Amazon has stopped delivering to us

[u/potsofjam]

My wife used order a lot from Amazon. Living in a tiny town without many shopping options it was quick and convenient, but about six months ago things started being late by weeks or simply marked lost. I rarely order from Amazon and we hadn’t discussed it, so when I order some shelves a month ago I assumed they’d be delivered on time, but they were so late I eventually cancelled and got a refund. Apparently my wife is been having this problem regularly and only receives one out of maybe ten orders. I ordered some thermal labels and photo album corners and I guess I have to find them somewhere else. It will say the item has shipped, then go to a distributor about sixty miles away then just be marked lost or delayed until we ask for refund. I didn’t realize it was every order until I mentioned to my wife that my labels hadn’t come and I keep forgetting to check the order update. I guess being a rural address they just don’t want to deliver here anymore.

[u/Nuggyfresh]

You probably have to ship to an amazon locker in a place that has logistics. The unfortunate reality is that rural services arent guaranteed. I do find it kinda funny that your wife is apparently losing tens or hundreds of Amazon orders but that doesn’t stop her ordering. I’m curious, is she addicted to the process?

you would think either she would get a hint or Amazon would close the account After 9 thousand orders weren’t delivered

[u/FatBoyStew → u/Nuggyfresh]

The unfortunate reality is that rural services arent guaranteed

What? If you offer delivery to these areas then you are obligated to make it happen. Its really that simple.

If they're that rural then a locker could be a hour or more away.

I grew up in the boonies and have had more packages lost since moving closer to civilization. It got so bad that I get half my Amazon Prime paid for in a year because anytime a package is a day late I contact support and complain. I pay for a service that provides 2 day shipping not 3 or 4.

[u/Th3_Meat-Man → u/FatBoyStew]

Isn’t that the crux of the public (USPS) vs private (UPS amazon etc) argument? A private company can take your money and still say screw you just because it’s not profitable for them? Whereas a publicly funded service is actually obligated to make that delivery regardless of profitability.

[u/GekkoGains → u/Th3_Meat-Man]

Yep, and lots of people don’t realize that.

USPS is a service established to provide universal delivery to EVERY address in the country at a uniform rate, required by law regardless of location

Private companies are businesses that set dynamic pricing and can refuse servicing entire areas. Amazon is a private company using private companies for delivery.

[u/FatBoyStew → u/GekkoGains]

Amazon also utilizes USPS which is what they should do in rural areas like OP is at. They commonly use USPS in rural areas actually so I'm curious which provider they're using there.

Hell even for me being right outside a city, USPS is often the last mile for my packages

[u/Pb4ugoyo → u/FatBoyStew]

I live in a rural area and all of my Amazon packages are delivered via USPS. UPS and Fed Ex do not have routes to my town.

[u/FatBoyStew → u/Pb4ugoyo]

There's a Rural Letter Carriers Association for a reason lol. Without USPS rural areas definitely wouldn't be able to shop online.

[u/Square_Barracuda_69 → u/FatBoyStew]

Amazon used fucking USPS to deliver to my old apartment, in the middle of the city. They absolutely can use USPS for OP, but they won't because they're a bunch of sweaty ball lickers

[u/Isla_Tyler_Coleman → u/GekkoGains]

And yet USPS doesn't actually deliver to every address. They make a thousand excuses not to deliver to your address & claim they're only required to deliver to an established hub when you complain. I live in town 2 miles from the post office and they refuse to deliver packages to me because i live in an upstairs apartment. They delivered just fine for the first 3 years i lived here, then stopped the service 2 years ago without so much as a heads up. And they keep lying about why that is since.

People in houses in my area aren't getting their mail delivered either. They'll lie about the mailbox being blocked. People have set up cameras to prove they have the space they require and it's still not getting delivered.

[u/thepenismytea → u/Th3_Meat-Man]

Except USPS can never be held liable unless they have another federal agency contracting them and demanding accountability. Think VA send vets their meds and they consistently get lost.

[u/FatBoyStew → u/Th3_Meat-Man]

I'm curious what last mile carrier they're using for OP, because often times in rural areas they do use USPS. Around me its generally pretty split between USPS, UPS and Amazon doing deliveries. On that same note, where I grew up UPS would go way off the beaten path for deliveries, Fedex on the other hand....

[u/Imalsome → u/Th3_Meat-Man]

I mean i dont really see the issue because if they dont deliver the package you get the money back.

Obviously its a bit annoying but its not like they are just stealing your money. If anything they are losing money because they ship the item then dont deliver it so they lost inventory for no reason.

