This is the time of year that my Amazon Prime membership comes up for renewal. I’ve been buying from Amazon since 2003. That was back when Amazon only sold books. In fact, I didn’t buy anything BUT books from them until 2005. That was also the year they started offering Prime. Back then, the only benefit to Prime was free two day shipping.
Fast forward to today, and Prime gets you different benefits. The largest thing I have noticed from Amazon lately is how their shipping sucks. I place A LOT of orders with Amazon, I would say that I buy more things from Amazon than I do in brick and mortar stores. In the past 30 days, I have placed 35 orders through them. It’s been so convenient, until recently.
It seems as though something has recently changed there. At least once a week, an order gets lost or arrives late. I will frequently order things with a promised delivery, and it won’t arrive for two weeks, if it arrives at all.
I don’t know what’s going on over there.
20 Comments
McChuck · June 16, 2026 at 5:53 am
We in my neighborhood have been having massive problems with Amazon deliveries for the last month. Somebody finally stopped the Amazon delivery driver and asked him what changed. Why are so many (nearly all) packages being delivered to the wrong houses?
Back on May first, Amazon rolled out a new delivery app to their drivers. It shows where each package is to be delivered. The drivers are tracked, and their tablets record and report back to the app where each package went.
None of the delivery locations match up with the addresses on the packages. The driver knows this. The app doesn’t care. His boss will fire him if he delivers to the actual address instead of where the app tells him to.
Steve · June 16, 2026 at 10:17 am
Nice to know about the app. Explanation, if not an excuse. Have you complained to corporate yet?
Lately, we’ve had deliveries into the thousands of dollars dropped at the house across the road instead of at the end of our 1/2 mile driveway with security cameras all over the place so we know who is coming up to the house. UPS has been just as bad lately. I’ve used them in the past for full bags of junk silver and cases of rounds, but never again.
ghostsniper · June 16, 2026 at 6:22 am
Long time amazon user here, since it was called cdnow in the 90’s. My wife I each have prime and when my subscription comes due I’m going to cancel and get on her account as a guest.
In the past year the delivery service has become drastic. A few other things are difficult too. Did you know that if you are searching for something on amazon and you do not specifically check the “new” box on the left that there is a chance you will be sent a returned/used item? That happened to me last year when I bought a 27″ Spectre monitor and the box was taped funny and part of the mon itor stand was missing. I’ve read about this online.
People buy something to replace their old one, put their old one in the box and “return” it, amazon doesn’t check it and sells it to someone else.
Amazon also sells thousands of pallets of “returned” products to other resellers who then sell them on amazon and there’s no real way to know up front who you are buying from.
All in all, in my experience, amazon has went the way of ebay (who I used a lot in the late 90’s early 00’s, but have’t used them in more than 15 years) with shoddy performance all over the place. In short, I see the day when I no longer deal with amazon at all. Currently I am waiting on a product that I ordered almost 2 months ago.
Lastly, if you click on the words “price history” close to the price, a left screen will pop up showing how the price of the item has fluctuated over the past few months so that you can wait to purchase something at a lower price if you want.
Divemedic · June 16, 2026 at 7:19 am
I stopped using Ebay because it eventually contained more scammers than actual buyers and sellers.
It's just Boris · June 16, 2026 at 12:18 pm
Funny … I’ve started using eBay more often recently, as a source of small parts and such. So far so good, no obvious fakes etc. But the stuff I’m ordering is both small market and not that expensive, so, perhaps not that worth it for scammers. Yet.
Himself · June 16, 2026 at 7:37 am
I’ve noticed their shipping has become inconsistent as well, which is sad since there’s an amazon distribution center a stones throw from here. Many times its because they are drop shipping something and involve USPS, which is the worst, bar none.
Usually what Amazon does is deliver it across the street. I see the image, then waddle over to pick up my package.
Divemedic · June 16, 2026 at 7:43 am
Most Amazon sellers are online sellers that drop-ship from China. That’s why so many things take 2 weeks to arrive.
Elrod · June 16, 2026 at 9:23 am
I’ve been wondering myself. Delivery quality here is inconsistent, search quality on the site is, well, it does return something. I’ve also noticed Amazon’s pricing is definitely not what it used to be – finding a better price – often a MUCH better price – is quite common for me, and if it’s going to take 3-6 days via USPS from Amazon there’s no penalty for ordering from elsewhere (locally, USPS is just as incompetent as it is everywhere, although sometimes it’s interesting to see how many places across the country my package has been to, assuming USPS has even bothered to enter tracking info). There’s some stuff I refuse to order from Amazon because that brand / type has such a high incidence of Amazon shipping “used and returned” shipped out again as “new.”
Like you, I order a lot of stuff online; there’s no point in driving to a brick & mortar to discover they don’t have it, or don’t know what / where it is (HD and Lowe’s specialize in this, although locally HD seems to do quite well online, often next day delivery; Lowe’s, I’m not sure they even know what an “internet” is). I didn’t have Prime for several years, got it last August for a particular reason, on the fence about renewal this August. I’m thinking probably not.
One thing I found 20 years ago at a local brick & mortar store was they thought their competition was 2 miles down the street when it was actually 2 clicks away on my mouse. Now that everyone has “an online presence” there is no shortage of companies who still don’t understand that, or comprehend that the last mile is just as important as the first.
