I don't want Royal Mail

[Deeranged]

The prime payment gets you movies and stuff. I don't think of it as a delivery charge. At approximately £1.60 a week it does not seem much for all the deliveries we get from them.

The point is though that the 'free delivery' aspect of Prime isn't actually free, it's paid up front and isn't really cheap.

As an aside I've been in an Amazon distribution centre and it's pretty efficient with very little wasted time or effort involved which keeps the overall cost right down.

[noahrab]

The prime payment gets you movies and stuff. I don't think of it as a delivery charge. At approximately £1.60 a week it does not seem much for all the deliveries we get from them.

Stop bamboozling him? with facts.

It won’t wash.

[BCram]

I am trying to get facts about how Amazon delivers so cheaply. Any Royal mail parcel starts at about £12. That would mean Amazon at that rate would expect 7 deliveries a year from Prime subscriber. Our house has many times that number of deliveries and I am puzzled.

[noahrab]

I am trying to get facts about how Amazon delivers so cheaply. Any Royal mail parcel starts at about £12. That would mean Amazon at that rate would expect 7 deliveries a year from Prime subscriber. Our house has many times that number of deliveries and I am puzzled.

They are buying the goods cheaper and put onerous conditions on the suppliers that those suppliers wouldn’t accept from other customers.

Those suppliers do it for the exposure it gives their products by and brand.

[Deeranged]

I am trying to get facts about how Amazon delivers so cheaply. Any Royal mail parcel starts at about £12. That would mean Amazon at that rate would expect 7 deliveries a year from Prime subscriber. Our house has many times that number of deliveries and I am puzzled.

Buy cheap, stock quantities, sell expensive, create an extremely efficient distribution network, hire delivery drivers on low rates with strict targets and have additional income from Prime membership and P&P rates.

I don't see it as particularly cheap, might seem so at point of delivery mind, but as very efficient and effective. Amazon's USP is speed of delivery, order by 5pm Friday and you've got it Saturday afternoon - convenient to the customer and a level of service currently unachievable by a third party delivery service such as Royal Mail or DPD unless you pay a significant cost for courier / next day type service.

[jdfc]

Are you not worried that selling out to a foreign owner is a really bad idea. I don't see any sign that foreign ownership of water or private ownership of railway franchises has worked for the benefit of either the employees or the service customers.

I don't understand how you can order some really cheap stuff from Amazon and they can deliver it for free, sometimes the product costs less than the price of a first class stamp.

I don’t think anyone working in Royal Mail is happy with take over, just like privatisation we couldn’t do anything to stop it, there is a lot of money to be made in Royal Mail they just need rid of the clowns up top

[The AuldYin]

The point is though that the 'free delivery' aspect of Prime isn't actually free, it's paid up front and isn't really cheap.

As an aside I've been in an Amazon distribution centre and it's pretty efficient with very little wasted time or effort involved which keeps the overall cost right down.

It's "Free at the point of use is without cost to the user by any definition" Not my words but a quote by one poster on here, can't remember who it was though.

[Deeranged]

It's "Free at the point of use is without cost to the user by any definition" Not my words but a quote by one poster on here, can't remember who it was though.

NHS service is free at the point of use because you can walk into an NHS hospital and get the treatment you need without paying anything towards it.

However Amazon delivery is a paid for service, there's an annual fee specifically for it. Try ordering something from Amazon and getting it delivered without a paid Prime membership or paying for delivery. You'll be disappointed.

[BCram]

NHS service is free at the point of use because you can walk into an NHS hospital and get the treatment you need without paying anything towards it.

However Amazon delivery is a paid for service, there's an annual fee specifically for it. Try ordering something from Amazon and getting it delivered without a paid Prime membership or paying for delivery. You'll be disappointed.

Thanks Deeranged. Didn't realise that a non Prime customer paid much more for delivery. Seems that there must be a lot of cross subsidies between those who use Amazon Prime for the films etc and families like mine who use the free delivery.

[Deeranged]

Thanks Deeranged. Didn't realise that a non Prime customer paid much more for delivery. Seems that there must be a lot of cross subsidies between those who use Amazon Prime for the films etc and families like mine who use the free delivery.

I only really use the deliveries and rarely, if ever, use the movie / TV service, I'd think most subscribers are the same. All about convenience for me, I know I'm paying for the 'free' delivery and that I can get the same product cheaper elsewhere but I do it with my eyes open and under no illusion that anything's really free.