. We were having Amazon ship stuff because not only was the online price cheaper, we also didn't have to pay for gas. (We live 30 minutes away from the largest city and 60 minutes from large metropolitan shopping centers.) Now, even though gas prices have hit a 10 year low, we still have Prime and continue to use it. We still drive for groceries, but other non-food items all come from Amazon. From clothes to carbon gaskets. I do 100% of my holiday, anniversary, and birthday shopping through Amazon. In our household Amazon holds a brand recognition to that of Google. Re: Prime has me hooked (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-23 22:12 (#1839T) This is why shipping prices have increased by 5% and 10%. Hundreds of thousands of people ordering everything online shipping at flat rates or weight only has led to overloading the shipping network. Buying a small item results in much larger packaging. We are literally moving air around. To combat this the various companies now.charge by weight and size. So, if you send a parcel that is quite large but relatively small in weight you pay more due to the size. The Australians have been calculating postage this way for a couple of decades. The down side is that when prices increase like this they rarely decrease. Re: Prime has me hooked (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2016-03-24 16:02 (#185VX) people ordering everything online shipping at flat rates or weight only has led to overloading the shipping network.There is no limit to "the shipping network". They can easily hire more employees, build more processing facilities, etc. You can easily see the interstates aren't so clogged with trucks that one more couldn't be added. And the decline of coal in the US has left railroads with plenty of new extra capacity they haven't been able to fill.various companies now.charge by weight and size.There's nothing new about that at all. "Flat rate" shipping has and always had quite a few strict restrictions on weights and sizes.The Australians have been calculating postage this way for a couple of decades.As have all the US shipping companies, for as long as I can recall...
Re: Prime has me hooked (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-23 22:12 (#1839T) This is why shipping prices have increased by 5% and 10%. Hundreds of thousands of people ordering everything online shipping at flat rates or weight only has led to overloading the shipping network. Buying a small item results in much larger packaging. We are literally moving air around. To combat this the various companies now.charge by weight and size. So, if you send a parcel that is quite large but relatively small in weight you pay more due to the size. The Australians have been calculating postage this way for a couple of decades. The down side is that when prices increase like this they rarely decrease. Re: Prime has me hooked (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2016-03-24 16:02 (#185VX) people ordering everything online shipping at flat rates or weight only has led to overloading the shipping network.There is no limit to "the shipping network". They can easily hire more employees, build more processing facilities, etc. You can easily see the interstates aren't so clogged with trucks that one more couldn't be added. And the decline of coal in the US has left railroads with plenty of new extra capacity they haven't been able to fill.various companies now.charge by weight and size.There's nothing new about that at all. "Flat rate" shipping has and always had quite a few strict restrictions on weights and sizes.The Australians have been calculating postage this way for a couple of decades.As have all the US shipping companies, for as long as I can recall...
Re: Prime has me hooked (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2016-03-24 16:02 (#185VX) people ordering everything online shipping at flat rates or weight only has led to overloading the shipping network.There is no limit to "the shipping network". They can easily hire more employees, build more processing facilities, etc. You can easily see the interstates aren't so clogged with trucks that one more couldn't be added. And the decline of coal in the US has left railroads with plenty of new extra capacity they haven't been able to fill.various companies now.charge by weight and size.There's nothing new about that at all. "Flat rate" shipping has and always had quite a few strict restrictions on weights and sizes.The Australians have been calculating postage this way for a couple of decades.As have all the US shipping companies, for as long as I can recall...