TRX · June 17, 2026 at 7:45 am
> search quality
—
I’m always agog when people praise Amazon’s search function. It is horriffically bad. It often can’t find an item I know they list, even if I have the SKU for it. It’s “sort by price” button just gives random results. Half of *any* search returns unrelated items, and always, ALWAYS listings for designer handbags and automobile tires.
Amazon’s search is tweaked to sell you one or two items, and then to make searching for any other options so miserable you’ll just take the first things that pop up.
Karl · June 16, 2026 at 1:08 pm
Good afternoon, Divemedic
Just in case you don’t know, Blogger seems to be doing a purge for right thinking blogs. Karl from The Village Hemorrhoid was shutdown last week. Today Mike from 90 Miles from Tyranny was shutdown today. Check the comments at Irish’s site. https://theferalirishman.blogspot.com/ I thought you might find it interesting.
Karl
Dirtperson Steve · June 16, 2026 at 5:27 pm
I’ve been using Prime for about the same amount of time. When they shipped/delivered through UPS it was outstanding. Once they contracted with USPS it started to decline. Ours comes up for renewal soon as well but I will probably keep it since the shipping is still better than a culture-enriching trip to Ghettomart for supplies.
I keep reading that Amazon is going to expand their own logistics company. I hope that improves things.
hh475 · June 16, 2026 at 6:08 pm
Amazon has been OK here in Eastern Tennessee. They built a huge warehouse in nearby Maryville, TN, and delivery times dropped like a rock. Nonetheless, I have adopted the policy to spread my online shopping out as much as possible. Nowadays, if I don’t nave to have whatever I’m buying right away, I try to buy it direct from the company that makes it. Amazon killed a lot of brick and mortar stores because people would go the store the see what they wanted, then go home and buy it from Amazon. Nowadays I do the same to Amazon — I window shop at Amazon and then look up the company and buy it directly.
I’ve started using Walmart delivery a lot more, since they often have same-day delivery. I’ll order something from Walmart at noon and it will be delivered by 4 pm. I’ve stepped up my Ebay purchases. There are still a few things that are cheap on Ebay that are cheaper than Amazon or Walmart, plus I buy used stuff a fair amount.
So, now, I’d estimate that my online shopping is about 20% Amazon, 20% Walmart, 40% individual companies, 10% Ebay, 10% other (e.g. Etsy, etc).
As far as blogging goes, my personal opinion is that there is no substitute for running your own server. Setting up a LEMP server on a basic VPS has a learning curve, but it’s worth it and the combination of online tutorials and ChatGPT/Grok coaching makes it very doable. As long as you don’t have so huge an amount of traffic that load balancing and such are necessary, I think it’s the best answer. You have control of everything. I’ve used Hostinger as my VPS for awhile and run a little limited-interest blog for a small audience on it. It means I have to be my own administrator, and keep my OS up to speed, but it’s worth it to be in complete control. Recently I got fiber optic to my house (I live in the mountains), and my provider sells a static IP. I’m in the process of moving my server to my home, where I won’t even be dependent on the VPS provider.
TRX · June 17, 2026 at 7:48 am
Walmart’s web site is extremely browser-specific; anything other than Chrome or Firefox won’t work for me. (I normally use smaler, faster browsers) The site also breaks unpredictably when using an ad blocker.
hh475 · June 17, 2026 at 8:37 pm
I use Brave on a laptop running Kubuntu, and Walmart works fine as far as I can tell. The Brave ad blockers don’t seem to break it.
Slow Joe Crow · June 16, 2026 at 6:52 pm
Amazon has developed an annoying habit of delaying shipment. When I order stuff to my isolated city they sit on it and don’t pack and ship for several days. When I ship to an address near a big city, it can arrive next day. I have been getting better service from Walmart.com or specialist sellers. Rock Auto can have expensive shipping but the parts are genuine
Steady Steve · June 16, 2026 at 7:21 pm
The only benefits I get from Prime is next day delivery when I need it fast and when I don’t and use the Day Delivery I get credits I can use for a movie that I want to see but don’t want to pay movie theatre prices. If the movie sucks, well I only paid $5-6. Other than that I’ve had no delivery issues.
Big Daddy · June 16, 2026 at 9:21 pm
How many White Amazon drivers have you seen lately?
That may explain the competence gap.
Robert · June 17, 2026 at 7:09 am
Service from Amazon has been good here. But yesterday, I got a shipment from Amazon for something that I never ordered. I was not billed for the shipment either.
Very odd. I sense a disturbance in the force.
Terrapod · June 17, 2026 at 8:00 am
Hit and miss. Some things arrive early, some late next day or 2. I have been using the “consolidate orders” as I don’t mind a 3 day wait for most things and easier to deal with all the small bits in one box. Then there are the whoppers, ordered a large jar of a very specific type of pickles for ye wife, here we are near 2 weeks later and the tracking says the goods have not even been shipped. The delivery is now a range of June 15 to July 15. I have my doubts seeing as nothing has even shipped. In the 20 years or so of Amazon prime, have only had maybe 3 or 5 total non-deliveries or damaged goods beyond recovery and the Beezos minions handled the issues promptly.
Ned · June 18, 2026 at 2:05 pm
I too have noticed Amazon having problems with delivery and with sourcing items I have been ordering for a long time. My main issue at the moment, though, is their reliance on an AI bot for customer service. It actually seems to screen out some requests for assistance by making it difficult to ask for help.
Comments are closed.