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Comment by simonbarker87 | Hacker News Reader

The problem at the moment is Amazon logistics (at least here in the UK) is terrible. Prime went from a next day, 1-hour delivery window, fully tracked with DPD generally delivered by 1 pm to next day sometime between 8 and 8, no tracking and sometimes not delivered at all for no reason. If a parcel arrives at 8 pm the day after it's ordered it's not a next day service as far as I'm concerned, it might as well arrive 9 am the following day.

My new hobby seems to be not getting a prime delivery next day, calling Amazon, them apologising and giving me an extra month on my prime subscription for free - which is nice and everything but I'd rather get the service they promise.

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> If a parcel arrives at 8 pm the day after it's ordered it's not a next day service as far as I'm concerned

A parcel arriving the day after it's ordered is pretty much the definition of a next day service.

I'd argue that's next evening service, next day implies it'll arrive in the daytime to me.

This is because your interpretation of 'day' is of being a subcomponent of a 24 hour period (which probably also includes 'evening' and 'night').

The definition Amazon and every other company offering 'next day delivery' is that 'next day' means 'the next day'. As in the day after you buy the thing. It's a much more reasonable interpretation of the term because it's not open to colloquial misunderstandings (in your interpretation there could be day, evening, dusk, night, etc.). Is 5pm day? Is 6pm day?

If I'm ordering from an office that closes at 5pm, then no 6pm is not 'next day'.

Yeah, I get that I'm being impatient and using my own interpretation of next day but when all the decent couriers (UPS, TNT, DPD, UKMail, ParcelForce) get a package to you basically pre-early afternoon and Amazon's own delivery service makes that experience worse then it grates a little. I'd happily pay more on my prime subscription to go back to getting Amazon deliveries with DPD.

Amazon logistics at least do Sunday deliveries as well. Far too many stores have "next day delivery" for which ordering on Friday night means it doesn't arrive until Tuesday.

I'm actually happy with amazon logistics (London). They deliver every day (unlike basically everyone else), so I can order on Saturday and receive the item on Sunday.

They also always find a neighbor to accept the package. Royal mail always leaves a card which means I have to pick it up from a post office (which is only open when I work). The main reason I order nearly everything from Amazon is that most other sellers here use Royal Mail 2nd class, which for my address takes at least 4 days to arrive, before christmas often 2 weeks or more.

> Royal mail always leaves a card

Sometimes they leave a card without a tracking number (last month.) That was fun. But at least I knew it was for me.

Because there was the time with the card that had a tracking number but no name or flat number. And then the card that had three digits of the tracking number and no name or flat number.

Royal Mail are pretty awful at being a courier.

The DPD service was amazing, even out in the rural hinterland where it can be trickier to provide accurate delivery windows.

Even when I lived in north Donegal (very rural) I could order parts from Overclockers UK (who use DPD) and guarantee delivery in two days and with a reasonably accurate drop off time window.

I'm less bothered about when a thing will arrive next day (and I don't mind evenings), but it's the not knowing when it'll arrive. Hell I'd settle for a four hour window rather than the current state of affairs with Amazon logistics in the UK.

What also ticks me off is how around this time of year, even in the last week in November, Amazon Prime's one day delivery magically becomes two days and yet is passed off as one day delivery.

I'm a big fan of DPD, we use them for our business dispatch, overnight half of our customer support load disappeared as they are so good we just had no delivery issues anymore.

I'd also add that arriving after 5pm is basically useless at any business address. That and they don't seem to be able to deal with pressing the buzzer for our office if the receptionist isn't there.

Agreed hence most of my parcels now land up behind my bins at home even if they are for work stuff (I run a just in time factory, Amazon Prime is useful). Funny story:

We moved into a brand new unit, first tenant, new postcode. We basically had to train the delivery companies so they could learn where we are, understandable and fine. Amazon presented a whole extra problem, though.

They use geofencing(?) for their deliveries, so the driver has to be within the bounds of the fenced area to make the delivery. The first driver must have set our fenced area up at the entrance to the trading estate, this meant that for a month a driver (never the same one twice) would show up, ask for my name, scan the package, look confused, apologise, drive 300 m back to the entrance of the estate, scan the parcel and then come back and then ask me to sign!!!

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