From the Wall Street Journal.
“Amazon isn’t waiting for the advent of courier drones to ship your orders faster than usual: the Wall Street Journal reports that the e-commerce giant has been testing its own US delivery network in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Described in job listings as Last Mile, the initiative is meant to outperform established shippers like FedEx and UPS. These companies are increasing costs, can’t always meet capacity and are “impeding innovation in delivery services,” Amazon says in one job description.”
Amazon also invested in Yodel, a UK delivery service recently. Clearly, Amazon realises you are only as good as your weakest link, and delivery of a customers order is vital. Amazon also has invested in lockers and collection/drop off points too, making it a great service but at the expense of the smaller retailers.
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Those that read Gavin’s Blog will know I am not a fan of Amazon period.
Without going into detail and drifting from the main of this blog I do not agree with many of the methods and practices that Amazon use.
A recent TV Documentary outlined several issues the Amazon chain has created.
Anyway, back to the blog in question….
Being negative towards something (as in my case Amazon) means you have to have foundation and continued reason of belief.
For that I periodically (roughly once every 3 months) place an order with Amazon to see if some of the negatives I hold have changed in any small manner.
At this stage in the interests of belief in what I am going to say you will have to believe me but I am more than willing to place my hand on a Bible and repeat back anything you wish or dance naked around a maypole with a feather stuck where the sun never shines chanting “I am not telling porkies”.
Note: Not a very pretty sight for a slightly overweight 61 year old to be seen doing.
So, what the heck happened…..
Well, no problems in ordering and the following day a ‘Plain White Van’ with a ‘Scruffy Driver’ turned up on my drive.
I went out to greet the driver and as I looked at him it was very clear the package was clearly not as I hoped it should have looked.
Without saying a word or placing an expression on his face the driver handed over the package whereupon I looked back at him and said “what on earth has happened here, has there been in a war”?
The package had the usual Amazon name stamped on the box. This type of box is always found fastened down with several layers of masking tape that normally takes explosives to open.
However, in the case of my box; as the driver was handing it over to me ALL FOUR CORNERS of the box were TOTALLY OPEN flapping away in the wind, they had all been cut through.
Not only that but when I peered down inside this flapping box you could clearly see the inner box that held the goods had also at some stage during delivery been opened and hastily and very badly re closed.
I then opened the inner box in front of the not very happy driver (you could tell by his sigh he had not really grasped the situation that very well) and now noticed there were a couple of empty spots in the box, that and no manual, no paperwork (heck, through my head went had my personal details been stolen) so I couldn’t even check if everything was in the box (you had to build the item yourself).
Now normally one would simply refuse the item and have it sent back, but part of why I order once every 3 months is to see if anything has changed once you receive a package and note everything that happens after receiving said item… That and the other reason being I was not sure by sending it back if anything further would have gone missing.
So I kept the item and asked the driver to make a note of how the package arrived and that I were unsure if anything was missing.
So he got back into his plain white van with no courier name and quickly disappeared out of sight.
Once I got in I gave Amazon a call and explained the situation. From this point on everything went well and I must commend the Amazon representative who made several sub phone calls with other members of the Amazon staff whilst I waited.
So, what is the purpose of this reply……
Amazon need to ensure buying into a courier brand does not mean all is well with delivery. Especially when that courier sub-let out to individuals to deliver their orders.
The second you place that order with someone you have every right to expect that very same company is doing it’s upmost to ensure your order arrives not only in a timely manner but professionally and courteously.
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