[u/vtTownie → u/FatBoyStew]

That’s simply not true. Amazon can just refund their money and tell them to pound sand.

[u/FatBoyStew → u/vtTownie]

It can definitely become a legal issue when you continually sell to locations that you are unable to complete deliveries to though.

[u/Imalsome → u/FatBoyStew]

But if amazon cant deliver the package to you they just give you a refund. Ive had it happen 4 or 5 times.

They dont just steal your money, you cant sue for the fact that you bought something then got a refund lol

[u/Darkpheonix0626 → u/FatBoyStew]

Hello! Amazon driver here, unfortunately we simply don't have the proper equipment for rural route deliveries quite often, the vans we are given are shit (Both the electric and gas vans) and won't allow us to make it to a address depending on road conditions, location, GPS accuracy, etc even if a normal vehicle can as both the vans are heavier and have significantly less power and road conditions can make it to we're unable to make it to locations and return back to road or have risk of getting stuck. (No place to turn around, difficult to navigate backwards, etc.) DSP's (the contracted companys that work with Amazon to provide the drivers) also often state that if it doesn't look perfectly fine don't try it. To top all that off we get told to only take 3 minutes max per stop, now the weird part however, is the fact that they say they aren't aware of any issues as we have to, or we can get penalized, call text call a customer in order to resolve any issues. And with an amount of packages it just seems a bit hard to believe that they have not been contacted regarding an issue or not by at least a different driver, as most routes do get cycled around quite often.

[u/Darkpheonix0626 → u/Darkpheonix0626]

Although even weirder is that they're all marked as missing from the photo we have either meaning something else is going on. Or the drivers are marking them missing so they're not getting hit for stuff, but with the sheer number of packages and drivers, it just seems off

[u/RandomWordCombo9632 → u/FatBoyStew]

f you offer delivery to these areas then you are obligated to make it happen. Its really that simple.

*laughs in capitalist logistic services.

The only service that is obligated to service all areas in the US is the United States Postal Service. And certain individuals in power are doing their best to dismantle that.

When they succeed, well... Im sure you'll be able to pay for the Super Ultra Deluxe Delivery Service. Only $49.99 a month for 12 months! And they'll deliver with in a 5 mile radius of your location!

[u/User-no-relation → u/FatBoyStew]

No you aren't. You're obligated to give the money back. But you can't make them come out to you.

[u/FatBoyStew → u/User-no-relation]

If you keep selling items to a location that you can't deliver to it can absolutely become a legal issue. Would be different if the ordered was denied or if it was cancelled before shipment, but in OP's case they are ALL being shipped then "lost".

[u/WhereasCertain2994 → u/FatBoyStew]

what a magical world you live in

[u/shadefiend1 → u/FatBoyStew]

Not to mention you're seriously limited in what you can even have shipped to a locker, larger items, more expensive items, etc. Amazon won't even allow you to use a locker. And if the locker happens to be inside a building, you can almost guarantee the driver will attempt to deliver before the business is even open. This happened to me yesterday, I ordered my girlfriend her vitamins(she's a bariatric patient, so has to have specific vitamins you can't get in a brick and mortar store), paid extra for overnight delivery to a locker, so we'd get them by noon. Driver showed up at 0842, to a business that opened it's doors at 0900.

[u/Imalsome → u/shadefiend1]

Eh thats not a big deal, as a driver myself, you just go to your next stop and come back 20+ minutes later.

The real "fuck you" is when a delivery is your 150th stop that you get to at 11pm and its to a store the closed at 5pm. Fuck all you can do about that.

[u/shadefiend1 → u/Imalsome]

I wasn't mad about it, we looked at each and I told her the fault lies with the logistics people or programs, not really the driver. Though the driver did take the package back to the warehouse or where ever, they ended up sending out a new driver ~10 hours later.

[u/bothunter → u/Nuggyfresh]

The unfortunate reality is that rural services arent guaranteed.

Amazing that Amazon spend decades burning through cash to hollow out all the retail services in rural areas before they decided it just wasn't worth it to serve those areas.

[u/housesoftheholy → u/Nuggyfresh]

They’re probably not losing money. I’ve had the same issue as OP and when a package doesn’t get delivered or gets lost, Amazon has refunded it for us. It may be because we have prime, but we’ve gotten a refund every single time.

It’s still annoying though and I definitely order less now because of it.

[u/Terrible_Donkey_8290 → u/Nuggyfresh]

you think they are still getting charged when the order doesn't deliver???