"Anticipatory shipping" - Amazon files patent

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nickt

Senior Member
Cool. Amazon is very good at getting our stuff here as it is. We have Amazon Prime which gives us free 2-day shipping with no minimum order. They rarely ship anything by an actual 2 day rush service, rather it magically appears in PA within a day and ships ups ground from there getting to me in NY the next day. My wife and I have become very spoiled, if the price is good, we order from Amazon rather than drive to 10 minutes to the store.
 
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JohnFrench

Senior Member
I pay for Amazon Prime, ($79 a year), that gets me my Amazon ordered stuff in two business days. That is good for me. Stuff I can't find local, and do use Amazon for, has not been a disappointment.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
The headline is a little overstated as it's only about getting product to the closest possible distribution point and not out the door to a customer. Truth is, companies like Walmart have been doing this for years. Their analysis of what sells where, when, with what else and every other slice and dice of the market basket is incredible, and they track every item of inventory that's somewhere in the distribution system so that they know if there's suddenly a run on something in a particular store that they can reroute the closest semi before they're even gone in the store. It's interesting that Amazon has patented an algorithm around this idea, and I suspect it may be challenged by other retail competitors. I have worked with "Big Data" for years, and there's only going to be more and more of this. Amazon is the best there is at anticipating customer desires - I'm amazed at some of the offers I've gotten from them. How exactly they collect all the data necessary to be that good and do it legally has always been my biggest question, because if they're not poking where they shouldn't be then I think they're in league with the devil. ;)
 
Whiskeyman

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Jake,

It's not just the retailers, either. This is and has been a really big deal for product providers for a long time. It requires a lot of communication and coordination from both suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers, or it can fall disastrously flat. It's a business not for the faint of heart.

WM
 
hark

hark

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I am also an Amazon Prime customer, and when they used Lasership, quite frequently my orders were late. Since Amazon offers a 'guarantee' of getting the prime orders delivered by a specified date, many people complained when the items failed to appear on time. Now Amazon is using the FedEx Smart Ship option more frequently which involves the USPS.

I see this anticipatory shipping as a way of helping maintain guaranteed deliveries--but I do wonder if it will come at a cost of raising the Prime membership. Last fall there was a discussion that Prime was going to be raised from $79 annually to $99 annually when it came time to renew leaving me wonder if that's where they are headed.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
Amazon is the best there is at anticipating customer desires - I'm amazed at some of the offers I've gotten from them. How exactly they collect all the data necessary to be that good and do it legally has always been my biggest question, because if they're not poking where they shouldn't be then I think they're in league with the devil. ;)
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Yes, something fishy is going on there to my benefit. I swear too many times they seem to know when I am watching but reluctant to buy. Within a week or two they put up a price I cannot refuse.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
hark said:
I am also an Amazon Prime customer, and when they used Lasership, quite frequently my orders were late. Since Amazon offers a 'guarantee' of getting the prime orders delivered by a specified date, many people complained when the items failed to appear on time. Now Amazon is using the FedEx Smart Ship option more frequently which involves the USPS.

I see this anticipatory shipping as a way of helping maintain guaranteed deliveries--but I do wonder if it will come at a cost of raising the Prime membership. Last fall there was a discussion that Prime was going to be raised from $79 annually to $99 annually when it came time to renew leaving me wonder if that's where they are headed.
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I think they try different shipping arrangements in different areas. They have never used Lasership, Fedex or Fedex Smartpost service on me. They have used ups, usps and Surepost, which is the ups version of handing of off to usps for local delivery. At first, ups surepost was bad. I complained every time and Amazon gave me free stuff. Then something happened and my local post office got very good at not letting Surepost deliveries sit around for 2 days. But now, half the time UPS ends keeping the Surepost order and delivering it themselves so I get it in one day.

As far as raising Prime to $99, I would hope everyone could hold off on renewing for a few weeks if that were to happen. If everyone held off, Amazon would react quickly.
 
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