Yesterday, I ordered two items only available online from WM (no hurry mind you). Since the two only came to $34 and some odd cents, I threw in a $1.98 bag of cotton balls to make $35 and free shipping. Today the first two items arrived by a private contractor ( I assume since he was driving what was probably his own car.). 10 minutes later another car delivered the $1.98 cotton balls. Not the first time has happened. I don’t get it.
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I’ve noticed the same sort of discontinuity with other services, many times. I’ve asked my wife about it (she’s a bit closer to that world than I am) and she says it’s because items 1, 2 may be warehoused in one place, and items 3, 4 (etc.) may be warehoused in other locations.
Still it seems damned inefficient!
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That still doesn’t explain anything. These drivers have to be paid somehow. It makes no sense to me. Regardless, these big companies are making money off free shipping Somehow. No way are they’re losing money on free shipping. I can almost guarantee on that.
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You’re right, I think. No way they’re losing money on the free shipping. They might be squeezing the crap out of the merchants, though. Who might put up with it temporarily (or as long as they can, hoping it’ll get better later). Like I said, I don’t have lot of insight into how it works (or doesn’t work well).
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What is WM? I’m sure it’s fairly obvious but Google is saying “waste management”!
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Walmart.
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Waste Management=Wal Mart
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Walmart is whatever you make of it.
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I ordered two packages of 4 bundled items back in early October for something I can no longer find in my local CVS (a specific Blistex lip balm). When the order was processed, I noticed on my Email that it was now 8 individual items - packaged in one order of 7, and 1 order of 1. 
Took forever to arrive - except it didn’t. On Monday, a coworker “signed” for a package (usually they’re dropped downstairs at a centralized location). He signed for a single package of 1. When I went online, Amazon claimed that all 8 items had been delivered. Umm…no. I went to put in a protest/claim - said I couldn’t do it until Tuesday after 5pm PDT. So I waited until Wednesday. When I woke up, Wednesday morning, I see 2 Emails from Amazon saying there would be deliveries that day. What showed up? Two individual packages of these single items. So - I’ve received 3 out of the 8 - ALL in individual shipping puffy envelopes. 
At this point, I’m going request that they refund me for the 5 other items I didn’t receive. THAT ought to be fun, as Amazon doesn’t make it easy to do that (there’s no “Problem With Order” button on this particular order).
So these product warehouses are good in that, if done right, you get things faster because they’re closer to their delivery location. When done wrong? It’s a total eff-up. But sure, Amazon - go ahead and add more robots to potentially replace upwards of thousands of jobs for humans over the next 10 years.
ETA: I just got a notice from Amazon that the remaining 5 were shipped and I should receive them tomorrow.
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They don’t really advertise it, but in the future, if you need to contact Amazon, their customer service # is 888-280-4331. You will eventually get a human voice after several minutes of automated prompts 
I have had to use it several times, when I wasn’t able to return an item online. Once you get a human voice they are usually very helpful.
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Good luck!
They lost a pan twice on me. That was when Scott in Pollock (hasn’t been around for some time) first recommended the Green Pan to me. So I ordered from Amazon, it was “out for delivery” 2 days in row but never delivered.
I got them to admit it was lost in transit somewhere so they triggered a new delivery… same thing happened. Out for delivery 2 days in a row but never delivered. This is as opposed to the more customary “we delivered it! - here’s the pic of it sitting on one of your 300 neighbor’s porches!”
Third time’s the charm, they say, and the 3rd order made it here on time.
Speaking of Amazon, is AWS still having hiccoughs? Every page I nav to today seems to be taking way too long to load.
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anything s/b “everything”. Sorry about the typo.
YOU ARE THE BEST! I’ve put that contact into my phone as a just-in-case. 
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It’s been working fine for my company since yesterday; Monday was a mess and Tuesday was still wonky at times. But yeah, DownDetector is saying it’s still having issues:
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Let us know if you get satisfaction.
I rarely use Amazon and when I have, it has been for books. Having a post office box helps for secure delivery. We use the PO’s street address with our box number. You should see the number of empty cardboard Amazon boxes left on the counters.
I request the dotter order stuff for me and she has had no problems, other than the occasional porch pirate. I think they took care of that problem though after they installed a ‘fake’ security camera.
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Yeah, the only thing I get delivered to my townhouse is the Rx cat food for Finnegan. Several cases of canned food and a 16 lb bag of dry crunchies (separate boxes). It’s VERY obvious that it’s cat food. Otherwise, all of my deliveries are at my workplace due to a LOT of theft during the doldrums of COVID shutdown.
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Before I retired 11 years ago, I had packages delivered to my work. Even back then, there were those who stole packages off the porch. Some companies will not deliver to USPS offices. So that’s why the extra address now for deliveries. The Fed Ex and UPS delivery staff are so busy nowadays, anyway. Our post office has installed many, many parcel lockers which helps out for after hours pick ups.
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When the rules don’t apply to everyone, the rules don’t apply to anyone.
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Recently, Sunshine lost her voice and can only whisper. When she tries to call out to me (if I’m at the other end of the house or in the backyard) the sound come out as a raspy unintelligible sound. This could be a side effect of a (cancer maintenance) medication she is taking. Her Primary Care Physician, Oncologist and an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor are trying to figure it all out.
In the interim, I gave her a whistle (on a lanyard) to blow if she needs me. And yes, our household sounds like a NFL game. This is all I could think of (as a temporary fix) if I’m at the other end of the house, backyard or garage.
Yesterday, I heard her whistle – repeatedly. When I went into the kitchen to investigate, I found her on the floor, holding her wrist. My response was “Now, what??” Apparently, she was trying to get something out of the back of the pantry (reaching towards the back of the lowest shelf) and fell into the pantry. I’m not completely sure how she did it, but she sprained her wrist (when she fell into the pantry).
So she is putting ice on it, for now. It appears to be a light sprain, but I’ll take her back to the Primary Care Physician if it gets worse.
At least the “whistle system” worked in this instance.
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Oh, no! Poor Sunshine! I can trip myself almost anywhere bc I was born a klutz with shitty balance.
Def ice and maybe put a bandage around her wrist to support it.
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