Yes and no. Malls are also a product of a society where women stayed home and had time to go window shopping. Nowadays, people need to buy a product ASAP and don’t have as much time to window shop, but don’t mind paying extra $$ to get it without going to the mall.
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I am surprised that thieves have not been focusing on Amazon deliveries exclusively. Can’t understand those car breakins. When the dumb and violent ones break the car window, they may find nothing and the owner would need to replace the window and the broken glasses became a hazard.
Once these dumb and violent criminals get the news of Amazon delivery, many neighborhood will have most of their Amazon deliveries stolen.
That’s one thing that could cause headache to Amazon. Maybe people will have Amazon deliver to the workplace? But that could make the office a warehouse.
Ok, so maybe this is where the US post office can make some additional revenue and stay afloat. With all of the local post offices still around, what if they charge a nominal fee to accept that package on your behalf? You just go there and pick it up for a few bucks or depending on size of parcel. Done.
Rule 1: Nobody wants to pay for shipping.
There are no other rules.
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Agreed, but things evolve. If you can’t be home and your expensive computer is being delivered are you going to be upset about paying a few dollars to the post office or some other outfit to safely hold that for you until you can get it? I don’t know. I don’t shop enough to know the value of it. What I do know is that stupid Fed Ex or UPS drivers always leave packages up my enclosed staircase anyway if no one is home which is 100% of the time since we both work. Fortunately, nothing has been stolen…yet.
I guess i will use amazon locker from now on.
One downside is i have to pick up within 3 business days. I would be much happy with 5 business days. Otherwise, i have to make sure that delivery day is Wed through Sat because i don’t want to run errands in the middle of hectic schedule on week days.
In any cases, i guess i would be less enthusiatic about amazon with this theft experience although there is no fault on amazon’s side.
I enjoyed the fast and convenient delivery of amazon the most. Without that, i am sure i will shop less with amazon.
Or you can have them deliver to your office?
No, people already do that here to the gills with zappos and other junk…Small/flat items ok but what about large, bulky items and you live in the East Bay? Good luck with that on BART…
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People drive everywhere down in South Bay. To this day I still haven’t taken the San Jose light rail…
Which like in LA, causes major gridlock all day. You cats are spoiled. I have been taking Muni since a mere lad. No driving to and from school by parents. Come on!!!
Does Amazon pay for the theft?
Of course not (or shouldn’t have to). Won’t they just say to take it up with UPS or whomever (the carrier)???
At least this time, they didn’t even question me and just sent replacement.
However, i guess it is because this is my first time to claim missing packages.
That’s just Amazon being Amazon. A smaller outfit can not keep sending replacements for free. They will soon end up in the same place where Macy’s and Sears are going…business heaven
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Question is who’s taking the loss, UPS/USPS or Amazon? If Amazon bought a shipping insurance, UPS or USPS was taking the loss.
Maybe in the future, Amazon/UPS will charge a theft fee for bad neighborhood.
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Once you report stolen packages at an address, I believe the UPS driver will no longer leave future packages without a signature.
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Aaah, I was wondering why they kept doing it without concern…
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The reason for the death of retail is giving back (some)…
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Amazon-to-Create-100-000-New-Jobs-in-U-S-in-Next-10852879.php
May be convert undocumented temp to permanent. Easy.
In China the online tech giants are busy buying offline retail. It’s the O2O trend: Online-to-Offline. It’s unique to China so far. The logistics of shipping domestically in China is in pretty bad shape. So Alibaba for example may need to partner with local retailers to hit a same day shipping window.
The coverage on O2O is pretty scarce in English media. This is a pretty old article from CNBC:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/11/whats-o2o-the-driver-behind-alibabas-46b-deal-thats-what.html
Even though US has much better shipping infrastructure, I think offline retail can still add value to Amazon. Right now many people go to physical retail to look and feel the product and then comparison shop and buy on Amazon. What if you can save that step and just buy right there because that physical shop is run by Amazon? So you are always guaranteed the online price? Or taking the TV you bought from Amazon online to Amazon offline for repair?
I think Amazon is already experimenting with these formats. I expect to see more Amazon presence in offline retail. Don’t write off physical retail just yet.